Last night it was confirmed that former Derry, Shamrock Rovers , Limerick and Finn Harps manager Noel King would take over as interim Ireland boss for the final World cup qualifiers against Germany and Kazakhstan next month.

In a statement the F.A.I confirmed that Ray Houghton and Ruud Dokter, the FAI's newly appointed High Performance Director will carry out this on-going assessment and report for the Board of the best candidates for the senior job.

The Board says it will take the appropriate time to appoint the best person to manage Ireland for the Euro 2016 campaign which starts in September next year.

The news emerged during last night's Off The Ball Football Show when Garry Doyle of the Irish Independent was discussing the managerial situation - and the possibility that the FAI's interest in favourite Martin O'Neill has cooled.

One subplot in the O'Neill to Ireland saga is how he would cope without his former Nottingham Forest team-mate and long-time assistant John Robertson who suffered a heart attack in August.

Robertson was an assistant during O'Neill's successful spells at Aston Villa, Wycombe, Leicester City and Celtic. But he did not follow O'Neill to Sunderland and significantly that was the Northern Irishman's first major failure as a manager.

The perception has been that O'Neill provided the leadership and motivation while Robertson provided able support and technical expertise.

"From the FAI's perspective, they'll be looking at O'Neill's record and looking at the fact that his last job at Sunderland was a failure. He had a 31 per cent success ratio whereas he did well at all his previous clubs. There is the sense that with Robertson there, the two together were a perfect ticket. Because Robertson was not there at Sunderland, O'Neill may not be the chosen one. The private feedback they have got is that O'Neill minus Robertson isn't as attractive proposition as O'Neill on his own," Doyle told Joe and Dan last night.  

However, Doyle also said that people close to both coaches say that the relationship is exaggerated and that Robertson is not a Peter Taylor to O'Neill's Brian Clough. 

But Dan McDonnell hopes that the FAI do not take the 117 days they waited last time when making their final decision on the new manager.

And Doyle suggests that O'Neill could be lost to the FAI if they wait too long as the Northern Irishman could return to club management at some point.

Listen to the full interview and discussion with Garry Doyle or download the Football Show podcast on iTunes:

Pictured: Martin O'Neill and John Robertson