Republic of Ireland: Marc Canham says FAI hope to unveil new manager 'very soon'

Speaking at the Nations League draw, Gareth Southgate appeared to indicate his confidence that Lee Carsley will remain in the England Under-21 job

Football Association of Ireland director of football Marc Canham says the governing body hopes to announce a new Republic of Ireland head coach "very soon".

Canham and FAI chief executive Jonathan Hill attended Thursday's Nations League draw in Paris which placed the Republic in a group that includes England.

"We are nearing the end of the process," said Canham.

England U21 boss Lee Carsley and Neil Lennon have been linked with the job.

"We haven't got a specific timeline to share with you today but we hope that will be very soon," said Canham after the Nations League draw, with the Republic and England in Group B2 alongside Finland and Greece.

Asked about the possibility of 40-times Republic capped Carsley being appointed to the role, Canham replied that "a lot of names" have been linked with the job.

"We're not going to comment on any specific individual today but we're nearing the end of the process," added the FAI director of football.

Carsley 'very happy' in England U21 job

Also speaking at the draw, England manager Gareth Southgate appeared to indicate his confidence that Carsley will remain in the Under-21 role after guiding the team to victory at last year's European Championship.

"I think he's very happy with the job he's doing with our Under-21s," Southgate told BBC Radio 5 Live.

"We're extremely happy with him. From my perspective, Lee's great to work with.

"He really understands the importance of players getting their opportunity with us so we're always taking his best players which makes his job harder.

"But of course they won the European Championship and yes he's doing an excellent job with us."

FAI director of football Marc Canham and chief executive Jonathan Hill have been interviewing candidates for the Republic of Ireland manager's role in recent weeks

Canham described drawing England in the next Nations League series, which will start in September as "amazing".

"It'll be brilliant for our fans, both English fans and Irish fans playing in England and vice versa," he said.

"We hope Wembley Stadium and Aviva Stadium will be fully packed with electric atmosphere and both sides give us the best football games that we can hope for."

The countries have not met in a competitive game since a European Championship qualifier at Wembley in 1991 which ended in a 1-1 draw.

Since then, they have played in four friendly encounters, the first of which was a friendly at the old Lansdowne Road in February 1995, which had to be abandoned because of crowd troubling involving England supporters.

The Republic lost home and away to Guy Poyet's Greece side in the Euro 2024 qualifiers which proved to be Stephen Kenny's final campaign in charge.

The Irish last faced Finland in the Nations League in 2020, when the Finns earned two 1-0 wins.