Dan McDonnell and Marie Crowe joined Joe Molloy on Off the Ball for the Sunday Paper Review to look back at the week's big stories.
The current contractual situation regarding the Republic of Ireland's management team came up for discussion after a number of paper's confirmed that nothing has been signed by either Martin O'Neill or Roy Keane ahead of our World Cup play-off with Denmark next month.
Commenting on the issue, Dan McDonnell said: "The morning after the contract was announced, to be fair, I think most of the daily back pages that day had that the deal hadn't been signed and that was the understanding at that stage.
"I think today's stuff reflects that things really haven't changed in the meantime. This whole contract story, I mean, even to describe it as a contract story is a bit comical because it assumes that there's a physical contract that exists and that certainly wasn't the understanding when the announcement came.
Ireland's James McClean celebrates scoring. Image: ©INPHO/Ryan Byrne
"There was an agreement that he would stay on but there had been no discussions about terms or money or what the actual deal would be. It just seems (there) was a certain eagerness to get it out there. They've agreed to stay on. It was put out there at the time that Roy Keane had agreed to stay on and the staff had too.
"But, O'Neill really didn't hang around after Cardiff to discuss things very much. I think he was sort of in bullish form the night they won over there and didn't do some of the extra press stuff that he normally would - which would have been the window to maybe ask about some of these details.
"But, what we will be told is that they've a great relationship - a handshake is enough and that everything is going to be ok. O'Neill's bargaining position is probably stronger now then it would have been probably pre-Cardiff, you would have to say," he added.
The Sunday Paper Review podcast is available here:
Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!
Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.
