THE FAI’S hunt for a new permanent Ireland manager looks to be far from over and the leading favourite has changed once again.
Fans were left disappointed last week when Marc Canham came out to push back the date for a potential appointment even further.
It now appears that a new boss won’t be in place until after the summer with John O’Shea expected to return as interim manager for the June friendlies.
However, Chris Hughton has now shot up to the top of the bookies’ favourites list after having his odds slashed from 5/1 to 7/4.
BetVictor have named Hughton as the favourite with O’Shea also having his odds shortened to 11/4.
Steve Bruce has dropped back into third favourite with his odds moving from 6/4 to 4/1.
Willy Sagnol (6/1), Anthony Barry (8/1) and Lee Carsley (8/1) have been the ever-present strong contenders, whilst big names such as Roy Keane and Gus Poyet (both 14/1) remain in the running.
Sam Boswell, spokesperson of BetVictor, said: “With the FAI coming under fire for the drawn out nature of their search for the next permanent Republic of Ireland manager, former Premier League boss Chris Hughton has had his name thrown firmly into the conversation and he now leads the betting, with his odds for the role shortening from 5/1 into 7/4 in the past week.
“Hughton leads a familiar list of names with John O’Shea, the current temporary manager, next in line at 11/4 – last week’s favourite Steve Bruce has seen his odds suffer a significant drift and he is out to 4/1 from 6/4 last week.
“Many of the same names still sit towards the top of the market with Willy Sagnol, Anthony Barry and Lee Carsley all still in the mix.”
The search for Stephen Kenny’s replacement has been long and painstaking and the FAI are coming under more fire as it continues to go on.
The process has now seen its latest shock with Matt Doherty becoming the first current player to speak out against the FAI.
Despite Canham’s comments about a September appointment, Doherty believes Ireland cannot go into the June friendlies without a boss.
He has insisted that if O’Shea returns to his interim role for the clashes against Hungary and Portugal then he should just be given the permanent job.
Doherty said: “I don’t know what’s going on over there.
“It looks messy. It seems to be taking a while and there doesn’t seem to be any clarity.
“To the neutral eye really that it has taken that long.
“If it is John then it will be pretty good.
“Really they needed someone for the summer so they can implement what they want to do before the games start getting competitive.”