HE MAY not be following his former club boss to Bayern Munich but Josh Cullen knows he will be in exalted company tonight.
Football is one of the most volatile professions around and uncertainty is a familiar feeling for the midfielder.
For both club and country, he now has interim coaches.
Craig Bellamy is the stop-gap at Turf Moor up after Vincent Kompany was hired by Bayern Munich despite Burnley’s relegation.
John O’Shea is holding the fort for Ireland after Stephen Kenny paid the price for a dire Euro 2024 campaign with St Pat’s his next port of call.
Cullen is not anticipating playing for Kompany a third time, having been first signed by the Belgian for Anderlecht.
Cullen said: “I’m just waiting for the phone to ring. He must have lost my number at the minute. It’s a massive club and I wish him well there.
“It’s a fantastic opportunity for him to go and manage one of the best teams in the world.
“I think his tactical knowledge of the game is outstanding. His game-plan depending on what opposition you come up against is always very clear.
“And if you can deliver the message that he puts across to his team then you have a great chance of winning the game.
“So I’m sure they’ve done their homework and watched a lot of games.
“He’s obviously come from the sort of school of Pep as well and it seems to be a lot of managers are getting jobs coming from how well he has done in the game and sharing similar ideas. I’m sure they’ve had a look as that as well.”
Cullen – who got married 11 days ago – is no wiser about Burnley’s managerial plans than he is about the FAI’s.
He said: “I’ve been away obviously just full focus on Ireland and the games we’ve been preparing for.
“I’ve no information to give on anything behind the scenes but we need to come back as a group pre-season and work hard to hopefully have a successful season next year.”
Despite Kompany’s reputation, he was unable to prevent Burnley from making an immediate return to the Championship having led them to promotion in his first season in charge.
Cullen, 28, enjoyed mixed fortunes in the top flight, starting their first 10 games before struggling to regain his place after a suspension for five yellow cards.
But he ended the campaign with 23 Premier League starts, captaining the side 15 times and scoring twice.
And the ex-West Ham player said: “It was a disappointing season for the team, it was not how we wanted it to go but it’s always been an ambition of mine to play at the highest level in club football as well and the Premier League is certainly that.
“To make a decent amount of appearances across the season and come back from a bit of a difficult time in the middle of the season when I wasn’t playing and finish the season fairly strongly was good.
“I enjoyed playing in the Premier League regardless of how the team did.”
GETTING A GLIMPSE
And, in coming up against players like Bernardo Silva, Diogo Jota– who came through at Gondomar, where Ireland trained yesterday – and Bruno Fernandes, he got an insight into the quality at Portugal’s disposal.
He said: “We have focused a lot here on Ronaldo, but you look at the squad as a whole.
“There’s their starting XI, but I’m sure the bench they will name will be full of top quality players playing at the highest level of the game.
“These are the games you want to play as a player and test yourself against the best players in the world. We’re looking forward to tonight.
“Fernandes is a top player, if you give him too much space he will pick a pass that can kill you and cut the team open.
“But it’s not only Fernandes but Bernardo Silva and a lot of players they have in their side.
“You respect the type of player they are but if you respect them too much they can certainly change games and the game can get away from you pretty fast.”
O’Shea added: “Fernandes is their main focal point in terms of goals created and goals scored, the passes he wants to play and how he hurts teams.
“He has always taken that responsibility on board. It was amazing to finish the season with the Cup like they did but I’m sure the season was full of frustrations for him too.
“He’s one of a number of Portuguese players that we have to be very wary of.”
It was Ronaldo who did the damage last time around on Ireland’s most recent visit to Portugal when he bagged a late headed brace to snatch a 2-1 victory from the jaws of defeat in Faro in September 2021.
Cullen recalled: “To concede two late goals was was tough to take.
“In the first half of that game we played really well and there’s lessons we can take from the second half, we got a bit pinned back in, sometimes you are able to hang on in those games but when the opposition have players of the quality that Portugal had, you are likely to get punished if you give them any opportunity.”
O’Shea joked that he would have had a word with the fixture planners when it came to the opposition chosen for his games in interim charge as he looks to press his claims to land the job on a permanent basis.
But Cullen believes there have been clear signs of progress on his watch.
He said: “We’re constantly looking to improve and the manager demands high standards, having good training sessions to stand us in good stead for games.
“We’ve been up against top-level opposition in the March window and this one. If you don’t prepare and do things right, you get found out in these games.
“The performances and the results we’ve picked up so far have shown how we collectively as staff and players have been preparing for games.
“I think it’s a fresh start for everyone. The games in March and these fixtures in this break have given us a chance to reset and refocus, I suppose.
“It was good the other night against Hungary. We’ve probably performed better in other games as a group, and as individuals, if we’re honest.
“But to show that mentality and come out the other side of a tough game where we all had to dig in for each other and get a win, was a big thing for us.
“Hopefully, that can be the start of building some momentum and that mentality shift that Will Smallbone mentioned.
“We know it’s a big test. We’ve nothing to lose. We’re massive underdogs. We’ll go out and believe in our abilities, hopefully put in a good performance that we can be proud of first and foremost, and the result will take care of itself.”
IRELAND (possible): Kelleher (Liverpool); O’Shea (Burnley), O’Brien (Olympique Lyonnais), Scales (Celtic); Coleman (Everton), Smallbone (Southampont), Cullen (Burnley), Brady (Preston); Szmodics (Blackburn), Johnston (Celtic); Idah (Norwich City).