Good Memories Were Had In Kazakhstan

World Cup qualification begun on Friday for Ireland.

A boost was needed to erase the memories of the European Championships in Poland and Ukraine.

A resounding victory over the lowly ranked Kazakhstan and we could all start to move on from those 3 heavy defeats from the summer.

A resounding victory and we may all start to believe again.

Not only believe in Brazil.

But believe in Giovanni once more.

Cut to the 89th minute in Astana on Friday night and calls for Giovanni’s head could be heard all the way back to Ireland.

What transpired over the next 2 minutes had a big effect on our qualification hopes.

But no doubt, it also had major consequences on the next 2 years of Irish football.

Lost, and we may already have had to give up the chase for qualification.

Worse still - lost, and we may have had to find a new manager.

The pressure Giovanni would have brought upon himself following a 1-0 defeat to Kazakhstan, coupled with the memory of the summer, may have proved too much even for the greatest of Italian managers to survive.

So although appreciative Robbie and Kevin’s double got us 3 points, it’s the ramifications they’ve had on Giovanni that we should be most thankful for.

You see, memory in football these days is shorter than it’s ever been.

Calls for Giovanni’s head, despite 3 points in Astana, is no greater proof of this.

Irish supporters seem to forget, that although the performance in both the Euros and on the astro pitch on Friday night were poor - they were a far cry from where we were before Giovanni’s appointment.

Being placed in a tough group containing the 2 finalists in Euro 2012 has been discussed before.

With our squad of players it was very difficult to see us with Giovanni, or any other manager for that matter, getting out of the group.

As for Kazakhstan, the supporters need to realise this was something of a new beginning.

Missing through retirement or suspension was Shay Given, Damien Duff and Richard Dunne.

That’s 201 caps that would usually have been there.

That’s a lot of memories for the Irish supporters.

Keith Andrews was also suspended meaning James McCarthy was starting his first competitive game.

Our defense had 2 players from the Championship, 1 from the MLS and a reserve goalkeeper.

Add to this an astro pitch, a 6,000 km journey and the fact it was the start of the season, meant a 2-1 victory, no matter how we got it, was actually a terrific result.

A bad performance alright.

But a much better result.

A much better result than the 5-2 drubbing received at the hands of Cyprus.

A result which should live long in the memory.

A result which occurred under the reign of the last manager before Giovanni.

The sort of manager we could expect to attract had the FAI decided to rid our nation of this trophy laden Italian.

It’s one thing ridding us of Giovanni after a few bad results.

It’s another finding a manager to replace him.

With us being in somewhat of a decline, it will be tough to attract a manager as successful as Giovanni again.

Losing players such as Damien and Shay coupled with father time catching up on John, Robbie and Richard means this position is hardly the most attractive of propositions.

Not for a manager as successful as Giovanni anyway.

More like a Brian Kerr, Steve Staunton or caretaker Don Givens.

All of who failed to even make a play-off.

Not once.

In 6 long years.

Giovanni of course got us to within extra time of the World Cup in 2010.

Giovanni of course got us to the European Championships in 2012.

The man that could have been out of a job had Robbie and Kevin not intervened late on in a disappointing performance.

Not a memorable performance.

But a memorable result.

As memory in football is very short alright.

Just short of being a disaster this time...

Players Only Loyalty is to the Game

Loyalty does not exist in football.

And nor should it.

Yet the topic of players and disloyalty rears it’s ugly head in the transfer window as frequently as players move club.

The problem with loyalty is simple.

The subject matter is always broached from a supporters point of view.

But supporters aren’t in football.

They are always only the support that allows football to live.

Football supporters can be the embodiment of loyalty.

Some will tell you they haven’t missed a games in 30 years.

Others have tattoos of crests twice the size of their heart.

But it is because of this almost blind loyalty that supporters believe their players will feel the same way about their club.

After all, these players are getting to live the dream of so many of these supporters.

They must love the club to do so.

They must therefore be loyal.

After all, every supporter would be - if given the chance to play for their club.

Or so some supporters would believe.

Wayne Rooney grew up joining his boyhood heros Everton.

They gave him Premier League football.

Yet Wayne wanted more.

As loyal as he was to the blue half of Merseyside, he wanted to win major honours.

He joined Manchester United.

