Republic of Ireland manager Martin O’Neill remains tight-lipped on his future with Ireland but did admit that there’s a rebuilding job to be done after the European Championships.
O’Neill will lead Ireland into Euro 2016 in France but his contract and that of assistant manager Roy Keane will end this summer.
The FAI and its chief executive John Delaney are understood to be eager to retain the services of O’Neill but as of yet, there has been no movement on the manager putting pen to paper on a new contract.
Keane has been linked with a return to club management as Celtic are on the hunt for a new manager and O’Neill himself is expected to draw the interest of several clubs this summer.
Despite this, O’Neill remains calm and insists that he remains in discussion with the FAI and Delaney over a new contract.
“These contractual conversations take place on almost a daily basis,” the Ireland boss said.
“I have good relationship with John [Delaney], I hope he would echo that but I think I get on pretty well with him and I’m not that easy to get on with.
"There’s a lot more important things and I don’t think players have to worry about this sort of thing at all."
“Overall we’re fine and we know where we’re going. There’s no update but I don’t think it’s wildly important.
“When John took me on board a couple of years ago we did it without having to worry about signatures on such things, so I think that John and I pretty comfortable with things at the moment.
“There’s a lot more important things and I don’t think players have to worry about this sort of thing at all.
“We’ve got big games coming up now, we’re looking forward to them immensely and naturally at this stage now, we’re a wee bit concerned about injuries and things people might pick up and hopefully make recoveries,” he added.
Martin O'Neill admits that there's a rebuilding job to be done with Ireland after the Euros https://t.co/0iJXcjeKKLhttps://t.co/WiVTIpsmFu
— RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) April 28, 2016
Whether or not O’Neill does sign a new contract with the FAI, he admits that there will be something of a rebuilding job to be done after the European Championships.
Veteran players like Shay Given and Robbie Keane are expected to make the summer tournament their swansong while others like John O’Shea could also be considering retirement.
O’Neill admits that work will have to be done to breathe new life into the squad ahead of the World Cup qualifying campaign.
"Regardless of whatever happens out in France it will be a new competition," he said.
"Of course there are some players who are still capable of playing and one or two who may think, ‘I’ve had a great career and it’s been fantastic’.
"For instance, Shay Given maybe thought it wasn’t the way he wanted to bow out from the game a few years ago. He’s fought his way back and hopefully he recovers in time but those sort of thoughts are in players minds all the time."
