King to pick 40-man squad for new man to pick from

As a deluge of bets on Martin O’Neill over the last 24 hours has seen him re-installed as the clear favourite for the job of Ireland manager, and amid mounting speculation that an appointment of the successor to Giovanni Trapattoni is imminent, Noel King has been tasked with selecting an extended provisional panel of players for Ireland’s forthcoming friendlies against Latvia and Poland.

In the absence of a permanent manager, King — who took on the caretaker role for the World Cup qualifiers against Germany and Kazakhstan — is calling up 40 players, with their respective clubs due to be notified today.

The unusually large panel allows for the possibility of the appointment of a new manager who would then be in a position to whittle down the squad before the friendlies take place against the Latvians at the Aviva Stadium on November 15 and away to Poland in Poznan four days later.