Stephen Kenny is under fire again.
The game will take place at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on Saturday, 11 June.
Listen to Radio Scotland, watch highlights on Sportscene, and read commentary on the website.
Stephen Kenny is not your average football manager.
The 50-year-old has battled against convention and confounded his critics since being sacked by Dunfermline Athletic.
He is preparing for Scotland's visit to his home city of Dublin on Saturday amid renewed questions about his suitability for the job after two consecutive defeats to start their Nations League campaign.
He rose from the depths of the Kingdom of Fife to his current bid to make the Republic shine again.
In Fife, from left-field to misfit.
Stephen Kenny's methods were not accepted by some of the senior players.
Jim Leishman resigned as manager of the club in October of 2006 after they were the second bottom in the league.
Craig Levein, a local hero, was supposed to be a replacement, but when the future Scotland manager took over at Dundee United, the Pars had to look elsewhere.
Jimmy Calderwood was a left-field choice and they were encouraged by it. After leading the Pars to promotion, fourth place in 2003-4, and a return to European football for the first time in 35 years, the Scots were crowned Scottish Cup runners-up.
"Stephen Kenny's name was mentioned because he had a good record in Ireland and we liked the idea of getting someone like that in rather than the usual suspects," he says. He would know the Irish market, and hopefully, he would get a few players over with his contacts and knowledge.
Kenny's record was great. He became the youngest manager in the history of the National League when he took over Longford Town at the age of 26.
After leading Longford to promotion, he took them to the finals of the FAI Cup before leading them to the title of the premier league. After a poor start to the season, he revived Derry City and, after a runners-up finish, famously knocked two-time winners IFK Gothenburg out of the Uefa Cup.
Taking over from Leishman at his beloved East End Park previously proved to be the Fife equivalent of David Moyes succeeding Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United for the unfortunate Iain Munro, but Yorkston thinks it should have been different this time, as big Leish had resigned rather than being pushed.
Even though the likes of Stevie Crawford, Stephen Glass, Dorus de Vries, and Sol Bamba would go on to play football in the English top-flight, Dunfermline was demoted after finishing bottom.
Kenny did finish the season with a flourish, leading Dunfermline back to Hampden after impressively beating Rangers, Hearts, and Hibs on their way to a cup final loss to Celtic, but it was league form that was the Irishman's downfall after a disappointing start in the second tier.
Yorkston says that sometimes staying up is a good result, but that they had a better squad than that.
After folk has left, the players never come to you directly, but they make comments and you get to hear them, and they felt they were not fit. His training and tactics weren't what they were used to.
Some members of the Pars squad are reluctant to talk about their time under Kenny, but he was so popular with them that they signed for him twice.
He says his training was not great. He was a young manager who had a certain way of doing things that the experienced players at Dunfermline never took to.
He was a great motivator and we almost stayed up that season.
There was a surprise succession and Republic revival.
They have remained friends since their days together at Dunfermline.
Kenny went away, licked his wounds, and though he could have done better in terms of training and tactics, and I think he really improved as a manager and coach after Dunfermline.
After a disappointing trip to Scotland, Kenny recovered to lead Derry back to the Irish top flight following administration and, after another hiccup, found his managerial green fingers again.
Three league titles in a row, four in five seasons, domestic cup successes, and becoming the first Irish side to reach the Europa League group stage all brought him to the attention of the Football Association of Ireland as it was looking to replace the under-21 manager Noel King in 2018?
The carrot for Kenny was that he was being groomed as his successor in two years' time because Mick McCarthy had taken over for a second time as senior boss.
Former Dunfermline chairman Yorkston was not the only one to raise an eyebrow at the appointment given the big names who had gone before and Kenny's lack of experience outside the Emerald Isle.
His man-management skills are perfect for international football, despite the fact that his career was in tatters when he was demoted from Dunfermline.
There isn't a lot of time to go through tactics. You have to get your players to play for you.
After a disastrous run of four draws and seven defeats, Kenny was thrust into the hot seat, and the heat was definitely on.
After breaking his duck with a 4-1 win over Andorra, Kenny led his side to a run of one defeat in 12 and then two late goals in a 2-1 loss away to Portugal in September.
It was enough for him to get a new contract after the Euro 2024 finals.
An impressive 2-2 friendly draw with Belgium seemed to be an indication that a radical overhaul based on youth and speed was taking in the right direction a squad still largely assembled from clubs in England's second tier.
The pressure is back on as Kenny's side host Steve Clarke's Scots after successive 1-0 defeats by Armenia and Ukraine extended their Nations League run to 12 games.
Stephen will have his players think Scotland is better than them.
He always wants to play on the front foot, and he wants the high press at the top end of the pitch. At the beginning of his reign, there was a bit of hurt, but there are definite signs that he is getting it right.
