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Football Manager 2024 picks Ireland's next manager 🕵️♂️🇮🇪
42 Plays11 months ago
The search is over! 🕵️♂️🇮🇪 We’ve found Ireland’s first manager of the post-Kenny era 👀 From Jim McGuinness to Lee Carsley we’ve simulated all possible candidates tenures using Football Manager 2024 💻
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Transcript
00:00:00
Speaker
I'm not into podcasts I swear you'll never see anything like this ever again What
Introduction of the Dream Team and Episode Theme
00:00:11
Speaker
a hit
00:00:12
Speaker
of the night. Hello and welcome to the Not Upon The Podcast. You have at your services this evening, Killian, Connor and Nathan, the dream team. And we have a very, very special episode for you today. So a couple of weeks ago we said we were going to do it and we're finally delivering. We're nothing if not honest.
Who Should Be the Next Ireland Manager?
00:00:33
Speaker
Who should be the next Ireland manager? Let's just get FM to the side. Fubball manager simulations. We're bringing them to the podcasting sphere. Brand new ground. So we had initially all said one manager that we'd like to see if it would work or not. I have done 12. So slightly overachieving as per.
00:00:58
Speaker
So just to set out my stall here, we're starting at the start of the 2023, 2024 season. So it's kind of in around July. So the guys still have some European games to finish off without the possibility of qualifying, which RIP Ireland, but we move on. So Steve is gone.
Simulations of Potential Managers
00:01:20
Speaker
We have new coaches coming in.
00:01:25
Speaker
One thing that I tried to do generally after the first couple of them was kind of try to give them assistant managers to kind of give them the best chance because I noticed that they're worth the accurate ones. So some of these wouldn't have had, but those that didn't, spoiler alert, didn't really make a difference. So.
00:01:46
Speaker
I know. So just to get them out of the way, I put in some of the bookies favorites to always include in these kind of lists. I put in Big Sam. We have Neil Warnock. Interesting. We had Roy Keane and we had Rafa. Oh, that would be amazing.
00:02:14
Speaker
Now, the reason, gentlemen, why I'm grouping these all together is because they only last the year.
Gus Poyet and Transition to Uruguay
00:02:22
Speaker
They all left, resigned, or retired in 2024 with pretty much nothing to their names. Jesus Christ. I mean, can you know we all would have seen that coming. Neil Warnock, I don't, I'd say the FAI got sick of him. Who else did we have on that list? Rafa probably was like a bit of a new cast of situation and kind of,
00:02:43
Speaker
wanted better things. Who was the fourth on that list? Warnock. Big Sam. Big Sam, surprising. That I thought would have lasted a bit longer. And win records, what are we looking at? Are they any any way similar? They're all in and around 30 percent. The big thing is Neil Warnock and Big Sam actually retired. Okay. So I think that's kind of more of a an FM thing of you're in and around 70. You're either going to go to 100 or
00:03:13
Speaker
retire instantly. So anybody that's played it this year kind of sees the Hudson barely makes it out of the first season alive. Rafa actually resigned to take another job. So he did. So where did he go? I think he actually ended up in like Greece or somewhere like that. And then Keene resigned after a pretty abysmal results and ended up being
Graham Potter's Tenure and Replacement
00:03:42
Speaker
I think the green record there on 30% would you say 30% because that's still better than like the average yeah better than King Kenny yeah they got him back but let's move on to our first kind of deep dive guy which is Nate I think he was actually one of your picks Gus Poyette oh yeah so
00:04:12
Speaker
Exactly. So we're actually looking at, for the audio listeners, we're actually looking at the schedule of Gus Poyette's first few matches. It's not good looking. Two victories being Gibraltar both times. Draw in a friendly with Paraguay. Draw with France in Ireland was pretty damn good. And draw with his old team, Greece.
00:04:38
Speaker
What's funny about that is when you look at those results, that looks pretty real world. You know, like you look at the Ireland team we're used to, that's not far off. And I heard he only actually got his tracksuit after the Netherlands games. For audio listeners, a lovely 3-0 loss to the Netherlands there. Once the tracksuit came in, we were back in action.
00:05:02
Speaker
So then he had a decent record in the European League, a nice 3-0 win over Northern Ireland in Dublin and a 1-0 win in the return fixture.
00:05:18
Speaker
You may, gentlemen, see a trend here.
Steve Bruce's Success and Retirement
00:05:21
Speaker
So coming up to the World Cup qualifiers, one win against Armenia and then a few losses, and then winning ways come again. Reason being is after the two-tree loss to Ukraine and Dublin, Gus Poyat left the Ireland job. Sad. I can hear Nate's tears already.
00:05:45
Speaker
No, I'm happy the man finally got his tracksuit. That's all I'm happy about. Now, you know what? He's done a valley in Duffer, he got some results. It might have been against Hungary and Northern Ireland, but he got some results. Jesus, we weren't saying that about Kenny, mate. Yeah, but there was no results for Kenny. The big thing with Gus was that it's hard to kind of take it away from him. He actually went and took the Uruguay job.
