FAI director of football Marc Canham tasked with finding focus in a blur of change

The to-do list gets longer and more complicated for the FAI as we creep towards December.

The association has two vacant senior managerial positions to fill; no main sponsor for the men's team; crucial board reforms to get over the line; an invitation to appear before the Public Accounts Committee; and all the while they're trying to turn the ignition on a grand plan to overhaul the infrastructure of the game that will require serious Government investment.

The freezing of Government funding to the tune of €6.8m is another spanner in the works. That decision came after it emerged that CEO Jonathan Hill received payments that were above an agreed limit set out in the Memorandum of Understadning which led to the association's bailout in 2020.

For director of football Marc Canham, all of this must be like trying to untangle one of Shelob's webs with both hands tied behind your back.

The Englishman was appointed in June 2022 to fill the void left by Ruud Dokter, and arrived with an impressive CV.

Canham was a technically gifted footballer who had spells with Colchester United and Bournemouth, dropping down the divisions to play for a few semi-pro clubs, including Bath City.

He spent five years with the English FA where he focused on grassroots development with schools and amateur clubs. After working for a year as Bristol City's head of academy coaching, the Pro License holder took up a position with the Premier League, leading their Elite Player Performance Plan which focused on increasing the quantity and quality of homegrown players in the division.

The success of that project in particular turned heads in the FAI. He has a track record of integrating strategies that forge a clear pathway for players from grassroots right