Not amounting to a Hill of beans
The CEO is gone but FAI clarity remains a pipe dream
THE expression, ‘be careful what you wish for’ comes to mind in light of a briefing from the FAI last Friday to those of us working on the Irish football beat.
We were all given notice to expect a statement today revealing the new Republic of Ireland manager, followed by a press conference in-person, ideally tomorrow.
The advance heads-up tallied with the declaration by Marc Canhham, the FAI’s director of football and chief head-hunter, on March 4 at the Aviva Stadium.
This is what Canham said: ‘The process of the appointment of the permanent new head coach is very close to the end, and we look forward to announcing that new permanent head coach in early April.
‘Existing contractual obligations mean we are not in a position to announce any further details at this point but as we have committed to, we will announce in early April.’
Was this all about to come to pass? Was Stephen Kenny’s successor about to be finally unveiled even though the FAI have already overshot the ‘early April’ runway?
However, it seems that ball of buoyancy is about to burst as it is believed now that the FAI don’t a have ‘permanent head coach’ in place, after 11th hour contract talks with an intended target — believed to be Gus Poyet — collapsed.
Who was at fault there? We may never know but that Gussy goose is cooked and Jonathan Hill, the former CEO, will not be around to explain what went wrong.
His Dublin hotel suite and desk at Abbotstown will be cleared because Hill is no longer a player. He has been removed from the front-line at a time when the FAI is about to make an appointment utterly crucial to the wellbeing of the game.
After today’s board meeting, I expect the FAI to acknowledge that there will be no immediate manager roll-out. Not today, not this week, and not next week either.
The FAI statement will probably be along the lines of not wanting to rush into an appointment, of how important it is to get the right man, and of how the next competitive game is not until September. Kick-itdown-the-road stuff.
If that is the case then there will be plenty of flak aimed at the FAI hierarchy, and rightly so because this process is running almost as long as The Archers. It’s over 10 months since the anguish of Athens which damaged Ireland’s Euro 2024 ambitions; seven months since the double-header defeat to France and Holland which crippled the good ship Ireland, and five months since Kenny left the burning bridge. This appointment should never have taken this long.
I gather the FAI, having missed out on Lee Carsley, their No 1 target, and more recently, Poyet, are prepared to sit it out that bit longer and see who becomes available. The English Championship season finishes on May 4, a full month before Ireland play Hungary in a friendly in Dublin. The Premier League winds up on May 19.
There will be a raft of managers in the market place, some of whom may well be credible candidates for the Irish job. There are others too. Chris Hughton’s name resurfaced yesterday.
When initially sounded out by the FAI as a person of interest, Hughton ruled himself out as he was caught up with preparing Ghana for AFCON.
A further approach after the finals found Hughton deflated by an early tournament exit which followed issues over payment to staff, a scrapped training camp in South Africa, and players appearing to throw in the towel.
The former Irish international, who was No 2 to Brian Kerr (2003-2005), had also been attacked by an angry fan. He needed a break.
Two months on, he’s had one and may be open to another enquiry from the FAI, who hold him in high regard. At 65, Hughton would be the second oldest appointment after Giovanni Trapattoni.
As a fall-back for the games in June, the FAI can again turn to John O’Shea, who did a decent job last month as interim manager for the games against Belgium and Switzerland.
O’Shea clearly wants the job and while not first choice, he remains a contender for as long as the position is vacant.
At Aviva Stadium yesterday to promote the Europa League final for UEFA, O’Shea could well be asked to return for the games in June, which would strengthen his prospects.
That didn’t seem likely on March 4 at the Aviva when Canham made it clear that FAI had identified another target and were closing in on their quarry.
Only someone took their eye off the ball.