Madam, - Fourth place in the World Cup qualifying group behind Israel? Was it for this that Mick McCarthy was booed by "supporters" and vilified by the media? Was it for this that Niall Quinn was sneered at? Was it for this the Genesis report was commissioned? Was it for this that the monumental PR exercise that was the rehabilitation of Roy Keane took place? Was it for this that some journalists were prepared to cast off any vestige of objectivity and credibility?
Was it for this that we were prepared to take heed of all that nonsense about moving on from our previously inadequate match preparation to a new regime? For fourth place in the qualifying group?
A decent man was hounded out of the manager's job a few years ago, to facilitate the return of the prodigal son. He was replaced by another decent man, who will be hounded out of his job. Meanwhile, if one may mix biblical metaphors, the prodigal son was found, despite the hype, to be miserably inadequate for the job of delivering the team to the promised land, and was unable to justify the blind faith he enjoyed. Not only that, but his return deprived the team of the chance to develop without having him as the central theme. We'd still have beaten Cyprus and the Faroe Islands to fourth place anyway.
We can now disabuse ourselves of any notion that there was a winner in Irish soccer's civil war. There are only losers. - Yours, etc,
MARTIN RYAN, Springlawn Close, Dublin 15.
Madam, - While it is up to the FAI to consider the need for a new manager, I wonder whom I should talk to about the long overdue change of soccer pundits on RTÉ?
If indeed there was a lack of new ideas on the pitch on Wednesday night, it is even more evident that Eamon Dunphy, Johnny Giles and the like are rehashing the same dull, demoralising script every couple of years. They have nothing new to say and, to be honest, I didn't appreciate their views the first time round. - Yours, etc,
VIVIENNE HEFFERNAN, Dublin 1.
Madam, - Irish soccer team? A load of Kerr's Pinks. - Yours, etc,
CLAYTON LOVE, Kilteragh Pines, Foxrock, Dublin 18.