Ireland's manager — next steps and six contenders for the hotseat
Football doesn’t stand still and despite the genuine wish for Stephen Kenny’s reign to be successful his repeated failures pivot attention to the next Ireland manager.
That vacancy could arise sooner rather than later.
Allowing Kenny to stay in charge for the three remaining dead rubbers in October and November is lame duck territory, not helping any of the affected parties, especially players, embrace a fresh direction.
John O’Shea is well placed as an assistant coach to assume caretaker charge for the visit of Greece on Friday, October 13 and trip to meet Gibraltar three days later in Faro, if the FAI’s open search drifts beyond that window towards the final qualifier in Netherlands on November 18.
Kenny’s desperate attempt to prolong his tenure into a fourth year based on a playoff Ireland shot currently only hold of a 10% chance of being involved in has no relevance to FAI’s powerbrokers.
If an unlikely set of results in other groups offer a reprieve into the semi-finals next March, it won’t be Kenny at the helm.
More likely, however, is his replacement using the first two windows of 2024 to prepare for the Nations League series being contested between September and November.
Two places are on offer from that campaign for the playoffs towards the 2026 World Cup.
Steps to regain ground lost during the Kenny era will be gradual, making arduous the quest to end a tournament drought stretching back to 2016, but the presence of bedrocks throughout the side from goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu to Nathan Collins in defence and up to striker Evan Ferguson should entice a willing spearhead.
But who will be delegated the mission of reviving Ireland’s fortunes after three years of decline?
Director of Football Marc Canham
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