Burning Issue: Which of these would you like as next Ireland manager?

Trap looks likely to remain as Ireland boss for the time being at least, but with public opinion turning against the Italian, three JOEs put forward the case for who should be the next man in charge.

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Conor Heneghan says... One of the pitfalls of modern management is that you can often be a victim of your own success.

If neither club had managed to achieve promotion to the Premier League last season, it’s reasonable to suggest that Nigel Adkins would still be at Southampton, Brian McDermott still at Reading and we wouldn’t have been subject to the bizarre managerial merry-go-round that has seen Adkins take McDermott’s old gig and McDermott left without a job completely in the last few weeks.

Cries of injustice can often be heard when a manager loses his job these days – often out of sympathy for the individual involved rather than genuine reasons as to why they should have stayed put – but in McDermott’s case, those cries were certainly justified.

After all, here was a man who had guided Reading to the Premier League after a remarkable run of 15 wins in 17 matches, who had brought them to a play-off final the year before and had claimed the Premier League manager of the month award as recently as January when the Royals were beginning to show signs that they might actually beat the drop.

Still, what’s done is done and despite having been given the boot with only a few weeks of the season to go, McDermott will have no shortage of offers for his services over the coming weeks and months and if one were to come his way from the FAI, he’d find it hard to turn down given his comments about managing Ireland in the past.

Despite being born and brought up in England – by his Clare mother and Sligo father – McDermott  considers himself very much Irish and managing the Boys in Green has been an ambition ever since he  made the ‘mistake’ (his words) of playing for England youths as a teenager.

And there’s a lot to like about that prospect. At 51 he’s young in managerial terms, he’s enthusiastic, he clearly wants the job and whilst he’s been in charge, Reading have endeavoured to play good football.

The man seems universally popular in footballing circles, he’s affable in his dealings with the media and he’s dealt with a whole host of Irish players in the past including Shane Long, Kevin Doyle, Stephen Kelly and the Hunt brothers, all of whom have had positive things to say about him.

If Trap was to go before the summer, McDermott would be the outstanding candidate by virtue of the fact that he’d probably still be available but for me, he’d be the sensible choice regardless of whether there were others in the frame or not.

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Sean Nolan says... if we can prise him away from Norwich, the obvious pick is Chris Hughton.

What are the gripes with the current regime? Well, there are many but the chief amongst them are rigid tactics, a lack of faith in young/flair players and poor communication. And we think that of all the candidates jostling at the top of the betting market, only one man could resolve those three issues; Chris Hughton.

The problem with Hughton is that he is employed, unlike the other two candidates here, and Norwich seem very happy with the man who won 53 Irish caps. The Canaries have no relegation fears either so barring an unforeseen series of events he should remain in the dugout at Carrow Road.

But it is a funny old game and by the time the FAI decide to move on from the Trapattoni era - September at the earliest, in all likelihood much later – things could have changed. However, even if he is still gainfully employed, here’s why the FAI should move heaven and earth to try and land Hughton.

• He has a history of taking over teams that need a lift. He turned a relegated Birmingham around after the moribund Alex McLeish reign and he did even more sterling work previously at Newcastle when they entered the Championship, bringing them back up to the Premier League.
• He has no fear of playing an expansive brand of football. His Newcastle side were fantastic in the Championship, scoring bags of goals and he brought in the likes of Hatem Ben Arfa into his squad, so he has no fear of letting ball players play. The Wes Hoolahan/Anthony Pilkington point makes itself due to his tenure at Norwich.
• Genuinely regarded as one of the nicest men in the game we can’t recall any falling out with players in any of his managerial jobs. When he was sacked - very harshly we must add – at Newcastle the dressing room was said to be devastated and we just can’t envisage he would ever drop a player by text or fall out with them. Hard working, but happy squads are his thing. That's what the Irish team should be too.

As we saw glimpses of this past week, there is a real solid core of young talent now at our disposal. We need a man who can mould that talent and who has the belief in them to let them do their job. Hughton has that and he also has the knowledge of playing for Ireland and what a successful side means to the country. That can’t be overstated.

Add in his experience as Brian Kerr’s assistant, his daily involvement in the modern game and his relative youth (54) and Hughton looks just about perfect.

We just hope John Delaney has Delia Smith’s number handy…

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Adrian Collins says... as a former player, Roy Keane fits the bill for someone who understands what it is to pull on the green jersey. In terms of getting a performance out of a bunch of players across the short term, Roy Keane’s record is not bad, and that is essentially what international management is all about.

The main criticisms over Keane’s club management revolve around being in the job for an extended period, and his purchasing of players that weren’t to a high enough standard, neither of which will be a problem on the international stage.

Keane would only be expected to interact with players in short bursts and the respect he commands from the Irish panel would certainly boost their performances on an individual level.

It’s also fair to say that his teams never played ugly football. Their challenges were committed, and they worked hard, but they never verged towards being Stoke and simply lumping balls up the line or into the corners.

In fact, having played at the highest level for so long, Keane values good play, and has been vocal on the fact that the current squad of Irish players can play a more intricate football than they have been asked to.

Plus, there'd never be a dull moment throughout his reign so you couldn't say Keane in charge of Ireland wouldn't be interesting...