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18th June 2024
12:55pm BST
Former Dundalk striker, David McMillan has said it would be a ‘PR disaster’ for the FAI to appoint John O’Shea as permanent manager.
O’Shea took charge of his fourth game as interim manager against Portugal in Aveiro last Tuesday but suffered their heaviest defeat so far as they were beaten 3-0, with Ronaldo bagging a brace.
The previous week, O’Shea’s side registered a surprise win as Troy Parrott’s late goal secured a 2-1 victory over the Euros-bound Hungary.
However, despite that result, McMillan thinks it would be a bad move for the FAI to appoint the former Manchester United defender.
Speaking on the RTÉ Soccer Podcast, he said: “It'll look like an absolute disaster for them.
“I'm not convinced O'Shea is the right man. I don't think the results have been that amazing or that the performances have changed that significantly from the Kenny era. I don't think it's been a monster change.”
Since Stephen Kenny left seven months ago, there has been uncertainty over who will succeed him on a permanent basis.
McMillan continued: “It's fine to write off the Portugal game. They are an exceptional team. Even watching Scotland the other night against Germany - and Scotland are a good, good side - but you can see the gulf in quality that's there to the top, top teams. You do go into those games hoping for anything. Portugal is just littered with talent.
"If they do go with O'Shea, I'm sure the country will get behind him absolutely. But it's the scenario we've been left in, you'd hope there's a name there we can pull out of the bag.”
McMillan hopes the FAI will go for a more experienced manager. O’Shea has had spells as assistant-manager of the Republic of Ireland Under-21s and the senior team and was a first-team coach at Stoke City and Birmingham City but this is his first managerial role.
Several pundits including James McClean and Keith Treacy disagree with McMillan as they feel O’Shea has done enough to warrant being offered the job as permanent manager.
The 2024-25 Nations League campaign gets under way in less than three months and the FAI will hope to have a permanent manager in place in advance of that tournament kicking off.
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