Republic of Ireland manager Martin O'Neill has publicly defended his salary, which has been reported to have recently increased to an estimated €1.9m.
The Republic of Ireland are busy preparing for their upcoming international friendly against Northern Ireland and a crucial UEFA Super League game against Denmark. Ahead of those fixtures, O'Neill has faced questions on his salary after he and assistant Roy Keane signed a new deal in January.
Per the Times, O'Neill stated that "if you asked the people at the FAI I think they have been pretty happy."
"We qualified for the Euros, we made money there and we made money in the Euros. We've played some playoff games too. When I came into the job, I think there was going to be 7,000 people for the game against Latvia and it turned 0ut to be 35,000. I don't have to be justifying all these things all of the time but if you looked at the bigger picture, I think it's pretty clear."
O'Neill did not go into the details of the contract but did clarify that "you wouldn't know what the figures are."
Ireland's first fixture takes place on Thursday at the Aviva Stadium with kick-off at 7.45pm. Fans may see some new faces for that fixture, with O'Neill handing first call-ups to Caoimhin Kelleher, Jimmy Dunne, Ryan Manning and Michael Obafemi for that squad. Midfielder Glenn Whelan will lead Ireland out as captain for the Northern Ireland fixture to celebrate his 85th cap but will leave the squad before the Denmark tie.
