BACK IN 1996 as Michelle Smith was treading water in Atlanta and treading on plenty of toes in the process, there was an unforeseen panic in a studio buried deep within the belly of RTÉ.
On a small screen, Bill O’Herlihy and Gary O’Toole looked on at events that were unfolding just under 4,000 miles away and as journalistic instinct kicked in, they wondered how to deal with the situation and which path to take when the coverage cut back to them.
It was a delicate moment on several levels but in their view there was only one moral direction to take the conversation.
However, by the time they’d made up their minds and Jim Sherwin had finished fawning, any choice was ruthlessly taken away as an order came down from on high. The exact words used were that they were under no circumstances to spoil the mood of national celebration by introducing any tangents.
It was a watershed moment in Irish sports broadcasting and one too symptomatic of our overall attitude.
Too often with Irish sport, that has been the case. While anaylsing others, we don’t step back and forensically analyse ourselves. Our achievements are not open for discussion or debate and while it’s hypocrictial and it’s wrong, we still pat ourselves on the back without the slightest sliver of guilt.
By the end of it all, we fool ourselves into thinking we are special and we are different and we are deserving and we are a story that will gladden the hearts of the wider world. But sometimes the mood of national celebreation does need to be spoiled by the reality of the situation and as we head for the European Championships, we now need to stop with the over-elaborate and unwarranted self-congratulating.
Think about it. As Giovanni Trapattoni gets raised onto a pedastal by a nation baying for a good news story, how must Brian Kerr be feeling?
If Mick McCarthy was shunted along because of all that unpleasentess and Steve Staunton was booted out the door because he was way out of his depth, at least Kerr in the modern pantheon of Irish managers deserves the same sort of credit being thrust upon the Italian for the very simple reason that his performance and his results were every bit as good. But instead, we have been so blinded by the desitnation we have now reached, that we’ve forgotten the journey needs to be dragged into the conversation.
Reaching a major tournament should be a reward for excellence in getting there. Yet how can you describe Trapattoni’s reign as an achievement when so much of what he has done has come down to gaudy luck with little in the way of actual results.
From the average group we just fell over the line and into second place in, we couldn’t compete with a Russian side ranked number 13 in the world, and we couldn’t beat a Slovak side ranked 25 places further back. And when missing out on the last World Cup we failed against an Italian side that finished the tournament outside the world’s top 10 and a French side that finished outside the world’s top 20. Compare that with Kerr who went just as close to making a World Cup.
At the time of missing out on Germany, only a French team ranked fourth and a Swiss side ranked 13th got in our way while his shot at the Europeans was hijacked by early-game defeats under McCarthy.
We aren’t saying Trapattoni has done a poor job, we are just saying he hasn’t done a particuarly splendid job either.
In four years of competitive football thus far, beating Georgia and Cyprus was enough to reach a play-off, while beating Armenia, Macedonia, Andorra and Estonia was enough to reach a major finals. Is that really a cause for such celebration?
This isn’t 2001 and we haven’t just done what seemed impossible against world-class sides. Besides, it’s not like there haven’t been oppurtunities to beat better teams. Indeed in 10 games against Italy, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Russia and Slovakia there hasn’t been a single victory.
What’s more, by getting places, even when taking into account such a list, goes to show the standard of international football and the argument that this is a poor Ireland doesn’t hold up. Relative to the rest, we are as good as we ever were because the game at international level, outside the top handful of teams, is so poor right now that beating a few minnows can get you to a European Championship.
Minimum requirements
When Slovakia and Slovenia are getting to World Cups, that should be our minimum expectation. But the problem right now is this is a quick fix to a nation depressed by their circumstances. It’s a distraction and it’s something we pretend to be proud of when there’s no reason to be.
What’s worse, while hiding from the present, we haven’t been able to see the damage that’s been done to the future of Irish soccer either. We can’t complain about the standard of players we have and the standard of football we are playing if Trapattoni is pushing our best and our most entertaining away. Whatever about Stephen Ireland in the past, you’d wonder whether Seamus Coleman, James McCarthy and James McClean will ever feel committed to the cause again given Trapattoni’s immovable approach to selection and tactics and his extended contract that takes him towards Brazil. There’s only so many times you can humiliate a player and expect him to keep crawling back to serve your cause.
The thing is, Trapattoni cannot lose from here on in. Being at the European Championships is Ireland’s level so he has achieved what should be expected of someone on the normal wages of an international manager, not to mention his. Anything else this summer is a bonus and would be a genuine cause for national celebration. Until then though, there shouldn’t be such a mood to spoil.
