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Stephen Kenny confirms contract talks are underway with FAI

Talks are underway between Stephen Kenny and the FAI over a new contract.



Stephen Kenny confirms contrac...
Soccer

Stephen Kenny confirms contract talks are underway with FAI

Stephen Kenny said that discussions over a new contract with the FAI are underway, but nothing has been agreed yet. 

Speaking to the media on Friday, Kenny said that he had sat down with FAI CEO Jonathan Hill last week to begin talks around a new deal.

Kenny's contract with the FAI ends in the middle of the Nations League campaign in July next year, and there has been much speculation around his future.

After a shaky start with some poor results, Kenny's side finished the World Cup qualification strong, with three wins from their final five games, but fell short of qualification for the tournament in Qatar.

As third seeds in their group, Ireland face a difficult Nations League next year, with Ukraine entering as first seeds and neighbours Scotland as second seed. Armenia are the lowest ranked side in the group.

With friendlies scheduled for March in build-up to the tournament, Kenny says that he is confident that his contract situation will be dealt with soon.

"I was at Sheffield Wednesday against Portsmouth in England last week, and we sat down and had chat. Just an introductory chat. I'm sure that will go on for another couple of weeks.", Kenny said.

"So it's started and hopefully we can progress from there."

"We just had initial chats. I'm sure we'll work it all out in time. I don't see it as a major issue, I'm sure we can move forward and sort it all out. It's a process really, we're just started the process."

Stephen Kenny and Keith Andrews

While any likely deal would include the qualification for Euro 2024, there has also been speculation that the FAI might opt to extend Kenny's deal until the end of the Nations League campaign only, but the Irish boss was quick to shoot that down as an option.

"That wouldn't make sense. That would only be a two-month contract from July until September. I've never heard of such a contract, it would be unprecedented."

As well as his own contract, Kenny suggested that he wants to keep the same coaching staff for the next campaign and said that they too want to continue with the nation.

"We all love working together and have a great working environment. The longer we've worked together, the better we've got. We'd like to keep it intact."

"I think they'd ideally like to stay on. It's next July before the contract is up. It's different for them, they're working day-to-day with their clubs so they're not thinking real long-term."

"Yeah they both [Dean Kiely and Anthony Barry] want to stay onboard and they're very much an important part of the set-up going forward."

Ireland have a congested fixture list in the Nations League year with a trip away to Armenia, followed by a return trip to Scotland and a further away trip to Ukraine all in the space of ten days.

Despite this, Kenny said that he is optimistic that Ireland can get results.

My first impression is that it's a really competitive group.

"Obviously the Ukraine getting to the quarter-finals of the Euros was a good achievement, Scotland are obviously unbeaten in their last six games, or have won their last six and Armenia finished ahead of Iceland in their group so I think it's going to be a very competitive group.

"I think all sides are capable of taking points off each other and it's very exciting from our point of view."

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