Brian Kerr appointed Faroe Islands manager

[MickeyEvans]

@ BohSoGood...

No, that's not why he was not liked. Not everything relating to Irish soccer has that agenda.

He wasn't liked because he was even more conservative than Trapattoni but - crucially - couldn't formulate a defence as good. We gave away a lot of sloppy, late goals and, other than 10 mins away to Switzerland in 2004 and half an hour against Israel at Lansdowne Road in 2005, we always played horrendously dour stuff under him.

He also had a very suspicious manner about him and was surly with the media.

[tricky_colour]

They have dropped in the rankings from 100 to nearly 200 so they can hardly get any worse so the only way is up (or down ;))

[Denis The Red]

I didn't think Brian was the right man for the Irish job at the time, I thought it was too big a job but I still got behind him as I did with Stan but results are what matters, and when Mick never failed to get us to at least a play-off in each of the qualifying tournaments he managed in, the other two couldn't achieve that much. He had to go.
I feel he could've offered more to Irish football as he had done before the senior job, maybe the U21s, but because of his falling out with the FAI he'll never work here again in any capacity for them.
He has a great understanding of the game and I think the Faroes have done well with his appointment.
I think one of the reasons he couldn't get the players to play for him was he was never a pro in England and now he was telling guys with massive wallets and even bigger egos how to play international standard football.
Best of luck to him in his new job.

[eirebhoy]

I feel very strongly about us playing a good passing game (quick short passing, intelligent movement) and I certainly didn't think we played dour stuff under Kerr. I thought he made us look a good standard team and one which other teams respected. Israel and France certainly respected us. I think Benayoun said we were the strongest team in the group.

A lot of our friendly wins against were very competitive matches with both teams really going for it (Holland, Portugal, Croatia, Czechs). Those were games with nothing to lose though. The difference with Trap and Kerr is that Trap is happy for his players to sit back. That's the instructions. Kerr just couldn't get the players to lose the fear which instinctively made them sit back. The last thing Kerr wants is a player lumping the ball up the field.

As for the defence. Were 2 Israel's goals from outside the box, their peno, Henry's cracker or Yakin's goal in Switzerland down to a bad defensive system? Our defence with Cunningham and O'Brien was brilliant for the most part.

[Fergie's Son]

A very strange choice to be sure. Not sure what it means for Brian or his future prospects.

I was elated when he was appointed. He managed to bring Keane back for one last hurah. However, he seemed to freeze in the brighter stage of the national manager. He had a tremendous amount of good will with the press which he lost as he became increasingly more paranoid.

For me, a single example which serves as a microcosm for his time with Ireland, was the home match against Israel in the last WC qualifiers. We were leading 2-0 and had just had a third goal disallowed. We were, quite frankly, all over Israel. Robbie Keane pulls up injured after 27 minutes of the first half. Kerr had a relatively in-form David Connolly on the bench yet he decided to put on Graham Kavanagh instead. Now I'm a fan of Graham Kavanagh but he was the wrong player to put on in that situation. He basically ceeded the momentum back to Israel by putting on a a defensive midfielder. It was the wrong move from a practical footballing perspective and from an "attidue" perspective.

That summed up his tenure as the Irish manager. Good luck to him and I really do hope he does great things (so long as it's never against us).

[Flea]

McCarthy inherited a team in far more of a transition then Kerr did, Kerr inherited a team that had just got to the 2nd round of the World Cup and been unfortunate to get knocked out of penalties. Add to that the fact that under McCarthy we never finished outside the top 2 in his 2 campaigns (and were incredibly unlucky not to top the '00 group) whereas Kerr came 3rd and 4th. That comparison that was trotted out about the amount of campaigns McCarthy was given never held water, we were going forward each campaign under him, under Kerr we went backwards (3rd then 4th).

Completely agree with this. McCarthy's starting position cannot be compared to Kerr's. Kerr is the only former Irish manager to be left with a chip on his shoulder about his former position. Even Stan had the sense to lie low. Kerr's articles in the Irish Times are laden with negativity. The Faroe Islands is such a terrible managerial role to take over, but maybe he can finally move on and not live in the past.

[Armando]

While Faroe Islands are obviously minnows of World football they are not quite as pathetic as the likes of San Marino and Luxembourg. Just wanted to say that because reading some posts I get the impression this is how a lot of people view them. In fact, although they lose the large majority of their games they are very rarely thumped

Fair play to Kerr for taking this challenge on, I think he'll have a progressive influence on them. If he can bring them up a seeding he'll have done a great job and it'll open the doors to better jobs. Scandinavian clubs/countries would sit up and take notice for instance if he does well.

