Ireland showed their players anti-English video before their game at Wembley

Republic of Ireland Football Association are set to investigate claims manager Stephen Kenny showed his players what has been described to Sportsmail as an ‘anti-English’ video ahead of the clash against Gareth Southgate’s men.

Numerous sources have told Sportsmail that some members of the Irish squad were left stunned after they were shown a video depicting the history of Anglo-Irish relations before last Thursday’s friendly at Wembley in what is said to have been an attempt to motivate his squad ahead of the game.

Previous Ireland managers have used the fractious historic relationship between the two countries to varying degrees to stoke the players ahead of matches against England.

Republic of Ireland boss Stephen Kenny reportedly showed players an ‘anti-England’ video before his team played Gareth Southgate’s men at Wembley on November 12

Republic of Ireland lost the match against England 3-0 and some members of the squad felt that Kenny’s attempts to motivate the squad ended up overstepping the mark

But last week’s attempts certainly took some by surprise and appears to, in the mind of certain individuals, overstepped the mark of political correctness – particularly given a number of players also have English roots.

One source described the video as ‘close to the line’.

Others, however, have described the video as more ‘pro Ireland’ than ‘anti-English’ and merely an attempt to reinforce the team’s heritage.

Kenny’s men went on to lose the game 3-0.

Kenny saw his side go down 3-0 amid a tricky start to his career as manager of the Republic

The video is said to have been shown to player during a team meeting before the game.

Some players and staff are understood to have privately complained about the video, which is said to have portrayed key moments in the history of English and Irish relations.

Sportsmail repeatedly contacted the FAI for comment, but they failed to respond.