Vera Pauw's departure from the Ireland job was confirmed late this evening after a marathon FAI board meeting at Abbotstown.
Director of Football Marc Canham presented his review of the entire World Cup campaign to the 11-strong body shortly after 4pm. But the meeting didn’t break up until 9.55pm.
And as board members filed out of the Association’s HQ they kept quiet on the outcome of the meeting, as chief executive Jonathan Hill went to make a phone call to Pauw.
After he informed her of the decision, a statement was finally released at close to 11pm, confirming the worst kept secret in Irish football. Less than a month after Ireland’s final World Cup game - a scoreless draw against Nigeria in Brisbane - the FAI are on the hunt for a new manager.
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The statement read: "At the meeting of the FAI Board, the Board has decided that Ireland Women's National Team Manager Vera Pauw will not be offered a new contract after the expiry of her current contract at the end of this month.
"Appointed in September 2019, Vera led the team to their first ever major tournament – the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 – and a FIFA Women’s World Ranking of 22."
It included a comment from FAI CEO Jonathan Hill who said: “On behalf of the Football Association of Ireland, we would like to thank Vera for her hard work and commitment over the past four years and wish her well for the future.
"In particular, I wish to acknowledge the role she played in leading Ireland to the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 where our women’s team made history and inspired a nation.
"The future is bright for women and girls’ football and our focus now is building upon the work done by Vera and the historic achievements of our women’s team, which we see as a platform to support the next phase of the journey for the team, and more broadly the development of women and girls’ football in this country.”
While there were plenty of topics on the agenda at yesterday’s meeting, it was dominated by the debate on Pauw’s future. Some board members were reluctant to pull the trigger, given Pauw’s historic achievement of leading the Girls in Green to a first ever major tournament.
Read more: Katie McCabe adds to Vera Pauw exchange speculation with emoji tweet
However, the content of Canham’s review, which included contributions from the players, convinced them of the need to head in a fresh direction. It is unclear this morning who will lead the team out against Northern Ireland at the Aviva Stadium on September 23, and in Budapest three days later.
Pauw’s assistant Tom Elmes may be asked to take charge in the interim, while a new long-term replacement is sought.
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