After a turbulent eight-day period, where are Ireland at and what happens next
Seasonal changes as the light fades tends to spell trouble for Ireland managers.
Every manager since Jack Charlton has lost their job during the busiest time of the year, that 10-week blitz of three international windows between September and November.
Mick McCarthy and Martin O’Neill were both November departures, bookending the removals of Brian Kerr and Steve Staunton in October.
Stephen Kenny could easily have become a September casualty, only for a number of external factors including payoffs and the availability of his successor. Instead, most likely is him joining the November club.
A series of events have led to this precipice and here we aim to simplify the background and set out the next steps when it comes to that high-profile position of Ireland manager.
Can Ireland qualify for next year’s European Championships?
Technically yes but results in the last week have all but culled the notion of Joxer returning to Germany carrying his bodhran.
The country of Ireland’s first major tournament in 1988 will welcome 23 nations to join the hosts in the summer extravaganza.
The top two teams from each of the 10 groups account for 20 of those places. Defeats in all five games, bar a second-half blitz against minnows Gibraltar, leave Ireland languishing in fourth place. That’s six points behind Greece and the same adrift of Netherlands who have a game in hand. France are running away with first place with a perfect 15 point return.
The table is as bleak as it looks. Ireland’s maximum haul, should they win all three of their remaining qualifiers, is 12 points.
Given Netherlands have to play Gibraltar, that win will swell their total to Ireland’s peak tally.
They’d only require a point from their other three matches,
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