Canham didn’t mean to ‘mislead’ with ‘existing contractual obligations’ remark

FAI Director of Football Marc Canham insisted on Thursday that he did not intend to mislead anyone when he said last March that Stephen Kenny’s successor would be appointed in early-April.

Canham was speaking at the unveiling of Heimir Hallgrímsson on Thursday when he was quizzed about his remarks last March at the announcement that John O’Shea would take temporary charge of the team.

He said at the time: “The process of the appointment of the permanent new head coach is very close to the end, nearing the end-point, and we look forward to announcing that new permanent head coach in early-April.

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“Existing contractual obligations mean we are not in a position to announce any further details on this point, but as we have committed to, we will announce that in early-April.”

Canham was later forced to explain in an FAI video that the appointment wouldn’t come until the summer.

And on Thursday, when he was asked about his March comments, he said: “Contrary to what’s been written and said, it was never, ever, our intent to deliberately mislead anyone.

“To be super clear, never ever did we sit in the room and think, let’s deliberately mislead anyone. Never, ever was that part of our conversation or decision-making, ever.

“It was always the focus on getting the right person, I am conscious that I am repeating myself, and will continue to do so if I get similar questions, that was not the best communication from us, we take responsibility for that, if we were to do that again we’d communicate in a different way and it’s good learnings from us moving forward.

“We always stayed true to the fact that we tried to get the best person for the job.”