In mid-1987, following the collapse of his Dublin sports shop joint venture and an 18-month absence from football after his tenure as Ireland’s coach, Eoin Hand found himself in Saudi Arabia. A series of unsuccessful leads in England had left him needing to carve out a living, and a missed opportunity with Wolverhampton Wanderers, who chose Graham Turner over him, amplified this need.
Al-Taawoun, on the hunt for a coach of European descent, offered him a lifeline. Despite a more colourful figure, Tommy Docherty, declining their offer, Hand, with his work options limited, was receptive to their advances, facilitated by a matchmaker agent. The Saudis were attracted to Hand’s prior international managerial experience, viewing it as an external confirmation of his reputation.
In Hand’s recount, he had initially agreed to a one-month trial, during which he took on the task of introducing organisation within the team – a novel experience for them. The management was so impressed that they awarded him a favourable contract, which, financially, restored his stability.
In those days, significant earnings from football were quite rare. As a player, Hand’s peak weekly wage was £120 at Portsmouth. On becoming Ireland’s coach in 1980, he was earning £9,500 yearly, which increased to £17,500 by the end of his five-year stint. But the Saudis weren’t bothered about standard remuneration methods.
Hand resided in a Buraidah foreigner compound, frequently finding himself at odds with local traditions and Islamic law. He remembered getting detained at a shopping centre for wearing shorts, remaining in a police cell for hours until his club sponsor managed to secure his release.
His team wasn’t polished, exhibiting a fundamental lack of understanding of basic football principles. Hand addressed these gaps via an interpreter. He mentioned a central midfielder who avoided heading the ball and a striker who left the pitch post-striking a spectacular goal, as he saw no reason to continue. Hand also had to navigate the additional complexity of managing two players in a relationship who would sneak off into the surrounding woods every Friday evening, a potentially perilous act.
Despite the prosperous performance of the squad under his influence, Hand started to reconsider his decision a year after being offered a tenure extension, supplemented with a Mercedes. The chairman foiled his plans to transport the vehicle back home, categorising it as an exit fare, upon Hand’s decision to decamp. Subsequently, Huddersfield Town’s manager, Malcom McDonald, proposed Hand to join him as his deputy. Fate took a turn when McDonald got kicked out owing to gross misconduct, elevating Hand’s position. Although the team descended to Division Three under his fresh management, he was exonerated from the responsibility of their downslide.
However, this is merely a fragment of the whole narrative.
Since the inaugural match under John Giles as Ireland’s manager half a century ago, a total of ten have permanently occupied the position, leaving distinctive imprints on each. There were no exceptions to the toll, with Jack Charlton, despite his triumphant and applauded tenure, also baring the grating effects of his concluding qualifying drive. It marked the end of the football career for both Charlton and Giovanni Trapattoni, who were 60 and 71 respectively when they retired. As for the others, they continued their journey on the unpredictable football circuit.
It could be misleading to identify a trend here, but out of these Ireland managers, four assumed office in their thirties: Giles was 32, Hand was 34, while Mick McCarthy and Steve Staunton were both 37 at the time of their appointments. Both Giles and Hand were concurrently pursuing club football. In comparison, Glenn Hoddle remains the sole England manager to have been appointed in his thirties.
The implication being that the managers had a vast phase of their football careers awaiting them, even after concluding their journeys with Ireland. So was it merely turning the page and advancing to the next chapter? The simple game…
The relatively short managerial career of Giles is somewhat astounding, considering his exceptional talent as a player and the deep understanding of football he possessed. Despite all expectations of a lengthy career in management, he stepped away from it only six years after his retirement from international football. His tenure included managing Vancouver Whitecaps, Shamrock Rovers, and West Bromwich Albion, where he proved his managerial mettle. However, to Giles, it made no difference.
“I did not particularly enjoy coaching,” Giles acknowledges now. “I was required to make exceedingly tough decisions such as excluding players, and I felt I lacked the freedom I was promised. That was my main discovery. My managerial spell was quite brief, and I was glad to move on.”
Conversely, the managerial career path of Staunton did not raise eyebrows. Selected by Ireland from the coaching team of Walsall with no prior experience in a leading role, and then being sacked by the FAI, he had to wait two more years for another opportunity.
That chance came with Darlington, who were the last in League Two when Staunton was appointed in October 2009. However, he was dismissed five months later when they were 19 points behind the safety position. A game against Barnet marked his last in charge – attended by a meagre 1,463 people, a record low for Darlington. This evidently was not the career path for Staunton.
On the other hand, McCarthy has found managing to be his calling. Over the past three decades, he has showcased exceptional endurance and resilience by managing more than 950 matches in Britain alone, spread across six distinct clubs apart from his two spells with Ireland. He has secured the Championship title twice. During his stint with Wolves, he managed to maintain their top league status for two consecutive seasons – a feat the club had not achieved in three decades. His leadership saw Ipswich reaching the Championship playoffs for the first time in a decade.
McCarthy’s teams have always been known for their pragmatism and lack of pretension, a characteristic that has sometimes acted against him during losing streaks. However, his longevity in the sport points to the undeniable skill in managing the crucial aspects of the game. Football’s obsession with results couldn’t have been satisfied without such skills, implying a deep understanding of the game’s mechanics and its underpinnings.
