High hopes of a net gain

There is more at stake than just qualification for the FAI as Steve Staunton heads into his first campaign writes Emmet Malone.

More used, over the years, to exercises in damage limitation, the FAI's press relations department must reckon its been on a bit of a roll of late. Eight days ago, the association's leading officials spent the morning finalising the details of Steve Staunton's contract to manage the Republic of Ireland's senior national team. After lunch, they met with their counterparts from the GAA and IRFU at Croke Park where the deal to play football and rugby internationals at the ground next year was effectively done.

Back at Merrion Square, a more or less unprecedented decision was taken in the press office to ration what they viewed as an abundance of good news.

Whether Staunton's appointment turns out to be quite the triumph the association has hailed it, remains to be seen. Having talked up its chances of capturing Martin O'Neill long after it had become entirely apparent that it was not going to happen and flirting with any number of other big names, the FAI has gotten away lightly in the wake of appointing a managerial novice.

The Louthman's credentials as a player are beyond dispute but so, too, is his lack of any as a coach. What has saved the association is the widespread respect that exists for Staunton as well as a reluctance in media circles to be overly critical of the appointment lest it be mistakenly taken that that criticism is aimed at the new manager himself.

There must, nevertheless, be concerns about the new man's utter lack of experience. Walsall was a perfectly reasonable place to start the process of educating himself in what is an altogether different side of football. But four months working alongside Paul Merson at the club is hardly what you might call a rounded education. Instead of learning his new trade as might have been expected, the FAI have effectively curtailed his schooling and hired a private tutor to teach him on the job.

At 37, his only qualification is the sort of personality most people agree makes for a good manager. History provides us with ample evidence, however, that when an appointment such as this is made on the basis of perceived character and playing career achievement, the results simply cannot be relied upon.

John Delaney has countered by pointing to the comparatively limited role of an international manager who only gets his players a matter of days before games and who does not have to worry about buying in new talent. Still, it's worth remembering that the most notable recent success stories in international football - semi-finalists Turkey and South Korea at the last World Cup as well as champions Greece at Euro 2004 - were all engineered by men with a lot of coaching miles under their belts.

Within Merrion Square, however, Staunton's inspirational powers have regularly been likened to those of Stuart Pearce, regarded by many as the best young English coach around just now. It is, then, just a little embarrassing to have Pearce so forcefully reject the suggestion this week that he should take over from Sven-Goran Eriksson in the wake of the Swede's latest public relations setback.

"It is pathetic and I find it quite embarrassing," said Pearce on Thursday. "I can't understand why people make statements touting me - an absolute amateur - for the England job.

"This must be the only industry in the world," he continued, "where you can have a total novice, who has not even been in management for one year, being touted for the top job in English football."

The hope is that Staunton will learn his new trade swiftly from Robson but the suspicion persists that his new employers have put him prematurely into the spotlight when initially handing him the role of assistant to the Englishman would have clarified both roles and allowed the former England and Barcelona manager to take the heat during the coming campaign while Staunton was quietly groomed.

A willing recipient of the role now, however, Staunton performed solidly at the Mansion House even if the faith he expressed in his ability to uncover new talent via a heightened exploitation of the parentage rule will take a bit of living up to.

Associations have become a good deal more vigilant since the likes of Kevin Sheedy, Ray Houghton and Andy Townsend were poached as senior professionals with the battleground for talent shifting these days to players in their mid-teens.

It is at that age that the likes of Terry Dixon of Spurs and Arsenal's Rhys Murphy now find themselves at the centre of a battle between the FAI and its English counterpart. And the reality is that precious few who get beyond the key age of 21 with the matter of their allegiances undecided will prove good enough to make a difference at international level.

On other fronts, matters are looking more promising for Staunton. The bulk of the squad he has inherited is young but experienced and there is some quality if not always much depth available to him in every department.

A string of younger Irish players including Aiden McGeady, Stephen Ireland and Kevin Doyle have shown strong club from of late while Liam Miller is playing regularly again and Colin Healy could be on the verge of a return to competitive action.

Below them the promise of the next generation has been highlighted by the success last autumn of Seán McCaffrey's under-17 and -19 sides in reaching the elite stages of their respective European Championships. Even with a four-year deal, however, Staunton may need a contract extension if he is to benefit from the emergence at senior level of this particular crop.

If things go his way, though, and a few of those currently bubbling under make serious strides towards fulfilling their potential over the next couple of years, then a serious crack at qualifying in 2010 (success in the forthcoming campaign would, as Staunton states himself, require good fortune next week and represent a bonus) does look a realistic target.

Even if the Irish do not make it to Austria and Switzerland, a good deal will be at stake over the course of the campaign.

The new manager's side can, for a start, make life a lot easier for themselves if they can rebuild their seeding by winning games. And there will be other benefits to be derived from a strong start to the campaign in the autumn.

Regardless of how much money ends up being generated as a result of the deal with the GAA over the use of Croke Park, the agreement is undoubtedly a huge step forward for sport here. The money is important to the FAI and for the amount generated to reach anything like the additional €10 million they could generate as a result of the move, the association could do with Staunton hitting the ground running.

There is considerable confidence within Merrion Square that the qualifiers to be staged at Croke Park can be sold out, something that will involve doubling attendances at competitive games from 35,000 to just over 70,000. On the face of it, it looks a tall order but, it is claimed, some 32,000 tickets are currently pre-booked, a situation that leaves a large number of people unable to get tickets for anything but friendly games.

Interest, on the other hand, could dwindle if the team struggles early in the campaign and so at the meeting to determine the other group matches the association's negotiators must seek to put Staunton in a position of having to get points on the board during the opening matches while keeping the home matches against the bigger names until after next Christmas when Croke Park will become available and packages of games can be sold.

Ireland's drop from second to fourth seeds will actually benefit the association in one way for there will almost certainly be more marketable opposition to play in the next campaign. There will also, however, be three managers whose teams are higher ranked than Ireland and who will be fiercely determined to protect their sides' interests when the fixture list is drawn up.

In that situation, one suspects, the FAI may not get away with the sort of intransigence displayed by their officials last time around in Dublin when both the Israel and Faroe Islands associations publicly expressed their exasperation over the inflexibility of their hosts.

For the association the stakes are enormous. Five sell-out games at the team's temporary home is potentially worth twice as much in additional profit to the organisation as was lost through the failure to qualify for this summer's World Cup.

If, on the other hand, it all goes wrong, Ireland are also rans and Staunton's side is playing to half a full house by the end of the campaign, the association's work of the past few weeks won't look quite so sweet in retrospect.

That, however, is just another day's work for the boys in the press department of Merrion Square.