It was no great surprise to see Martin O’Neill stand down from his duties as Republic of Ireland manager considering that the team performed badly in the Nations League to the extent that they were demoted to League C by the end of the group stage.

The search is now on for a successor and it appears Mick McCarthy is open to the prospect of taking charge for a second time, with BetVictor currently trading odds of 5/4 that the former Sunderland, Wolves and Ipswich manager returns to the post and tries to bring back the good times.

The 59-year-old enjoyed a long stint in charge of the Republic between 1996 and 2002, steering Ireland to the 2002 World Cup where they performed very well despite a very public falling out with Roy Keane.

Fans Want McCarthy but Other Options Remains

It appears that there is a public appetite to bring Big Mick back into the fold, although Stephen Kenny is the marginal favourite at 11/10 with the best soccer betting sites. The Dundalk manager has been in charge of the club side since 2013. During that time, he has won four League of Ireland Premier Division titles.

Maybe it’s a two-horse race between these two managers, although Sven-Goran Eriksson is trading at 12/1 and the Swede enjoys taking international managerial positions for a large sum of cash, while Neil Lennon is trading at odds of 14/1.

Robbie Keane is a 16/1 shot and Sam Allardyce is 20/1, with the latter having taken the England job only to be forced into a resignation very early during his stint in charge of the Three Lions.

Steve Bruce and Brian Kerr are also 20/1 pokes, although the big question is whether McCarthy fancies another stab at the role with a completely different set of players to the ones he had twenty years ago.