Damien Duff set to take reins at Shelbourne for return to Premier Division

In a promotion of sorts, Damien Duff is set to launch his managerial career at Shelbourne next season.

The 42-year-old is expected to agree a minimum two-year contract with the newly promoted Dubliners, currently being negotiated between the club's chairman Andrew Doyle, technical director Alan Caffrey and Platinum One agent Graham Barrett, which would move Duff beyond a recent history of short-term stints as an elite coach.

Shels' outgoing manager Ian Morris "stepped down" last week with a "heavy heart" following three seasons in charge, having twice won the Airtricity League Division One title either side of relegation in 2020.

Reportedly, Shamrock Rovers veteran defender Joey O'Brien could be named as Duff's number two.

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Duff has been coaching the under-17s at Tolka Park since June 2020, after citing family reasons for leaving Glasgow Celtic, where he was first-team coach for just 18 months.

“There is no job in the world that would have taken me away from the role I was in,” said Duff on leaving Celtic. “I’d love to be a brilliant coach one day, but I think it’s more important at the minute that I’m just a brilliant dad.”

The move back to Dublin coincided with Stephen Kenny naming him in the Republic of Ireland backroom.

Duff, one of Irish football’s true greats with 100 caps between 1998 and 2012, abruptly quit the international set-up last January following the FAI’s ‘videogate’ investigation.

In his role as an RTÉ pundit, he has made vague references to a video shown to Irish players before the 3-0 defeat to England at Wembley last November, stating in February that "I've never let my country down, and I'll continue to work for Irish football" while adding "I know it's not ideal for the manager, but at the same time it's a chance to bring in a better coach than me."

Chelsea's first-team coach Anthony Barry has impressively filled the gap with Thomas Tuchel's 3-4-2-1 system so effective for the men's senior team that Vera Pauw's Irish women appear to have also adopted it.

Before Scotland drew with England at Wembley during last summer’s Euros, Duff nonchalantly remarked that “if it was up to me, I would definitely make a motivational video”.

The video has never been leaked into the public domain, nor were the details of the FAI's investigation, which makes it curious that such a "non-story" according to Kenny, led to Duff and goalkeeping coach Alan Kelly resigning two months before the World Cup qualifier defeats to Serbia and Luxembourg.

"I don't know [what happened]," Keith Andrews, the current Ireland assistant coach told Off The Ball in September. "I still don't know, which irks me a lot in terms of not knowing exactly what happened.

“I’ll go to the video. I think it was blown out of all proportion, I really do. I was really comfortable with what was shown to the players that night. In terms of the aftermath, was I totally enamoured? Probably not.

“I look at my relationship and working relationship with Duffer and I was really, really sad to see Duffer go. It was a horrible time in the aftermath, it was already a tough few months, but in terms of that time and dealing with that and speaking with him and the relationship I have had with him for such a long time, I am very close to him, and I was devastated after he left, like really, really devastated.

“Look, it is Damien’s prerogative and it is not for me to get into Damien’s business here or anywhere really, I have that much respect for him.”

Shelbourne are due to announce their new manager at noon on Wednesday.