Former League of Ireland boss Roddy Collins has claimed that the FAI should forget about hiring a "mercenary foreign coach" for the permanent Ireland manager role and should instead look at someone like their current interim boss John O'Shea for the role full-time.
O'Shea has taken over the Ireland squad and made his touchline debut against Belgium last Saturday. The Waterford native's last game was against Switzerland in Dublin this week
According to the bookies, O'Shea is 8/1 to take over the Boys in Green on a permanent basis and is behind the likes of Lee Carsley and Gus Poyet in the race.
However, the future of former Manchester United players will lie with the likes of FAI Director of Football Marc Canham. Canham said this month that the FAI had plans to install a new boss in early April.
This has not impressed many, and Collins believes that Canham should save himself the hassle and hire the candidate staring at him in the face, John O'Shea.
"It is not exactly Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Barcelona or Juventus. It is most certainly not the background needed to find the next manager of the Republic of Ireland football team," Collins said in his Irish Mirror column
John O'Shea, Interim Head Coach of Republic of Ireland, looks on during the warm-up prior to the international friendly match between Republic of Ireland and Belgium at Aviva Stadium on March 23, 2024, in Dublin, Ireland. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)"And the last four months have proven that. It was November when Stephen Kenny was sacked. Now it is March, and April is not far away.
"Apparently, Canham will have a successor named for us then. Well, I’ll save him the trouble. The answer, Marc, is right in front of you. It is John O’Shea.
"He is Mr. Steady Eddie. As a player, he learned his trade under the master of management, Alex Ferguson, and the fact he went from centre back to left back, then right back, then midfield, tells you everything you need to know about O’Shea’s football IQ.
"He’s intelligent, articulate, a good manager, an outstanding communicator, and, crucially, a smart in-game tactician. That’s what you need to succeed in the international game."
Collins also believes, for Ireland's sake, that it would be better to hire someone who gets the country rather than someone looking for a quick payday and a stepping stone in their career.
"He’d be perfect for O’Shea—a good guy to sit in the stands, to observe, to analyse, to figure out the in-game switches that need to be made. And O’Shea would be good for Ireland.
"This is the direction we need to go in, not to some mercenary foreign coach whose sole interest in taking the Ireland job would be to use us as a stepping stone to return to England.
"We have a right, as a country, to be more ambitious than that, and we have a right to have someone choose our successor whose CV does not boast spells with Hayes, Yeading, and Team Bath.
"It’s time now to throw the CEO and director of football out with the bathwater. And time to upgrade John O’Shea’s status from interim to permanent boss."
