Steve Staunton leaves as Irish soccer manager

The FAI agreed to terminate Steve Staunton's contract by mutual consent in the early hours of Wednesday morning following an emergency board meeting which began on Tuesday night.
Steve Staunton took on the job in January 2006 with no previous management experience. He had won 102 caps for the Republic as a player.

Football Association of Ireland chief executive John Delaney insists appointing outside advisers to head-hunt the successor to national team boss Steve Staunton has to be 'the way forward'.
Delaney, a strong advocate of Staunton at the outset, added: 'Stephen was fantastic as a player for his country and in terms of doing the role as manager certainly did his best.
'I'm disappointed that it didn't work out, no question about that, I'm happy that everything finished amicably tonight and it was done by mutual consent and I hope to see him succeed in the future.'
Association president David Blood thanked Staunton and his staff for their efforts and said: 'They have brought through many young players and leave behind a squad with strong development potential.'
Blood added: 'As a member of the three-man committee which made the recommendation to appoint Stephen and his team, I am disappointed that things have not worked out the way I, Stephen or my colleagues on the board expected.'

The decision followed the team's failure to qualify for the finals of Euro 2008 next summer, and after accepting the appointment of Staunton - who had no previous managerial experience - had 'not worked out' Delaney made it clear the FAI would now put their trust in people working within the game to find the new man.

Defending Staunton's appointment, Delaney said: 'The appointment was made in good faith, obviously Stephen was appointed with (the vastly experienced) Sir Bobby Robson, and in relation to that obviously for whatever reason it hasn't worked out.
'I think by moving to a process where we will appoint people who are vested in the game in a professional capacity to make the next appointment, it is recognition that that's the way forward for the association at this stage.'
When it was put to Delaney that it was recognition that the decision on who to appoint should be made by football professionals rather than FAI administrators, he said: 'That's a fair point, yes.'

An FAI statement released earlier in the morning read: 'The FAI board will now seek to appoint an outside adviser from within the football industry to assist them in the recruitment of a successor.
'The board will select people with considerable football experience in the professional game to appoint the new manager.'
Under-21 boss Don Givens will manage the Ireland team in their final Euro 2008 qualifier against Wales next month, while Delaney confirmed there should be news on the appointment of the FAI's advisers in the next seven to 10 days.
'The board are meeting in a week or a week and a half's time to look at individual names in terms of appointing a couple of advisers to make the next appointment,' he said.

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Steve Staunton leaves as Irish soccer manager