The identity of the new manager of the Irish football team could be revealed as early as tomorrow it emerged yesterday as the FAI called a meeting of its directors with the apparent intention of having them rubber stamp an appointment.

Notices of a meeting of the board were received by a number of its members yesterday and it appears that the sole item on the agenda will be the appointment of Mick McCarthy's successor.

The three officers, Kevin Fahy, John Delaney and Milo Corcoran along with adviser Bryan Hamilton, conducted several interviews in the north of England yesterday and they intend to complete the process over the course of today closer to London before returning to Dublin in the morning.

At the last board meeting, it was decided that the three-man panel would effectively have the authority to make the decision on who to appoint.

"John Delaney pointed out that it would be unfair to have them decide on someone and then have that decision rejected when the members of the board had not had the benefit of talking with the various people," said a board member yesterday.

"It was generally agreed that that would be an unreasonable position to put them in, so, while it could just be for an update, I presume this meeting is to tell us what their decision is."

There remains a little uncertainty over what stage the contract negotiations with the successful candidate are likely to be at by tomorrow afternoon, with a spokesman for the association suggesting that any deal would be likely to take until at least early next week to finalise.

"All of the people who have gone for the job have a good idea of what's involved, though," he observed.

"For a start, it was publicly known what Mick was on and I think it's generally realised that the new package won't be a million miles from that, so it's not like anybody's going to be offered the job and then get a shock."

There is believed to be some frustration on the part of some of the candidates that the entire saga has rumbled on this long, but the amount of time taken to arrange and conduct the interviews has apparently in part been down to including nine rather six names in the final stage of the process.

Hamilton hinted at such a move late last week when he said that he and the association's officers had gone out of their way to give former Irish internationals "every opportunity" to make their case.

"I understand exactly what it feels like to dream of managing your country and I have made every effort to ensure that every one of the former internationals that expressed an interest was treated properly and given the chance to stake their claim."

One of those who seems to have benefited from the approach is Frank Stapleton who, despite having been widely considered to be an outsider for the post, was interviewed yesterday.

"I've had my interview," confirmed the former Ireland striker "and I thought it went well.

"It's always difficult to gauge these things, though, and I don't know who else is in the running, but I was told that I would hear from them one way or the other within a few days."

Kevin Moran's hopes appeared to take a battering yesterday when his would-be assistant and coach Brian Kidd was confirmed instead in a similar role withinSven-Goran Eriksson's England set up.

Without the experience of the Leeds and former Manchester United coach, who was describedby Eriksson as "an ideal candidate" for the England post, Moran looks unlikely to upset Brian Kerr and Philippe Troussier, who remain the front runners.

Kidd, who will continue to be a coach at Leeds, has been chosen in the part-time role left vacant before Christmas by Middlesbrough boss Steve McClaren.

England Under-21 boss David Platt, Under-19 coach Stuart Baxter and Hull manager Peter Taylor, who has previously been involved with the national team, were also in the frame.