O’Leary for Ireland

I don’t want to be seen as jumping on the anti-Mick McCarthy bandwagon, but the best thing he can do is go to the FAI and say, “Look, I’m heading off.”

Not as a consequence of us losing 2-1 to Switzerland, but because he’s made it clear that his future lies in the Premiership. Mick didn’t do himself – or the Ireland football team – any favours by making it clear he wanted the Sunderland job just a few days before a crucial European Championship qualifier. Wondering if your manager’s about to sling his hook is not the proper preparation for a game that you absolutely have to win. In that respect, I think Mick and his handlers were guilty of a serious error of judgement.

He may have been overlooked for the Stadium of Light job, but you can bet your life that come Christmas some struggling Premiership club’s going to come knocking, and more likely than not Mick will be off. There’s no point in him planning for our next two qualifiers against Albania and Georgia in March if somebody else is going to be in charge.

If he doesn’t resign there’s a real chance of the FAI sacking him, which would be a shame given how well he’s performed. As I’ve said before in hotpress, he’s done a brilliant job of taking over from Jack and getting us to the World Cup. I don’t think it will, but were the unthinkable to happen and we return from Tirana and Tblisi without a win, his reputation as a manager will be severely dented.

The best person to take over from Mick in my book is David O’Leary, but the rumblings from Merrion Square indicate that they’re not too keen. If that’s the case, the other Irishman I wouldn’t mind seeing in the job is Joe Kinnear. There’s a tendency to think of him as yesterday’s man, but since recovering from illness he’s done a brilliant job at Luton. Joe’s shown there, and at Wimbledon, that he knows how to get the best out of sometimes-limited players. Which, let’s be honest, is part and parcel of the Ireland manager’s job.

That said, we have enough quality young players to attract a high profile foreign coach. Robbie Keane, Damian Duff, Shay Given, John O’Shea, Stephen Finnan, Stephen Carr… that’s a good nucleus of players who are going to be around for the next 10 years.

I wish I could put a positive spin on it, but the Switzerland game was disappointing on every level and leaves us with an uphill battle to qualify for 2004. The first goal we conceded was absolutely horrendous. Good player or not, Kenny Cunningham isn’t the natural leader Steve Staunton was. I didn’t get any sense of him directing his fellow defenders, which is probably why three or four of the lads were so hopelessly out of position for the winner. Mick would’ve discussed Gary Doherty coming on late with them beforehand, but you need somebody on the pitch to remind people of the game plan – if necessary by screaming at them! Kenny’s too mild mannered for that.

The lack of leadership was also evident in the way Robbie Keane was hurtling round the pitch at a hundred miles an hour. If somebody like – dare I say it? – Roy Keane had been playing, he’d have had a quiet word in Robbie’s ear and gone, “Don’t be trying to do everything yourself. Link up with people and ration your runs.”

It’s easy to say with hindsight, but Mick replacing Ian Harte with Gary Doherty has to go down as an error. That’s the way it works sometimes – if the gamble pays off, you’re a tactical genius. If it fails, you’re horrendously naïve. Whoever’s in charge for the next game, they have to hand John O’Shea his first Ireland start. Every time he plays for United he looks more and more impressive, and I don’t think he’ll have any trouble making the step-up to international level.

Talking of Man U, Alex Ferguson is being paranoid if he really thinks that Roy Keane was “victimised” by the FA for being at Old Trafford. I’ve talked to Roy about it and he acknowledges that his Alf Inge Haaland tackle wasn’t the cleverest. Whether he’ll admit it or not I don’t know, but I think he’ll be reasonably happy with the punishment. Which isn’t to say that a five-match ban is getting off lightly. United have been playing better recently, but if they’re to stand a chance of winning the Premiership they need a fit and on-form Roy Keane.

The same’s true of Ireland who, personnel restored and firing on all cylinders, can still qualify for Euro 2004. Six points from the Albania and Georgia games and a 1-0 out in Zurich and, well, you might just need that money you’ve been saving!