It was very good of Marco Tardelli to announce his interest in succeeding Giovanni Trapattoni as Ireland manager if the 72-year-old incumbent departs. A cynic might say Tardelli was bound to declare himself a candidate. After all, before Trapattoni dragged him on board the rather lucrative Irish bandwagon, the World Cup winning midfielder was at a loose end. His managerial career in senior football, one mediocre stop after another, had ground to a halt. Should the FAI decide to stop talking Italian, it's not like Tardelli will be getting phone calls from Roman Abramovich or any other serious club or country around Europe either.
Before discovering the FAI's benefactors paid really well, the last time the Italian dabbled in international football was a stint in charge of Egypt. Given the task of guiding them to the 2006 World Cup, he lasted just six months. By that stage in the campaign, Egypt had won just two of their opening five matches and had just suffered a rather ignominious defeat by Libya. With the locals feeling Tardelli wasn't spending enough time in Africa to know the job well (what would they make of remote control Trapattoni?), he was let go. And here's the most relevant bit. His severance payment was €35,000. That's not a mistake. Thirty-five thousand euros.
According to most newspaper estimates, Trapattoni currently draws down €1.7 million as Irish boss. We can assume his assistant is earning at least half that. A tidy sum, especially since it's obviously far, far more than Tardelli was getting paid by the Egyptians where local newspapers reported he was on about €300,000 a year. If the FAI are paying him even twice that to be Trapattoni's representative on earth (or the man who goes to England to do the tiresome work of watching players in the flesh), is it any wonder he's angling for a go at the top job? He's probably thinking that when he takes over he can nominate somebody else to travel and he can manage from back in Italy like his current boss.
"When and if Giovanni decides to step down, I would be very honoured to be able to stay here," said Tardelli. "In the end, the FAI must decide what they want, but I think that the Irish people think that we have done a good job. The project is beginning. There are many younger players."
The sad thing is Tardelli is probably the front runner now for the position. By virtue of being in situ, he can claim to offer continuity and knowledge of the available resources. For his sake, that's just as well because he can also claim to have been part of a set-up which has sent out arguably the most difficult to watch Ireland team in a generation. All of this makes Tardelli's presumed favoritism to succeed Trapattoni amazing. In reality, the only time he ever did anything as a manager was with the Italian Under-21s and FAI chief executive John Delaney, in his treatment of Brian Kerr, we can assume doesn't place great store by under-age success.
When Trapattoni does finally give up the lucrative job of watching DVDs of English soccer, there is an Irishman who should take his place. His name is Roy Keane. After two very different stints in club management, the accepted wisdom is the Corkman will have learned a lot from his time in Sunderland and Ipswich. Having succeeded and failed in equal measure, he's better qualified now than ever. You'd imagine he's a bit chastened too and probably realizing the mistakes he made along the way. Better yet, we have just the man to be his assistant. A fella by the name of Kerr.
A pairing of Keane with Kerr would be perfect. Kerr could advise about the pitfalls to avoid in international management and bring his immense scouting talent to bear. Keane would be taking over a young squad inhabited by players who grew up idolizing him. Think Jimmy Barry Murphy's effect on the Cork hurlers when he stepped in to that vacuum. This pairing isn't too fanciful. Kerr had enough of a relationship with Keane to persuade him back into international football. Quite an achievement that and a testament to what the former Manchester United captain must think of him.
There are other factors to consider too. Keane doesn't need the money so we can assume this duo would cost a lot less than the current set-up. Maybe the FAI could even pay the management themselves without resorting to hand-outs from controversial benefactors like Denis O'Brien. And here's the real bonus. Keane and Kerr both speak English to a high enough quality that they won't need a go-between like Alan Kelly to pass on their instructions to players in the dressing-room and, even more crucially, from the sideline during games.
All in all, it would be a bit of a dream ticket. Of course, there's just one huge problem here. From what anybody can gather, Keane can never work with Delaney, head honcho for life apparently. And Delaney thinks so highly of Kerr that he recommended that the Faroe Islands take him because, really, what could the most successful youth manager in the history of Ireland possibly have to contribute to the Irish game? Notwithstanding all that, there's the small matter of the FAI probably not wanting Keane on board, ruffling feathers by requesting more professional set-ups, better facilities, larger back-room teams, and all the other accoutrements of the modern game. He might even want expenses for going to matches around England every weekend. Trapattoni never bothers anyone for that.
It says much for Tardelli's standing that last week, the Irish Times declared him the most viable option to take over because of the lack of credible Irish contenders. Aside from Chris Hughton and a few other notables, that statement ignores the very existence of Keane and Kerr. They obviously can't compete against Tardelli, somebody boasting famously disastrous spells at Inter and Egypt on his CV.
