Now is as good a time as any for Irish football to reinvent itself

You can never accuse the Germans of not telling it like it is – particularly when it comes to Ireland these days. It is one thing to receive stern instruction on how to govern and tax the country but the blasé summation of the state of Irish football by German national coach Joachim Löw caused a tremor of righteous indignation to course through the island. It was, in truth, a passing and barely detectable tremor but it did leave all Irish football fans, casual and ardent, hoping Noel King’s team could work some improbable miracle in Cologne last night.

Still, regardless of the outcome of that match, Löw’s primary task is to coach and coerce a deeply talented German squad into dislodging the Spanish as the arch exponents of the world game. Ireland, meanwhile, are involved in the more basic business of starting from scratch and Löw’s breezy observations did offer some food for thought, in particular his views on Ireland’s man in the dugout.

“They will never play any kind of holding game or pass the ball around like Barcelona do,” Löw mused at a midweek press conference, “You will never see any Irish team playing like that – so it doesn’t matter who coaches them.”

It was a peculiar thing to consider about a country in which the international manager has become a hugely important figure. From the Geordie devil-may-care bombast of Jack Charlton to the blunt passion of Mick McCarthy to the impenetrability of Giovanni Trapattoni, the Irish football manager has for decades been regarded as the central figure in the fortunes of the national team.

First major
Since Ireland qualified for its first major tournament in 1988, the FAI has tried everything possible in its choices, from the eccentric if adventurous Staunton /Robson axis to the local appointment of Brian Kerr, whose campaign was characterised by the failure to get the bit of luck all teams need on the qualifying road.

The recruitment of Trapattoni five years ago was regarded as a coup for the FAI. The eyeatching financial terms may have helped to lure the Italian but nonetheless, here was one of the revered figures of the international game coaching at Lansdowne Road. It soon became clear Trapattoni viewed his Irish squad much the same way as Löw did during the week – as artisans of the game who play in a fashion that is “more or less similar”.

Trapattoni’s achievements and persona may have been woven into the rich history of Italian soccer but he didn’t care less for the Irish tradition beyond ensuring that his team qualified for major tournaments, thereby justifying his pay cheque. In the end, Trapattoni was decried for his intransigent and authoritarian way of running the team even though he had made his reputation for running the show to the guiding principle of Uno Duce, Una Voce.

This time last autumn, after the 6-1 humiliation by Germany, RTÉ more or less announced the end of Trapattoni era prior to the Faroe Islands game. There was a considerable chorus of opinion that Trapattoni had badly failed the Irish game. His team's played a basic, dull style; his selections were conservative to the point of being baffling and for the fans, watching Ireland had become a joyless experience.

Hair's breadth
The counter view was that Trapattoni's record was substantial, having taken the team to within a hair's breadth of qualifying for the World Cup in South Africa and then bringing us to the Euro 2012 where, as he saw it, Spain and Croatia exposed the limitations of the Irish game.

When Löw was asked to comment on Ireland, he immediately summoned up a vague notion of a wall of green, of unfathomably tall centre forwards with roving elbows and of the unquenchable Celtic spirit. If he had been asked whether or not he remembered the hallowed afternoon in 1994 when Ireland beat the Germans 2-0 by cutting low measured passes across the carpet and looking comfortable and assured and, for a few weeks at least making it seem as if they might just win the World Cup, he would probably have conceded that no, he did not. Nobody does except for Irish football fans.

And if asked to name some Irish players who bucked the trend of the uncomplicated stereotype he had concocted, Löw might well just have recalled the composure of Paul McGrath or the silkiness of Liam Brady and Georgie Best might have flashed across his mind but he might then have remembered Belfast and that other, even smaller Ireland and have thought it best not go down that road. Löw was not attempting to be in any way condescending in his summary of the Irish game and his reference to Gaelic football was a surprising nod to the profile of the national sports. He was just calling it as he sees it and his view his probably in line with the prevailing international view of the Irish game.

The fans
And that view stings custodians of the Irish game, from youth coaches to former internationals to celebrity analysts like John Giles and Eamon Dunphy to the fans who have travelled to Cologne and the thousands who will show up for the Kazakhstan game. It hurts because they know that if you look beyond the reductive 'put-em-under-pressure' label which the post-Charlton Irish team has never quite shaken off, there have been players of finesse and performances of quality.

You can be sure Löw’s comments will also have privately annoyed interim boss Noel King. A lifelong devotee of Irish football and one of the proven coaches in the domestic game, King doesn’t just understand the soul of the Irish game, he is part of it. Maybe this is the time for everyone in Irish football to decide which path to take for the future. Whoever is given the job full-time maybe it is time to explore just how well Irish teams are capable of playing the game rather than settling for a mad scramble for the next major tournament by whatever means necessary.

The South Dublin Football League director of coaching John Devine’s pilot development programme which emphasises skill and touch has taken off. Imagine the possibilities for ten years’ time? And imagine if the Irish team were given the liberty to go out and play the game, to express themselves a little bit even against those teams like Germany whose squad is dense with players of flawless technique. There is a good chance Noel King encouraged his players to do just that last night.

If the Trapattoni era has proven anything, it is that getting there is no longer enough. There has to be some joy in the progress. Irish football has to reinvent itself and now is as good a time as any to start showing the world that there is more to the Irish game than meets the eye.