To succeed in harsh circumstances, he required the hard exterior of a rhinoceros. Ipswich Town was McCarthy’s home for the longest part of his career, yet the bitter reality of sports implies departures are often acrimonious. McCarthy experienced this first-hand when his last full season concluded, receiving jeers rather than cheers while acknowledging the fans with the customary lap. Given that Ipswich had the fifth smallest budget in the Championship, McCarthy had to manage his team with limited resources. A string of losses, final one being the 1-0 defeat to Brentford away from home, further fuelled the hostile environment. Post-match, a policewoman warned him against using the main exit since disgruntled fans were positioned there, ready to pelt bottles.
Thereafter, Brian Kerr assumed the role of Ireland’s manager after McCarthy, handling their first campaign commendably with just one defeat. However, October 2005 saw the termination of his contract. Unlike Stephen Kenny, who went back to Ireland’s league post-management, Kerr, having got the taste of international football, decided to venture elsewhere.
“I was well aware that jobs with Brazil or Spain weren’t in my future,” he remarks. “My next position was more likely to be somewhere remote, where they were willing to gamble on me. I did take a short trip to India. They seemed eager, but it wasn’t a suitable place for me after a week. Moreover, I had doubts about handling the distance from my family and acquaintances in Singapore and deemed African offers were laden with multiple risks.”
Kerr eventually set foot in the Faroe Islands, taking them to their maiden competitive victory in eight years, even adding another before he moved on. Kerr had improved their performance, remaining true to the ultimate expectation from a manager.
The narrative was somewhat different for Martin O’Neill. The majority of his triumphs were history, achieved during his tenure with Leicester City, Celtic, and to some extent, Aston Villa. His stint with Ireland unveiled certain shortcomings. Like most Irish managers before, he bore the brunt of criticisms, responding to them quite defensively.
In November 2018, O’Neill concluded his coaching stint with Ireland, and two months later, he took up a position with Nottingham Forest. His tenure there, however, only spanned 19 games. O’Neill brought Roy Keane on board as his assistant, mirroring their partnership in Ireland, but Keane stepped down during the 2019 preseason. Following growing discontent in the locker room, as reported by The Guardian, O’Neill was dismissed a week after Keane’s resignation.
O’Neill vehemently dismissed the widespread claims that his exit was facilitated by the players. In a Talksport interview, he discredited the notion of player dominance at Nottingham Forest, asserting that no player possessed the strength or the personality to outmanoeuvre him. O’Neill contended that his removal was influenced by a few insignificant players who had their agents speak to the CEO. He went on to criticise the CEO for taking heed of their complaints.
Three years after these events, O’Neill penned his autobiography, a comprehensive text exceeding 350 pages. However, noticeably, his brief association with Nottingham Forest finds no mention.
In a separate instance in 1994, Eoin Hand relocated to South Africa. After some enquiries, he secured an interview for the national team manager’s position. According to Hand, this encounter was notably short, lasting a mere five minutes.
Hand persisted, however, and a few months later, he assumed the managerial role at AmaZulu, a club based outside Durban. This experience proved to be entirely unexpected. Hand revealed in his autobiography that he struggled with racism, essentially a form of reverse apartheid, as both the fans and broader community were disapproving of a white man leading the team. He encountered hostility to the point of receiving death threats and having rocks hurled at him by fans. During one particular match, he even resorted to wearing a motorcycle helmet for safety. Eventually, things came to a climax during a training session when he was confronted by a group of around thirty Zulus.
The usually boisterous crowd in an instant fell silent and split open, making way for the tribal leader to approach me. In a stern voice, the chieftain warned me, ‘If you do not leave, we will be forced to kill you.’ As I glanced around, every member of my team had disappeared, leaving me alone in front of an enraged tribe, led by their chief.
Fast forward 48 hours, and I found myself sitting solitarily by the pool located on the hotel rooftop when a stranger emerged from the nearby elevator. He produced a weapon without a word, and began to circle the pool at a leisurely stride. Springing onto my feet, I declared to nobody in particular, ‘I am departing Durban now. This is my goodbye.’
Eoin Hand’s tenure as Ireland’s manager had been challenging, but the prospective assassins he encountered thankfully weren’t armed.
Post-Ireland Life
As we mark the Golden Jubilee of John Giles’ first match as Ireland’s manager, Heimir Hallgrímsson finds himself as the tenth permanent holder of the position. But what became of his predecessors once they parted ways with the Ireland national team? Did their job as Ireland’s manager hamper or boost their ensuing ventures?
The majority ended their managerial careers within six years of leaving their post with Ireland. Jack Charlton and Giovanni Trapattoni bowed out of management following their stint with the nation’s team.
Martin O’Neill embarked on one last managerial adventure post his Ireland exit, he headed back to Nottingham Forest, a club where he had witnessed immense success as a footballer. His tenure, however, was cut short after just 19 matches. Steve Staunton’s only managerial role post Ireland was a brief five-month term with Darlington in League Two.
Figures like John Giles, Eoin Hand, and Brian Kerr furthered their careers overseas. Giles spent a three-year-stint with the Vancouver Whitecaps prior to returning for one last season at West Bromwich Albion. Hand ventured to Saudi Arabia and South Africa, punctuated by a four-year term at Huddersfield Town. Meanwhile, Kerr found himself steering the Faroe Islands’ national team.
Mick McCarthy remained the most persistent in his post-Ireland pursuits. After his first term as Ireland’s Manager, he led Sunderland, Wolves, and Ipswich Town. With two Championship victories to his credit and aiding Wolves to retain their premier league status for two consecutive seasons. McCarthy’s second stint with Ireland was followed by managerial roles at Cardiff City, Blackpool, and a brief interlude in Cyprus; however, these assignments lacked notable triumphs.