00:06:13
Speaker
Okay, yeah, you can't knock that. I mean, jumping from Ireland to Uruguay, that's a pretty big glow up, but probably unachievable in reality, but yeah, you can't really knock that. Jesus, people love resigning from this Ireland job, I tell you what. They do. But he still resigned with a 46% win rate. I mean, that's arguably, what was the highest one back in the day? It was Brian Kerr, wasn't it? What did he get?
00:06:40
Speaker
definitely wasn't that high. We weren't winning one and two. It was near enough it, it was like high 30s, low 40s. Yeah, it was like 39 or something, yeah. Yeah,
Neil Lennon's World Cup Journey
00:06:53
Speaker
now bear in mind the Nations League saved them. Yeah. I was just going to say Brian Kerr was going against much bigger dogs in that fight. But interestingly...
00:07:06
Speaker
Yeah, well, interestingly, who replaced Gus, who is currently in the job now with a 58% win rate, is Lucian Favre, which I mean, who wouldn't love to see that? It'd be interesting for sure. So that was Gus Poyette, lads, rating, give us a school rating, A, B, C, D, E, F.
00:07:32
Speaker
It's funny, from an outside perspective, I think from his record here to jump from Ireland to Uruguay, you can't not give him...
00:07:41
Speaker
anything lower than a sea, but I think if we look at the actual real world of it, I think he would be a major coup for Ireland. Like I know I said before when we talked about this, I don't like the snake oil salesman-ish kind of already in the job looking for the Ireland job. But I remember Nathan, you saying before that that is something we need in this Ireland team.
00:08:04
Speaker
Yeah, we need a bit of, a bit of bite and a bit of a, yeah, like I see, I think it goes two ways. Obviously he's looking for the job out of Greece, but I think he also brings a bit of fire to the job that I don't think we've had in a long time where, you know, we might actually be able to get something out of a group where if he's, he has that bit of extra bazam about him, but I think as a, as a grade, I'd probably give it a D. If Kenny's an F, I'd probably give that a D.
00:08:33
Speaker
Kenny's not even on the Richter scale here boys. Yeah.
Realistic Candidates for Ireland Manager
00:08:41
Speaker
I think I'd give it a C. Like I think it's one of the roads, safe hands. Um, he didn't particularly bring true any youngsters. So I think he would have a unremarkable, uh, legacy on the Emerald Isle. Now this one pains me.
00:09:01
Speaker
So this was my pick. Um, Mr. Graham Potter. Oh, I thought it was Mrs. Doubtfire for a minute, but we got Graham Potter yet. You're, you're a true Potter stan at this point. More Graham Potter talk on this podcast. I apologize. Yeah, we'll have to do a trigger warning going forward. One thing I'll give Potter. So the way I've done, done these tests is I've gone, I've saved two years at a time basically until they resigned or left or whatever reason. Um,
00:09:30
Speaker
And Potter lasted until 2027. Okay. So just in interest of keeping things going, because we have a lot more interesting people coming up, we're going to very quickly fly through. Okay, intro. More losses than draws is never a good sign. Did decent in the European League. Did well in the European qualifiers. Not so good in the next. Did we get troops? No. Okay.
00:10:00
Speaker
So it placed well but wasn't enough and it did get true to
Brendan Rodgers' Dual Management
00:10:09
Speaker
the euros just after he left.
00:10:12
Speaker
So the year he left, he left him in such good stead that when the next manager came in, Leonardo Jardim, he got them to the Euros and crashed out fairly spectacularly only to be replaced. Does that not sound like the most grain potter move of all time? Does a decent job, gets a string of results, just isn't good enough, leaves, and they get better.
00:10:37
Speaker
Well, they didn't get that much better considering Jardim only lasted a year before getting replaced by Brian Barry Murphy. And now in Potter's defense, a 50% win rate. Okay. Well, I'm not having that. He left the bomb for Jardim to take over going into the Euros and it blew up in Jardim's face. I blame Graham Potter for that.
00:10:58
Speaker
I feel like there's, I feel like Eddie, I feel like Snape to Harry Potter in this thing. Just there's nothing Harry Potter can do right. So there's nothing, uh, Graham Potter can do right in our eyes. Um, Connor, for you, uh, Evan Ferguson in this, in this version of the universe ended up in Newcastle, so. We love to see it. Now that would be stunning.
00:11:19
Speaker
I won't even bring up the recent win against a certain Sunderland. I won't do it to you. In the words of Simon Jordan, Newcastle have spent $300 million in the last two transfer windows and Sunderland have spent a pack of butchers and a piece of string. So next up we have another of Nate's picks. Nate worships this man at every altar he can find
00:11:50
Speaker
Brucey. That is the only reason I'm here. I mean, I'm really interested in this and this is the one I've been excited for. I'm not going to lie. Come on, Bruce. Steve Bruce took over and got them to the quarterfinals of the Euros 2028. Oh, we love to see it. What did I say? What did I say? Losing only in penalties to Italy in the quarterfinal.
00:12:17
Speaker
What did I say? He's a visionary
Long-term Management: McGinnis and Carsley
00:12:19
Speaker
of the game, you know what I mean? And he's going to laugh all you want, you can laugh all you want, but I'm telling you, if Seabroos comes into Ireland now, we're calling to the Euros in 2020.
