STEPHEN BRADLEY believes Séamus Coleman deserves to be listened to in choosing the next Ireland manager.
By suggesting ‘existing contractual obligations’ meant a new head coach could not be announced until April, the FAI had appeared to rule out John O’Shea.
O’Shea was in interim charge for the scoreless draw to Belgium and 1-0 defeat to Switzerland.
And, despite his side’s failure to win, or even score a goal, he received fulsome backing from his squad of players, most significantly from captain Coleman.
Whilst he might be expected to give a glowing reference for a former teammate, Coleman went beyond the normal platitudes.
And Shamrock Rovers boss Bradley said: “I don’t know the players personally but you can just take them at face value, what they’re saying.
“When someone like Séamus Coleman is speaking who has been an incredible leader and captain for this country and one of the best right-backs in England for the last, I don’t know how many years?
“When he speaks I think you listen, he’s earned that respect in that dressing room but in football in general. Everything you hear about him is that he’s a proper man, a leader, so I think when he speaks you’ve got to listen and take that at face value.
“It was always going to be a difficult camp for whoever was there and it turned out to be but we had chances to win both games.”
Bradley does not know O’Shea well but knows his assistants Glenn Whelan and Paddy McCarthy from going across to Manchester City for trials as teenagers.
He said: “Glenn always thought about the game, when you played with him. He was that type of player that had to think about the game, and positionally, so it’s no surprise that he’s going down the coaching/management route.
“He really gets the game and Paddy has been around the likes of Roy Hodgson for quite some time and you speak to anyone about Roy Hodgson they’ll tell you how tactically clever he is.
“You can only learn from that. What I like about both is they’re doing their work and I think that’s really important.”