Lee Carsley set to be named Stephen Kenny’s replacement as Ireland manager

Lee Carsley is expected to become the Republic of Ireland head coach on a four-year deal that takes the men’s national team to the 2028 European Championships.

Betting on the next Irish manager was suspended Thursday morning after large sums were placed on Carsley.

The FAI board meets next Tuesday when director of football Marc Canham and chief executive Jonathan Hill could present one name for ratification. Packie Bonner joined Canham and Hill in England this week for the last round of interviews to replace Stephen Kenny. Former Celtic manager Neil Lennon was also in the frame.

Carsley would be paid around €560,000 per annum.

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Capped 40 times for Ireland from 1997 to 2008, having qualified via his Cork-born grandmother, it would be the Birmingham native’s first senior managerial appointment, coming a month shy of his 50th birthday.

Carsley led the England under-21s to a European Championships title last summer and he is believed to be on a rolling contract with the FA. As England under-21 manager he has won 21 matches, drawing one and losing five while enhancing the careers of talent like Liverpool’s Harvey Elliot and Chelsea’s Cole Palmer.

“It is no secret that I believe Lee Carsley can transform Irish football,” wrote Kevin Kilbane in The Irish Times last Saturday. “I know him as a man and a coach as we played together for years at Everton and Ireland, scrapping away in midfield when Steve Staunton tried to qualify for Euro 2008.”

A tough midfielder, Carsley made 470 appearances for five English clubs – Derby County, Blackburn Rovers, Coventry City, Everton and Birmingham City – including 282 Premier League games, mainly during six years at Goodison Park before going into coaching with the Coventry City youth team.

The managerial hot seat is hardly new to him as he temporarily filled the role as caretaker at Coventry in 2013 for five matches, at Brentford in 2015 for 10 matches and took charge of Birmingham for three games in 2017 before returning to the English FA as a specialist coach. He also spent the 2016/17 season working under Pep Guardiola as Manchester City under-18s coach.

“Lee’s a good character and his reputation goes before him in terms of what he was as a player; his honesty, his willingness and his work ethic,” said former England under-21 manager Aidy Boothroyd. “He’s worked at a big club at Manchester City and a little club at Coventry and Brentford, so he’s been around a bit. He’s honest and he tells it as it is. He’s not a ‘yes’ man and I like that.”

He joins a cohort of former FA staff running Irish football as Hill and Canham previously worked with the English association.

All three men are expected to attend the Nations League B draw in Paris on February 8th where Ireland are in pot three alongside Slovenia, Albania and Montenegro. They could draw England or Wales from pot one with old friends Greece and Ukraine other potential opposition.

Carsley’s first international window has Belgium coming to the Aviva stadium on Saturday, March 23rd followed by Switzerland on Tuesday, March 26th.