The end is near, according to a report from England.
Martin O’Neill and Roy Keane are set to lose their jobs, according to a report in The Telegraph.
The report comes from Luke Edwards, a journalist with sources close to O’Neill who has broken stories about the Derryman in the past.
He claims that the Republic of Ireland manager and his assistant met with the John Delaney, the chief executive of the Football Association of Ireland, on Tuesday evening for “crunch talks.”
The report claims that Delaney was “alarmed” the fact that just over 31,000 attended the friendly match against Northern Ireland at the Aviva Stadium last Thursday. Edwards writes that the association “hopes to avoid prolonged attacks on the competency of the FAI by changing the management team.”
According to the report, “sources close to the FAI” have stated that O’Neill and his coaching staff are “set to lose their jobs.”
O’Neill took charge of the Ireland team in November 2013. He helped the side reach the last-16 of Euro 2016 and recorded some great victories in his first few years in the job. Ireland beat Germany, Bosnia and Italy during the Euros campaign.
However, since the start of 2017, Ireland’s form has nosedived. They have won just four games in two years. The nadir of O’Neill’s reign came when the team lost 5-1 at home to Denmark in the World Cup playoff last November.
He signed a two-year extension to his contract before that defeat and vowed to turn Ireland’s form around. However, Ireland have experienced a miserable time in the Uefa Nations League, finishing bottom of their group. They haven’t scored a goal in four games, the team’s worst run since 1996.
You can read the entire report here.