He won major honours.

Jamie Carragher has now spent his entire career at Liverpool.

The biggest rival to Everton, whom like Wayne, he also supported.

Jamie would never have won the Champions League with the Toffees.

‘Loyal’ to the reds.

Yet I use the word loyal loosely.

True, Jamie and also Steven Gerard have stayed at the one club their entire careers.

Through thick an thin, supporters might argue.

But the reality is, they both stayed because they were getting something in return.

Their careers were benefitting from playing for a club who regularly qualified for the Champions League.

Who won the Champions league.

Along with numerous other cups.

But even after capturing the biggest club prize of all, Steven’s head was being turned by another team.

Liverpool supporters will say he was loyal in the end when he opted against the switch.

But if winning the Champions League was almost not enough to keep the player who joined them at the age of 10 - imagine what finishing mid-table would have done?

Or getting relegated?

Like the Leeds United team of 2003.

A great team that had taken a gamble on Champions League glory and when success on the pitch wasn’t achieved - the wheels came off rapidly.

A player exodus commenced.

Amongst them was a young Alan Smith.

A Leeds man through and through.

Made up of equal measures of love for his club and hatred for his rivals.

No bigger rival to his team of course was Manchester United.

The team he joined 3 weeks after Leeds left the Premier League.

No championship for Alan.

No, straight to the Champions League for this loyal supporters favourite.

Even those who stayed with the sunken ship cannot claim loyalty.

Gary Kelly hung around for 3 more seasons in the Championship.

Unlikely he could have found another big club at his age.

And he was the third highest paid full back in England after all.

Manchester United have their loyal bunch too.

Gary Neville, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs to name a few.

All loyal one club men.

All achieving every ambition imaginable in the game at one of the biggest clubs in the world.

No sign of the championship for them.

There are of course players who remain ‘loyal’ to their smaller clubs.

Matt Le Tissier perhaps the most overt.

Regularly coveted by larger, more successful clubs.

It would have been easy for him to move on.

But he was the star man at Southampton.

The center of everything.

And he was guaranteed Premier league football.

Finishing his career at Southampton was great to see.

Loyal to the team that gave him his break.

Yet Matt grew up in Guernsey - hardly a haven for Southampton supporters.

Supporters adorn some of the aforementioned players.

They see them as ‘loyal’ servants to the cause as they have remained at their beloved club.

The truth is, the ‘loyal’ ones always made sure it suited them to stay.

This was their career after all.

They don’t support their clubs.

Their clubs support them.

‘There’s no loyalty in the game anymore’ is heard up and down every terrace come transfer window season.

Could it just be that is heard during the period since the Bosman ruling came to fruition?

No longer could the clubs decide where and when the player would go.

Instead the player inherited the power.

The power to remain loyal.

Loyal to the club.

Or loyal to their career...

Ireland’s Performances Are Not the Peak of the Problem

Ireland’s performance at the European Championships in Poland was a harsh reality.

But a review of the players decline in the squad brings forth a reality even harsher.

Talk of retirements usually surface after era ending markers such as this.

The big 5 getting a constant mention at the moment.

Shay Given in goal had an extremely poor tournament by his own highest of standards.

Always considered one of the top keepers in the English Premier League, if never the top, his decline in form has coincided with father time and his inability to recover sufficiently from ever increasing injuries.

The first signs came when Shay finally landed himself at a big club only to find after 1 season, he was demoted to the reserves to allow the returning Joe Hart claim first choice.

His decline cemented when he sealed his transfer to Aston Villa a year later.

While Manchester City were being crowned champions of England last month - Shay had to look back on a season that saw his new team finish 16th.

The same team of course, in which Richard Dunne played.

Similar to Shay, when Man City started getting big, they realised they could afford to bring in whoever they wanted.

Despite 4 player of the season awards at the Ethiad in a row, it wasn’t long before Richard was replaced with players the calibre of Vincent Kompany and Kolo Toure.

Much like Ireland in Poland - he never stood a chance.

Damian Duff was once a diamond in Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea dynasty.

Valued as high as €17 at one stage - it wasn’t long before he took a step down too.

The dizzying heights of Champions League football and Premier League titles were replaced with relegation involving Newcastle and his current spell at the never threatening Fulham.