Kerr didn’t come anywhere near as close to qualifying for a World Cup, Trapattoni missed out because of cheating by the opposition. Kerr missed out because he didn’t score in consecutive home games against France and Switzerland. Despite needing a win against the Swiss (who were content to play for a draw) he persisted with a 4-4-2 formation, even taking off Robbie Keane and Clinton Morrison for Gary Doherty and David Connolly. Why not take off a full back for another striker? If Plan A isn’t working, why persist with Plan A?
Also, Israel finished ahead of us in that group, not just France and Switzerland. As for Trapattoni not winning in 10 games, Kerr didn’t win in eight games against France, Switzerland and Israel. His team never came from behind to claim a win and never beat any team ranked higher than 86 (Georgia in 2003) and over the course of two campaigns only claimed seven wins in total.
Trapattoni deserves some criticism, every manager does, but to say that Kerr was treated badly by comparison is lazy at best.
Kerr didn’t beat Israel at all in the 2006 qualifiers, who were ranked lower than Ireland at the time, which only left wins against the Faroes, and Cyprus twice. We were extremely lucky to beat Cyprus with Given saving a penalty. If we had drawn with France, we would have finished with 18, not 22 as Trapattoni achieved in the Euro 2012 qualifiers.
We’ll never know how Kerr would have done in a play off situation because he never qualified for one. Switzerland faced Turkey in the play offs, advancing on away goals. Turkey were ranked 11th in the world at the time, so it’s unreasonable to assume Kerr would not have beaten them, given (as I’ve said above) he never won a competitive game against a team ranked lower than 86.
Kerr’s record at underage level is still celebrated, but whatever he achieved at that level does not excuse him from criticism for his record at senior level.
Trapattoni’s treatment of McCarthy has not been celebrated, it’s similar to the criticism he received for not picking Coleman, or more recently McClean. This ignores the fact that he’s brought the likes of Whelan, Andrews, Ward, St Ledger, O’Dea, Foley, Walters and Cox into the squad.
quote from above “we failed to beat Slovakia who were roughly 16 places below us during that 20012 qualifying campaign”
Slovakia played Ireland in Zilina on 12 October 2010. According to FIFA.com, at that time Slovakia were ranked 16th in the world, Ireland were 33rd.
The return game in Dublin was on 2 September 2011, again according to FIFA.com at the time Slovakia were ranked 26th in the world, Ireland were ranked 31st
Have to agree! But negativity is not allowed. Let just say I would have travelled with the team but the thought off watching traps style and seeing us probably getting humiliated in 3 matches and paying 1,000′s of euro doing it was never an option. I’ll watch from home and hopefully the buzz of being in the tournament will be good for the 2 weeks. We are appalling to watch though…appalling. But Trap has done enough to get us there and it’s better than not being in it so he deserves the big occasion, I do worry what lies ahead though when Dunne, Given, Duff and Keane retire
“who has Trapattoni beaten? Similarly poor sides.” The last time I checked Trapattoni’s Ireland beat France in Paris.
Hi tetsujin1979. Kerr beat the lesser teams in 2006 qualification group home and away as did Trapattoni for 2012, so very similar. Kerr drew with the decent teams in his group (arguably, and world ranking suggests, better teams than we’ve just played) home and away as did Trap, with one exception. We lost at home to France, but had we drawn, which would have meant an identical sequence of results to the latest campaign, we still wouldn’t have made the top two. On top of that there was the fact Estonia came out of the hat this time around. So both were similar in terms of performance if not luck yet a guy that helped underage football here so much was scorned while a guy that is, arguably, hurting the future of the national team with his treatment of the likes of McCarthy is celebrated. There is something vastly wrong there given the similarity in results and it again comes down to the fact we are blinded by the destination, and not scrutinizing the journey at all.
He had to bring them into the squad or there’d be no one else to take the jerseys. The point is he brought guys into the team and left better players out of it, for what in McCarthy’s case can only be described as an agenda and in McClean’s case can only be described as an unhelpful rigidness on the part of the manager which ignores performances. In the case of both players, given his lack of time here and at games in England, I think he is blatantly unaware of the commitment both made by playing for the Republic and what they went through by doing just that.
Yes, Kerr only beat those teams but who has Trapattoni beaten? Similarly poor sides. Yes we were lucky against Cyprus under Kerr but same could be said about timing and result of opening game in Armenia as they improved at home as campaign progressed and we weren’t exactly dominating that fixture and weren’t deserving of three points. And yes, we failed to beat an Israeli team that was roughly ranked 16 places below us during that 2006 qualifying campaign, but guess what, we failed to beat Slovakia who were roughly 16 places below us during that 20012 qualifying campaign. End result doesn’t always tell the whole tale and while important, in this case we shouldn’t just look at the end result to judge a man, especially given how we judged Kerr in particular for similar mediocrity.
