O’Brien to make funds available for new manager

Denis O'Brien will fund the new Republic of Ireland management team's salary for at least another two years, FAI chief executive John Delaney confirmed this evening.

O’Brien had paid roughly half of Giovanni Trapattoni’s annual salary of €1.2 million before he parted company with the FAI this morning and Delaney has said the businessman will continue to support the association financially as they begin the search for a new manager.

Speaking on RTÉ Radio this evening, Delaney explained: “Denis O’Brien has confirmed that he will continue to stick with this project for the next two years at least. We have the firepower to go to the market to try and get ourselves a manager.”

Delaney wouldn’t be drawn on who might be on an FAI wishlist with Martin O’Neill the odds-on favourite with bookmakers to be offered the position.

“You know I won’t speculate,” he added, “but there has been and there will be a lot of speculation in terms of names, who will want to put themselves forward or makes themselves available or who the public will want.

“I think there are plenty of managers who are available, there’s plenty of managers who would be attracted to the job. It would be wrong for me at this stage as one member of a board of 10 to comment on any particular manager before we sit down as a group and look at the process, look at the job description and look at the timescale.

“The three points that I will make to the public today, particularly the football public, is that; it’s an attractive job with the fact that 24 teams go to the Euros next time around; the fact that there’s a good crop of young players, the Colemans, the Wilsons, the McCarthys the Robbie Bradys, the Shane Duffys will all want to qualify for a World Cup; and because of Denis O’Brien’s tremendous support in the past, and for the next two years, we have the financial ability to offer the type of package to bring a manager to manage this country.

“The board will meet over the next week. We will look at the process, we’ll look at the job description and we’ll look at the timescale.

“We’ve lost a manager today, that’s the nature of football. The objective now is to gain a new one and get to the Euros in 2016.”