John O’Shea spent 12 seasons at one of the biggest clubs in the world.

11 major honours in total - including the Champions League.

Only 3 Irish players have ever won more.

Yet last summer it was pastures new for John and the not so dizzying heights of the Stadium of Light.

And of course, our Captain and talisman, Robbie Keane.

After finding his home at White Hart Lane, one last big money move looked on the cards when Liverpool came calling.

But after only 4 months at Anfield, it was back to Tottenham and soon a drop further to West Ham on loan in double quick time.

For the amount of goals Robbie has got in the Premier League over the years, it’s tough to think our greatest goal threat is spending his early 30’s in the less than impressive Major League.

Outside the senior 5 there are plenty of examples of decline in the Irish squad too.

With the exception of Aiden McGeady, most of the squad are in worse shape than they were when Giovanni took over.

Kevin Doyle, Stephen Hunt and Stephen Ward will all begin next season in the Championship with Wolves.

Kevin had been linked with Arsenal not so long ago.

Sean St. Ledger has gone from promising young defender on the cusp of the Premier League to a Championship regular.

Keith Andrews has had a lot of ups and downs in the past 3 seasons culminating in him currently being without a club.

And the reserves don’t fare off much better either.

Kieron Westwood has gone from being in the Championship team of the year 2 seasons in a row to warming the bench of Sunderland.

Paul McShane has dropped out of the top flight.

Darren O’Dea and Paul Green are both unattached.

And Darron Gibson followed John out the Old Trafford door.

It could be argued that Shane Long, Glen Whelan and Jon Walters have improved.

But in truth, their talents have - their club status has remained the same.

That just leaves us with the young James McClean, who could do nothing but rise if he was to make the squad.

And it is with this youth that the next campaign may lye.

So many of this squads are no longer heading skyward - with this summers Championships seen as one of their peaks.

2 years from now when Brazil comes around, it’s hard to see many of the squad being in a better position.

But perhaps it is this reason alone that Giovanni should look for new blood.

The next generation are already looking better off than they were when Giovanni took over.

James McCarthy, Seamus Coleman, Ciaran Clark to name a few.

Indeed Brazil in 2014 might be a peak for some of these players.

Let’s just hope it’s not their highest peak...

Caught in a Trapp

3 games.

3 defeats.

And a goal difference of minus 8.

Pretty conclusive reading.

A dream to get to the European Championships.

A nightmare at it.

However, Ireland were in a much worse place when Giovanni Trapattoni first took over.

Embarrassing defeats like the 5-2 hammering by Cyprus meant Steve Staunton didn’t last long.

And while the FAI chased Paul Jewell to become the man to lead Ireland back to where the nation craved - a wily old Italian was having ideas of his own.

With 26 major honours to his name, ‘Il Trap’ was about to step in and lead the nation forward.

Never in our history had this nation been managed by a man so successful.

Indeed, an FA cup was all that had been won by all previous Ireland managers combined.

And after 3 campaigns in which Ireland had failed to even make the play-offs - Giovanni’s task was simple.

So too was his plan.

At least it was simple on the eye.

Make ourselves as defensively tight as possible and adopt his 'Italian' approach.

Cyprus would not be scoring 5 goals against us again anytime soon.

In fact most teams would not be scoring against us at all.

Giovanni’s system has been in place 37 years now.

It’s not the same in 2012 as it was in 1975.

It has been tinkered with plus thought about and adjusted accordingly over the years to allow for all the gradual changes that occur over what is now 5 decades that the Italian has been managing in.

It is a system that has brought him Italian titles.

German titles.

Portuguese titles.

Even every major European title that was on offer.

It was a system intended to bring qualification to a major tournament to a squad of players who so desperately craved it.

And it worked.

After 2 years in charge, the Irish came within extra time of qualifying for a World Cup.

A far cry from that night in Nicosia.

Defence was tight.

The team remained undefeated in a group that contained Italy and Bulgaria.

And a limited squad of players had come to the brink.

Failure to qualify for the fourth campaign in a row was suddenly not as ghastly as before.

This time we came close.

Very close.

The system was working.

Fast forward 2 years and with largely the same squad of players, Giovanni had masterminded his team through the play-offs and straight to the promised land.

The system, with 2 more years of adjustments and a squad well rehearsed at it - had qualified.

