The latest wheeze is the introduction of Caleb Folan, a player Staunton has never spoken to, who has apparently seen better than to return Staunton's calls and who the Ireland manager has seen play just once. Curiouser, this just once was for League One side Chesterfield in a Carling Cup match and not for Wigan in the Premiership. But don't worry, Stan's seen some highlights on Sky.

Oh, and he's a big awkward bugger too - but then, the camera famously adds 10lbs so Stan really only has the word of the widescreen setting on his television to take for that fact. "Not pleasing on the eye" was the manager's triumphant verdict upon announcing him in the squad.

"He's one of them who accidentally bumps into you and stands on your toes and doesn't know he's doing it."

Well, here's hoping that by the time Folan's Ireland career is done, someone will be able to take him aside and tell him that without him knowing it, he accidentally overtook Robbie Keane's goalscoring record, crushing pinkie toes worldwide with barely-acknowledged abandon.

The problem here isn't Folan, who nobody knows and nobody's judging. The 24-year-old has scored two goals in five Premiership matches (not including yesterday) and has done plenty to interrupt Wigan's slide to relegation. Nobody's saying there isn't the possibility of him kicking on to become a useful addition to Irish sides for the next few years.

But the nature of it all is just so scattergun and random. Whatever about Staunton's manner in front of a camera - and there's no doubt he gets unfairly judged by people on the strength of it, most of them outside the media it has to be said - what he has never been able to convincingly put forward is some semblance of a coherent plan. Some A to B to C idea of where he wants to see the whole show going.

If, as Staunton says, Folan was in his thoughts since Ian Evans mentioned the striker's Irish roots upon him taking the Irish job, how come there was ne'er a mention of him around the time of the B international against Scotland last November? This, after all, came just a week after the end of Chesterfield's Carling Cup run, one in which Folan had scored against West Ham, Manchester City and Charlton. When the likes of Lewis Emanuel and Lee Frecklington were having the rule run over them, Caleb Folan wasn't a name anyone had heard of.

And now, after apparently giving Richard Dunne a taste of what it would feel like to play against Lurch Addams, he's suddenly included in Staunton's squad. Not for a feel-your-way-into-things friendly either, but for two games that will decide the manager's future. It would be hard to see the logic if the last year hadn't taught us the folly of wasting time looking for it.

Wales will arrive in Croke Park next Saturday to play against a side whose defence - supposedly its most dependable line - has given up five goals against Cyprus and one against San Marino (toss a coin yourself to decide which is worse). John Toshack's side aren't up to a massive amount but Craig Bellamy, Simon Davies and Ryan Giggs have fried much bigger fish than this before.

The crowd, so genuinely stunning in Lansdowne Road for the Czech match that followed the Cyprus bother, could swing a game between two poor sides. Not much to be hanging your hat on though, is it?

NO IDES IN MARCH Steve Staunton took a lot of criticism for his last post-match press conference - much of it fair, as San Marino are never going to be a "handful".

However, the quote that met with the most derision - "we're always better in March" - amazingly stands up to some truth. Well, a lot of truth actually. Lent must have a good effect on the Irish squad as March is the only month where they have a win percentage greater than 50 per cent.