Stephen Kenny wants no part in the FAI’s ‘politics behind the scenes’ as debate continues over his future.
Instead, the Republic of Ireland boss hopes his team does its talking on the pitch against Azerbaijan and Qatar.
FAI chief Jonathan Hill recently confirmed that Kenny’s position will be discussed by the board in November once the World Cup campaign is over.
But under contract until July, Kenny insists he cannot get sidetracked by the ongoing speculation over his tenure.
Asked if he would like the chance to address the entire FAI board ahead of their November summit, Kenny said yesterday: “Not really, no.
“Listen, it’s not something I’m fixated on. I’m just focused on preparing the team. I’m not interested in the politics behind the scenes. I never get involved in that.
“The main thing for me is that we’ve had good support from everyone in the FAI, really good support, and we want to have a good window.
“We want to go to Azerbaijan and get a victory. That’s the ambition, and come home and play against Qatar and do well.
“That’s the intention and hopefully we’ll have a full house for Portugal in November which will be very exciting.
“There are good games coming up and we want to go to Azerbaijan next week really determined to get a result - that’s really my main focus.”
The day after the Luxembourg defeat in March, FAI chair Roy Barrett said Kenny would be offered a new deal if there were signs of progress over the rest of the year.
But chief executive Hill refused to say if that progress had been made when pushed on it three weeks ago.
With Portugal and Luxembourg to come next month, Kenny was asked yesterday if he needed at least two wins - Azerbaijan and Luxembourg - before that November review.
“I don’t know about that,” he said. “I’m just focused on the performance and getting the win against Azerbaijan. That’s what we want to do.
“I can’t affect anything else so I’m just focusing on that at the moment.”
And quizzed on whether the result is all that matters against Azerbaijan in Baku on Saturday week, Kenny added: “It’s a fair question but it’s a game we want to win.”
Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email alerts
