THE FAI’S INTERIM CEO David Courell has admitted the Association have been rightly criticised for missing stated deadlines in the appointment of a new senior men’s team manager.
Stephen Kenny left the Irish role 182 days ago, and while he has since returned to management with St Patrick’s Athletic, the FAI have yet to find his replacement, having failed to appoint a candidate for February, March, and then early April, as they had publicly stated.
Director of football Marc Canham told an in-house FAI interview in April that the FAI aim to have a new manager in place for the Nations League game with England in September, meaning John O’Shea is reprising his interim role for the June friendlies against Hungary and Portugal.
“We’ve been rightly criticised for setting out timelines in recent months, we are committed to ensuring we have someone in the post when we commence our Uefa Nations League competition”, Courell told Morning Ireland.
Courell was not involved in the search process – of “air-gapped from it” – until Jonathan Hill left as CEO in April, and he will now head up the search along with president Paul Cooke, Canham, and board member Packie Bonner.
“First and foremost, up until a matter of weeks ago, I myself was air-gapped from the process which I think is testament to how professionally it has been run”, said Courell. “It has been a confidential process both internally and externally. But now, that I’m in the camp, I’m fully read in and I’m comfortable with the steps and stages which has taken place and confident we will get the best candidate for moving the Irish national team forward and ensure we deliver success.”
While appointing O’Shea on a permanent basis seems unthinkable given they are elected to use him in an interim capacity while he was willing and available to take the job on full-time, Courell hinted he is in the mix.
“It is an open process”, he said of the search. “Every candidate is being considered. John has done a fantastic job and we’re looking forward to what he can do in the upcoming fixtures. He is an unbelievable ambassador for the game, a fantastic servant for Irish football, so we wish him the best of luck for June and see what transpires in the rest of the recruitment process.”
