Staunton plots Lansdowne swansong

Having arrived yesterday in Frankfurt where he will today be one of the Irish delegation seeking to hammer out the most favourable Euro 2008 qualifying schedule possible in the face of stiff opposition from the Republic of Ireland's six group rivals, Steve Staunton suggested what the FAI hopes will be Lansdowne Road's swansong in the autumn might be a good time to take on one of the big guns.

Bobby Robson made clear, however, that a game with Germany at the tail end of the campaign is one of the pre-agreed priorities.

"As much as we're going on about Croke Park," said Staunton, "don't forget there's Lansdowne Road's last game. How big is that going to be?"

The new manager didn't elaborate but the implication, that the association would do well to use what he feels will be an emotional occasion to the team's benefit, was clear.

Identifying the ideal schedule for the Republic is one thing, everybody in the association's travelling party agreed, but ensuring it bears some resemblance to the fixture list that emerges from today's meeting at the German FA is quite another and there is a general acceptance the hosts as well as top seeds, the Czech Republic, are the ones who will be pulling most of the strings.

"We're in Germany," observed Staunton. "We're fourth seeds. We're in their backyard. They're going to dictating more or less."

Robson, a veteran of many such situations, concurred, observing that Staunton had presented a solid list of objectives when the negotiating team met at his home earlier this week but that achieving even close to half would represent quite an achievement.

"In Steve's plan," he said, "he wants Germany towards the end with an easier match after - what appears to be easier on paper at least. But we can only get that if the German's agree to that.

"These meetings are tough. It's all about your negotiating powers. Everybody wants an advantage but you can't get that. Germany will want everything, the Czech Republic will want most things and we will want advantages. There will be a lot of negotiating to be done. They're all going in with pre-conceived plans (and so are we).

"Stan arranged a meeting for us all at his house on Monday," he concluded, "and we had a dummy run at it. He had a nice sound base, he had some good ideas and I said to him 'If you get four-tenths of that, take it. Because the reality is you won't get everything'."

Staunton, meanwhile, remains hopeful the Irish team might get to play a friendly at Croke Park before using the venue for a qualifier for the first time. The Louthman, who walked the pitch at the stadium last week, made it clear, however, that the matter remains one for the GAA to decide (the current deal provides only for the playing of competitive games there) and expressed appreciation at the help provided by the association to date.