00:12:29
Speaker
My tickets are booked. I just got off of Ticketmaster. I got my match ticket squared away. I'm on Expedia getting my flights done. But in pure Brucey magic, he failed upwards because they only won one game in the groups. And it got them to the second game. So they lost to Germany, lost to Spain, bet Bosnia, then bet Belgium. All credit to Brucey. All credit.
00:12:58
Speaker
yeah and then lost to italy so but but that's what you need out of this iron inside a side like compact you know it might not be good football might not win every game but they had the job done in the end that's what you want and previously brought that out you know what i'm seeing i'm seeing a trend here boys track suits
00:13:17
Speaker
Tracksuit managers are doing better than suits. It's a fact of life. I'm telling you, lads, and the viewers are home, it's either getting a train there or you get left for home, because it's not what we'd like to use. I'm telling you, I'm dead as is. I will push the steam roofs for the Ireland job to the very end.
00:13:38
Speaker
And as well, as well as that, he actually, I wouldn't say he repaired it, but he got our world rankings slightly better getting us into the forties. So, um, all in all, uh, what do you think give us, give us a rating for big Brucie?
00:13:56
Speaker
I mean, it's hard. The quarterfinal of anything has to be an A. With a 52% win rate. Yeah. So was this another retirement, was it? Yeah. So he retired and Robbie Keane took over. Oh, Jesus. Oh, Bruce, don't do that to us. Don't do us dirty like that, Brucey. Brucey didn't pick the replacement though. Yeah, it's got to be an A. What are you thinking?
00:14:25
Speaker
Uh, I'd give it a B plus. Um, I just, I, I just don't think that two losses and one win to get true. It's kind of like on your day, it can happen. So I don't think it was a mastermind more than it was well-placed. Nate, what's your call?
00:14:52
Speaker
Well, to reply to you first, don't hate the player, hate the game, OK? Yeah, you got the job done. You got the job done. I'm going to ace downstairs. Big wins. Statue of the Mates or the Aviva? That is statue wordy at Ireland, it is. You know what? I never doubted them. And, you know, I just want to say I told you so. Next up, we have another one of
00:15:22
Speaker
The bookies favorites, Neil Lennon. No, in reality, I think this one would crash and burn. Um, but I'm interested to see how it turned out. He lasted until 2026. Okay. So what two two-ish tournaments, how'd we do? Uh, got to the world cup in 2026 and crashed out in the group stages, but still got to the world cup.
00:15:49
Speaker
I mean, yeah, you got a ticket to the dance, you didn't get a date. And then left. And that was it? Yeah, he just caused it to work up. He did one round of the European League, 56% win rate, and then he went to take the Watford job. Okay, that's again fair, back to... I mean, I would argue that the Watford job is bigger than the Ireland job. I don't know if I'm speaking out of turn there.
00:16:19
Speaker
It's a sidewards move, I would say. More so than anything else because of how bad Watford's owners are. But yeah, unremarkable euros to finish it off. Got into the World Cup where they lost 3-0 at home. No, 3-0 in America to England. To England. Bet Tunisia and lost to South Korea. So I'd give that a
00:16:48
Speaker
B minus C plus. I think, I think getting to the quarterfinal of the euros is a much better achievement than going into groups, the world cup. Don't get me wrong. It'd be so exciting to go to a world cup and it's been a long time since we've been in one book. That doesn't do much for me. I don't know about you Nate. Um, I expect no different from a man from ammonia FC. Um, Oh, what would I give her?
00:17:18
Speaker
I see, I see. You know what we've had so far boys, who do you think actually like aside from the results that we're talking about here and the kind of fictional win rates if we're calling it that, who do you think out of the ones we've talked about is the best suited for the job? Take out the Brucey love and the Potter love and objectively looking at what are we saying?
00:17:38
Speaker
So just for context of the ones we've gone through, even though we skimmed through some of them, we have Big Sam, Neil Warnock, Rafa Benitez, Neil Lennon, Gus Poit, Graham Potter and Steve Bruce. Of them, genuinely either Poit or Potter would be like, I think they could handle an international manager's job and bring a team forward.
00:18:02
Speaker
I mean, it would probably give Neil Warnock a heart attack so we can rule him out. I think you're right on Poyet. As of now, I'd be going, yeah, he's the guy, but obviously my Brucey bias glasses are on and I can't see past that beautiful man.
Fantasy Scenario: Evan Ferguson as Player-Manager
00:18:19
Speaker
But I'm right down with you. Objectively, I'm going Poyet so far.
00:18:24
Speaker
No, I'm Steve Bruce. That's no bias whatsoever. I think he's the man for the job. I want to see it happen. And yeah, that's my honest pick. What's it again? You need like 10,000 signatures to get a disgusting in the doll. Yeah. So we need to get a Brucie, a Brucie one going. Yeah.
00:18:49
Speaker
Well, next we come to, I believe this was actually Rob's choice, Brendan Rogers. Good shout. I forgot about him. Brendan Rogers, I did slightly more interestingly than others. Okay. Are you an assistant? No. He got to be co-manager, so he's Ireland and Celtic. Oh, okay. Which we were saying is if he was to do it, it's probably the only way it would happen.
