SOCCER/Republic of Ireland managerial vacancy: Irish Times soccer analyst Mark Lawrenson would love to see the Steve and Bobby show hit the big time, but he has his doubts

Steve Staunton and Bobby Robson? Well, it has to be the biggest gamble the Football Association of Ireland has ever taken, in its history. What is the thinking behind it? I have no idea. I've tried to look at it rationally, and have come up with zilch. I've tried to look at it in a slightly off-the-wall way, and I've come up with zilch. I really, really don't understand it.

I'm delighted for Steve, genuinely thrilled for him, I know him well and I think it's great for him, but it's one hell of an ask. I don't understand the logic, to be honest, I just find the situation extremely strange.

My initial reaction to the news was that I was amazed, but not surprised - which, I know, makes no sense at all.

What I meant, though, was that while the news amazed me it's hard, at this stage, to be surprised by some of the decisions the FAI make.

There had been so much talk about potential candidates for the job, most of them pie in the sky, but my belief all along was that the most realistic contender for Brian Kerr's job was . . . Brian Kerr.

He lost his job because Ireland didn't qualify for the World Cup, so that's the standard now: fail to qualify and you're out. Now we're down to fourth seeds in the next qualifying campaign and the FAI is asking a man with absolutely no coaching or managerial experience to get us qualification.

That's some pressure on Steve, even with Robson helping him out.

Kerr must be bemused by this, and he's entitled to be. The FAI said they wanted someone who could improve things and get us qualification - in all honesty, do we really think the two we've got are the men to do it?

The point I'm making is not against Staunton and Robson, it's against the FAI - it's almost like they've fudged it.

We assumed they had a plan once they made up their minds that Kerr was going.

There was all that talk about Martin O'Neill, but he was an absolute non-starter. Always a non-starter - for two reasons, first the health of his wife Geraldine; secondly because he is a massive favourite to take over from Sven-Goran Eriksson, he has so many supporters in the English FA you wouldn't believe, so if and when he returns to football it might well be for that job.

Guus Hiddink was another non-starter, he will have bigger fish to fry after the World Cup with Australia, and we have to be realistic about that.

So it seems to me that the FAI never really had a plan, certainly not a realistic one.

It was a case of 'Brian isn't going to take us any further, let's look around for a new manager'.

It sounds, then, like they went down all sorts of avenues and ended up saying, 'ah, we'll stick Stan in with Bobby Robson'.

I don't think anyone really knows yet what Robson's role will be, it may be that Steve decides on a way of playing and Robson will help him achieve it, point him in the right direction.

What Steve has to be able to do - and this is where Robson must really come to the fore - is not just set his tactics and define the way we're going to play but to be able to change it midstream, before the game if someone gets injured, when you concede a goal, and so on.

He has no experience on that front so I'm assuming that's where Robson will come in, a sounding board for Steve.

But if you're making Steve the manager or coach then you have to be looking at having someone on the touchline with him, someone who has been a coach, someone who can advise him on making changes when they're needed.

I'm guessing that Robson will sit in the stand at games, but you have to believe that an inexperienced manager needs someone in the dug-out beside him.

That's why I thought they might go down the Terry Venables route; like Robson he has massive experience but he would have been on the touchline, making all the decisions.

Some have made the comparison with the likes of Marco Van Basten and Frank Rijkaard, or even Rudi Voller and Jurgen Klinsmann, all appointed to major managerial jobs when they had little or no experience, but there is one significant difference: all of them had, and have, much, much better players to work with. And more of them.

The comparison just isn't there. And while Mark Hughes did well for Wales, remember, they didn't qualify for anything.

Because, with just three or four exceptions, Steve will be working with a largely average group of players and his main task will be to motivate them and get them to play above themselves, on a regular basis.

He has got to get these players to raise the level of their game, game in, game out, to have any chance whatsoever of qualification, and that is a massive ask.

What is in Steve's favour is that he is well liked and respected - you don't need to be liked as a manager so long as you have the respect of the players but I would argue that Steve has both.

And it's hard not to like Bobby Robson, even harder not to respect him because of his managerial record and experience.

I can't say that I always assumed Steve would go in to management but, to be honest, you don't spend your time looking around the dressing room wondering which of the players will end up a manager.

But occasionally one will come to the fore, someone who is always asking about tactics, always got a point to make, always has something to say, but Stan wasn't the most vociferous of players, although if he had something to say he would say it.

He was a consistent player and he was consistent in thought too, but also if he needed to be one of the lads he was one of the lads. In terms of getting on with everyone not a problem, not a problem whatsoever.

All of that, then, will stand to him, but the fact remains: Kerr lost his job because we didn't qualify for the World Cup; Staunton, with no experience, will be asked to qualify for the next European Championships from a position of fourth seeds in our qualifying group, with an average squad that has lost some of its better players.

How does that make sense? Unfortunately I think the FAI may end up rueing this decision. I genuinely hope they don't, I have great time for Steve and I really hope he and Bobby are very successful, but I'm half expecting, two years down the road, for the FAI to realise their greatest ever gamble has failed to pay off.