[irishultra]

While Faroe Islands are obviously minnows of World football they are not quite as pathetic as the likes of San Marino and Luxembourg. Just wanted to say that because reading some posts I get the impression this is how a lot of people view them. In fact, although they lose the large majority of their games they are very rarely thumped

Fair play to Kerr for taking this challenge on, I think he'll have a progressive influence on them. If he can bring them up a seeding he'll have done a great job and it'll open the doors to better jobs. Scandinavian clubs/countries would sit up and take notice for instance if he does well.

yep, only beaten 2-1 by italy, last minute goal conceded cost them against lithuania at home and 2-1 defeat away

some thumpings but kerr might be able to do something

they are awful but as u say not that bad

[macdermesser]

Also wish Brian all the best and hope that it is a stepping stone to a bigger job .. and maybe eventually back to the Irish job again ;-)

200k a year according to the Irish Times for doing something you love and mixing it with France and Serbia again. It's a bit of a no brainer. Have to laugh at the keyboard brigade questioning whether it is a good move for him.

[Stuttgart88]

200k? Total no-brainer as you say.

[Duggie]

Also wish Brian all the best and hope that it is a stepping stone to a bigger job .. and maybe eventually back to the Irish job again ;-)

200k a year according to the Irish Times for doing something you love and mixing it with France and Serbia again. It's a bit of a no brainer. Have to laugh at the keyboard brigade questioning whether it is a good move for him.

i think what most of us are saying that its a job thats really going nowhere, other than trying to prevent a possible hiding. we all hope things work out for him.

[dynamo kerry]

A very strange choice to be sure. Not sure what it means for Brian or his future prospects.

I was elated when he was appointed. He managed to bring Keane back for one last hurah. However, he seemed to freeze in the brighter stage of the national manager. He had a tremendous amount of good will with the press which he lost as he became increasingly more paranoid.

For me, a single example which serves as a microcosm for his time with Ireland, was the home match against Israel in the last WC qualifiers. We were leading 2-0 and had just had a third goal disallowed. We were, quite frankly, all over Israel. Robbie Keane pulls up injured after 27 minutes of the first half. Kerr had a relatively in-form David Connolly on the bench yet he decided to put on Graham Kavanagh instead. Now I'm a fan of Graham Kavanagh but he was the wrong player to put on in that situation. He basically ceeded the momentum back to Israel by putting on a a defensive midfielder. It was the wrong move from a practical footballing perspective and from an "attidue" perspective.

That summed up his tenure as the Irish manager. Good luck to him and I really do hope he does great things (so long as it's never against us).

I completely agree with all of that. It was mind-boggling as decisions go. Good luck Kerr all the same.

[irishfan86]

I wonder who contacted who- it just seems odd.

Happy to see him back in international football- hopefully he can use this as a stepping stone to greater things.

His style of tactics should maximize their ability to compete.

He knows how to shut down attacking threats and reduce scoring chances against.

He won't have to deal with intense media scrutiny or big player egos either, so I'd say all the ingredients are in place for the Faroes to qualify for the Euros!

[SwanVsDalton]

Recalling mind-boggling Kerr decisions - I had much less of a problem with the Israel match than I did with the final match of his tenure against Switzerland. At home, 0-0, needing a win, pushing for a goal and what does he do? Like for like substitutions up top (Doherty for Morrison I believe) at a time when we were screaming out for a bit of ambition. As soon as he made that decision he had lost me as a supporter and it was time to go.

Up until that point Kerr had my support. I thought he was a fine hard-working manager but proved himself tactically naive. Wish him all the best though, think this is a win win decision and I think the Faroes will benefit greatly from his organisational experience.

[macdermesser]

i think what most of us are saying that its a job thats really going nowhere, other than trying to prevent a possible hiding. we all hope things work out for him.

careerwise .. agree at first glance that it is probably not a great move ... ... but from a personal viewpoint, he is getting well paid for a hobby and can mix and plot against France again.

Actually, when you think about it .. he has a very limited number of jobs open to him .. English speaking jobs .. maybe Scandinavia .. and then further afield like South Africa, India, Australia, US, New Zealand.. so if he wants an international job this is probably the only place he can start .. and maybe move up to a bigger Scandinavian country.

Agree with other posters that he would be the ideal Irish U21 boss .. but he has burned his bridges with the FAI with his comments since 2006.

[bennocelt]

While Faroe Islands are obviously minnows of World football they are not quite as pathetic as the likes of San Marino and Luxembourg. Just wanted to say that because reading some posts I get the impression this is how a lot of people view them. In fact, although they lose the large majority of their games they are very rarely thumped

Fair play to Kerr for taking this challenge on, I think he'll have a progressive influence on them. If he can bring them up a seeding he'll have done a great job and it'll open the doors to better jobs. Scandinavian clubs/countries would sit up and take notice for instance if he does well.

def agree here
also have you seen the size of their defenders!!! Im sure Kerr can at least tighten up their defence

I hope he can get some results out there

[Red&White Rover]

Bitter, bitter man. ****e coach.

