Hill: 'Nobody has been offered the job and nobody has turned it down'

NEARING THE END: FAI CEO Jonathan Hill said no one has been offered nor turned down the vacant manager role but they are nearing the end of the recruitment process. Pic: ©INPHO/Dave Winter

The FAI admit they have an idea of their preferred candidate to become Ireland manager but top target Lee Carsley is viewed very much part of England’s future.

Gareth Southgate offered that declaration after his side were pitted against Ireland, Finland and Greece in the Uefa Nations League later this year.

FAI chief executive Jonathan Hill and Director of Football Marc Canham, who along with Packie Bonner have been interviewing prospective bosses, both spoke after the draw on constant speculation that Carsley is close to being appointed.

While stressing that nobody has been offered the job, nor rejected it, Canham indicated endgame on the 11-week recruitment process was looming.

Yesterday’s event was the target set by Hill when discussing the vacancy in December but it’s believed the minutiae of terms and conditions slowed the quest to lure former Ireland midfielder Carsley from the England U21 job he’s flourished in by winning Euro gold last summer.

Denying that the salary, comparable to what managers with middling Championship clubs pocket, turned contenders off, Canham was upbeat about bringing the search to a satisfactory outcome.

“We’re near the end,” said the chief headhunter.

“We don't want to put a specific timeline to hold ourselves to - but hope to do it as soon as possible.

“It hasn’t necessarily (taken longer than envisaged).

"We had a period to go through the process and, similar to the women's team manager; wanting a thorough and robust process.

“We're absolutely confident that we're following a similar process to what we did with the women.

“We just want to make sure we get the right person who is going to take us forward into friendlies coming up, an exciting draw for the Nations League that then leads us into the World Cup campaign.

“I'm not going to comment on specific numbers or names of people that we have spoken to but we are near the end.” 

Hill echoed Canham’s confidence, suggesting the longlist has been whittled down to a prime candidate.

Former Celtic manager Neil Lennon remains in the mix but is understood to be one of the fallback contingencies should Carsley stay put.

Procedurally, a meeting of the expanded 14-person FAI board must be called to rubberstamp any contract offer.

“We're clearly at a point where we have an idea of who it might be from the people we're speaking to,” said Hill about the vacancy.

“Nobody has been offered the job and nobody has turned it down.

“We wouldn't be able to offer a contract without it going by the board first. That wasn’t the conversation at last week’s board meeting.

“The board will approve the contract, which it did with the women's job.

“We said from the start that we wanted to keep the process tight, respecting confidentiality of those people we are speaking to, as you would in any recruitment process.

“I'm very sensitive to the media's job and they have their own sources but, like the women’s post, the right thing for us to do is keep it tight.” 

Amid the murmurs of a homecoming, Southgate admitted he held a discussion with Carsley’s over his future but wouldn’t disclose clues as to possibility of them facing each other in the Nations League.

“Not recently but a fair while ago,” the England manager stated in relation to the timeline of their chat.

“Lee enjoys the job he has with us. We’re really happy working with him and, from our perspective, he really understands the development part of his role – and the fact we pinch his best players all of the time!

“I’ve done the U21 job and it’s not easy. But he’s done it exceptionally well; he's got a way with players and they enjoy playing for him.

"He and his coaching team are adding to the development of those players which is fantastic for us.

“It’s more John McDermott’s role as technical director to discuss things but Lee has done a fabulous job but we’ve got a fabulous connection with all our junior teams.

"We have a club environment basically and we try and share as much as we can and we’re always interested to know more and more about the younger players.

“I think Lee feels valued by us but I can understand why other people would be interested as well.

When pressed on his empathy about the attraction Carsley could feel about managing the country he represented 40 times, Southgate concluded by saying: “I know what it means to me but you’d have to talk to Lee about that.” 

We’ll rely on the FAI to upgrade talk into action.