With the exception perhaps of such tabloidese as "gaffer", "shambles" and "muppets", the phrase that has very much framed Steve Staunton's time as Irish manager is "world class". From John Delaney's ill-judged promise of such management before his appointment, to Roy Keane's lament that we didn't qualify because we haven't got any players of that level, the two words have been uttered more times than by a sixth-year Geography student.

However, while the former is repairable . . . provided the FAI hires Jose Mourinho . . . the latter is of far more concern.

Fitting that Ireland's last true great was the one to point it out as, since his retirement, the lineage of "world class" outfield players running from John Giles through Liam Brady to Keane himself has been broken. Of course the phrase itself is bandied about a little too freely these days, its parameters lowered by the British media's willingness to brand it on anyone capable of the odd Hollywood pass. Eoin Hand, who presided over three Irish players who far surpassed those parameters, certainly thinks so.

"When you're using the phrase 'world class', you've got to be careful. You're talking about someone who can influence and dominate a game by himself at the highest level, and do it repeatedly. I mean, how many have we really had? We've had John Giles, Liam Brady, Mark Lawrenson and Roy Keane. I'd put Shay Given now in there as well. Even Kevin Moran wasn't world class, Dave O'Leary neither. They were very good players who could compete at world level . . . and we've had a lot of them . . . but world class, that's something else."

That, however, is another point about today's Irish roster . . . a number of players that still look a good few years short of that level. Looking back over the last 34 years, since Giles took over and finally smoothed the transition to the modern managerial era, the squad has never looked so green behind the ears.

Though the glut of young players mean things don't seem as bleak as previous intermissions between managers . . . the Christmases of 1995 and 2005 in particular . . . where once the Irish squad looked to prestige, now we must rely on promise. As Hand points out, the one major deficiency of such inexperience is a lack of leadership. And that was sorely evident during Staunton's tenure. "A good example would be the game against Cyprus, we didn't have Richard Dunne who I would class as our one true leader.

Given can't fill in that role because as a goalkeeper he's isolated while Damien Duff and Robbie Keane are creative players and not suited to telling another what to do."

That is a contrast with Giles's time, which of course had the manager and veterans like Tony Dunne in the side.

Hand points out meanwhile that, during his tenure, the likes of Mick McCarthy were brought in to effectively bark at more gifted individuals.

Whereas the nucleus of those sides competed for top honours more regularly than any Irish team in the last decade, what both Giles and Hand lacked was strength in depth, with English lower-league and League of Ireland players often required to fill the gap.

As Giles stated about his side, "We were close but probably weren't good enough."

Sentiments echoed by Hand. "We went to Norway [in 1984] when everyone thought 'who are they?' and lost 1-0. We were missing Ronnie Whelan and too many big names. It brought home that we had a core of class players but then the rest wouldn't have been of the same status."

The one time when quality finally did coincide with quantity was of course Jack Charlton's era. Though Brady may by then have been on the wane and Lawrenson's prime was cut by injury, McGrath was reaching his eminence.

Indeed, such were the options at centre-half, his virtues were at first used in midfield. Up front then, Ireland had one of the First Division's foremost goalscorers in Liverpool's John Aldridge, one of a number of players that had enjoyed such success at Anfield, either before Heysel or under Kenny Dalglish. Of course . . . something else for Alanis to add to the song . . . it was also the one time when the abilities of the players were effectively immaterial, Charlton forcing them into his own rigid system.

Though his pressing game may seem hopelessly outdated now, Charlton's fundamental principles remain timeless. In international football today, good organisation goes an awful long way, often regardless of the quality of players. The ultimate example was of course Greece in 2004 and, though that was an extreme, such systems have been the hallmark of success in every international tournament since Euro 2000. Even in this summer's Copa America, Brazil . . . stripped of Kaka, Ronaldo and Ronaldinho . . . outdid a purring Argentina thanks to function rather than flair. Closer to home, Alex McLeish's Scotland and Leo Beenhakker's Poland provide perfect examples of limited, if promising, squads whose potential has so far been maximised. Such cohesion, Hand states, was what Ireland's essentially superior squad lacked under Staunton.

"That's the disappointment over the last year. I didn't see any set pattern that was coming into it. We tried one system one game, and if that didn't work, went to another. There was an inconsistency. You have to get things organised so players have a confidence about themselves and the job they have to do. If you do, you'll get a far better collective effort."

Indeed, though Keane may complain of a lack of worldclass players, what he has done so far at Sunderland is really the job facing the next Irish manager . . . getting the best out of the limited, young players. Though the current personnel may lack the status of the last 30 years, there are enough examples in international football to show that, with the right system, the only irony that need apply to the current crop is they compete at world level before they were meant to.