Whelan's prospects on hold

PLANS to interview Ronnie Whelan for the vacant managership of the Republic of Ireland team were hastily revised yesterday after Southend United intimated that they would seek compensation in the event of his appointment.

The FAI confirmed that they have received qualified permission from Southend to talk with Whelan but said that they had no immediate plans to take up the option.

The Dub liner, who captained Ireland in the end of season games against Liechenstein and Austria last year, is currently in his first season as player manager of Southend after joining them from Liverpool 18 months ago.

In acknowledging the FAI's request to meet Whelan, the club chairman, John Adams, said that the manager's contract still had two years to run and they did not expect him to walk away from it.

If Whelan was never considered as one of the favourites to succeed Jack Charlton, his inclusion among the list of contenders attracted some support on the basis of his outstanding record as a player.

Since moving into management, he has achieved considerable progress at Roots Hall but at this stage, he scarcely possesses the requisite experience for the responsibility of taking Ireland into the next World Cup campaign.

It means that the list of first round interviews has now been completed and FAI officials are due to meet today to evaluate the claims of Mick McCarthy, Joe Kinnear, Liam Brady, Mike Walker and Dave Bassett, who will be invited back to Dublin for further talks.

McCarthy is still the obvious leader followed at some distance by Kinnear but mindful of the ways of the FAI, many observers still haven't ruled out the possibility of new applicants being invited to join the race.

That suspicion is no doubt coloured by memories of what happened in February 1986 when the Association set out to find a successor to Eoin Hand. They spoke with a number of interested parties initially but then, after the short list had been reduced to three, the names of Jack Charlton and Bob Paisley were introduced on the night of the voting.

It is history now that Paisley came within a vote of winning on the first count only to be the victim of a backlash when delegates, who were not party to the clandestine meetings which preceded the voting, decided to have their say.

Memories like that die hard and inevitably they have precipitated a situation in which the announcement of another late candidature would not greatly surprise. Yet Sean Connolly, the FAI's chief executive, is adamant that such will not now he the case.

"There are no springers, no surprise candidates waiting in the wings and apart from those already mentioned, we have no plans to interview anybody else," he said.

Among the names being touted yesterday was that of Kevin Moran, the great dependable of successive Ireland teams over a period of more than 12 years but lacking managerial experience at any level.

Also mentioned was Trevor Francis, the former England player who was involved in dub management for some years before falling out of favour with Sheffield Wednesday. However, neither, according to Connolly, merited a second thought.

"There will always be rumblings about a personality so popular as Kevin Moran," he said. "But I can say in all honesty that his name never surfaced in any of the discussions we had today."

"The name of Trevor Francis was mentioned briefly back at the start but that was as far as it went. We never at any stage contacted him."

. Leeds United defender Gary Kelly has, received a one match ban for his sending off at Liverpool on January 20th, ruling him out of the Premiership trip to Aston Villa on Saturday.

. Newcastle United, yesterday, were still not responding to reports that the Colombian striker, Faustino Asprilla, had failed a medical, which has stalled his proposed £6.7 million move from Parma.

The Italian club's coach, Nevio Scala, insisted all was well. It's nonsense to say he's carrying an injury. He has been in training and playing for me and I am not aware of any medical problems."

Wolverhampton Wanderers, last night rejected a £3 million offer from Coventry for Dean Richards, the England Under 21 defender for whom they paid Bradford City £1.8 million last year.

David Batty's uncertain future at Blackburn Rovers heightened yesterday, when he was ordered to train with junior players.