Richie Sadlier: Questions for FAI over Ireland manager hunt

Richie Sadlier believes that it's time to shift focus towards those in charge of the hunt for a new Republic of Ireland manager.

Media reports on Tuesday suggested that the FAI have made a fresh approach to convince Anthony Barry, who was part of Stephen Kenny's coaching staff for a period, to take the top job.

Barry currently juggles coaching roles with Bayern Munich and Portugal but he is due to leave his job with the German giants at the end of the season.

Last month, FAI Director of football Marc Canham stated that the appointment of a new Ireland manager would be made in early-April and that "existing contractual obligations" were holding back an announcement.

This led many to believe that England under-21 boss Lee Carsley and now-departed Greece manager Gus Poyet were in the running but both have since ruled themselves out.

Speaking on RTÉ Sport's Champions League coverage on Tuesday night, Sadlier indicated that he was running out of patience with the process and questioned those in charge of finding a new manager.

With Anthony Barry the latest name linked to the Republic of Ireland vacancy, @StephenKelly_2 and @RichieSadlier discuss the ongoing managerial saga pic.twitter.com/ZBm2c99HqX

"We were told last month that an appointment was going to be made this month, probably early in the month," Sadlier said.

"From Marc Canham's words, we could infer from it that he had his man, he had his target, end stages of negotiations. The phrase he used was 'contractual obligations prevent us from announcing it.

"I read through that and thought it's kind of a done deal and they have to wait until today or this week or next week to announce it.

"The media reports lately don't tally with that at all. If they're still approaching fresh