00:19:17
Speaker
Yeah, so is it Mr. Desmond that owns Celtic? He said to him, listen, I'll double your wages. You stay at Celtic, you manage Ireland, billionaire money. He has some wins under your belt. So he lasted seven years. He only resigned in 2030 with a 55% win rate.
00:19:44
Speaker
Okay. So this top of the leaderboard ever.
00:19:48
Speaker
Yes. So as you can see here in taking over at the end of the Euros tournament, he had a much kind of up and down, but stronger victories, like a 6-1 against Gibraltar, 4-0 against Gibraltar. What did you expect? 2-1 against Greece. And then solid losses, which is the most Irish national team thing I've ever said. 1-0 Netherlands, 3-1 France, 2-1 Netherlands, 2-1 France. So he's still, he's getting goals.
00:20:18
Speaker
There's a pattern again that all the managers who've got wins are getting them against Gibraltar, Greece, kind of maybe get one bigger win. And then, you know. You say that until Mr. Rogers gets into the World Cup. Oh? How far do we go? He's World Cup 20-30. Yeah, we're going deep here now. 20-30, but he got them to the round of 16.
00:20:48
Speaker
Okay. Beating Malia, Colombia, Japan and Canada along the way, losing to the Netherlands. Absolute behemoth in the group stages there. And he also in 2020 got them to the qualifying playoff final for the Euros. So not as good. And he did get relegated from the European League.
00:21:11
Speaker
This is where win rates can be misconstrued. I mean like what a group he got like. What a group. Oh you couldn't ask for more. That's a real like Man City in the Champions League group there. Yeah so like I don't know I'm taking this one with a pinch of salt.
00:21:28
Speaker
I'm not feeling this one actually, yeah. Being boozled here. He did beat England at home. In a competitive game or a friendly? In a World Cup qualifying group. Okay, that would keep it the job. Let's be real, come on. Yeah, so like two goals from Evan Ferguson and then one from Jude Bellingham in the Aviva. 51,700 people going wild. Battling the young books.
00:21:59
Speaker
Yeah. So like, I got to give that an A realistic take. Ah, no. A with that group is a bit much. Take out that England win. That's a C plus.
00:22:17
Speaker
He got them to the World Cup round of 16. You were saying a minimum of an ARB for the round two of the Euros. I think I could get us to the round of 16 if we had, what was it, Malia Japan? Was it Canada? Canada segmented. What are we doing here? We see within the Euros last two games and won one and got through. But he got us through. At least Rodgers won the games.
00:22:44
Speaker
But Rodgers didn't wear a tracksuit, did he? Exactly. Let's call a spade a spade here. I don't know. I think I'm being filled with this, to be honest. Is there any way you can see what that England squad was at the Aviva? Because I'm just feeling that might be doing the 21s out there. Well, he got Ireland up to 27 in the world rankings.
00:23:12
Speaker
So our highest ever was not far off that, I don't think. Oh no, our highest ever was sixth in 1993. Geez, where was that high back in the day? Are you allowed to be the world rankings? Because I'm not. Jesus Christ. I find them a useful metric in the same way that like, expect as goals can be. There's a merit to them, but don't go and buy Jayden Sancho off the back of them.
00:23:40
Speaker
That was a nice little dig in the back there. My thing at World Rankings is it's the same in other sports like when it comes down to if you play more games you get more points and those are the best team in the world. That's where I'm not buying into it but if it's a
00:24:01
Speaker
I suppose if it's a fair process, I mean, it's pub talk really is what it is. Like if you're fifth in the world, does it really matter? You could beat anyone on your day, you know? Well, we're rankings do matter when that affects seating. So yeah, obviously like I said it that, but I mean, in terms of like, if you're, if there's a friendly game and it's Italy versus Germany, I don't really care where the rankings are. That could go anyway, you know?
00:24:28
Speaker
So Nate, what's your letter rating on this, Brendan Rodgers? An A, but not an A star. Oh, okay. I'm not clear that I thought, okay. That distinction is not an A star, but it's an A. Connor, did you say an A or a B? Just to be better, I'll say a B, but everyone keeps resigning from this bloody job.
Final Picks and Conclusion on Ireland Manager
00:24:52
Speaker
Okay. We're going to move on to the next one. Um, so I'm going to give you the choice. Okay. So we have Lee cars, Lee wildcard one or wildcard two. Oh, we got to go wildcard. Come on now. One or two. Um, yeah. Wildcard one.
00:25:19
Speaker
lads, big Jim McGinnis has left on the goal and he's taken the Ireland job. If you tell me we won the World Cup or something. Did he serve as 8 week ban though? Not only does he serve as 8 week ban, he served 17 years in the job. You're bloody joking.
