BROAD agreement on the job specifications for the next manager of the Republic of Ireland team was reached after a series of meetings of FAI personnel in Dublin yesterday.

Jack Charlton's successor will be a full time appointment and will not be involved in the management of a club team for the duration of his term of office. In an important break with tradition, he will be closely involved in the formulation of coaching structures in this country to keep pace with the evolution of the game.

The word emanating from Merrion Square yesterday was that the Association will not be pressurised into having the new man in place for the World Cup fixtures meeting in Liechtenstein on January 23rd.

If necessary, a delegation made up of the Association's top officers will travel to Vaduz for the meeting. With the English FA having effectively ruling out the possibility of a friendly with the Republic at Wembley next month, much of the urgency has gone from the need to make the appointment.

"Obviously, we would want to make the appointment sooner rather than later, but there is no question of people rushing off today or tomorrow to talk with prospective candidates," said a spokesman.

"The first priority is to define the job we want done and then look at the people most likely to meet the requirements. Things tended to be done the other way round in the past, but this was as good a time as any to change. We never at any, stage got round to naming names - nor will we until such time as we decide on the kind of manager we want.

"The fact that a coaching dimension is attached to the job is opportune for it comes at a time when the whole coaching set up here is being assessed. Jack Charlton was not involved in this aspect of the game during his time in charge for the simple reason that he was never required to do so. But things are changing in football and we need to structure the coaching of young players to take account of those changes".

The first of three separate sets of talks in Dublin started at 11 o'clock when officers met to set the agenda for a subsequent meeting of the Executive Committee and later, at the Westbury Hotel, a sitting of the full FAI Council which comprises some 45 members in addition to the honorary officers.

A further meeting of the Executive Committee will be held tomorrow to refine the job specifications and to open the way to an appointment by the end of February.

That appointment will be made by the five honorary officers - Louis Kilcoyne (president), Pat Quigley, Michael Hyland and Des Casey (vice president) and Joe Delaney (treasurer), plus a sixth member to be named at tomorrow's Executive Committee talks.

It was agreed at the first round of talks that the primary task was to define the specifications. Then they could go about the task of identifying the person most likely to meet them in time for the start of the World Cup warm up programme, probably in Holland in the last week of March. That process could take anything up to six weeks.

Senior officers of the Association categorically deny that the process of finding a replacement manager was put in train even before Charlton's term of office was so abruptly terminated on December 21st.

Three months ago, a senior FAI official, admitted to talking with Alex Ferguson at Old Trafford, but stressed that it was purely a personal meeting, wholly unrelated to FAI business.

No such sightings have been made of Kenny Dalglish, the other big name manager mentioned in connection with the vacancy, but if it is again decided to give it to an outsider', then Dalglish is more likely to be contacted than Ferguson.

The wording of the clause that the new manager "should not be involved in day to day management at club level" does not rule out the man who handed over the reins of power at Blackburn to Roy Harford before the start of the current season. Dalglish's title at Ewood Park is that of Director of Football with prime responsibility for linking the dub's youth policy to developments at first team level.

Opinions vary on whether Jack Walker, the millionaire chairman of the club, would be prepared to release him from that post to facilitate his installation as Charlton's successor, but the bigger question by far is whether the Scot wishes to take on another challenge at a stage when he appeared to have finished with the pressures of the modern game.

Dalglish is among the wealthiest personalities in the game in Britain and, as such he would not be unduly discouraged by the fact that, at £120,000, Jack Charlton was one of the lowest paid managers in international football.

What is far from clear, however, is his readiness to take on what some perceive as an impossible act - following Charlton. Even by Charlton's admission, a major rebuilding task must now be undertaken before the start of the next World Cup campaign this autumn.

Dalglish's biggest strength has been his capacity to identify the complementary qualities of players and equipped with the requisite financial backing (he spent some £28 million on new signings at Blackburn), to act on those intuitive instincts.

The parameters of managing an international team such as the Republic of Ireland are vastly different, however, and whether the Scot is ready to put his reputation on the line and accept the post is still unclear.

Mick McCarthy and Joe Kinnear are the two leading Irish contenders for the position, but both acknowledge that they will be offered it only when Dalglish has turned it down. Neither Millwall nor Wimbledon, their respective clubs, will stand ill the way of them taking the job.

Kinnear, born and reared in Dublin before leaving for London with his family at the age of eight, has had no obvious connection with the game in this country since gaining the last of his 26 caps against Turkey in 1975.

McCarthy, born in Barnsley of Irish parentage, is closely identified with Jack Charlton. While many view that as a big plus, others perceive his relationship with the senior members of the present squad as a disadvantage.