Former Manchester United defender John O’Shea has kept his cards close to his chest over the idea of becoming the next full-time Republic of Ireland manager.
O’Shea’s tenure as interim head coach will end tonight when Ireland face Switzerland in a friendly match in Dublin.
The Irish national team suffered terrible results under previous manager Stephen Kenny and there’s been a lot of speculation over who will replace him permanently. O’Shea stepped in after being promised two games as interim manager and Ireland performed well in their draw with Belgium (ranked fourth in the world) over the weekend.
Speaking ahead of his final game as interim manager, O’Shea insists his focus is on the game against Switzerland rather than his future in management.
“My remit was to focus on these two games,” O’Shea told reporters, as quoted by the Irish Independent. “If my remit beforehand was, ‘John you’re the full-time new manager’, it might have been a different situation.
“The focus for me was, ‘these two games John, look after these games and see what happens then.
“I am focusing on the last game against Switzerland, my focus has been on that right from the start when this process started.
“Two games, I am focused on that, get the best from the boys, bring this group together with the staff, getting the lads to know my staff as quickly as possible, and getting the bond together quickly, going into two games where you know you’ll face challenges, but two games where you know you can get good results too.”
O’Shea previously held a role as coach at Birmingham City when Wayne Rooney was in charge. Now he has an opportunity to get a full-time job of his own and we’d like to see him succeed.
It could be a big night for O’Shea.
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