Mon to manage Republic of Ireland?

[cheltenhamlion]

He instigated it...

Nope, I am not getting into talking about him again.

[eastie]

He instigated it...

Nope, I am not getting into talking about him again.

Hope you had a good holiday chelts, I'm sure our win will have helped

[cheltenhamlion]

I did Chief. Weather worked out nicely and the nipper loved it, particularly going on a plane.

[Dave Clark Five]

I did Chief. Weather worked out nicely and the nipper loved it, particularly going on a plane.

Did you meet Dan?

[Dave]

Di Canio agrees with the H&V consensus on one thing then.

Paolo Di Canio has defended his record as Sunderland manager and furiously denied accusations from Martin O'Neill that he was a "charlatan".

The fiery Italian took over from O'Neill at the Stadium of Light in March, but he was sacked in September after the club picked up only one point from their first five games this season.
 
New Republic of Ireland boss O'Neill branded Di Canio 'a charlatan' earlier this week, but the former Italy international insisted he saved a club that was "already sunk".
 

Speaking in an exclusive interview with Sky Sports News, Di Canio said: "I don't know if he knows the meaning of this word charlatan. Probably I can teach him, even if I am not English.
 
"I respect the opinion of manager Martin O'Neill but the fact that he spoke after six months, not straight away, that proves what kind of level he is. He is not very big.
 
"A charlatan is a manager who spends £40m to be a top 10 club and then sees the club sink into the relegation zone."
 
Di Canio also stood by his criticism of the condition of the Sunderland players when he took over, describing their fitness levels as "pathetic".
 
"I had players who told me they had cramps from driving the car," he said. "I had three players with injuries in the calf after 20 minutes of a game. Six different players with problems means they were not fit."

[eastie]

Interesting comments from PDC - I agree with him , sunderland looked dead and buried under mon and I think they would have gone down - fitness issues seem to ring a bell too .

[Clampy]

To be honest, that rant about Di Canio by MON was outrageous. He shouldn't be pointing out a fellow manager's failings, especially  at a club where he failed himself.

[eastie]

To be honest, that rant about Di Canio by MON was outrageous. He shouldn't be pointing out a fellow manager's failings, especially  at a club where he failed himself.

Totally agree.

[brontebilly]

Regarding Ireland, it will be interesting if we finally get MON's side on how the Ireland/Milner transfer came about.

he was asked about it by the Irish media, Stephen Ireland player you signed etc etc, MON's response was a bit cryptic. Said he didnt know Ireland that much and he arrived around the time he was leaving. A lot was happening back then etc etc and then a joke how he would tell them (journalists) the full story some other time.

for what its worth, the FAI should instruct every Irish manager never to contemplate picking Stephen Ireland

Di Canio agrees with the H&V consensus on one thing then.

Paolo Di Canio has defended his record as Sunderland manager and furiously denied accusations from Martin O'Neill that he was a "charlatan".

The fiery Italian took over from O'Neill at the Stadium of Light in March, but he was sacked in September after the club picked up only one point from their first five games this season.
 
New Republic of Ireland boss O'Neill branded Di Canio 'a charlatan' earlier this week, but the former Italy international insisted he saved a club that was "already sunk".
 

Speaking in an exclusive interview with Sky Sports News, Di Canio said: "I don't know if he knows the meaning of this word charlatan. Probably I can teach him, even if I am not English.
 
"I respect the opinion of manager Martin O'Neill but the fact that he spoke after six months, not straight away, that proves what kind of level he is. He is not very big.
 
"A charlatan is a manager who spends £40m to be a top 10 club and then sees the club sink into the relegation zone."
 
Di Canio also stood by his criticism of the condition of the Sunderland players when he took over, describing their fitness levels as "pathetic".
 
"I had players who told me they had cramps from driving the car," he said. "I had three players with injuries in the calf after 20 minutes of a game. Six different players with problems means they were not fit."

good response from Di Canio. MON's ego has clearly been stung but I think Di Canio is well able for him here. Di Canio needs to keep his profile high at the moment so this should run a bit longer. Di Canio of course was a joke of a manager too but he is entitled to stand up for himself.

On the Irish Times podcast this week, Jonathan Wilson had some interesting tales about MON and Keane. Wilson is of course a big Sunderland fan. Sunderland board kept buying MON mobile phones which he couldnt or wouldnt use. Couldnt be contacted for days at end. He wouldnt be up in Sunderland for a lot of the week and the training under Walford was by all accounts a bit of a shambles where the fitness of players certainly was a valid issue. Wilson (whose sources would be impeccable I suspect) also felt the issue of the mobile phone at Villa and general communication with directors was a big problem at Villa and also latterly at Sunderland. Cant get over the neck of the man to be honest. Not communicating with his employers, managing an unfit team  and all this after spending 40m!!!

