Lee Carsley remains the FAI’s first choice to be appointed Ireland manager next week but Neil Lennon has not been eliminated from the frame.
An FAI delegation is this week in England attempting to conclude talks on a preferred candidate for presentation to the FAI board on Tuesday for ratification.
That’s spearheaded by Director of Football Marc Canham and joined by chief executive Jonathan Hill along with Packie Bonner, the Ireland goalkeeping legend now Chair of the association’s International and High Performance committee.
Although England U21 boss Lee Carsley was the prime target even before Stephen Kenny was relieved of his duties in November, the new broom were eager to widen the net and take their time on filling the €560,000-per-year vacancy.
That has entailed an initial list of a dozen contenders getting pruned to a shortlist with deeper discussions conducted this week.
Lurgan-born Lennon, twice-manager of Celtic, was one of those in open negotiations and his situation remains fluid. Unlike the former Northern Ireland midfielder, who has openly declared his interest, Carsley’s employment status precludes him from airing his thoughts.
He has never hidden his affinity to the country he represented 40 times at senior level, including a World Cup cameo in 2002.
Carsley operates on a 12-month rolling contract in his English FA duties, with minimal notice required if he wished to quit for another post.
He held talks with Kenny in early 2021 about succeeding the departed Damien Duff as his assistant coach.
The English FA, led by technical director John McDermott, last month granted their Euro U21 Championship boss permission to open negotiations with Stoke City but he opted against the vacancy. Carsley also
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