Staunton leaves Ireland job - Sport in brief - Evening Standard
       

Staunton leaves Ireland job

The Football Association of Ireland have agreed to terminate the contract of Steve Staunton as national team manager by mutual consent.

The former international defender's future was discussed at an emergency board meeting of the FAI which began on Tuesday night, and they have now acted after a poor series of results which have ended any hopes of qualification for Euro 2008.

The final straw appeared to be the 1-1 draw with Cyprus at Croke Park last week.

Staunton, 39, took charge of the team in January 2006, having had no previous managerial experience.

Staunton holds his country's record for most caps, with 102, and was in charge as manager for 17 matches.

The FAI released a statement thanking Staunton and his staff for their efforts since taking the job.

Association president David Blood said: "They have brought through many young players and leave behind a squad with strong development potential."

With the team in another transitional stage following their failure to reach last year's World Cup finals, it was Staunton's understanding a main feature of his brief was to discover and nurture a promising set of youngsters for future squads and that his job was safe even bearing in mind the qualification failure.

He still had more than two years to go on his contract, which would present the hard-up FAI with a huge compensation issue.

Former Republic boss Mick McCarthy, who guided the Republic to the 2002 World Cup and both captained and managed Staunton during the latter's playing career, had earlier hit out at the criticism of the former Liverpool defender.

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