MON according to Wilson, in a damning indictment really, was yesterday's man in terms of club management, certainly the end of his reign at Sunderland reeked of unprofessionalism and laziness frankly. The lack of scouting outside Britain, failure to improve himself tactically, presiding over an unfit team and the failure to surround himself with a backroom staff that could tackle his failings. Roy Keane at Sunderland according to Wilson had the same faults when things started to go wrong, ignoring calls from the board despite horrible results and staying away from the club generally. MON and Keane clearly guilty of copying Clough like behaviour without having anything of his personality or success to back it up.

Wilson ironically thinks its a decent appointment and that MON should be more cut out for international management now. Thats worrying for me, that he will take the piss out of the Irish job like he did at Sunderland and maybe leave Keane as the patsy to carry the can.

Its an excellent podcast to be fair, Second Captains Irish Times 05/11. The Wilson interview is the last 15mins or so but interviews with Niall Quinn, Richie Sadlier, Brian Kerr and Wilson throughout the hour.

[pauliewalnuts]

To be honest, that rant about Di Canio by MON was outrageous. He shouldn't be pointing out a fellow manager's failings, especially  at a club where he failed himself.

It was pretty outrageous, agree with you there.

[eastie]

I can well believe the mobile phones stories - mon is apparently notorious with not getting back to people or contacting them days later when they call him - I think he followed the cloughie guide to management but without the tactical nous of cloughie or the eagle eyes peter Taylor to spot a player .

Mon is in many ways stuck in a time warp regarding modern methods and management - the Irish job may suit him and he may be hero worshipped if successful - qualification for the euros is not beyond him .
Man management and motivation are his main attributes .

[brontebilly]

I can well believe the mobile phones stories - mon is apparently notorious with not getting back to people or contacting them days later when they call him - I think he followed the cloughie guide to management but without the tactical nous of cloughie or the eagle eyes peter Taylor to spot a player .

Mon is in many ways stuck in a time warp regarding modern methods and management - the Irish job may suit him and he may be hero worshipped if successful - qualification for the euros is not beyond him .
Man management and motivation are his main attributes .

Surely at international level you need modern methods and management too though? Granted 24 teams out of 53 qualify for the Euros so maybe the arm around the shoulder and stirring speeches in the dressing room might be enough.

[supertom]

They're just as bad as each other to be honest. PDC can sit there and claim that O Neill wouldn't have pulled off two wins and the points required to stay up. Honestly I think he probably would have in the end, and they'd have started better this season too had O Neill spent Di Canios money on 3-4 O Neill signings rather than 15 new players.
Di Canio is far too much of a clown to manage at the top level. O Neill is past it at club footy. Both are gobshites.

[pauliewalnuts]

I can well believe the mobile phones stories - mon is apparently notorious with not getting back to people or contacting them days later when they call him - I think he followed the cloughie guide to management but without the tactical nous of cloughie or the eagle eyes peter Taylor to spot a player .

Mon is in many ways stuck in a time warp regarding modern methods and management - the Irish job may suit him and he may be hero worshipped if successful - qualification for the euros is not beyond him .
Man management and motivation are his main attributes .

Surely at international level you need modern methods and management too though? Granted 24 teams out of 53 qualify for the Euros so maybe the arm around the shoulder and stirring speeches in the dressing room might be enough.

True, but then again, he is going to be managing Ireland, he's not going to have a great deal of high quality material to work with, so I don't really think being a tactical genius as a manager is that useful.

Plus, you're only seeing your players on and infrequent basis (mind you, by the sounds of it, he's well versed in that bit) so there's a limit to how much work you can do with them.

The best he can really do with Ireland is motivate them, bring about a modicum of organisation, and hope for the best.

And that's not me being patronising to Irish football. I'd go as far as to say that that, to a considerable degree, is the best Hodgson can hope for with England, too. Which is why I like him as England manager, he's a manager who above all knows how to organise a side.

[pauliewalnuts]

They're just as bad as each other to be honest. PDC can sit there and claim that O Neill wouldn't have pulled off two wins and the points required to stay up. Honestly I think he probably would have in the end, and they'd have started better this season too had O Neill spent Di Canios money on 3-4 O Neill signings rather than 15 new players.
Di Canio is far too much of a clown to manage at the top level. O Neill is past it at club footy. Both are gobshites.

Agreed, MON is yesterday's man and Di Canio is a mental lower leagues manager who should never have been within spitting distance of a job in the top flight.

I also saw the MON interview on SSN when he was talking about Sunderland, and he said in a rather dismissive, sniffy way that there was no way he wouldn't have got the five points from seven matches that it would have taken to keep them up.

Having seen a bit of Sunderland last season, I find it hard to believe he would have. They survived largely due to the new manager bounce, plus a bit of luck.

It might have been decent to see them go down under MON just for his colossal ego to take a kicking.