New Republic of Ireland manager to be named before Christmas

The FAI are hopeful of appointing a new Republic of Ireland manager before Christmas, according to chief executive John Delaney.

The recruitment of a successor to Giovanni Trapattoni is already underway, with Delaney claiming there is a lot of interest in the position.

Caretaker boss Noel King is in charge for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Germany and Kazakhstan.

However he will not be considered for the job on a full-time basis.

Trapattoni, 74, left the job last month after a 1-0 defeat in Austria which left Ireland with only a mathematical possibility of overhauling Sweden to snatch second place in Group C and qualify for next year's World Cup finals.

Former Northern Ireland captain Martin O'Neill was the early front-runner but the FAI have appointed former international Ray Houghton and the FAI's High Performance Director Ruud Dokter to oversee the selection process.