Almost six months on from Stephen Kenny's departure, there has been little indication as to who will be the next Republic of Ireland manager.
Then FAI's search for Kenny's successor has been a shambolic one. They reportedly spent a number of months chasing Lee Carsley, despite him having little interest in the role. Since then, the likes of Gus Poyet and now Anthony Barry are also said to have turned them down.
Marc Canham hinted last month that an appointment was all but done, saying that the announcement would be delayed until early April due to 'existing contractual obligations'. As each day passes, it seems increasingly likely that those comments were nonsense.
With reports suggesting that the FAI are still approaching candidates to speak about the role, questions are rightly being asked about the process that has led us to this point.
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Richie Sadlier calls out FAI over Ireland manager search
It was originally said that the new Ireland manager would be in place by February. We are now two months past that point with little further progress made.
John O'Shea was placed in interim charge of the side in April, although it was said by the FAI at the time that he was not in the running for the job on a permanent basis. If they renege on those comments and appoint him permanently (as is looking increasingly likely), it will be a very poor look for the Association.
Speaking on RTÉ last night, Richie Sadlier rightly criticised the FAI for the way they have approached their search for the next Ireland manager.
With Anthony Barry the latest name linked to the Republic of Ireland vacancy, @StephenKelly_2 and @RichieSadlier discuss the ongoing managerial saga pic.twitter.com/ZBm2c99HqX
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) April 9, 2024
We were told last month that an appointment was going to be made this month, probably early in the month.
From Marc Canham's words, we could infer from it that he had his man, he had the target, end stages of negotiations. The phrase he used was 'contractual obligations' prevent us from announcing it.
I read through that and thought it's kind of a done deal and they have to wait until today or this week or next week to announce it.
The media reports lately don't tally with that at all. If they're still approaching fresh candidates, it means what I took from Marc Canham's words last month was completely incorrect. They're not at the end stage, they're still looking.
It's probably worth shifting our focus from the potential candidates to actually looking at who are the people in charge of this process? It's the 9th of April. Stephen Kenny's job, the decision was made as soon as the Greece result and that was the summer.
It's April now. They've already wasted one international window by putting one man [John O'Shea] in charge, that they say didn't have the credentials to have the job, just keep it on an interim level.
I don't know what more there is to say, because we're light on details, we don't know whether what's in the media is accurate. Maybe the FAI will come out next week and have a really impressive candidate revealed as the manager.
That's our hope, but there is absolutely nothing so far to suggest that that's going to be what we should expect.
It seems as though Gus Poyet may have been the candidate Marc Canham was referring to last month, with the Uruguayan said to have turned down the job despite his Greece side losing a Euro 2024 play-off to Georgia. If that is the case, it certainly seems as though Canham was misguided when suggesting that an appointment was all but sewn up.
Having rebuilt their reputation somewhat in recent years, this and other issues have certainly not looked good for the FAI in recent times.
Six months on from Stephen Kenny leaving the role, they still have not managed to find someone to be the next Ireland manager. It's not good enough.
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