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If the board of the FAI got rid of Canham at this point, along with Hill already on the way out, you could make a case for re-approaching previous candidates like Carsley, this time without Canham's ridiculous conditions for taking the job and by allowing them to bring their own backroom staff etc.
Having so many non-Irish based people involved was always going to make that harder. But unfortunately I'm not sure the team has the public profile at the moment that would encourage a Denis O'Brien type to stump up a million a year or whatever. Maybe I'm wrong and they would but just haven't been asked - it wouldn't surprise me.
A lot of possible candidates mentioned will be ruled out due to the salary on offer. But others may have been ruled out by the conditions. Carsley the most likely on that score. If we start again from the beginning minus the conditions and the idiots imposing them, we might have a chance of getting someone decent.
Eamon Sweeney opens his article in the Indo today with a lovely line : "God grant me the confidence of a mediocre Englishman."
Honestly do think that the Hill and Canham double act come across as the sort that thought they'd come over and sort out the Eire at their leisure.
They had jobs in management in the FA. Turns out that doesn't translate to jobs in the leadership in the FAI. Not that these chancers were aware.
The Canham interviews when he was smugly telling us he has a manager lined up demonstrate this. If he were in management he wouldn't have been in a position to speak in such a context. As a leader, he completely botched it and overplayed his hand.
If it was Carsley, their old colleagues in the FA must have really disliked Canham if they easily managed to draw him back in.
At least it's not going to be Noel King.
A thought just occurred to me... If they have already conceeded that there's an interim in June now and O'Shea has signed a contract for those 2 games, does that mean the search stops now? It's 3 months away. A club generally finds someone in a week or two. What if someone lads in their lap somehow, do they say JOS continues in June cos he has a contract?
I think it has to be considered that O'Shea now has an extended interview effectively and if the friendlies give any leeway to do so he'll be installed for the NL as a further extension. So I'd say the manager search could well be scaled down particularly if Canham is moved on, it kind of has to be. There is a considerable financial saving in that too which will have an appeal.
It's not what I think will or should happen but it is an in play possibility now.
Might not be so bad OTOH, it'd look a lot like the search up to now only the papers & socials wouldn't be clawing their eyes out looking for the identity of the non existent human.
You know, the one who has club and international experience, will look after the overall well being of our game as head coach, qualify us for tournaments, not have his own backroom team, etc, all for about half of what a middle of the road Championship job pays, with no midfield. That one :D
Regarding the interim manager situation. I don’t think we’ve saved any money. JOSH definitely got a pay increase to be interim manager. So we are probably looking at something like 40k per window, or €200k per year. Backroom staff costs remain identical. It was basically swapping like for like guys, level and salary. Paddy McCarthy isn’t any cheaper than Keith Andrews.
So after these fixtures, we’ll have saved about €120k. But the ticket sales for the 3 home friendlies have been much less than what there would have been for a new manager, so there’s a definite a loss there. I’d estimate in the region of €600k on tickets alone (a few thousand tickets per game) - but could easily be double or triple that, not to mention concessions and jerseys and so on.
So the reality is, not having a manager is costing the association a lot…
It's going to cost them a lot, lot more. Standalone tickets and the next round of season tickets will continue to diminish in lustre on the back of this unless Canham makes a Lazarus like recovery with an exciting appointment. Being lied to and strung along is bad enough when it is done by lads like Canham who is out of his depth it hits even worse.
At this point, is the best option Hughton as manager with O'Shea in tow? I know Kerr stated on telly he reckoned it wouldn't be Hughton as he wanted time out after the Ghana role and bumpy ending. He could get the guts of 6 months of a break given how Canham has kicked the can.
Given his age, the fact that this gig might not swing around to him again and his experience, he might be willing to pinch his nose to the FAI smell, take the chance to manage his country (the other country of his two parents - quite a feat, in fairness) and there's a chance he improves us like he has done club sides.
Both Ken Early and Kevin Kilbane having their say.
TLDR: "farcical" and "realm of nonsense"
So now that John O’Shea has had a go as interim manager and is likely to be interim manager again in June – the FAI (Marc Canham) putting his name forth with like and hope, and O’Shea has expressed his want for the job, nobody in John O’Shea’s “friends circle” will want to step on his toes my putting their name in the hat/ or suggesting somebody else suitable for the position. If the FAI don’t want John O’Shea to get the job, they have now created a situation where not appointing John O’Shea will be perceived as a mistreatment of somebody with “excellent experience across domestic and international football as a player and also as a coach” - Marc Canham’s words. Agree with Kilbane - O'Shea now has leverage.
