Irish Football CEO Confirms Kenny’s Job is Safe Until November

Stephen Kenny’s position as manager of the Republic of Ireland senior men’s team is safe until qualification for the 2024 European Championship is determined.

Jonathan Hill, the Chief Executive Officer of the Football Association of Ireland (FAI), has reassured Kenny that he will not be sacked while his team can still qualify for the tournament.

A record of five wins in 26 competitive matches has sparked inevitable speculation about Kenny’s future as national team boss. Ireland’s hopes of qualifying for Euro 2024 look extremely remote, with the team collecting just three points from five games in Group B.

Leading online bookmakers have taken a dim view of their recent run of form by already writing off their chances of securing a qualification berth. The top football betting sites rate France and Netherlands as certainties to qualify, with only Greece handed a chance of upsetting the odds.

With the bookies rarely getting these type of calls wrong, it is little wonder that Kenny’s future as Ireland manager has been called into question. Several online sportsbooks are already offering odds on who is most likely to replace him, although many of the names listed will not enthuse Irish football fans.

The same cannot be said for current England Under-21 coach Lee Carsley, who can be backed at a best-priced 9/2 to replace Kenny.

Carsley has been touted as a possible successor to Gareth Southgate, who followed the same path from the U21 job to the senior position. However, Carsley could find it tough to reject Ireland if they decide to dispense with Kenny’s services over the next couple of months.

With just three qualifiers remaining against Greece (H), Gibraltar (A) and Netherlands (A), the clock is ticking on the current manager’s job prospects. He has overseen a period of significant transition with the national team, bringing through several talented youngsters, but has found results hard to come by.

Despite this, Hill has confirmed that any talks about Kenny’s future will not take place until Ireland have completed the Euro 2024 qualification process. When asked whether it is feasible for Kenny to remain in the role, Hill insisted nothing would be determined until later this year.

“Stephen has a contract, an existing contract, and we are honouring that, and we are going through to the end of the November process – I think that is simple,” Hill said.

“Stephen is very committed and the players are very committed to doing the best they can in those matches, and we will then review it in November. So I can’t answer the question until we get to that point in November and we review where we are at that point.”

While automatic qualification for Euro 2024 looks to be a distant dream, Ireland could still reach the finals in Germany via the Nations League play-off route. However, they need plenty of other results to go their way for that to happen.

Ireland require at least 19 teams ahead of them in the Nations League standings to qualify automatically, which would secure them a play-off spot. If that scenario happened, Kenny would likely be handed the chance to see the job through.

While Hill appears to be relaxed about the current situation, he admits that the final decision on Kenny’s future does not just rest on his shoulders. His role will be discussed by the FAI board, who may decide to take an alternative view to Hill. 

“It is the board’s opinion that matters so, yeah, if the board felt they wanted to take a different route then we would discuss that different route,” hill added. “That, actually, has defined the level and degree and quality of discussion that I think we have had at board level over the last two and a half years, that never happened before.

“The simple answer, yes, the board will discuss this. I will give my report as chief executive – we will have a broader review and discussion on all of these issues. We will await to see as we always do in those meetings to see what comes out of it, but the opportunity is there for all of the board members to give their view.”