Republic of Ireland legend John Giles thinks the FAI are right to wait until the end of the World Cup qualifiers before deciding on whether to offer Stephen Kenny a new contract.
Ireland boss Kenny says he's building a team for an assault on the 2024 European Championships but his current deal is due to expire next summer. The ex Dundalk boss is yet to win a competitive fixture with the national team and two points from three games in the recent window ended any hopes of reaching the 2022 World Cup.
FAI CEO Jonathan Hill told OTB Sports this afternoon that the association's board will want until the end of the campaign before reviewing Kenny's position as manager.
"Stephen knows that we have an expectation before every game that we go into to be competitive and win those games. We've had a range of performances, we've had a range of results.
"We will review those as we move forward. I'm not going to have that type of conversation until the end of the campaign."
"Stephen knows there's an expectation before every game that we're going to be competitive and win"
FAI CEO Jonathan Hill has been speaking to @dubsoulrebel pic.twitter.com/CW9KDCKP7X
— Off The Ball (@offtheball) September 9, 2021
Giles feels that's the right approach by the FAI and that Kenny will have a chance to secure his employers' favour in the matches against Azerbaijan, Luxembourg, Portugal and Qatar in the next two months.
''I think the statement that Jonathan Hill has made is correct," the two-time FAI Hall of Fame inductee said on Off The Ball. "There's four more matches to go and if I was in the position, I would have Stephen take charge of the those four games and then review it and take it from there.
"If you took a decision now that you're not going to keep him, then you could go on and win the next four matches. If they say they're keeping him, then you could lose the next four matches.
"The sensible thing to do is to let the next four matches run, hopefully the team improves and then you can say that you can see where Stephen is coming from and then look to the future. If we get poor results in the next four games then it'll be a case that Stephen has had 20 matches and it hasn't really worked out."
