International manager:The FAI's recruitment panel is set to fall back on long-time favourite Terry Venables as their choice for the Republic of Ireland manager's job, most likely by the weekend, if Giovanni Trapattoni fails to confirm his desire to take on the job.

The Italian was in a commanding position to land the post last Saturday but Don Givens is said by sources close to the association to have been on the verge of recommending Venables to the board on Sunday after his hopes of setting up a meeting with the 68-year-old came to nothing.

With senior officials at the association said to be anxious that the former Juventus, Inter and Milan manager gets every chance to follow up on last week's original contact, it is reported that Givens, Don Howe and Ray Houghton were urged, prior to Sunday's board meeting, to delay their final recommendation so as to allow for another attempt to meet the veteran Italian.

Givens maintains the matter has been put to one side until after the Brazil game and in the meantime it is believed Liam Brady has been asked for help with clarifying the Italian's position.

However, a spokesman for Trapattoni's club, Red Bull Salzburg, insisted yesterday they are confident that he will not be the next Ireland manager. With anything that might be construed at negotiations between the two parties potentially putting both the FAI and Trapattoni in breach of Uefa regulations unless the club's permission had been obtained, Thomas Blazek says that Salzburg officials have received assurances that no talks have taken place.

In the circumstances, that suggestion can be regarded with some scepticism and it is clear it was believed within the FAI late last week that he was anxious to be considered and that the basis for a deal existed. What is equally apparent now is that the three-man panel will have to be reassured his interest is serious if they are not to abandon any hope of talking to him and simply revert to Venables as their choice for the job.

Meanwhile, one of the senior players, Kevin Kilbane, became the latest player to express some surprise at the way the search for the new manager has taken so much time to resolve.

"It does seem very long, I've got to say," said the 31-year-old. "I think every other nation that doesn't have a manager seems to get it done very, very quickly. In our case, it's been a long time but hopefully we get the right man in."

On Sunday night Richard Dunne said he knew of players who are considering their international futures because of the lingering uncertainty over the identity of Steve Staunton's successor. Kilbane, however, played down the idea that there would be departures over the issue.

"Nothing has been said to me regarding any of that by any of the players," he said. "I think maybe it's just a little bit of frustration, we all felt it could and would have been done by now."

He said he was sorry to see Steve Finnan and Andy O'Brien depart the international scene when both, he is convinced, still had a great deal to offer. His own preference, he says meanwhile, is to stick around, "but you don't know. I'm just gone 31 now and you never know what might happen. A manager might make that decision for you if you're dropped and out of the team."

As for his preference between the two contenders for the job, the player insisted he would happily take either at this stage, insisting he had been impressed by what he had heard about the pair.

"I really don't know," he said. "We've all heard great things about both of them. I've heard great things about Terry Venables from various people. He's got a good reputation but so does Trapattoni. We're all speculating on names at the moment. We just hope an announcement is made sooner rather than later."