Hard to know what to make of this article’s distaste for national elation that surrounds sporting events. I’d contest that we’re the only country in the world whose people unconditionally back their sportsmen regardless of how obscure the discipline. When Ireland beat England in the cricket world cup, people who couldn’t tell a six from a four if it landed on their lap were delighted for the team for the simple fact that they wore green. However slight, it is a factor in some Irish sporting successes. That said, it’s important to strike a balance between the ‘give it a go’ attitude and the never-satisfied English way.
* and women
Saying results under Kerr were as good as under Trapattoni is a nonsense.
Under Kerr in the qualifying stages for Euro 2004 we lamely drew 0-0 away to an awful Albania side and needed a last-second own goal to beat them 2-1 at home. We also needed a late Gary Doherty goal to beat Georgia. Fair enough, Trap’s Ireland struggled at home against Georgia as well before luckily winning 2-1 but were able to put Georgia away easily away from home.
We then drew 1-1 at home to a Russia side nowhere near as good as they are today, when we needed to win. Infuriatingly, Kerr did not make tactical changes in the closing stages of this game, or attacking substitutions. What an absolute joke. We needed to win and he just did nothing, even though we hadn’t looked like scoring. To round that campaign off, we were soundly beaten 2-0 by an average Switzerland side.
In the qualifying stages of the 2006 world cup, we drew twice with Switzerland, and in the home tie Kerr refused to make any attacking changes AGAIN despite the fact that it was one of the last matches of the group and we needed a win to have any chance of progressing to the world cup. We got a good draw away to France before losing at home. We also surrendered a lead away to Israel in the 90th minute, having gone into ultra-defensive mode after Clinton Morrison’s 4th-minute goal. We also managed to draw 2-2 at home to Israel having bee n 2-0 up within twenty minutes. Kerr enjoyed a couple of impressive friendly victories but this was mitigated by the humiliating 3-0 defeat to Nigeria. Even with an experimental team, that result was not acceptable.
You also ignore the fact that Russia and Italy were better than the top seeds Kerr had to contend with as manager i.e a poor France side and a Russian team far inferior to the edition Trapattoni encountered. Slovakia were an excellent team who thrived at the 2010 world cup, and while we didn’t play well enough against them and I criticised Trapattoni for it, draws weren’t bad results. We also got two very respectable draws against Italy, as well as impressive 2-0 friendly win against most their strongest side (while we played mainly our second string) in June 2011. I justice had prevailed, Ireland would have qualified for World Cup 2010 and we have qualified for Euro 2012. You can also throw in the comfortable victory in the Carling Nations’ Cup as a bonus, as well as our current world ranking of 18th, the highest it’s been for 9 years (strangely enough, that’s 2003, the year Kerr took over and ruined it).
The football Ireland have played under Trapattoni could be a lot better, don’t get me wrong. He should be selecting different players in central midfield, without a doubt. I’m amongst the critics. But to say that his reign has yielded the same results and standard of performance as Kerr’s with more favourable outcomes and better luck is taking it too far.
Pedantic but the rankings for that September, when the game was played, even though released a couple of weeks after the game, give a reflection of where Fifa saw the teams at that stage. By that stage they were only 10 places behind us when we played them in Lansdowne and we showed zero ambition to win.
But a number or two aside, point still stands. Just as Kerr couldn’t beat Israel, Trap couldn’t beat Slovakia. Indeed those two aren’t even comparable in terms of the groups. Kerr had a better team but France 2005 were better than Russia 2011, Switzerland 2005 were better than Slovakia 2011, Israel 2005 were better than Armenia 2011 and if you want to go further, Cyprus 2005 were better than Macedonia 2011. I’m not saying Kerr did well, I’m saying Trap didn’t equally as poorly and just because one had massive luck, the help of other results and an easy draw, that shouldn’t mean he is viewed in a different light, one he didn’t create but other freak events did.
That’s a cop out though, they lost over two legs against a side that were shown up to be average come the World Cup. You can talk about the players they had and the potential they had, but as a team, they were really exposed for what they were come South Africa.
We actually drew with France in Paris but nonethless I agee with the point. The fact is that Trap got us to two play-offs (realistically the best the thrid seed is even gonna get) out of two after three campaigns without reaching one. Kerr shouldn’t have been sacked, Staunton shouldn’t have been hired but Trap certainly should not be slated for the job he has done.