A NEW YEAR but still the search for the next Republic of Ireland manager goes on and on and on. At least we know that it is still going on as Roy Hodgson (now in place as Fulham manager) admitted that he was interviewed for the Irish job but decided to take up the club position when offered it by the London club.
It looked as if there would be white smoke during last week when bookies slashed the odds on former Liverpool and Scottish legend, Kenny Dalglish.
We all know that Dalglish was a wonderful player and to be fair his record as a manager isn’t bad either but he hasn’t been in management since he left as Celtic manager in 2000. That’s a long time out of the game.
His record as a manager is that he won three Leagues and two FA Cups as Liverpool boss, before winning the Premier League with Blackburn Rovers in 1994/5. He was also a runner up in the league with Newcastle.
So will King Kenny be the next Jack Charlton? Your guess is as good as mine.
**** The guillotine continues to hang over the head of Rafa Benitez and his tenure as Liverpool manager and one suspects that last Sunday’s fortuitous draw with Luton in the FA Cup did little to ease his situation. However, I heard somewhere over the weekend that Liverpool’s American owner’s are very anxious to sell up and ship back to the States so maybe this might hand the Spaniard a lifeline.
From a personal point of view I think that he has lasted a lot longer than he should because he won the Champions League in his first season. But that’s more than most managers ever do (and yes Arsenal have never won the European Cup) but his lack of success in the league continues to haunt him and rightly so. For me he has bought too many indifferent players and his continuous rotation suggests that he doesn’t really know his best team at any stage. The league is where it’s at and if the Pool finish fourth or fifth in the league again this year then surely his goose will be cooked.
The one good thing that he has done this season is signing Torres who looks a class act but after that......
**** It is always great to see Waterford sports men and women doing well and we are always delighted here to acknowledge their achievements and successes. One man who is certainly flying high in his chosen sport at the current time is Waterford horse trainer, Henry De Bromhead.
All winter his horses have been in top form but the lucrative Christmas racing period really was one to remember as he saddled no less than four winners from St Stephen’s Day to January 5th. That is quite excellent going. On top of that he also had plenty of horses placed during that period. And on top of that he has of course something to look forward to as his stable star, Sizing Europe, is currently just 10/1 (fourth favourite) for the Champion Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival. That is big stuff indeed and this young trainer is continuing to enhance his growing reputation. May he continue to go from strength to strength in the racing game.
**** It’s another massive weekend for Munster in the Heineken Cup, but then again it seems as they all are as this team never does things the easy way.
On Sunday they will take on Clermont Auvergne in the second last group game of this year’s competition with everything still to play for in this ‘group of death’. With Munster on top of the pool by a point from Wasps, you would think that they are in pole position to take the one automatic quarter-final place from the Pool. But with Clermont just four points behind in third, Munster are far from out of the woods just yet. Especially with form side, Wasps, to come in the final group game in Thomond Park on the following weekend.
They were also dealt a bit of blow with the cancellation of their Celtic League match with Ulster in Ravenhill on Friday night last, which denied them the chance to give Paul O’Connell some welcome game time as he returns from a long term injury, as well as a debut to newly arrived All-Black star, Doug Howlett.
Although despite this it looks certain that the Kiwi’s record try scorer will come straight into the team in place of the injured Ian Dowling but O’Connell (who did play half a game for Young Munster at the weekend) is more likely to start on the bench I would say. There was further good news at the weekend when Alan Quinlan resumed full training and could make a dramatic return. Another big weekend.
