Eileen Gleeson's silent on alleged unorthodox fallback deal

Eileen Gleeson has refused to deny she holds a fallback arrangement of returning to her previous FAI job when she completes her stint as Ireland women’s team boss.

Despite what the association trumpeted as a global search for Vera Pauw’s successor, all they did was upgrade Gleeson’s status from the caretaker she assumed in late August to permanent in December.

She had returned to the Irish circuit from Glasgow City manager as the FAI’s head of women’s and girls’ football in December 2022.

That role was vacated once Pauw’s exit necessitated an internal shuffle and the governing body have since advertised to backfill Gleeson’s role.

However, given the job specification for the vacancy was designated as fixed-term, rather than permanent, suspicions were raised about the nature of Gleeson’s continuity in FAI employment.

Qualified candidates were reportedly put off applying due to the potentially restrictive nature, with one apparently unwilling to just ‘keep the seat warm for Eileen’.

Gleeson was hired by Director of Football Marc Canham for the Euro campaign, the qualification phase for which runs from April to December.

Monday morning was the first time for the new boss to face the media since her unveiling in Christmas week but she batted away any questions as distractions to the build-up for Friday’s friendly against Italy in Florence (5.15pm, Irish time).

Any queries beyond the double-header that includes the visit of Wales on Tuesday week, she insisted, were to be directed to Canham.

He is not only spearheading the 89-day search to fill the men’s team vacancy but will meet the media tomorrow for a briefing on his contentious Football Pathways Plan (FPP).

“I am just not going into it,” Gleeson retorted when asked about