The FAI has announced this afternoon that Martin O’Neill is to be the next Republic of Ireland manager. The decision was made public at the weekend as many news organisations had announced that O’Neill would be confirmed as manager this week. They have also announced that Roy Keane will take up the role assistant manager under the new set up which is a decision that will have Ireland fans feeling optimistic about the national team going forward.

O’Neill has been out of work since leaving Sunderland last season and was the clear favourite to succeed Giovanni Trapattoni when the Italian left his position as Ireland boss in September.  O’Neill and Keane are set to be unveiled as the new management duo before the Ireland squad meets up on Sunday to prepare for their upcoming friendly matches against Latvia and Poland.

The announcement came through the FAI’s official Twitter account this morning when they said “We can confirm that the management appointment process with Martin O’Neill & Roy Keane is at an advanced stage.” The FAI chief executive John Delaney was also speaking to Newstalk 106 this morning and stated “I don’t see any impediment to the appointment.”

The FAI have once again splashed the cash in order to bring in who they believe to be the right people to bring the national team forward and it is reported that it will cost €2 million a year to employ Martin O’Neill and Roy Keane and that Dennis O’Brien will be contributing to the cost as he did when Trapattoni was in charge.

The announcement will please the Irish fans who have been behind the appointment of O’Neill since it was reported that he would consider the position if he was offered it. It is hoped that the former Celtic and Aston Villa manager will implement an attacking style of football that was seriously lacking under the former management regime.

There are those who will question the role Roy Keane will play in the new set up and whether he will be able to handle merely being an assistant coach remains to be seen. One thing that is certain however, is that the FAI’S new “dream team” will bring passion and creativity to the job and the players will genuinely want to play for the. The FAI may have finally got it right with this latest managerial appointment. We hope so anyway.