Support the boys in green...

What’s this country coming to with the abuse Staunton and the Irish team have got from the media since San Marino? You’d think it was unusual for football teams to struggle against smaller teams sometimes. Even the worst of teams...

It reminded me of another bad day for the Irish team 20 years ago in 1987 when we struggled to defeat Luxembourg 2-1 at home. At 1-1, in the second half, the Irish fans even started cheering Luxembourg. When Stapleton scored the winner to make it 2-1 the reaction was very muted. In hindsight few will remember that game, but we managed to scrape through that group courtesy of Scotland beating Bulgaria and ended up in Euro 88. Stapleton’s goal was crucial, and that was early days in Charlton’s era. Fortunes can change on incidents like last minute goals…The abuse of the team has been horrendous and vicious. In the case of McCarthy and Kerr, once the team started to struggle under the criticism, it was only a matter of time before the managers were sacked. I just find it very wrong.

To me Staunton has actually done very little wrong, given that he has faced such personal abuse since only his second match (Chile 0-1). Performances haven’t been good enough, but again, what’s so unusual about that? On the positive side, he has introduced a lot of young players which is the hallmark of good management in the early days of a job. He learnt from his mistake in omitting Lee Carsley, which was unusual. Managers are normally very stubborn bunch with their decisions. There is an accusation going round that he isn’t straight enough in interviews after games, but I disagree. He handles himself well in the circumstances. Obviously he's awkward like Dalglish was, but I feel its justified given the questioning is clearly loaded, cynical and over the top. He's just standing up for himself. As Shay Given said this week, the criticism is coming even though the team actually beat San Marino. The bad performance justifies the criticism, but only to a point.

I have confidence in the fans who attend the games. Croke Park will be special and the atmosphere will be like the Czech Republic game. We proved the media wrong that night, and it was powerful. It was an atmosphere of honesty, born of frustration, and truly a call for better from the team, but at least it was expressed in support and encouragement the way it should be.

They’ve said we don’t love the team anymore. They’ve said we won’t even turn up at Croke Park in the end. They've said a lot of things that arent true...