Well said, wasrednowgreen - I would be more than happy to see Pat Lam come in and do a job for us. I have little idea as to why so many people and journalists think EOS will be right for the job; he patently won't, and I don't think his dictatorial style would sit well with a lot of people. We also need someone who can carry on the good work Elwood has done off the pitch and maintain the surge in interest which has happened due to our Heineken Cup involvement. We may not see HC action next year, so one of the big challenges is to keep the enthusiasm going when we're back to the relative normality of the Amlin Cup, or whatever the French and English decide it's going to be.... :whistle:

I live in Oranmore , does that mean I should have got an interview? :lol:

What a load of D4 media horse manure (from the usual suspects) when it comes to anything to do with our club!! It is so close to them actually patting us on the head and saying ' there ye go lads, shouldn't you be happy with EOS because that's all ye should expect down there!'
B*ll&x to that crap.

Connacht opened its eyes up , asked interested people to apply , made its list and interviewed the respective candidates. The candidate who they feel is most suited will be offered the job. I think that's the way it normally works in real life , doesn't it? Does the MD job at IBM always go to a guy from Seattle ? Does the manager's job at Man Utd always go to a Manc ? NO, it bloody doesn't!!

Why can't the process be respected by these blebs and let Sears etc get on with it, rather than plonkers in the media slamming Connacht all the time. Choosing a new manager is always a precarious situation in all walks of life, so I for one respect the way it has been done so far and believe that Connacht will kick on with a new voice at the helm next season.

We do need a new perspective and trust that the board will have best interest of the club at heart.

swift4prez wrote: he's commented again

O'Sullivan is a former Connacht manager who at least knows all of the players well. Tom Sears has already cost Connacht Mike McCarthy and I expect other Connacht players to move on in due course if Pat Lam is appointed. He'll want to bring in his own team of players and coaches he knows from his days in England and NZ. It's about long term commitment rather than just seeing Connacht as a step on your career ladder. Leinster/Munster/Ulster don't have the same issue with holding on to their best players and only Schmidt has been a long term proven success to date.

i dont understand where pricks like this come out off.

Mystery Solved

Franno for Ireland!

Shudder. Not even in jest.

Would to love to know why journalists and RTE are giving guys like Flannery, Quinlan and Sheehan jobs. None of them can really talk and they add nothing to the overall package. I've been impressed with Shane Horgan though and Bryn Cunningham on BBC2.

phatguerilla wrote: if one of your main selling points is he lives near enough then you're clutching at straws.

Franno for Ireland! :evil:

Completely agree, if one of your main selling points is he lives near enough then you're clutching at straws. Also many have claimed that he knows the players and follows the team, I know he does be at the odd game but I don't think he's the insider that many journos have made out?

Completely agree. He was never suited for the job. He's linked to vacant head coach position (prob by his own people) in this part of the world yet he's still unemployed and complaining about it.

This is the bit I don't get. Everyone who is bigging up EOS remarks on qualities that are in no way specific to the Connacht job. Aside from him living in Moylough. How that benefits Connacht, I'm not clear. AFAIK Pat Lam would not be expected to head home from training everyday back to Samoa. If they are right, then every other mid to low ranking top division team in Britain and Ireland that has changed coach in the past 5 years has missed out on something.

And Quinny's article is all over the place. They usually are.

sea_point wrote:

ConnachtBOB wrote: From what I have heard, true or false but from a good source, is that the IRFU vetoed EOS, rather than Connacht not wanting him for the job.

Usually when a head coach's contract is terminated there is a settlement between both parties, however when EOS got the boot, he got a soccer style lump-sum of his entire salary for the remainder of his contract.

Whoever Sears appoints must get approval from the IRFU and there has been a bad feeling towards Eddie in the IRFU since all that and they are not prepared to work with him again.

I wouldn't be that happy with him anyway but after reading Quinnys article, I definitely would prefer Lam over EOS

All very well, but at the end of the day the money issue with the IRFU was only a by-product of the other issues which make O'Sullivan massively unsuited to the Connacht job...

Completely agree. He was never suited for the job. He's linked to vacant head coach position (prob by his own people) in this part of the world yet he's still unemployed and complaining about it.

I'll be very happy with Lam. Would have taken any of the final 6 candidates and many more over EOS

he's commented again

O'Sullivan is a former Connacht manager who at least knows all of the players well. Tom Sears has already cost Connacht Mike McCarthy and I expect other Connacht players to move on in due course if Pat Lam is appointed. He'll want to bring in his own team of players and coaches he knows from his days in England and NZ. It's about long term commitment rather than just seeing Connacht as a step on your career ladder. Leinster/Munster/Ulster don't have the same issue with holding on to their best players and only Schmidt has been a long term proven success to date.

i dont understand where pricks like this come out off.

ConnachtBOB wrote: From what I have heard, true or false but from a good source, is that the IRFU vetoed EOS, rather than Connacht not wanting him for the job.

Usually when a head coach's contract is terminated there is a settlement between both parties, however when EOS got the boot, he got a soccer style lump-sum of his entire salary for the remainder of his contract.

Whoever Sears appoints must get approval from the IRFU and there has been a bad feeling towards Eddie in the IRFU since all that and they are not prepared to work with him again.

