When Eileen Gleeson was appointed Republic of Ireland manager on an interim basis following the departure of Vera Pauw, she was adamant she did not want the position on a full-time basis.
Yet, four months later, she has been unveiled as the new Irish head coach.
Despite calls that the Women’s Nations League would be an audition, Gleeson was in denial about interest in the permanent post.
Her firm stance softened as the campaign progressed, and despite a perfect record with six wins from six, her appointment still came as a bit of a surprise – as obvious as it seemed given the team’s progress on her watch.
As for when she changed her mind, standing in a downpour in Albania may not be the most obvious answer. Yet, for Gleeson, it was after that rain-hit October night, when the game was delayed by an hour, when she decided to enter the race.
“If you’re asking for a critical, specific time where I changed my mind, it was standing in the rain in Albania,” she said.
“I mean, who wouldn’t want to be there?”.
It is third time lucky for Gleeson, who applied for the position in 2017 and 2019 but lost out of Colin Bell and Pauw respectively.
The Dubliner was Pauw’s assistant when the Dutch manager took charge in 2019 and taking on one of the biggest jobs in Irish football is the cumulation of a stellar club career, where she experienced success after success with Peamount United, UCD Waves and Glasgow City.
She is extremely passionate about women’s football in Ireland, which she was allowed to pursue in her previous post as director of women’s and girl’s football at the Football Association of Ireland.
“This is not a new phenomenon that I’ve wanted to be the head coach of Ireland,” Gleeson added.
“I applied for the two previous roles and was unsuccessful, so this is an actual evolution.
“At first, I was very much tied to the head of women’s football role, as you know, the usual questions for the first six weeks of the campaign, and then, as I said, I started to change my mind.
“I started more enjoying the role, I felt comfortable in it, so I expressed an interest in the process.”
‘That was the truth in that moment’
Despite being an obvious frontrunner once she entered the race, she still had to go through the Football Association of Ireland’s recruitment process.
It started with 42 candidates and that was cut down to 12. An interview process brought that down to seven, and then to two. At the end of it all, Gleeson was the sole remaining name.
“When Eileen took the role as interim, we were really clear that it was an interim capacity,” said director of football Marc Canham.
“We activated the process, we worked with an external agency, a data analytics company, a recruitment agency and we genuinely scoured the world in terms of that talent.
“Eileen came into that process at an appropriate time and went through all the same steps as everyone did and won the role – deservedly so.
“It wasn’t a case of trying to persuade Eileen, we were very clear at the start that Eileen wasn’t going to be there, but that view changed. We’re delighted.”
Instead of being the Irish manager, Gleeson will take on the role of ‘head coach’, and Canham says there is a “a subtle but important difference, which reflects a modern approach to modern football and global trends”.
“Clearly Eileen is the leader of the team, the players and the staff, but is also part of a wider ecosystem and structure to support the performance and development of the team.”
Now, after the highs of the World Cup and the feel-good factor that Gleeson has helped instil after Pauw’s rather acrimonious exit, the challenge is for the 51-year-old to help drive the team on to another level.
With Euro 2025 qualifiers starting in the spring, an ambitious Republic team will face a step-up in opposition and not only will they be looking to reach the finals in Switzerland, but go deep into the tournament
“As the camps went on I started to really feel the connection again with the pitch and the team and with the progress we were making and the excitement of it,” Gleeson added.
“I started to change my mind as the process went on and throughout conversations with Marc then I expressed my interest and entered into the process.
“When I said I wasn’t interested at that time or I wasn’t pursuing the role, that was the truth at that moment.
“As the campaign evolved, so did my feelings around the role and my interest levels in the role, and here we are today and it’s the proudest time of my life.”