Friday, March 06, 2009

Maybe Limerick FC should auction off the manager’s job?

We’ve just heard from Limerick FC that Paul O’Donnell and Mick Shiels will take responsibility for the Super Blues until March 25.
Obviously the search for the man to replace Mike Kerley is on-going, but in the meantime maybe Limerick FC could make some money out of the situation.
Last year KFC Uerdingen, a fourth division German club, gave lucky punters the chance to manage the team for a 24-hour period after an eBay auction - the winner managed the team for a pre-season friendly against Rot Weiß Oberhausen with the help of real life coach Aleksander Ristic and was ‘sacked’ after the game.
The men and women behind KFC Uerdingen are no slouches and that wasn’t the first time the 1985 German Cup winners took their chances with an amateur in an effort to stay in the black.
In 2006 an insurance salesman bought a temporary spot on the team for three minutes of glory on the field during a friendly game against Bayern Munich. The 33-year-old insurance salesman paid €2,688 for the honour of playing four minutes against the Bavarian giants.
It might be something Limerick FC should look into doing?
In the meantime maybe they could give the manager’s job to me! That’s not as ridiculous as it might first sound.
Forty-one years ago, with the Brazilian national team in a shambles, CBF president Joao Havelange gave the manager’s job to Joao Saldanha, a journalist. In actual fact it was Saldanha who led Brazil through the qualification process for the 1970 World Cup, but early that year he was replaced by Mario Zagallo when he was accused of being emotionally unstable - apparently when Saldanha was criticised by his predecessor Dorival Yustrich he went looking for him with a gun.
Joao Saldanha was as committed to the cause as they come. He was always recognisable at Brazil games for the remainder of his career - he often wore a Brazilian jersey in the press box and died covering the 1990 World Cup in Italy.

Brian McDonnell

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