I wouldn't be that happy with him anyway but after reading Quinnys article, I definitely would prefer Lam over EOS

All very well, but at the end of the day the money issue with the IRFU was only a by-product of the other issues which make O'Sullivan massively unsuited to the Connacht job...

swift4prez wrote: its more quinlan and EOS rather then connacht and eddie but just like everyone else in the media, he loves eddie NOW but makes few points.

Most players had their ups and downs with him. Me, I had downs and downs. From the start, he didn’t really understand me and I didn’t really understand him.

Eddie was a guy who you were a bit wary of when you met him. He was all about discipline and the gameplan. It wasn’t his style to go for the personal touch.

From that point on, we sort of kept our distance from each other. Niall O’Donovan kept the peace between us

<strong>connacht couldnt have someone going around after eddie talking to players that eddie has stopped talking to. we made the right choice</strong>


now look at this comment from a poster on IT page, you will run to the nearest wall to bang your head of it

Outstanding bit of writing, Alan. Looking at it from the outside, O'Sullian's man management always seemed a bit suspect when he was Ireland manager, and even Kidney could not work with him for long. But if, as you say, he has mellowed and matured in the meantime he surely deserves a second chance.

It seems to be a positive handicap to be Irish at the moment if you want to coach an Irish team. And yet Simon Easterby, Conor O'Shea, Mark McCall, and Michael Bradley are doing very well across the water whilst we employ New Zealand Coaches with less experience and qualifications than O'Sullivan over here.

A certain amount of rotation makes sense and you can coach a team for too long - as Bradley and Elwood recognized, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't be able to come back or coach another Irish team.

Connacht have already appointed a foreign CEO in Tom Sears who seems to have ruffled more than a few feathers already. If they appoint a foreign manager as well we may as well forget about Connacht as an Irish province - it will become nothing more than a resting place for foreign managers currently between jobs.

ps ronan you got there before me. well done

Had to be said... :whistle:

From what I have heard, true or false but from a good source, is that the IRFU vetoed EOS, rather than Connacht not wanting him for the job.

Usually when a head coach's contract is terminated there is a settlement between both parties, however when EOS got the boot, he got a soccer style lump-sum of his entire salary for the remainder of his contract.

Whoever Sears appoints must get approval from the IRFU and there has been a bad feeling towards Eddie in the IRFU since all that and they are not prepared to work with him again.

I wouldn't be that happy with him anyway but after reading Quinnys article, I definitely would prefer Lam over EOS

its more quinlan and EOS rather then connacht and eddie but just like everyone else in the media, he loves eddie NOW but makes few points.

Most players had their ups and downs with him. Me, I had downs and downs. From the start, he didn’t really understand me and I didn’t really understand him.

Eddie was a guy who you were a bit wary of when you met him. He was all about discipline and the gameplan. It wasn’t his style to go for the personal touch.

From that point on, we sort of kept our distance from each other. Niall O’Donovan kept the peace between us

connacht couldnt have someone going around after eddie talking to players that eddie has stopped talking to. we made the right choice


now look at this comment from a poster on IT page, you will run to the nearest wall to bang your head of it

Outstanding bit of writing, Alan. Looking at it from the outside, O'Sullian's man management always seemed a bit suspect when he was Ireland manager, and even Kidney could not work with him for long. But if, as you say, he has mellowed and matured in the meantime he surely deserves a second chance.

It seems to be a positive handicap to be Irish at the moment if you want to coach an Irish team. And yet Simon Easterby, Conor O'Shea, Mark McCall, and Michael Bradley are doing very well across the water whilst we employ New Zealand Coaches with less experience and qualifications than O'Sullivan over here.

A certain amount of rotation makes sense and you can coach a team for too long - as Bradley and Elwood recognized, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't be able to come back or coach another Irish team.

Connacht have already appointed a foreign CEO in Tom Sears who seems to have ruffled more than a few feathers already. If they appoint a foreign manager as well we may as well forget about Connacht as an Irish province - it will become nothing more than a resting place for foreign managers currently between jobs.

ps ronan you got there before me. well done

Surely the backroom staff issue with Lam would have been discussed at interview stage and the staffing parameters clearly laid out in which he would need to do the job one way or the other before it was allowed to progress to here.

I see Quinlan is doing his piece in the IT tomorrow on 'Connacht and EOS', I don't mean to have the chip on my shoulder and would never want to come across as thinking I know more than someone like Quinny but I could really do without the patronising attitude 'Connacht don't know what's best for them!' that seems to be permeating it's way through the media at the moment.

Tom Sears has a huge decision to make if it is really a straight choice between Lam vs McFarland, Forshaw and Millard, it's not one I would not like to make at the moment. Hopefully there is a resolution to be found if it is the case.

I wonder if they have gone with Lam but are now fighting out over keeping the current backroom staff and him wanting his own guys in.
How long are Forshaw, McFarland and Millard contracted for ??

Porterbelly wrote: Could be a stumbling block as Lam wants to bring his own staff and that will cost a good bit

if hes the man for the job( and hes the best choice with his hat still in ring) then they whsve to bite the bullet and give him what he wants. then there are no excuses. its lams team coached by lams people from the start so the buck stops with him.

already people are speculating that foley is isolated in munster as he wasnt penneys choice and penney is always seen in mannixs company while axel is always on his own.this is an excuse for the recent poor performances.

if he walks away we are left with hanks or the current regime minus its leader. a worrying situation.