00:25:41
Speaker
kitty this whole save might go out the window if you did not save the 8 week bam like we just need to be we need to see when you poke over
00:25:51
Speaker
17 seasons 17 years i'm gonna go straight this year this could be an amusingly Lee Carsey took over after him so well that's funny ironic but if if if we come out of this podcast and i've picked Jim bloody McGinnis as the next item manager i don't know where we go from there ladd
00:26:13
Speaker
So Jim McGinnis over 17 years and 200 days had a 47% win rate. Holy. Jesus Christ, that's unbelievable. Now that statue. Oh my, what is this? He got us up to 20th in the world. Holy drop off. Yeah, where does he end in the 17 years? Oh my.
00:26:38
Speaker
39, which, back to Kennyland. Yeah. No, right. We're still like 20 plus places away from where we are. But, unremarkable beginnings in the Euros qualifying won two games in 2023. Not good. Okay. 2024, you won two games. Not good. Consistent. Tree games went on in 2025.
00:27:05
Speaker
2026, he gets cooking. An undefeated year. Look at these opponents. Yeah, that's muck. Go back to that. Average world ranking 100 there. What is this? So we have New Zealand, Malta, Lichtenstein, Lithuania, Estonia, Armenia. Just looking at that list, you can only call that list a jambalaya of like poor world rankings. That's literally all it is.
00:27:33
Speaker
Nations-y. I didn't even know it was that far. But it's only the nations-y. We can forget that because 2027 hits. And that's a very, very solid undefeated Euros qualifier. Like two draws against Spain, beating Iceland, beating Scotland.
00:27:54
Speaker
It's where you look at it. Yeah, that's all you can ask for, I suppose. But that one before, that's a smorgasbord of luck. Oh, God, I'm seeing a Bosnia here. Well, he got into the Euros. And they didn't get out of the group, but he got into the Euros. We move on. 2029, a solid World Cup campaign.
00:28:20
Speaker
doesn't make the tournament though. Not good Nations League. Back into the year was qualifying for 2031 we are in now. Do we still cost a living crisis going on or what? How's the world looking? How much are pines? How much is bread? Fred will cost you 15 euro. I'm big James beating who now in this year? 2032.
00:28:50
Speaker
He gets us to the Euro's qualifying playoff semi-final. So it didn't make Euro's itself. So that's two tournaments. So he's got a good win, right? But that's two tournaments that we nearly got there and didn't.
00:29:06
Speaker
2034 World Cup gets us there. And he gets us to the semifinal and comes fourth overall in the World Cup in 2034. Sorry. Read out those games. Who? So what was our path? So we're in the World Cup. It's in Japan. Push yourselves there, lads. I'm in Japan. Cameroon 2-1 win. Canada 2-0 win.
00:29:36
Speaker
Argentina 2-2 draw. Second round of the World Cup, 2-1 win against Netherlands. Round of 16, a 5-3 trouncing of Scotland. The quarterfinals, a 2-1 win over Belgium before losing in the semis 2-0 to Spain and then losing 2-1 to Norway in the third place playoff. So fourth in the World Cup.
00:30:03
Speaker
I mean, that'll possibly be the greatest year of all our lives in a football perspective, quite possibly. Unlike those opponents aren't bad either. But to get to that point, I think two tournaments where you don't get there, regardless of your win rate, the kind of opponents he was going against that were just complete dirt. I don't know if you'd last that long in reality. Using one of your points that you have often used against Kenny, at least Big Jim was winning the games against the crap opponents.
00:30:32
Speaker
Can I also just say, Big Jim would be in a tracksuit. My theory is, again, confirmed. Well, you're losing to Norway now. Like, come on, get us the Turblaise medal. Yeah, she's really, a beggar's going to be choosers now. Come on, now. This is an Odegard and Halland, Norway, by the way, just context. Are they on the squirty? No. OK, right. OK, he, obviously this is a...
00:31:01
Speaker
I mean, fourth in the World Cup has to be a status, but I do, part of me really wants to bring that down to a B plus just because of that interim period and those, some of the mock appointments or not appointments, sorry, fixtures that they had in that run, but it's hard to see past. What are you always saying?
00:31:21
Speaker
We're not finished yet. He continues. He continues. He doesn't retire, it doesn't leave and retire until 2042.
00:31:34
Speaker
Oh geez, we'll be here for days, boys. So 2036, second round in the Euros. So he gets us to the tournament and fails his way to the second round in a Brucey kind of win one, lose the rest. 2037 has a good World Cup qualifying. That man loves the World Cup because he gets us to the round of 16.
00:31:59
Speaker
And again, beating Columbia for three losing to Spain to one beating Canada three one against Canada. Okay. Can I just say this? Can I say this? He, he loves to turn up on the World Cup years. Okay. But I have never seen a manager get such easy fixtures outside of the tournament. The players are like, like they're living on easy mode. Like no wonder they turn up like once a year, every four years, like,
00:32:28
Speaker
There's big vibes of that. Do you remember the Mexican goal? Yeah, the Mexican goalkeeper that only just turns up in World Cups. Ocea, Guillermo Ocea. Yeah, this stinks of that. So, 2040, he gets us to the Euros qualifying playoff final and loses to Romania there. And then he doesn't make the next World Cup. So he never makes a Euros and gets the two World Cups.
