Stephen Kenny exit plan to be finalised as FAI eye approach for Lee Carsley
A remote chance of a backdoor route via the playoffs to next year’s Euro finals won’t save Stephen Kenny from the sack.
The Ireland manager requested judgement on his disastrous reign be reserved for this campaign but four defeats from five qualifiers has hurtled them out of contention with three matches left.
The FAI are engineering steps to end his three-and-a-half year tenure, with an approach to the English FA for talks with their U21 manager Lee Carsley imminent.
Following Sunday’s latest defeat, to a Netherlands side who came from behind to win 2-1, Kenny was typically adamant on being permitted to complete his contract.
That entails the October double-header against Greece and Gibraltar, concluding away to the Dutch on November 18, but could also encompass a playoff series next March.
The semi-finals and finals mini-groups are available to 12 of the countries who don’t qualify directly for Germany but using the 2022 Nations League as criteria.
Based on Ireland’s third place finish from a campaign that Kenny initially targeted top spot in, they only carry a slender prospect of featuring.
It hasn’t stopped the incumbent pinpointing the potential games as an extension beyond the three dead rubbers but the FAI have already lost patience with their manager.
Defeat to fourth seeds Greece in June marked the beginning of the end. That necessitated a minimum of one victory from the latest double-header.
Ireland were fortunate not to come away from Paris last Thursday with a more chastening defeat to France than 2-0 but Kenny’s tactical naivety was again exposed against the Dutch.
Their manager Ronald Koeman was vindicated by his double-change and formation switch at the break when substitute Wout Weghorst hooked home a
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