SOCCER: Expressions of support from John Delaney and other senior FAI officials for the manager couldn't mask the hint of disarray around the Irish camp yesterday as Steve Staunton and his players prepared to travel back to Ireland in the wake of Saturday's 5-2 defeat by Cyprus, the worst international result in the history of Irish football.
Staunton cancelled the training session scheduled for yesterday morning and used the time instead for a team meeting at which the current crisis was discussed. The manager then declined to attend a press conference at which he had been due to appear, opting instead to send his chief coach, Kevin MacDonald.
The FAI subsequently insisted they had originally believed the manager would not be allowed to attend Saturday's post match briefing and had therefore scheduled a Sunday briefing for the media, which was no longer necessary after Staunton did make the one at the stadium.
As he had been the previous night, MacDonald was defiantly upbeat about the situation, describing the team meeting as a positive affair at which all of the players had spoken before leaving with the clear sense that they want to "restore a bit of pride on Wednesday", when Ireland face the Czech Republic at Lansdowne Road.
John O'Shea agreed, saying afterwards: "What's happened behind those doors will stay behind those doors, but the atmosphere was about making sure that what's happened over here stays over here and we go back to Dublin to make sure we show some pride and passion towards our fans, towards our staff and towards ourselves, and we make sure we do the job properly."
MacDonald described the defeat here as "a kick in the bollocks, basically" for his former team-mate but maintained that Staunton would not quit. "He's a very strong character and he's going to show his resilience now," said the Scot. "He was hugely proud to play for his country and he's even more proud to be the manager, so he'll not walk away."
There will not, the association insists, be any move to push him at this stage either. The association's president David Blood addressed squad members at their hotel after Saturday's game and insisted Staunton retains "the full confidence" of his employers.
The organisation's chief executive, John Delaney, the prime mover behind Staunton's appointment who felt it wise to give somebody so inexperienced a four-year contract after initially giving an undertaking that a "world class manager" would be recruited, has also apparently provided private assurances to the Louthman. He later denied reports contained in a Sunday newspaper that any move has been made to recruit a replacement for international football consultant Bobby Robson.
Still, many aspects of the performance on Saturday lent weight to the growing sense that the manager simply does not know how to get the best out of the players available to him. A defeat by the Czechs, particularly one involving another poor performance, would further erode what confidence remains and it is difficult to see how Staunton could attempt, or be allowed to, stay on.
Few would dispute his assertion that he has not been dealt the best of hands, but while Brian Kerr was shown the door a year ago because he could not lift the players sufficiently to win big games, the team have now slumped to the point where they have been humiliated at home by The Netherlands and away by a Cypriot side ranked outside the top 100 in the world.
Two goals apiece from Michael Constantinou and Konstantinos Charalampidis, as well one by Alexandros Garpozis, gave the Cypriots a victory they richly deserved on this occasion. Goals by Stephen Ireland and Richard Dunne ensured the sides were still level at the end of a frantic first half, but the home side was easily the better of the two in the second, scoring three times without reply as the Irish caved in in chaotic fashion.
As had been the case against the Dutch in August, Ireland defended poorly and looked hopelessly disorganised in every area of the field. Asked afterwards about the performance and his own position Staunton insisted that he would not "walk away" from a job he does not believe is "beyond" him.
Instead the defeat was blamed on a succession of "individual errors". Staunton said the preparations for the game had been "professional" and that it is "impossible to coach mistakes". The lack of organisation displayed by his players, however, has further undermined the position of a manager who now desperately needs a result against the Czechs on Wednesday night.
Stephen Kelly, Alan Quinn and Andy Reid are all due to join the squad ahead of the home game but Richard Dunne is suspended after being sent off in Nicosia and Liam Miller is also out. The Corkman returned to Sunderland this morning to receive treatment for a foot injury.
Despite the changes, however, there is still no call-up for Everton midfielder Lee Carsley, a hugely experienced holding midfielder of precisely the type the Republic cold have done with at the weekend. The 32-year-old is reported to have contacted Staunton on Friday to reiterate his desire to travel to Dublin for Wednesday's game, but if he is being ignored now, it is hard to imagine any circumstance in which he will be recalled.
Both MacDonald and Staunton, meanwhile, went out of their way to praise Stephen Ireland's performance, with the former actually claiming the Manchester City midfielder, who made little impact after scoring, was the best Irish player in the game. It is not, in the circumstances, the most glowing of accolades and, having recently turned 20, the midfielder shoulders little responsibility for the events of Saturday but, as it happens, he was not the best of the Irish on the night.