00:32:56
Speaker
He made the group stages of a Euros in 2020. I mean, let's, let's be real. If we didn't know who this was and this happened to us, he'd say he was the greatest manager that ever lived. But you know, those, I, there is some absolute mock fixtures in there. So take the win ratio out. I think judge it off the tournament.
00:33:20
Speaker
A fortune in the World Cup, it's an A. Yeah, just automatically. Yeah, it's an A for absolutely no chance of happening. But I divide better at the Euros or the World Cup because for me, it's the Euros. I'm like, we're not even getting to a Euro. So I can't even go over to France and have like a pay-as-hop. You know what I mean? Yeah. Do you like getting us to exotic places like Japan, though?
00:33:49
Speaker
Yeah, but I... He went to Japan and voted the wrongs of Saipan. I'm kidding. No, like, Poland going to have a great time in the summer for a year. I was like, he's not giving us any of that. But he does lead to Lee Carsley taking the job, though. Could you imagine 17 years of Jim McGinnis, we get fourth in a World Cup and then we get a run at Lee Carsley. Now, that is an absolute wet dream.
00:34:16
Speaker
Why is Lee Carsey at that point? 7.2. He's 68 and has subsequently managed Wickham, Blackpool, Derry, Norwich, Al Allie and Poland. That's how you need to know about Lee Carsey then, who he's managed to. After a wild card like that, let's go back to the safety net of a realism one next though with Carsey.
00:34:46
Speaker
Let's finish it off on Big Jim. So Big Jim, that's him, like some of the players, a lot of unreal players came true on. But Queaving Kelleher was his main goalkeeper, a hundred and five appearances. I love that guy.
00:35:02
Speaker
He ended up going to Celtic and got a good few and then Evan Ferguson retired at 35 with 64 goals in 128 games, which means he didn't break either the caps or the goals for Ireland, which is I don't think he's going to break Kano's record.
00:35:21
Speaker
Damn, like this really isn't realistic. Like, Keith and Candler are even getting football. Like, that's crazy. What do you boys think of that one? Do you think long term Evan Ferguson will be Keno's international record? I don't. No. I do. Do you? Just because the amount of international games are played now. And if our world rankings keep going the way it will, then we're going to end up playing the likes of, like, in the Vatican City soon.
00:35:55
Speaker
so are we going for wildcard 2 or nee carr's lee? nee carr's lee is a chunky one i will admit how chunky we talking
00:36:05
Speaker
We're talking a 19 year spell. Oh, Jesus Christ. The most unrealistic spell in the world. So we're going to. This man ended with a 58 percent win rate and resigned in 2028. But it's hard to deny him resigning in 2028 because he's still playing and is still yet to hit 30.
00:36:32
Speaker
It was given to 18-year-old Evan Ferguson to lead Ireland. Oh, Jesus Christ. Oh my God, David. I mean, you go outside the box on an average day, but this is the line as a dot to you at this point. 58% win rate. Evan Ferguson, he's only 23 now, now playing for Newcastle, valued at
00:36:58
Speaker
433 million euro, has 42 golds and 56 caps. Is this a player manager situation or what's going on here? Yeah, he's a player manager around. Well firstly his value at Newcastle is oil attacks, let's get that right.
00:37:21
Speaker
So, look at that first year. So he lost to Netherlands, bet Gibraltar, lost to France, tree nil victory over Greece, drew to Gibraltar, not good, drew to Netherlands, lost to France, bet Estonia, drew to Greece. Like, that's better than Kenny. 2024, pretty average, but Lubb's beaten Turkey, beaten them twice.
00:37:48
Speaker
World Cup qualifiers. Beats Wales 3-0. Beats San Marino 8-0. He scored six of them. Yeah. How many did he get? Literally six. To be fair though, that's low for San Marino. Oh my God. Did we get to the World Cup? No. Oh, everything right. What do you have? Look at this Euros qualifier group.
00:38:17
Speaker
only two draws in it and got us to the 2028 euros where he drew one game and lost two. Well that's your gaffer right there you got your trip to the euros. Yeah but look at the group holy. He got us over the 36 in the world just as a pure John Giles transitionary manager player manager
00:38:43
Speaker
I'm kind of giving this a B plus, like what can be expected of an 18 year old? I've got an early question. Was Keith Andrews still there? He was definitely somewhere. He was hiding in a box somewhere in the team room.
00:39:03
Speaker
He was there, the assistant manager actually left with him because he had Graham Cavanagh and... The Graham Cavanagh! The Graham Cavanagh. Oh wow! And I believe he had somebody from Brighton. I think I gave him somebody from Brighton. It could have been Chris Houghton or something like that as an assistant. But he's still in the Ireland squad, he's only 23 years old now.
00:39:28
Speaker
But he's had a four-year spell, so who knows, maybe in the future, Big Evan will be back. Yeah, I don't think I'll be going to in the bookies and throwing a tenner on Evan Ferguson to be player manager, if I'm honest.
00:39:40
Speaker
Look at them stats. He's a continental A license, 16 motivating, 13 people management, 11 on both judging player ability and potential, and a 10 for tactical knowledge, 20 adaptability, and 11 on attacking is quite low. From a head of great hair to a cue ball, bring us on to Big Lee Carsley. Big Lee Carsley with the chunkiest segment of all.
