Ireland 1 Cyprus 1 (Finnan 92)

It went nasty again and Staunton has to go now. Its just untenable after this game. I'm really disappointed for him, because I've supported him throughout everything. The media went for the jugular after the Chile match on 24 May 2006 - Staunton's second friendly, and then the Dutch game on 16 August 2006. The writing was on the wall that early, and too many fans just bought everything that was said hook line and sinker. With a bit of patience in those early months things would have been better. Human beings cant perform to their best under that sort of abuse. Compare Robbie Keane at Spurs where he is respected, and here since we've turned on him.

Having said all that, we should be qualifying from this group end of story. You can see where we dropped points, and if you add them up then Wales next month would be a big game.

I worry now that no manager will be good enough to avoid the abuse, because its so cynical. They put angles and agendas on things.

However my choice is Souness. He might command respect from the media, especially Dunphy, and he does have managerial and playing experience.

Ireland 0 Germany 0

We did ourselves justice and it was a positive vibe around Croke Park. Makes you regret the 3 pts lost in Cyprus and the 2 lost in Slovakia. We'd be equal with the Czechs if we'd got just those.

Finally, a piece of wisdom from Bobby Robson...


"I dont think he (Stan) is making mistakes, and is it the public or the media who remain unconvinced? Is it the media who are persuading the public to think that way? If you are intelligent, constructive, fair and reasonable then I'll go along with you. But if you are destructive, unfair, unreasonable, unintelligent, I dont want to know. The fans read the papers, listen to their radios and watch their televisions, and the media can be very persuasive people....I think Stan needs a break....He has been in the job nearly two years and it takes that time to get to know the job."