We have to look at the positives. If Carsley had taken the job on the FAI's terms, he'd have had to move to Ireland, exacerbating the housing crisis. Really, this is a good thing for the country.
I do think we’re one win, maybe even one goal, away from John O’Shea being the Ireland manager, despite having no managerial experience and having largely coached in failed regimes both at club level (Reading, Stoke, Birmimgham) and internationally (Crawford’s 21s, Kenny’s senior team).
Positives are, he seems to be considered as a decent if unremarkable coach. Average championship clubs seem to want him around, although not in the driving seat. And he is, by all accounts, a very decent guy.
Saying all that, the 2 game trial was definitely a failure and we were tactically suspect, particularly in the second game and it’s not too surprising we didn’t score…
Its possible Canham couldn't announce O'Shea as interim in his staged video because O'Shea now has leverage in this & will know how shambolic the recruitment drive was fully, we public as yet don't I'd say. There's no way Canham didn't at least try to have an interim sorted to lessen the debacle a little bit. They are in touch often, O'Shea was around last week. Should have been achievable you'd think ?
So if that's the case, the next installment could be, what John O'Shea wants. I don't accept O'Shea is the wallflower hoping to finally be asked to dance that some are painting him to be in all this.
Outside of your tongue-in-cheek comment - Carsley was never going to move to Ireland (assuming that was one of the conditions of the job) - one of his kids has down syndrome and the Carsleys' have a settled settled family life in Warwickshire - moving to Ireland would be far too disruptive and a non-runner.
At this stage they should seriously consider begging Chris Hughton (or someone with a similar record) to take the job - at the very least, he has experience of dealing with an FA that is a bigger shambles than the FAI and he would stabilise the ship for the next couple of years.
That was the reason he turned down the manager's job at Brentford nearly 9 years ago - more than he could commit to 24/7. Meaning he went to a lower pressure job with The FA at St.George's Park, close to his family home.
However his lad is now an adult, meaning LC can commit more heavily to his career. Which is not to say he would still go the whole hog and relocate, but maybe his reluctance to take the ROI job was more to do with having his own back-up team and budget etc? Or is it known that the jobholder definitely has to live in ROI?
are you ruling yourself out EG?
Absolutely not. In fact, in the spirit of (life long Blade) Neil Warnock's interest in managing Sheffield Wednesday, I've just put in my application:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bazm6S-I...jpg&name=small
you'd probably still have better results than our last manager.
You could see why Hudson would be an option for Canham - while manager of New Zealand, Hudson was also responsible for overseeing the underage sides.
Now - he doesn't have much of a record as a manager, his best stint was probably assistant with the USA from 2021-2023. But the fact that he was out of contract this month could be used by the FAI as 'look - this is the guy we wanted all along'.
I would be a bit meh with the appointment.
Yeah think it would be a very Stephen Kenny type appointment. Would put him in a similar bracket to O'Shea if O'Shea got the job.
While Hudson has better experience than O'Shea as a coach he absolutely bombed big time when he took over as manager at Colorado.
Hudson certainly something of a left-field option. Not great at Newport. Seems to have done alright with Bahrain, and with New Zealand. Colorado tenure looks rather disastrous. Better then as part of the US set-up. Hard to know what to make of him, other than he seems to do better at international level than club. But a job like Ireland would be very different to the likes of New Zealand and the US, both big fish in small ponds (talent of competition wise). I'd rate him over O'Shea, but I don't think it's credible to say there aren't better options available out there somewhere.
It might be good though to have someone come in with absolutely no connection to the team or the country, much like Big Jack back in 1986.
Someone who has no favourites within the Irish game or ideas about the Irish game or its players.
It might be good though to have someone come
I'll settle for that at this stage tbh
JOSH confirmed for June
International experience? As limited as it might have been at Bahrain and New Zealand (I'd rank higher his work within the US set-up, especially now as they push hard to be credible co-hosts). Being such a different environment to the club game, a back catalogue in that regard is nothing to be sniffed at.
I mean his record with New Zealand was lousy.
Lost to Uzbekistan
Lost to Thailand
Drew with Myanmar
Needed penalties against Papua New Guinea
Drew with New Caledonia
Lost to Northern Ireland
Drew with Solomon Islands.
It's not great looking on paper. If we're taking a chance like this I think I'd rather gamble on the Irish guy tbh.