'Celtic' league becomes reality

Soccer:The much-hyped "Celtic" tournament became a reality last night when it was confirmed that representatives of the football associations in the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales have agreed "in principle" to the staging of three biennial tournaments, starting in 2009.

The chief executives of the four associations are believed to have hammered out the main issues involved while in South Africa for the World Cup draw at the weekend. The tournament will effectively be run like the old "home" internationals with the Republic of Ireland replacing England in a four-team league format.

The English had apparently been sounded out about participating as well but declined, expressing some interest in reviving a regular fixture with Scotland. That fixture proved a major attraction for supporters, but it remains to be seen if games between Scotland and the Republic of Ireland or Northern Ireland against Wales would capture the public's imagination when staged on a regular basis.

The recent meeting of Wales and the Republic in Cardiff only attracted around 24,000 spectators despite being a European Championship qualifier.

The plan, though, is to stage the tournament every second year and review the situation after three events have been run. Officials from the four associations have yet to work out the initial set of fixtures but the plan is that home advantage in the respective ties will simply be alternated.

The board of the FAI, meanwhile, will meet this afternoon to discuss the situation in relation to the search for a new manager.

There were reports yesterday that the meeting has been called by a number of members unhappy over the way in which the process was being handled and that FAI chief executive John Delaney, who is only due to arrive home from South Africa, may have to defend himself against criticism over the way he has handled things so far.

With some members apparently unclear as to what exactly is going on it was suggested last night the meeting might simply involve an update in the wake of his visits to England and South Africa,

There have also been reports David Pleat has been added to the association's list of "headhunters" alongside Bobby Robson and Don Howe but a spokesman for the organisation declined to comment while suggesting that the search for the third person was ongoing.

The interest of Terry Venables in the job itself was confirmed yesterday by his friend Ted Buxton who worked alongside the England manager on a number of occasions over the years.

Buxton told the BBC yesterday that the pair had met on Friday night when Venables sought his former assistant's views on a number of Ireland's players, including the three at Reading.

Buxton said Venables insisted at that stage he had not yet received any approach from the FAI but believes the former Tottenham and leeds United boss would "fancy" the job.

"We had a few discussions recently about Irish players and in particular he asked me about the Reading boys (Kevin Doyle, Stephen Hunt and Shane Long). I see a lot of games so he would get my opinion on players," said Buxton.

Delaney hopes to see the new manager in place by the time Brazil come to Dublin in February but there have been suggestions that Venables might be offered the post long before that. A new deadline of sorts emerged yesterday when it was confirmed that the fixtures meeting for Ireland's forthcoming World Cup campaign will be held in Sofia in January 16th with the respective national managers playing a significant part in such meetings.