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

Marc Canham indicated endgame on the 11-week recruitment process was looming.

NEARING END: FAI CEO Jonathan Hill says they are near the end of the manager recruitment process. Pic: ©INPHO/Dave Winter

The FAI admit they have an idea of their preferred candidate to become Ireland manager as they ‘near the end’ of search.

Recent UK media reports that leading target Lee Carsley - or any other contender - was offered and rejected a contract offer were dismissed by the FAI delegation at the Uefa Nations League draw in Paris.

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

Canham indicated endgame on the 11-week recruitment process was looming.

Today'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."