Backward Step!

Just what is going on at I.F.A. headquarters? I know it's generally pandemonium there as the men in charge (probably women too), just don't have a clue. But now we're really plumbing the depths. Norn Iron manager Nigel Worthington (a dyed in the wool Sky Blue), has failed, according to press reports, to reach an agreement with the chief clown and has stated an interest in the vacant Sheffield Wednesday job. What's the reason behind the present stalemate, we are left to wonder. Surely even the incompetents at the I.F.A. haven't waited until the eleventh hour in order to start negotiations with our Nigel. We, the fans, thought it was only a matter of crossing the T's and dotting the I's and Nigel would be in charge for the next two years at least. Now it's all up in the air again and to make matters worse our president let it slip that there were plenty of people interested in the job. Of course there's plenty of interest in the position, it's not a bad job, you only work about ten days a year and you're expected to fail, if there's a better job going I don't know what it is. Hopefully Raymond and the boys will get their act together and sign the Ballymena man up to another contract for at least the next two years. I just heard on the news today that his predecessor, Laurie Sanchez, would be interested in the job, well that's no big surprise, as his success with Norn Iron is the only real plus in his CV. Going with Laurie, if Nigel steps down, would I think be a backward step, yes he did have a wee bit of success with us last time, but then we had sunk as low as possible and as the old saying goes, 'whenever you're down and out, the only way is up' and we did move up. His spell also coincided with a certain David Healy starting to knock in goals for fun and in the process blowing the Norn Iron scoring record to smithereens, could he pull another rabbit like that from his hat? The present International squad has possibly one campaign left in them and then it's going to have to be built almost from scratch once again and I don't think Laurie is the man to do that and could we trust him to stay on and see the job through to the finish anyway? The solution's simple, give Nigel a four year contract and tell him to get on with the job, it's the only thing that makes sense!