RTÉ soccer analysts Richie Sadlier and Kevin Doyle believe the FAI need to trust the incoming manager to use their "intuition and experience" in the role, regardless of the association's desire for collaboration.
Speaking to RTÉ's Tony O'Donoghue earlier, FAI Director of Football Marc Canham denied that the association's insistence on having a presence in the senior management backroom team had dissuaded any candidates from accepting the job.
In the wake of the unveiling of the FAI's Football Pathways Plan, Canham said that "we know in modern day football, we need to play a certain style of football, more progressive". He stressed that they were not seeking a "huge departure" from Stephen Kenny's general philosophy, though would favour a "more adaptable and pragmatic" approach against currently higher ranked nations.
However, in light of the extremely lengthy managerial search, which has seen several candidates touted and subsequently ruled out, Doyle and Sadlier are inclined to wonder whether these prescriptions are alienating potential candidates.
"The person in the dugout has to be entrusted with using their intuition, their experience, their nous to see things in a game and get a sense for the mood and the readiness and the fitness of the people on the bench or the changes need to be made," said Sadlier.
"That's a lot of corporate speak there (from Canham) about partnerships, and collaborations and visions and shared identities and ultimate goals and all that stuff.
"But in practice, in the real world of competitive elite football, it's the person in the dugout that's going to be in charge.
"I don't think there'll be someone in the dugout with a line to Marc Canham mid-match, going 'Mark, give us a steer here, let's collaborate, let's work together on this'.
"The fella is going to go, 'it's my job, I'll talk to you after the game next week. We'll have some system of communication. But let me do my job'."
Doyle agreed that the manager needed to be given autonomy in decision-making.
"I think any serious manager, if they read the quote - it was 'create a clear playing and coaching approach for all international teams' - he'd say 'so I have to follow the (framework)...
"Listen, that's the manager's decision, what way he wants to play. What system do we play, what formation, whether we press, whether we sit back.
"(It's) depending on who we play against, depending on the players we have at the time, depending on the form we're in.
"To say that we all have to play the same way, we're creating robots as players and coaches. You have to leave it up to the manager to decide. You hire a manager for that reason."
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