Final details key to FAI’s waiting game for manager

INCOMING? England under-21 head coach Lee Carsley gestures on the touchline.

FAI board members emerged from Tuesday’s four-hour meeting at 9pm into the pitch darkness of the Abbotstown campus but there was some light surrounding their next manager.

This was circled as the summit to ratify that preferred candidate but a few hiccups during negotiations with Lee Carsley distorted the timetable. With a four-year contract under consideration, a broad spectrum of elements must be teased out. 

Salary counts as the backbone, yet isn’t alone when it comes to financial matters.

A new FAI regime inserted a maximum severance payment clause in Stephen Kenny’s contract 2022 renewal, one they opted against activating despite his decline, and a replica concept is expected for the newcomer.

It is especially relevant, given his deal will encompass three campaigns – the Nations League, World Cup and the next Euro qualification series.

Talk of Carsley being groomed as Gareth Southgate’s successor in the England post wouldn’t chime with his own ambitions but equally provision must be made for any instance he was to walk away for an alternative post.

When a story last week emerged from a Wembley gathering of English FA staff that the 49-year-old’s interest in the vacancy had cooled, the wage bracket the FAI are working off was raised. It compares relatively to the salary paid to managers of lower-level Championship clubs.

A budget was agreed for the job specification, north of Kenny’s €560,000 income but the windfall that comes with reaching major tournaments was also to be reflected in the bonus paid to the figurehead credited with breaking that famine.

Reaching the 2026 World Cup will be an arduous task but Ireland may earn the right to participate at the Euros two years later from simply hosting if they fail to navigate the on-pitch hurdles. That scenario creates a different dimension to what constitutes a qualification incentive.

Then there’s the area of staff. Two assistants and a goalkeeping coach will be the highline recruits and, as evident during the previous era, selection is vital. John O’Shea has been touted as a natural fit, owing to his reputation and evolution through the U21s to seniors in the latter part of Kenny’s stint.

Still, Carsley, operating as head coach or whatever title, will demand complete autonomy and have his own ideas articulated.

Steven Reid, currently at Nottingham Forest, is a contender while the heir apparent has also engaged Paul Williams as his sidekick during caretaker spells at Brentford and Birmingham City. 

All of these, what people might consider little details, must be ironed out. Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed. And if that extends beyond the Nations League draw in Paris this day next week, so be it.

Marc Canham has received the backing needed from a new-look board to hatch the final details of the package.

Murmurs of an imminent main sponsorship deal did no harm on this front.

The FAI’s Director of Football spent an hour inside the boardroom on Tuesday, a portion of which was devoted to his Football Pathways Plan to be launched on February 22, but the main business centred on the chosen one.

At this stage, it’s a case of when and not if.

However, as his former teammate and friend Kevin Kilbane concluded in his recent column, the onus is on the FAI to get the Carsley deal green-lighted.