REPUBLIC OF Ireland icon Ray Houghton has warned whoever the next permanent manager is that success is not the most important factor.
Houghton believes that it will be more necessary that the new boss establishes a winning mentality amongst the players.
With John O’Shea taking charge as interim manager for this month’s friendlies against Belgium and Switzerland, it is still up in the air over who will be Stephen Kenny’s permanent replacement.
However, the FAI did confirm that the appointment would be announced in ‘early April’.
Despite some fans having high hopes for Ireland going forward, Houghton has insisted that a quick fix is very unlikely with immediate success almost an impossibility.
He told the Sunday World: “Whoever takes over, there will be question marks against them and whatever way you look at it, this is going to be a tough job.
“We have not qualified for a tournament since 2016 and we have not come close to doing so either.
“The next manager will inherit a squad of players who are decent and there are a lot of young players there who have been given a chance at international level by Stephen Kenny.
“Some of them might flourish and they may be good enough to give Ireland some success in the future, but it’s far from certain at this moment in time.
“However we do it, we need to get Ireland back to having a winning mentality and that was the first objective when I brought in Trapattoni.
“I knew the style of play he might introduce would be a bit negative, but he understood how to win football matches at the highest level and whoever Ireland get next, they need to find a way to win first and foremost.”
O’Shea has a relatively pressure-free task on his hands this month as Ireland will not be expected to do too well in the friendlies.
It’s a chance for the interim boss to experiment with the Ireland squad and he revealed a few uncapped stars are in the frame for a call-up.
He will name his squad for the friendlies next Thursday and Lyon defender Jake O’Brien is in contention for his first cap.
O’Shea ran the rule over the uncapped Sammie Szmodics for Blackburn Rovers against Millwall on Tuesday night, having suggested on Monday he was in the frame for inclusion.
The attacking midfielder scored his 26 goal of the season with Michael Obafemi – who is on loan from Burnley – netting the equaliser for the visitors.
But, whilst the Ireland interim boss is mainly looking at players in England, he is also casting his net further
FRESH FACES
O’Shea said: “I was at Blackburn and Millwall. Ultimately, the squad won’t change too much because you’re wanting to keep that bit of consistency.
“But there might be one or two fresh faces in the squad. We’ll see what happens over the next 10 or 14 days, hopefully everyone is fit and we can look forward to a good camp.
“The big thing now at the minute is I’m looking at games in France and Italy to catch up on lads who could potentially be in the squad.
“They’re spread far and wide. Because of the Brexit rules some of the younger talent in Italy has gone to Italy and France.”
Although there are a host of younger players in the underage section of clubs in both leagues, the only two currently playing first-team football are O’Brien and Festy Ebosele of Udinese.