FAI’s return to Barry casts more doubt on managerial search
It wasn’t the only thing that Marc Canham said at the press conference that confirmed John O’Shea as Ireland’s new interim boss, but it may as well have been. There are three words that have followed the FAI’s director of football around during the latter half of Ireland’s search for a new boss. Existing. Contractual. Obligations.
They were read off a page that was effectively brought to the O’Shea gig as a form of security.
A written barrier to questions that might have suggested the possibility that the Waterford man could become a contender.
“The process of the appointment of the permanent new head coach is very close to the end,” said Canham (pictured), speaking on March 4. “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.”
Follow-up queries drew answers of a similar nature. The only real deviation was contractual obligations becoming contractual arrangements. Your preference depends on whether you’re an obligations or an arrangements type of person. Either way, we were obliged to believe that the FAI had something arranged.
And now? Our story that the FAI have gone back to Anthony Barry, a candidate who was ruled out of the equation by Thomas Tuchel in December, provides further confirmation that the Abbotstown top brass are now searching for a solution, for a name on the page.
A grey area exists around how they have reached that point. Murmurs leading up to the double-header with Belgium and Switzerland that the FAI had encountered a snag with their chosen candidate have aged well in terms of their accuracy.
Discussions with Gus Poyet in the aftermath of his Greek side’s Euro 2024 play-off defeat to Georgia do not necessarily mean he was the obligations guy. The name of Willy Sagnol, the coach of Georgia, initially entered ‘the race’ as a betting story that was denied by his agent, but sources have insisted there was more to it than that.
Talks
Countless other names have appeared in the conversation at various stages, in some cases long after they had met with the FAI hierarchy. But the strong understanding that talks have taken place with the Poyet and Barry camps since the March window – or early April in the case of the latter – tackle the party line that the FAI had something ready to go in early April. On March 4, the FAI had zero reason to believe that Barry would be free in April, the start date that was flagged. And they still don’t, by the way. The end of his working relationship with Bayern Munich and Tuchel is nigh, although it’s thought possible that the German could emerge up the rails as a contender for the Barcelona job. Regardless of that, Barry is committed to working with Portugal at the European Championships.
Maybe that would change if he was taking over as head coach elsewhere, but this part of the piece is speculative and assumes that Barry is genuinely interested in the role.
Given that he is understood to have turned down the chance to manage Ipswich – before Fermanagh’s Kieran McKenna made a success of it – and has been floated as a candidate for Sporting Lisbon if Ruben Amorim departs, then it’s anticipated within the game that the Liverpudlian will have other options.
If the FAI are waiting for word on the intentions on a long shot, it’s hard to be encouraged about where the process is going.
Perhaps they are now wondering if that sheet of paper was really necessary.
Yes, there was pressure from the media for news on how things were going. That comes with the territory.
The FAI could reasonably argue that vague answers would have attracted a different kind of scrutiny and criticism. Grief does come with the territory and sometimes it’s unfair, but they have made a rod for their own back with this one.
Ultimately, the one rule that accompanied the confident declaration that there’s a plan in place was to come back in April with clear evidence that they really did that have plan.
For an Association with work to do in the area of rebuilding trust, that is really important.
Canham has become the face of the process at the same time that he is going around the country presenting his Football Pathways proposal, a crucial document that requires buyin. There are elements determined to make life for Canham difficult for their own reasons that will seize on any sign of weakness.
Presumably, the existing contractual obligations line needed approval from above, with input from the PR side of things, but the point has previously been made in this parish that FAI communications strategy is closer to an oxymoron than a reality even though they spend good money on it.
Oddly, the highest-profile figure in Irish football regularly taking questions on the whole thing is Damien Duff. The Shels boss was visibly miffed when it came up again yesterday.
“It’s had enough air time for me,” he said. “Anthony Barry sounds amazing, I’d love to see him work. He looks an amazing coach, looks a
proper fella. So, if it is Anthony, great, I wish him luck. If it is John [O’Shea], great, I wish him luck.
“You probably think it’s a contradiction, but I hate talking,” he continued. “I hate having needless conversations.
“I am sure all of you have had needless conversations (on this subject), it just wastes your energy. It’s a waste of pens and paper, wastes a good League of Ireland story for some s **** . That’s why my face dropped when you asked me about it.”
His demeanour is shared by staff in Abbotstown who feel the drawnout nature of the search is now inviting unnecessary flak.
The irony of it all is that there were lines in Canham’s March address that could have been presented more forcefully to explain the delay.
“Speed wasn’t one of the criteria that we were looking at in terms of measure of success,” said Canham.
You can say that again, but the bottom-line point is sound enough. Fair-minded football people will know that negotiations can be complex. People can change their mind, string you along or let you down. Ideally, you’d be organised enough to avoid that, but it happens.
The FAI’s task of finding the right man has been complicated by a self-imposed deadline. More than any other Irish sporting association, they should know the dangers of writing cheques you can’t cash.