FAI chief executive John Delaney has confirmed that Blues boss Mick McCarthy is amongst those likely to come into his organisation’s thoughts as they search for a replacement for Giovanni Trapattoni, who left his job as manager of Ireland by mutual consent this morning.
Speaking to Irish radio station Newstalk, Delaney said: "What we’ll do is take stock of the decision that has arisen today and over the next week or so we’ll discuss the process for the appointment of the new Irish manager.”
Asked whether McCarthy, who was previously in charge of Ireland between 1996 and 2002, ex-Blues boss Roy Keane and others would be in the running, Delaney added: "I don’t think I’ll comment on any individual, but we will have a job description as to who we want to manage the Irish team over the next number of years.
"I think names like Mick McCarthy, Brian McDermott, Chris Hughton, Roy Keane, Martin O’Neill, all of those names would come into the pot.
"I wouldn’t want to comment on any individual person about chances. I know Mick has done a very good job for Ireland in the past, there’s no doubt about that, and he’s done a very good job in England as well.”
Delaney expects lots of potential candidates will come forward: "I think there’ll be plenty of interest because 24 teams go to the next European Championships, that’s a big change so the chances of qualification are a lot higher.
"I think it’s genuinely accepted that we have a good crop of young players available and the monetary incentive towards the role has been good, particularly over the last number of years, and I think the knowledge of the Irish job throughout Europe, through the appointment of Trapattoni, has created an interest in managing the Irish team.
"I think those three of four factors make it an attractive job and it will be interesting over the period to see who puts their best foot forward.”