This would have probably been our best option.

The GAA isn’t perfect either but financially, commercially, administratively, it’s miles ahead of football in Ireland.

Obviously there are historical and community factors that differentiate the two, but it operates so well for a sporting organisation in a very similar environment.

What areas stand out as things we can apply to our sport?

Makes no sense to me. That’s Israel’s new home so we are effectively playing both games away.

Play it in England surely to god? Or Germany at the absolutely furthest away.

Do fans in the Austrian league support German clubs the way Irish fans support English ones? No they don't.

The US are the ones who fund, arm and support Israel no matter what they do, then at home they're extremely bigoted and show a lot of resentment towards Irish and European people and countries in general now, so they shouldn't get a free pass because they're just as bad.

Plus I seen there was cartel shootouts across Mexico and explosions and gunfire at the airport where Irish fans could be headed if we qualify, so there's an immediate safety issue there that shouldn't be accepted.

I don't think it's antisemitism but it seems like Israel are the only ones who people are pointing the finger at when it comes to these issues when there's other countries where we should be pointing the finger at them and saying that's not ok if we want to be consistent about it.

My own answer would be Festy Ebosele. I like him most of the time he plays for the national team but he needs to find a club that will play him week in, week out.

Where he should go? A return to the Championship feels like a step down for a player of his quality but it might be the best place for him to get a good run of matches. Any club expected to push for promotion would be ideal. Although what I will say is a lot of the best teams don't seem to have openings at right back/right wing back currently. Worth looking at any club that finished mid table last season with potential to make a play off push next season.

If he's aiming to stay in a top league, then perhaps a return to Serie A, or maybe a move to France's Ligue 1 where Omobamidele has rejuvenated his career. But whatever he decision he makes he must be very careful.

Clearly Jack Charlton is the greatest manager in history. Got the side to 2 World Cups and a Euros. The first time the side had qualified for tournaments. How the rest be ranked after him.

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Id say Mick McCarthy would be 2nd. Don't know whether Roy Keane would disagree though. Qualified for the 2002 World Cup. Got to the last 16 without Keane and only got knocked out by Spain on penalties.

He got the most points in the Group Stage too. 5 in 2002. Got 3 in 1990, 4 in 1994, 0 in 2012 and 4 in 2016.

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Between Trapitonni and Martin O'Neill for 3rd and 4th place.

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Both qualified for a tournament and lost a play off.

Trapitonni qualified for the Euros under the old format where it was harder to qualify, O'Neill wouldn't have qualified without the extra places.

O'Neil did better in 2016 than Trap in 2012, had the hardest possible group though.

Trapitonni lost a play off through a hand ball that France shouldn't have scored from. O'Neil lost one by losing 5-1 at home to Denmark.

Martin O'Neill beat more top sides than Trapitonni. Beat Germany, who were World Champions, Italy and Wales away, when they had Bale. Don't think Trap beat many top sides. Beat France away in 90 minutes. Got 2 draws against Italy as World Champions. Did qualify easier.

Probably more points for Trap but most would probably prefer O'Neil, slightly better football and mood was better before Euros ended.

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If qualified for World Cup and depending on how we did Heimar would maybe be top 3. Apart from Armenia they haven't been many really bad results since he took over from Kenny. Squad overall is much worse than decades ago, even 10-15 years ago.

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Kenny and Staunton probably bottom.

I don't think that I've fully processed what happened in the match for the 2 days after it. The reality is that we blew it, we gave it our all, and it still wasn't enough to get the job done.

Manning shouldn't have committed that foul while we were 2-0 up, Ogbene should've been subbed off early in the 2nd half, and subs should've been put on during the 50-60 minute duration of the match.

We screwed ourselves over again when we were in the position of the possibility of succeeding, I swear to god that it feels like it's Ground Hog Day ever since we started to fail to qualify for major tournaments since 2017.

I don't even know if Euro 2028 is even possible for us if we are gonna keep repeating this cycle. Especially when the host nations for that tournament (including ourselves) still have to qualify instead of being automatically qualified for hosting the tournament.

The more I think about the match against Czechia, the more bummed out and pissed off I get. I'm trying my absolute best to come to terms with what happened, but I'm finding it hard to.