00:40:10
Speaker
42 years. 19 years, so he retired in 2042. Okay, let's see his games against Mali and Ecuador and Vatican City. 19 years and 20 days, 50% win rate. I was 22 by the way, so he's only three years off from my age.
00:40:33
Speaker
Exactly. So like that he's literally, he was literally a lifetime in the job. So out of all, out of all the managers, McGinnis had the biggest win rate of 55% in cars. It's just behind 50. So pretty unremarkable first year. Everyone seems to have a poor first year.
00:40:52
Speaker
Yeah, like you're kind of dealing with the aftermath of Kenny. It's a team that is set to do well, not doing well. So 2024, terrible. Jesus, Kenny survived that year.
00:41:11
Speaker
2025 are reasonably good. Um, so looking at those pictures, there we go. North Macedonia, San Marino, Spain, Latvia, Norway. Okay. Yeah.
00:41:27
Speaker
2026 at OK Nations League, 2027, a pretty mixed bag in the Euros qualifier. Doesn't get us to Euros 2028, losing in the qualifying playoff semifinal to Kosovo. Against Kosovo. Draw with Kosovo, Jesus. Kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him, kill him,
00:41:59
Speaker
because this is the standard that was allowed to set into Ireland. But trust me, lads. Did you set him up with an assistant or did you just leave him out on his own? He had an assistant. He's since gone. So if I didn't give them a specific assistant, the game gave them one or the hired one.
00:42:19
Speaker
and so 2031 that's a much healthier looking at euros qualifier wins with against Scotland Lichtenstein seven years yeah 2032 was a very rough year but only yet two victories in the year to North Macedonia and Bulgaria
00:42:42
Speaker
I don't know his draw to Bulgaria. But lads, this is where things change. 2033, an undefeated year in the World Cup qualifiers, beaten Portugal, beaten Moldova, beaten Finland, beaten Sweden 3-0, beaten Portugal 3-1 in Portugal to get us to the World Cup. And not only does he get us to the World Cup,
00:43:07
Speaker
It's a fourth place of the World Cup. In 2034. Jesus, it only took him the guts of a decade of crap results and riding time, but fourth again. I dare use to say anything against his run.
00:43:28
Speaker
No, against the run. So he beats South Africa, loses 1-0 to Argentina, beats South Korea 2-0-1, beats Japan 1-0 in the second round. Round of 16 against Brazil, only a 3-1 victory. Quarterfinal Argentina, ghost of the past, a 5-3 victory, and then loses the spin in the semi-final and then loses to Italy in the third place playoff. What a fourth place in the World Cup!
00:43:56
Speaker
automatic A. I'm not giving him a decade of, I'm not going to say it was dire, but like, yeah, no. A's are reserved for Steve Bruce, just off the bat. A plus. A plus. And then A for a Euro's quarterfinal. Did you not see his tracksuit? It was a great summer. Like it was... Did you ever immediately carouseline the suit?
00:44:27
Speaker
No, unless he was up in court. The man looks like a pint of Bulmer's, like honestly. What place in the world? I think this bit at the end is like... It covers... It's tipping the scales, yeah. Yeah, I don't even think this looks as impressive as I think it does.
00:44:51
Speaker
No. Well, don't worry, don't worry. Big Lee still has a few surprises for you. 2035 euros qualifying looks okay. Got to the second round. That's fine. Not great. Only one victory in the tournament. 2037, a very solid World Cup qualifier, getting us to the 2038 World Cup where we finish runners up to Italy. Okay. Now you're getting me.
00:45:21
Speaker
fourth and second. Nigeria, Thailand, Ghana, USA, South Africa. We didn't even beat Ireland. I'm sorry, two flute games against Spain and England. I'm not buying this, okay. Is that penalties against England as well? No, no, that was a 3-2 victory. Put yourselves in this. It's South Africa, 2038, World Cup semi-final and
00:45:47
Speaker
88 minute winner against England to send us through to the World Cup Final. Could you imagine the pandemonium? So many bald babies named Lee after Pat Knight. Boys and girls, yeah. Let me read that out for you again. Nigeria, Thailand, USA, Ghana, South Africa. And we didn't beat Thailand. And then two big games. Where they won the big games. You can't judge them on the draw.
00:46:15
Speaker
Don't hate the player, hate the game. No, no, no, no. Where does he finish up then after this fourth place, second place? What's his, where does he go? Does he resign like everyone else? Is that the easiest world group ever? Is that the easiest world group in history? No, no. The easiest one was 2010 where Italy finished last and New Zealand got a point when Italy didn't. Oh yeah.
00:46:46
Speaker
So Lee Carsey holds on for another four years, gets to the Euros again, a second round loss in the Euros against France on penalties. Hard to kind of give out about that. I'm sick of losing to France, that's the one other team in this. Every bloody manager loses to France. If you doubted how realistic this game is, Arden losing to France every year.