It wasn’t very attacking.

But it was very effective.

Ireland had gone 14 games undefeated.

Conceding only 1 goal in 12 games.

The system behind it all, of course.

Until suddenly Croatia played us.

Then Spain.

Then Italy.

And the system crashed around our feet.

4 years hard work under the highly decorated Italian had suddenly gone to waste.

And the system was to blame.

What else could it be?

What had been good enough to get us to Euro 2012 was actually not good enough to allow us compete at it.

The tight defence on which it was built had collapsed.

It was Cyprus all over again.

Ireland were leaking goals at almost every attack.

And not even threatening the oppositions goal.

Giovanni had perfected his system after managing in so many of the top league teams around.

But there in may lye his problem.

Ireland are no top side.

In fact, Ireland are a very limited side.

Whereas he could call upon Michel Platini or Lothar Matthaus or Francisco Totti in the past, he was now relying on players who were playing for Stoke City, Wolves and West Brom.

Honest, hard working professionals.

But not world players of the year as before.

The system is only as good as the sum of it parts.

And while it may be world class - the players unfortunately, are not.

The system is great if you can rely on Francisco in the final third to get you the goal.

Or Lothar running from midfield putting the opposition on the back foot.

Ireland unfortunately, are reliant on players like Keith Andrews and Kevin Doyle to do this.

The team made up of the lower half of the Premier league and beyond had found themselves able to turn over the likes of Armenia, Montenegro and Estonia in this system.

Something they'd struggled with before.

But when they faced real competition like both games against Russia and the 3 group games in the tournament - it was a different story.

It appeared the system had failed.

In some ways it had.

Not because it couldn't work against other teams.

But perhaps because the players weren't good enough to make it work...

Best Fans in the World Maybe, But Not the Best Supporters

I took a considered moment out for myself as the fields of Athenry billowed around Arena Gdansk.

After due deliberation, I too, joined in for a chorus of one of Ireland’s most renowned football anthems.

I was gutted that we had just been thumped so convincingly.

But I felt the Irish players deserved something back for all the effort they’d put in over the previous 2 seasons.

If they had of performed as inadequately as they had against the Croats - it would have been a different story.

When outclassed by superior opponents yet willing to give their all, I decided to support them.

I was there as a supporter after all.

And they needed me.

Support can change a game.

Fortress Anfield became synonymous with their successful football club due to the vociferous crowd.

Roy Keane himself spoke of the respect he had for the Liverpool atmosphere.

How intelligent they were about football, respectfully applauding when the opposition had done something worthy of ardent praise.

However, this week was also the week in which Roy questioned the expectations of the Irish support.

In an opinion subjected mainly towards the players of the Irish squad, it was the supporters who took offence.

Or at this point, I’ll switch the expression to ‘fans’.

The supporters knew what he meant.

They know enough about football and enough about what they’d seen unfold in front of them in Poland to interpret Roy correctly.

Roy was right.

Ireland weren’t good enough.

And the supporters should demand more.

In fact, they deserved more.

Roy has no problem with fans and supporters singing throughout the build-up and throughout the match itself.

He’d already gone on record as saying how great the Irish support is.

He even went as far as clarifying his comments in his column the following Sunday to avoid confusion.

Yet come kick off in the next game, the ‘fans’ of Ireland had already created a song all for the great man himself.

“F**k you Roy Keane, we’ll sing when we want”

Roy had won his potential debate with the Irish fans, without a need for retort.

4 nil down and heading for our heaviest competitive defeat in over 50 years.

“We’ll sing when we want”

Heading out of the European Championships after only 4 days?

“We’ll sing when we want”

Losing to Italy on the way to equalling the worst ever record at a European Championship?

Well, you get the picture.

If that’s all that’s needed to get the fans singing - there clearly is no requisite for expectation.

Not from the fans anyway.

The supporters, well that’s a different matter.

For them, this hurt.

And hurt badly.

10 years is a long time not to feature at a major tournament.

To come and see our dreams turn quickly to nightmares was not a singing affair.

The supporters were too crestfallen to keep the songs going.

And they were too knowing about football to join in with the “F**k yous” directed at the greatest player ever to don the green jersey.

Roy had done too much for Ireland to warrant abuse like this.

