Chief executive can often be found amid the revellers when things are going well for the Republic of Ireland but that has not been the case recently and something had better change
The decision to end the reigns of Martin O’Neill and Roy Keane was the right one for the Republic of Ireland, even if it may not have been reached for entirely the right reason and does not go far enough. As so often in such cases, the effect of letting the manager and his assistant know that it would be best if they relinquished their positions is that the chief executive, in this case the Football Association of Ireland’s John Delaney, may also have made his own position a little more secure.
The ruling body has long relied on the senior national team to act as a sop to distract from its failure to develop football in Ireland. Managers are hired at great expense while the domestic league receives paltry support and there is no adequate nationwide scheme for rearing young players.
Related: Martin O’Neill must put the wheels back on Ireland’s clanging wagon
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