New manager should 'understand Irish football' - O'Shea

Republic of Ireland defender Dara O'Shea believes that the next permanent Ireland manager should be someone who "understands Irish football".

O’Shea’s namesake John is poised to take charge of the Ireland team for his second game as interim manager against Switzerland at the Aviva Stadium this evening.

The FAI have pledged to have a new full-time boss in situ by next month but with Lee Carsley ruling himself out of the running, the identity of that manager is still no clearer.

Suggestions that interim manager O’Shea could be offered the job on a more permanent basis continue to swirl and with the players speaking positively of the impact that he and his backroom staff have had this week, a positive result this evening would do his chances no harm.

While Burnley defender O’Shea stopped short of calling for the former Manchester United star to get the job, he listed a set of criteria that he believes necessary for the role, all of which the elder O'Shea would fit.

"I think us as a group, we just want somebody who understands Irish football and who knows what it is," he said.

"Obviously the manager here has probably the best experience in that sense. He has played so many times for this country and has worked under great managers, great Irish managers too, so there is a lot to take from that as well.

"We are quite a young group and we want to learn, so we want someone who is going to teach us, bring us along the way. Hopefully there is a lot of good that can come from this group in the future.

"Look, we just want to play for our country and do the best we can and obviously at the end of the day it’s not our decision who the manager is, so we have to crack on with that.

"But, yeah, we want to win games and represent our country as