Let alone warrant abuse for a justified attack on our underachieving players.

Yet it was the fans who took exception to these home truths.

These same fans who had the audacity to hurl abuse at their captain and record goalscorer when deployed in the thankless task of chasing down the possession obsessed Spanish defence - outnumbered 5 to 1.

If they got frustrated at a player not giving 100%, behaving selfishly, even arrogantly - they could be forgiven.

But when their team is quite simply outclassed by potentially one of the most successful sides ever seen, support was the answer.

Not jeers.

Or cheers.

But encouragement to push them on.

Give them the support to chase down one more lost cause.

Force one more corner.

Score one more goal.

But no, the same fans who had just jeered Aiden McGeady to stay off the pitch after his momentum had taken him over the touchline, had turned their backs to the action to ‘do the Poznan’ by the time he had returned to play.

The Poznan, reserved only for goals by Manchester City supporters, was been exercised whilst 1 down to the Italians.

What was Mario Balotelli figuring as he watched on from the bench?

Had his beloved Italian support all wore green that day or did this Irish crowd just not ‘get’ his club’s goal celebration?

Manchester United supporters didn’t do the Poznan when 1 nil down at the Etihad.

They expected more from their team.

As did Roy.

The Irish fans had different ideas though.

They were there to party.

The atmosphere they created was unbelievable.

Build-up to every game commenced hours before any ball was kicked.

And it was world class to experience.

Unless you were a supporter.

It just made it all the more difficult knowing the only time the Aviva had sold out since it opened was against Estonia.

Not when the team needed support.

They were already 4 nil up.

No, the return leg was going to be a party.

Armenia at home was when support was needed.

But the fans weren’t there.

Slovakia didn’t sell out either.

Not even Russia could.

When the team really needed support.

It was when 4 nil up against Estonia.

When the fans could party.

And they did.

Unsure as to whether they were so jubilant for the group of players who had finally qualified after so many years of heartbreak.

Or because they’d secured the biggest two week party of the year for themselves.

The fans will remember the European Championship for the sing songs, the beers and the ‘craic’ that occurred on every night.

And who can blame them?

The supporters however, will all meet up in a few months at the Kazakhstan game.

In hope.

Eternal optimism for Ireland’s next campaign.

Their dreams may having turned to nightmares.

But in Kazakhstan, at least they’ll be able to support each other...

Ireland Insured that it was Fully Comprehensive

The great adventure is over.

What started with a 1-0 win over Armenia almost 2 years ago - ended in defeat this week.

Not the heroic kind synonymous with Irish football over the years.

No, not at all.

No handballs from Frenchmen.

No last minute Macedonian headers.

No missed penalties.

Just defeat.

Comprehensive defeat.

The hopes and dreams of so many Irish fans were in full flow coming into the tournament.

14 games without loss.

Only 1 goal conceded in 10 games.

We had a manager who had given us a game plan.

Made us really tough to score against.

Even tougher to beat.

Oh how we had improved since the embarrassment of our last management team.

Heck, we were world beaters.

In the last 4 years we had done one on the French in Paris.

Until that ‘heroic defeat’ entered the fray again.

We had played Italy 3 times since they won the World Cup.

Masterminding 2 draws and a victory.

And the last competitive tie we played before our trip to Poland, saw us destroy Estonia in the Play-offs.

Destroy.

The belief was back.

And we were taking it to the Euros with us.

The fans sang songs.

Invaded the square.

Belief all over the stadium.

That is, until the officials kicked things off.

3 games later and Ireland had equalled the all time worst record of any team in a European Championship.

Our undefeated record was smashed with 3 straight losses.

Our defence caved in and conceded 9 goals.

Our attack replied with just the 1.

Our greatest ever goalkeeper, so long a hero, had proved culpable on more than 1 occasion.

That was more than 1 occasion in every game mind.

The leader of our defence, so masterful in Moscow, was playing desperately below his own high standards.

Our all time leading goalscorer, and Captain, had little or no impact.

The list goes on.

And on.

Each of our heros defeated.

Each so comprehensively.

Of course, effort was not an issue.

It never is with this squad.

It was just the harsh reality that this time, defeat came about because we were not good enough.

Outplayed.

Outfought.

Outclassed.

