SEQUESTERED AWAY AT the heart of Abbotstown at the moment is the identity of the next Republic of Ireland head coach.
Marc Canham and Jonathan Hill are holding an immaculate silence; Hill has committed no throwaway lines on this.
The process to appoint Stephen Kenny’s successor has certainly dragged on, but as Canham told us at a press event yesterday, “speed wasn’t one of the criteria that we were looking at in terms of measure of success.”
Here’s what we know. John O’Shea is in interim charge of the friendlies with Belgium and Switzerland at the end of March. He is very unlikely to get the job on a full-time basis, as the FAI say the permanent head coach will be announced in early April.
According to Canham, the announcement cannot be made any earlier owing to that candidate’s “existing contractual obligations.”
But once that candidate is announced, they will be ready to take up the job immediately. That candidate also won’t be double-jobbing, like Michael O’Neill did for a while at Stoke and Northern Ireland.
Nobody outside of the FAI’s leading duo are sure who this is, but these facts can be used to rule out, for one, Anthony Barry, who will be at Bayern to the end of the season and at the Euros with Portugal until July.
Other names who have lingered around the betting can be ruled out too: Chris Coleman, Neil Lennon, Paul Clement: it seems highly unlikely that anyone currently out of a job would have to wait until April to be appointed.
So it could indeed be true that Lee Carsley is back in the frame, and everyone is waiting to get the England U21s qualifiers this month out of the way. But to counter that: if it is to be Carsley, why hasn’t it happened already? The FAI insist money has been no issue with any candidate, so what else could have changed for Carsley?
Plus, his contractual status with the FA hasn’t changed throughout this entire process. Carsley can also claim to be the most inscrutable man in football at the moment: nobody is quite sure of his intentions. Thomas Gravesen has made a hundred million dollars playing cards in Las Vegas but he may have actually had the weakest poker face among Everton’s mid-noughties central midfield.
Contractual obligations ending in March align with Gus Poyet’s position with Greece, but he hasn’t had any contact from the FAI and looks highly unlikely to get the gig. Slaven Bilic has been linked with the job too, but sources close to him say they have had no contact from the FAI, either.
Given the vast majority of coaches at international level are contracted to the cadence of major tournaments, it’s more likely that the mystery candidate will come from club football. But we are in the realm of speculation here as, in the deathless phrase William Goldman applied to Hollywood, “nobody knows anything.”
We don’t even know whether John O’Shea will be retained on the staff after his interim stint is over, though he is open to it. Canham said there are currently no guarantees that any of O’Shea’s temporary staff will be kept on either, as that will all be decided when the new head coach steps out of the shadows.
O’Shea, meanwhile, has to crack on with the job. He will spend this week catching a few games across England and will begin reaching out to players, having not done so prior to his press unveiling yesterday.
He’ll watch Blackburn striker Sammie Szmodics, the top scorer in the Championship who was recruited but never capped by Stephen Kenny. “He is scoring lots of goals”, said O’Shea of Szmodics at yesterday’s press event. “Obviously a very important player for Blackburn. Young Andy Moran has linked up with him for plenty of goals as well this season. We will wait and see over the next couple of days.”
O’Shea will announce his squad in Thursday week, and whatever worries he will have won’t crop up at goalkeeper. His biggest task there is to choose between Caoimhín Kelleher and Gavin Bazunu.
“It’ll be a good goalkeeper – very good”, said O’Shea when asked who will play in goal. “But, look, that’s obviously what we want: we want the players playing at a level that’s going to be testing themselves. Obviously Caoimhín has stood out over the last couple of weeks – the level that he’s been playing at and the demands being put on him. I think Gavin has been showing amazing consistency in a Southampton team that in general has been doing very, very well.”
O’Shea will be familiar with squad he will pick, given he worked on Stephen Kenny’s staff.
“Mainly the passion and how proud someone is to lead their country into games, that will be the huge thing for me”, said O’Shea when asked what he will take from the experience of working with Kenny. “To be honest as much as you can with your staff and everyone in terms of the preparation, and obviously be a good person. Simple as that, and be a good man manager.”
Brian Kerr is back on board as a technical advisor, having spent 19 years in the cold, most recently as a stringent critic of Kenny. Kerr’s tough judgements will have arrived into the squad before he will, and O’Shea was asked how the players might deal with the situation.
“In my experience of a dressing room, or after games, whether it be playing or my coaching experience, you don’t need the analysts on the telly, you’ve a fair idea from the feeling in the dressing room what’s after happening”, said O’Shea.
O’Shea hasn’t yet put in a call to another of his old bosses, but suspects he may have missed one.
“I had a missed call from a no caller ID on Thursday evening and the only one who still calls me on No Caller ID is Sir Alex. I missed him so I’m sure he’ll get back in touch in the next few days because anytime I’ve gone in to a club or got involved with something, he’s always got in touch. I know he’s in good form and jet setting around the world winning trophies still, within the thoroughbred industry.”
It’s currently easier to back a favourite in that world than it is in the Irish manager’s chase.