PREMIER LEAGUE DIRECTOR of Coaching Marc Canham is set to become the new Director of Football at the Football Association of Ireland.
That Canham was in contention for the role was first reported by the Irish Sun, and The42 understands he is now set to be appointed.
The Director of Football position is the new form of the High Performance Director job recently vacated by Ruud Dokter. The job is central to youth development in Irish football, a crucial part of the Irish game post-Brexit, with elite Irish players no longer able to move to Britain at the age of 16.
39-year-old Canham is currently the Director of Coaching at the Premier League, a role he assumed 10 months ago. He initially joined the Premier League in 2013 as Club Support Manager, a role which focused on helping clubs implement the FA’s successful Elite Player Performance Plan. Prior to joining the Premier League Canham worked at the English Football Association, his time there overlapping with that of the current FAI CEO Jonathan Hill.
Prior to all of that he spent four years as a player at Colchester United before moving into coaching at the Bristol Rovers academy. He also made 38 appearances for the England futsal team.
Canham now looks set to become another former FA staffer to be recruited by the FAI since Hill was appointed as CEO, following Mayo native David Courell, who was appointed Chief Operating Officer last year.
He will be the third consecutive non-Irish appointment to the role, following Dokter and Wim Koevermans. Asked earlier this year about the ideal candidate for the job, Hill said they did not need to be Irish, but did need to grasp the unique landscape of Irish football.
“I think it is someone who has an understanding of Irish football, of player development”, said Hill. “It may not be that we need a specific Irish solution to what are Irish challenges. Does that person need to be Irish? Not necessarily.
“But that will form part of the recruitment process. We will find the best person but they have to understand the context of Irish football.”