00:47:12
Speaker
It's written on the wall. And then not only that, in his final year, his final act was getting us to the Round of 16 in 2042 at the World Cup. So Peru, England, Egypt, Australia. You don't know what teams they have in 2042, man. I'm just saying, we can check their ratings if you want. We can go down that path. I don't think we need to.
00:47:38
Speaker
Okay, you want to play this? Okay, I was certainly out of grade, but the worst 16th in the world. The confidence, the lack of confidence shift there was iconic. South Africa, who we lost to, is eighth in the world. This is very real. This is dribble. This is absolute dribble. I'm writing off cars. Cars is not getting the job.
00:48:00
Speaker
Carsley with a round of 16, which we could only dream of in the World Cup with a fourth place to Thailand. We finished runners up in the World Cup. And it means we have as many World Cup winner's medals as we did before. Thailand, come on. If we ever finish runners up in the World Cup, I'm going to hold you to that.
00:48:28
Speaker
No, this episode will be deleted by then. Once we hit the corridors, this thing's getting deleted. And in this semi-final in the Euros, Slaps way ahead in the semi-final in the World Cup. Nate, it was a quarter-finals.
00:48:49
Speaker
Yes, it's Brucie. No, I'm just saying, I'd rather get to the same final year as the World Cup. That's what I'm saying. Okay. What are we saying, boys? Let's go back to all the possibilities we had. My rating on Lee Garvey, A+, star plus.
00:49:08
Speaker
five star, ten star, five circles on TripAdvisor. I don't care. Give the man everything. The second half of his ten year, absolutely. That first ten years was absolute dribble. Dribble. Ah, the first few years in the Man City project was dribble. Now look at them. Didn't take ten.
00:49:32
Speaker
Yeah, but Lee Carsey also has to put up with bloody Queaving Callaher and Dara O'Shea for 10 years, so come on. You know, I'll give it an A. What I was going to say is if I was in charge of the team for 10 years, I'd expect a good one, you know what I mean? That's all I'm going to say. Yeah, you're giving it an A because of...
00:49:51
Speaker
the second place, fourth place. I get that. But looking at the grand scale of this, Karsley ain't in my top three. I'm going to put it out to you. I'm going to put it out to you. Where was Ireland 10 years ago? Where's Ireland then? Top three, that's interesting. Okay, lads. We do some conclusions, really? Yeah, I want your one, two, three of who you're picking for me.
00:50:21
Speaker
Genuinely, jokes aside, I'm going Brucie, one. Jim McGinnis, two. And three is where it gets a bit dicey. In fact, that Lee Carsley is not your one or two, negates your opinion. Thailand, bro. OK, we're going Carsley three just because of the placement of a big bad Brucie for me. And I'm here for the McGinnis project.
00:50:51
Speaker
What are you saying? I'm going to go Jim McGinnis third. Oh, you're going like X factor on this. Oh, Jim McGinnis third. And I'm going to go Graham Potter second.
00:51:09
Speaker
Oh my days. You can't do that. You can't give Killian that kind of ammo. You can't give Killian some, you know what I mean? I gotta keep him sweet somehow. And who just asked for the hard decision guys, you know what I mean? Number one.
00:51:25
Speaker
Steve Bruce. All I'm going to say is he was the one that went the furthest in the Euros. Which is the holy grail of football, apparently. I'm just saying, no one else could do it. No one else can match him. And I think that stands them out from the pack. He's my number one. OK, so we got two Bruces and number one. What were you going killing?
00:51:46
Speaker
Bruce doesn't even make my top tree. Disgraceful. Just to make you aware. If you say Evan Ferguson is in this list, I'm hanging up. It's an honourable mention to Evan, but number three is Big Jim.
00:52:04
Speaker
Number two is Brendan Rodgers. Worked up around the 16 in 2030. He did it in a very short amount of time. He left when the gun was good. Could have stayed on. But number one has to be Lee Carsley. If that man got a fraction of what FM thinks he could,
00:52:20
Speaker
he the national hero look at jack charlton like if jack charlton is as revered for a lot more of a mediocre career than what lee carterley had there then the man should have a 20 like replace the spire make it gold and as shiny as his head of just lee carterley holding up like evan ferguson above his head or something i don't know whatever he wants just give it to him give it to him
00:52:51
Speaker
I think we pass it out to the listeners. I think there's therefore someone we missed in there and whoever we possibly missed, let us know. But between a player manager for, of Evan Ferguson, Jim McGinnis, Mrs. Doubtfire and Potter, I don't know who we could have possibly missed.
00:53:15
Speaker
I couldn't agree with you more. Obviously I did the simulation so I tried to cover as many bases as we could. We could have done the normal boring stuff of Pep Guardiola or Jose. They're not going to happen. Jim McGinnis might do it. He might do it when he's on his 8 week ban. Just come in and take over the Ireland team. I'd love to see it. Who needs Jose or Pep when you got Brucie? That's all I'm saying.
00:53:38
Speaker
So gentlemen, it's been an absolute pleasure. Thank you so much for sticking with us. If you've managed to stick to our football manager ramblings for this long, you might want to subscribe and check us out on social, not upon the podcast. And we'll be chatting to you next week. I'm not into podcasts.
00:54:05
Speaker
What a hit! Back of the net