Former Republic of Ireland manager Brian Kerr has claimed he does not believe that the next Ireland boss will be Lee Carsle.
Carsley has become a hot favourite to take over from the long-departed Stephen Kenny, but the links have blown hot and cold since then.
At one stage, Carsley, being the Ireland manager, was suspended by bookies, but hours later, the rumours were quashed. Weeks later, Carsley's name appeared back in the frame, but there was no concrete evidence to back it up.
The FAI has claimed that they plan to announce a new Ireland boss by the start of April and cannot comment because of contractual obligations.
Speculation has grown that the next manager might actually be Carsley because of the timing of the announcement.
Carsley is on a rolling contract with the FA, but there are rumours that he has been offered a four-year contract to take over as Republic of Ireland boss. There is also a break clause in the contract, according to reports.
England's next games will be against Azerbaijan and Luxembourg on March 22 and 26. They don't play another fixture until September. This would also tie in with the FAI's plan for an early April announcement.
The rumours around Carsley taking the job or not taking the job have not gone away, and until there is a new Ireland boss full-time in the role, then speculation won't end.
Former Ireland boss Kerr is someone who does not believe that Carsley is even in the picture for the Ireland job.
“I’d be surprised if Lee was back in the frame,” said Kerr on the Ray D’Arcy Show. “He played when I was manager and I’ve been in touch a bit. Unfortunately, I don’t think he is in the picture.https://t.co/BAe8ggtK2K
— The Irish Times (@IrishTimes) March 6, 2024
"I’d be surprised if Lee was back in the frame," said Kerr, speaking on RTÉ Radio 1's The Ray D’Arcy Show.
"Lee played when I was manager, and I’ve been in touch with Lee a bit, and I’d be surprised. Unfortunately, I don’t think that he is in the picture, but I could be wrong.
"Marc Canham and Jonathan Hill have been doing the work on this, and Packie Bonnar has kept things close to themselves. I haven’t asked what is happening, but they seem very assured that they will have their man in April.
"But I don’t know; I’d only be speculating at this stage; I'm as intrigued as everyone else."
Kerr also explained that he was delighted to get the call to help interim Ireland boss John O'Shea for the games against Belgium and Switzerland this month. His relationship with O'Shea was a big factor in saying "yes.".
"John called me himself, and then I had calls from Jonathan Hill and Marc Canham in the FAI," added Kerr. "It was a big surprise. I saw the announcement about John when I was away on holidays, but I wasn’t thinking that I would be part of it.
"I thought that type of stuff had gone. But I had a good relationship with John going back to when he was a young lad playing with Waterford Bohs and was on the underage international teams.
"When I was senior manager, I think I saw a statistic that John played 27 of the 33 matches I had, and only three others—Kenny Cunningham, Gary Breen, and Kevin Kilbane—played more than John during that time. So over the years, I've known him, but it was a massive surprise."
Ireland will take on Belgium at Aviva Stadium on March 24, 2024! Kick-off is at 17:00.
Further information can be found here.
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