The belief that had returned to Ireland since the change in management had evaporated after just 3 minutes.

Replaced with this cold harsh reality.

The Ireland team were simply not good enough.

And unlike the heroic defeats, we now had nothing to hold on to this time.

The emptiness of being outclassed was a lot harder to stomach.

No Frenchman to direct our anger at.

No referee to curse through the next campaign.

No excuses.

Just comprehension.

That Ireland simply were not good enough...

Leagues of Opportunity

23 players will board the plane for Ireland’s first involvement in a major tournament in 10 years.

A squad with players plying their trade in England, Scotland, US of A and Russia.

A squad with Premiership experience - Champions League too.

And a squad with 610 games in the League of Ireland between them.

Of the group still in with a chance of starting the tournament, there are no fewer than 7 players who have strutted their stuff in this islands own League.

An absolute testament to how the standard of talent in the League of Ireland has risen in the last ten years.

Stephen Ward, James McClean, Kevin Doyle, Shane Long, David Forde, Keith Fahey and Seamus Coleman.

All stand a chance of being in the final squad for Euro 2012.

All played in the League of Ireland at some stage in their career.

And the list doesn’t stop there.

Calls for Wes Hoolahan of Norwich have been loud.

Daryl Murphy at Celtic, Conor Sammon at Wigan, Noel Hunt at Reading, David Meyler at Sunderland and Brian Murphy at QPR were all on the periphery of the squad over the last season.

All together making 457 appearances in the League at home.

A League that has risen in stock.

And keeps rising.

Having knocked on the door of the group stages of Europe for a few years, it was Shamrock Rovers who finally made the break though only last season.

Aston Villa were the first to identify the talent from that pool of players.

And with our options at left back in the senior team limited - how long before we see Enda Stevens gain international recognition?

The standard of the English Premier League has of course risen in this time as well.

Pushing Ireland’s best - lower down the ranks.

The lower they fall, the more the League of Ireland presents it’s appeal.

In search of either redemption or simply a continuation of their craft, the option to return home is far more enticing of late compared to even the early ‘00’s.

Any young Irish player contemplating a return home need look no further than the success story of Keith Fahey.

Having spent 2 seasons at Arsenal and a further 2 at Aston Villa, Keith found himself playing for Bluebell United at the age of 20.

9 years on and he’s heading to Poland for a major championship.

Roy O’Donovan, Gary Deegan, Karl Sheppard to name but a few have all come home for a period and headed back over after very successful spells.

The League of Ireland also has great offerings on the pictch too, for players outside the Premier League.

Shamrock Rovers’ squad got to play in 12 European games this season.

Against some quality opposition.

Even lesser teams like St. Pats made it through 4 rounds of European competition when Keith was their talisman.

Sligo, Derry, Cork, Bohemians and Shelbourne have all had great success in Europe too.

An unlikely occurrence for those plying their trade in the Championship or lower.

It can provide opportunities for players who can look beyond the Premier League bubble as well.

Padraig Amond, Dominic Foley and Shane Robinson all earned rewards to the top divisions of Portugal, Belgium and Finland respectively, after being spotted while playing in European competition.

Managers too.

Brian Kerr went from managing St. Pats to landing the biggest job in Ireland.

Lawrie Sanchez went from Sligo to the Premier League to the biggest job in Northern Ireland.

Michael O’Neill has that hotseat now.

And there was Sam Allardyce at Limerick too.

Stephen Kenny, Jim Gannon and now Pat Fenlon have all engineered moves to bigger clubs after successful periods managing at home.

But of course for every success story of players going back across to bigger clubs -  there are those who ended up in League 1, 2 or lower.

Roy O’Donovan, Joe Gamble, Dave Mooney and Alan Bennett were star players for Cork around the same time as Kevin and Shane.

But they couldn’t match the success they found.

Instead they found their level.

The league still granted them the opportunity to go higher, they just couldn’t find the path.

But it is giving the opportunities to these players.

No many had heard of James McClean at the start of the season.

But that’s because attendances are low in the league.

For those of us who did see him for the candystripes - we knew how good he was.

Good enough to have the whole nation demand he gets an opportunity against Spain.

Good enough to ensure a Derry City player gets the opportunity to finish a season at a European Championships.

Good enough to take his opportunity...