John O’Shea the fallback option as FAI fail to land preferred target for March friendlies
As the FAI’s hunt for a manager reaches a century of days on Friday, a stopgap who’s never picked a team has been chosen by someone who’s never picked a manager.
John O’Shea as interim head coach was always the fallback option if Director of Football Marc Canham failed to land his preferred target in time for the March friendlies.
Whereas chief executive Jonathan Hill had circled February 8 as his target date, when the Nations League draw pitted Ireland against England, Finland and Greece from September, the FAI have now revised their timetable to “early April”.
The FAI’s number one target Lee Carsley – celebrating his 50th birthday on Wednesday – had recently requested not to be considered for the vacancy.
Whether his mindset changes following the completion of duties as boss of Euro U21 champions against Azerbaijan and Luxembourg in late March is uncertain but it’s thought unlikely.
Carsley was engaged in negotiations with the headhunting team of Canham, Hill and board member Packie Bonner but didn’t deem the conditions nor environment enticing enough to make the leap at this stage of his career.
Attempts by Irish figureheads he’d be familiar with from outside of the FAI to coax him into the role proved fruitless.
While Canham has stressed budgetary restrictions are not an issue for the debt-ridden association, the ability for a prospective coach to extract the best from a young squad is dependent on their means for enlisting their preferred staff and confirming an appropriate schedule including training camps.
There was no expense spared in this regard during the three-and-a-half-year term of Stephen Kenny, whose contract wasn’t renewed in the aftermath of a fourth successive failed campaign.
They concluded an
Read on irishexaminer.com
