Jolly Red Giant
Well-known member
- Jul 11, 2015
- 2,615
No chance. A step backwards in
I my opinion. I’d say he’s more likely to manage England in the future than an extremely poor Irish team.
The Irish team is a decent team and has some young talent coming through - O'Neill was old, staid and relied on older players (often played out of position).
Why would Hughton be more likely to manage England? He was the first black player to play for Ireland, he was hugely popular as an Irish international, played 53 times and was assistant manager for nearly three years.
Hughton is going to be 60 in a few weeks and would be given free rein the the Ireland job for the next four or five years (and probably bring Brian Kerr back into the Irish coaching set-up - Hughton was Kerr's assistant and they got on very well together).
Hughton will manage the Republic of Ireland at some point - and he will decide when - if it is now then the job is his - if he decides to wait because he wants to continue with where he is, then it will be the next time the job becomes vacant. I can't see him finishing his managerial career without managing Ireland.