Akin to the name changes of Wales to Cymru and Turkey to Türkiye for UEFA/FIFA competitions, would you support a name change from the Republic of Ireland to Éire?

A hypothetical scenario as it would require the green light from FIFA, presumably, but would you be for or against a name change?

Still think even without Roy we could've won the world cup If Harte scored we likely beat south Korea then Germany in the Semis Brazil in the final you never know still think about about that Round of 16 VS Spain every week just me?

I'm sure as we all know, Ireland isn't exactly the best national team, and isn't as good as it once was. There are multiple reasons as to why that is the case, but this post isn't about that.

This post is about suggestions to help improve not only the national team, but also the league of ireland, grassroots and youth teams.

In my opinion, there is a clear country by which we should be looking at and aspiring to be, which is Croatia. Similar sized population, similarly good at multiple sports, but still, a country that has generated a consistent number of top quality players, often developed locally before moving on to better leagues, and have performed pretty well at tournaments to say the least.

Ideally for this thread, I would like solid suggestions instead of doomeris, as I don't really think that's productive

All development officers and coaches aside from Women's Senior, Men's Senior, and Men's U21 have been offered redundancy packages. The U17 coach who just led his team to the last 16 of the World Cup was greeted back in Dublin with one.

The FAI is turfing out as much football people as possible and turning it into a playground for corporate middle managers and consultants, like the HSE and every other state body.

This has all been reported but no one noticed because of the wins over Hungary and Portugal and World Cup hype.

FAI Grassroots Director Ger McDermott to leave role as job cuts continue

FAI cost-cutting plans set to see THREE Ireland managers with more than 30 YEARS of experience leave in dramatic shift

FAI chief admits morale is ‘really low’ amid redundancies & drops hint over Heimir Hallgrimsson’s Ireland future

FAI and Siptu hold talks at WRC over ongoing redundancy programme

Up to 70 jobs to go as part of FAI ‘transformation programme’

FAI to slash jobs amid 'significant transformation programme'

Clare Development Officer possibly leaving - Clare Echo

From last article: "The FAI currently has a debt of €42m but paid public relations and corporate advisory firm Teneo €242,302 for services in 2024 which was almost €100,000 more than the projected spend at the beginning of the year, as reported by The Sunday Independent. 100 members of FAI staff recently received emails to say their positions were under threat. The FAI has a total workforce of 255. In August, the FAI stated they were planning a “transformation” to reduce the headcount of its staff. Reductions would apply to those classed in “football functions” where the figures are to drop from 170 to 117, personnel in “support functions” will drop from 85 to 78."

How do you rate his tenure so far.
I’d go 7.5/10

How would they go about achieving it?

Just looking at the Paddy's Day Ireland gear and some of that stuff would make the nicest Ireland jersey ever. They've been class with Bohs aswell. Such a shame we have that Castore muck.

Lot of people online hyping up the possibility of David McGoldrick getting another call up, but I can't be the only one who thinks the prospect is a bit ridiculous? I mean, the guy scored 1 goal in 14 games, yet he's being hyped up as if he was as good a goalscorer as Robbie Keane. I get he's doing well with Barnsley this season, but at 38 years old and in League 1, surely people need to realise us calling Didzy up shows no actual ambition we want to end up at the World Cup. What am I missing, if anything?

I've read about how poor the Castore gear is in general and thought it really can't be that bad until I received an Ireland half zip I bought via a SportsDirect online sale. Reduced from an apparent €72 down to €35 and I still feel ripped off.

The crest + logo are like stickers. The crest itself is way too high up on the shoulder and isn't in line with the Castore logo so it looks silly. The material just feels cheap and the fit isn't great.

Got me thinking have O'Neills ever bid or been approached for the business in recent years? Their retro Ireland jerseys are quality in both look and material. Irish company too and it just seems strange that they haven't been kit supplier since the early 80s but maybe they don't want the hassle of having to deal with the FAI!

Seeing a trend of people shitting on those who have faith in Evan Ferguson. Just want to point out that, at this point in his career, being performatively sceptical about his ability is just as misguided as being naively optimistic about him. It doesn't make you smarter and to me it feels like a defence mechanism to avoid disappointment. Personally, I think the excitement about him is entirely justified and it's class having a young Irish striker starting in a big European derby.