Gavin Cooney

FAI DIRECTOR OF FOOTBALL Marc Canham remained coy on the subject of the next Ireland manager at a press event today to promote the launch of the Association’s new Football Pathways plan. 

Amid reports that all hope of Lee Carsley’s recruitment has faded and that Chris Coleman is out of the running, Canham played a straight bat. 

With the search now in its 90th day and the clock ticking ahead of next month’s friendlies against Belgium and Switzerland, the process has come under scrutiny, with Damien Duff labelling it “embarrassing.” 

Canham defended the process as he declined to get into specifics on any candidate. 

“The consistent message from me today will be that the process is ongoing”, said Canham. “We hope to complete that process as soon as possible. We are getting closer and that is all that I would say on that. 

“I understand the question and similar to what we did with the women’s head coach, we are following a very similar process, similar timeline, so I am not going to comment on any individuals or circumstances, but we continue to have positive conversations with candidates about the role and we hope to conclude that as soon as possible.”

The appointment of Eileen Gleeson came at the end of a 15-week process, with the search for a men’s boss currently in week number 13. Some FAI sources believe an appointment could be made next week. 

The FAI had hoped to have someone in place by the Nations League draw on 8 February, but certainly in time to take charge of the friendly games on 23 and 26 March against Belgium and Switzerland. Canham stopped short of guaranteeing the new head coach would be in place for those games, however.

“It’s a confidential process”, replied Canham. “We have run a very tight process. With respect to all of the people that we have spoken to and are speaking to, we just need to make sure that we keep that completely confidential.” 

Canham also insisted the FAI are sticking by their job description of a ‘head coach’, one who will agree to the FAI’s broader vision for how they want all of their national teams to play. 

“My job is to provide that framework for Irish football”, said Canham. “We will ensure the head coach we recruit soon and in the future buys into that philosophy. They will come in to add value to that, to enhance it, to bring it with their own ideas. We won’t be asking head coaches to say, ‘bring your philosophy in and deliver it’, we want them to come into our framework and our plan.” 

The commitment to that plan was included in the Football Pathways Plan, Canham’s signature piece of work. It is a policy document to drive the development of players at every level of the game, and is the product of 11,000 hours of consultation with all parts of Irish football.

It baldly acknowledges that Irish football is not maximising its resources. 

The document sketches out a 12-year vision for the game in Ireland, with long and short-term goals. The broad ambition is to integrate all parts of the game here, with the fragmentation of the sport one of the biggest issues raised during the lengthy consultation process. 

The FAI plan to align the calendar at all levels to run from January-December, rather than the current situation, where some amateur and underage seasons run in tandem with the school year. They also plan to introduce a single, unified rulebook off which all leagues and parts of the game will work, the implementation of new regional FAI divisions, and the appointment of a new head of football at each league. 

They also plan to unite the whole sport in a pyramid structure, whereby a senior amateur club could theoretically rise to League of Ireland status. The early steps on that front will be the introduction of a third tier to the men’s LOI and a second tier to the women’s league, with the FAI Cup to be expanded and a new FAI Amateur Cup to be instituted. 

There are no plans to introduce any lower-age academies at League of Ireland level – they currently begin at U14 level – but they will aim to start girl’s academies from U14 level. Prior to that players will be developed in a pre-academy structure, which may involve collaboration between grassroots clubs and academies. 

The general aim, according to Canham, is to assure everyone can play more football, more often and with more variety. Hence it is envisaged under the new calendar that U11 to U14 seasons would be split to allow for a break in the summer in which other formats such as blitzes can be run, while futsal will be on offer during the winter months. 

Canham’s plan embraces Ireland’s multi-sport culture, and doesn’t forecast specialisation in football until a player reaches their mid-teens. There is also an ambition to create a closer link between football and education, with Canham stating that potential professional players need to be doing full-time training after their Junior Cert, but that it must be combined with full-time education. 

The full document can be read here.