MARTIN O'NEILL has been offered the chance to take up where Giovanni Trapattoni left off but has asked the FAI for time to consider his options before he responds.

The offer from the FAI came through a third party intermediary and provides confirmation, if it was needed, that O'Neill is the preferred candidate by a considerable distance.

Contact was made early in the week after the FAI Board met to agree criteria for Trapattoni's replacement.

The FAI had hoped that O'Neill would accept immediately and be in place in time for the final two World Cup qualifiers against Germany and Kazakhstan next month but when they realised that O'Neill would not give an instant response, Noel King was asked to step in as interim boss.

O'Neill's innate caution and the distinct possibility that there could be more than one Premier League position vacant in the next few weeks means that Abbotstown chiefs must wait for an answer.