Stephen Kenny's reign as Republic of Ireland boss looks like it's about to reach its conclusion.
The Boys in Green ended their 2023 with a lacklustre 1-1 draw against New Zealand on Tuesday night, with Kenny admitting afterwards his time could be up.
"It may well be my last match," he said. "If it is, so be it, because I've had the privilege of managing my country. Sport is ruthless. People get impatient and I understand that because we all want to qualify for tournaments. We'll have to see."
It's almost certain his fate will be sealed at a meeting of the FAI board on Tuesday, 28 November, when a full review of the Euro 2024 qualification campaign will be presented by director of football Marc Canham.
At the end of August, the FAI board reviewed the Republic of Ireland's women's team World Cup qualification campaign and subsequent appearance at the tournament in Australia. By the end of that meeting, it was decided that Vera Pauw would not be kept on as boss.
The association has yet to appoint a permanent successor to Pauw, with Eileen Gleeson taking charge of the team's UEFA Nations League campaign on an interim basis. With four wins out of four and promotion to League A achieved, that decision has been vindicated. It is anticipated that the FAI will name a new women's manager before Christmas having identified 12 potential candidates and whittled it down to a short list of three.
The process of replacing Kenny - again led by Canham - may take considerably longer. Previously the FAI have appointed a board of experts to help identify managerial candidates, it is not known if that will be the case under Canham.
The Boys in Green do not have a competitive game until the 2024 UEFA Nations League begins next September. It's possible the FAI will use that gap to weigh up all possible options in their pursuit of a figurehead capable of getting Ireland to the 2026 World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico.
Already, plenty of names have been thrown into the mix.
Ex-Ireland midfielder Lee Carsley is reportedly the FAI's No 1 choice. Carsley led the England Under-21s to the European Championship last summer and is rated highly. He's on a rolling one-year contract with the English FA, and though he could be prised away, it would likely require a healthy contract offer.
He would be an intriguing choice, albeit Carsley's only experience of senior management has been in short caretaker stints at Coventry City, Brentford and Birmingham City. Carsley has forged his reputation in the underage ranks, and thus remains unproven in the glare of a permanent high-profile senior position.
Then again, it's not beyond the realms of possibility that England might take a punt on Carsley to succeed Gareth Southgate whenever he steps away, with the challenges of international management very different to the intense day-to-day pressures of the club game.
Other names touted include Neil Lennon, Roy Keane, Robbie Keane, Steve Bruce, Rafa Benitez, Damien Duff, Chris Hughton and Gus Poyet, who has courted the possibility of accepting the role if it were offered to him.
Poyet is still in charge of Greece and has the Euros play-offs to look forward to in March, but his contract is into its last few months and if the Greeks fail to make it to the finals, he'd be a free agent keen to stay in the game.
All the names listed come with pros and cons. They either lack experience, or would potentially demand a salary beyond the means of the FAI, who have just had €6.8m of funding suspended by the government pending clarification of compliance by the organisation with aspects of a Memorandum of Understanding [MoU] in 2020, which led to a rescue package.
Lennon is the bookies' favourite right now. The Northern Irishman - who has a long club managerial career behind him, including two spells at Celtic - has been out of work since being sacked by Cypriot club Omonia Nicosia just over a year ago.
Lennon won trophies in a pressure cooker environment in Glasgow, so he has the chops to survive in the spotlight. The big question is if he's capable of coaching a group to be greater than the sum of its parts.
Ireland have no friendlies pencilled in for 2024 yet; if they require an interim manager to look after things then Kenny's current coach John O'Shea or the Under-21s boss Jim Crawford would both fit the bill.
For now, it will be all eyes on Tuesday's board meeting, with the curtain set to come down on Irish football's latest era.