We came 4th in a group containing Russia, Switzerland and Israel thanks to his defensive tactics. No we're not world beaters by any stretch of the imagination, but with the players we had there's no way we should have come 4th in that group.

Why the w*nkfest?

He's found his level

[Calcio Jack]

like anyone else the man needs to earn a crust, so no problem with him taking this job and in fairness he seems to accept that "beggars can't be choosers" and since no one else was offering him a job he's accepted this one... hopefully he'll have some focus and that will help him move on from his pathetic bitterness and we won't have to enjure his clumsily disguised efforts at commentary in the Irish Times which in reality have been stupid in their attempt at being 'clever' and sad in that all they've done is expose him as a bitter and twisted saddo who can't accept the reality of his tenure as manager of the Irish team, he had nothing but a huge amount of goodwilll when appointed to the Irish job and we know and he knows he blew it... maybe he should spend some time with that well know psychotherapist Gabriel Byrne they'd have a lot to talk about .

[Duggie]

says in the star hes earning 450,000 euro. me arse.

[mediahack]

Bitter, bitter man. ****e coach.

We came 4th in a group containing Russia, Switzerland and Israel thanks to his defensive tactics. No we're not world beaters by any stretch of the imagination, but with the players we had there's no way we should have come 4th in that group.



Have to agree there. He may have had success with the underage sides but he never stepped up to mark at senior level and couldn't handle the players.

He should have probably replaced Don Givens a long time ago in the U21 set up but he ****ed off so many in the FAI he'll never get a job there again.

It is well known in football that he has a huge amount of info on players from all over the world - his research is meticulous but he used to subject the players to hours and hours of video analysis and they got totally ****ed off!

He was very friendly with many of the media until the latter part of his tenure when he completely turned against them and he paid the price for that!

His recent ramblings in the IT have been disgraceful and it smacks of complete bitterness.

Over the years we have heard his name mentioned in relation to many top jobs (probably his own spin) then it was jobs in the Far East and now he finally manages to convince some association to give him a job - The Faroe Islands, just like his football tactics, safe and without major expectation!

[Stuttgart88]

he used to subject the players to hours and hours of video analysis and they got totally ****ed off! He said himself he knew how short players' attention spans were and that a video session would be about 40 minutes max accordingly. It says a lot more about the players and their "professionalism" if that was too much for them.

[jbyrne]

He said himself he knew how short players' attention spans were and that a video session would be about 40 minutes max accordingly. It says a lot more about the players and their "professionalism" if that was too much for them.

agree, the rugby team spend a lot of time looking at video analysis and look where it got them

[eirebhoy]

We came 4th in a group containing Russia, Switzerland and Israel thanks to his defensive tactics. No we're not world beaters by any stretch of the imagination, but with the players we had there's no way we should have come 4th in that group.
In fairness it's not really as clear cut as that. Henry's goal in Dublin split all 4 teams up. I do think Switzerland and France were the 2 best teams in the group though. Although Switzerland were battered in Israel (and very lucky to win both Cyprus games, not just the away one like us). It was a very even group and to be honest placings in the group don't tell much of a story when there's only a point or 2 between teams. Let Delaney think going from 3rd in the 04 group to 4th in the 06 group is decline because it's just ignorance.

[jay1]

IF he does well over there maybe we will see him again managing Ireland, although I dont know if I could stick the Boredom of the way we played then, although it is not much better now i suppose.

[amaccann]

In fairness it's not really as clear cut as that. Henry's goal in Dublin split all 4 teams up. I do think Switzerland and France were the 2 best teams in the group though. Although Switzerland were battered in Israel (and very lucky to win both Cyprus games, not just the away one like us). It was a very even group and to be honest placings in the group don't tell much of a story when there's only a point or 2 between teams. Let Delaney think going from 3rd in the 04 group to 4th in the 06 group is decline because it's just ignorance.
Exactly my thinking; it's also worth pointing out that Kerr only managed Ireland for one full campaign, the aforementioned WC 2006 Group 4 qualifying. His "first" campaign was to join the Ireland setup mid-qualification, so that can hardly count. If Trap had little time to prepare his squad, Kerr had much less.

[bennocelt]

Exactly my thinking; it's also worth pointing out that Kerr only managed Ireland for one full campaign, the aforementioned WC 2006 Group 4 qualifying. His "first" campaign was to join the Ireland setup mid-qualification, so that can hardly count. If Trap had little time to prepare his squad, Kerr had much less.

thats not true, he had two campaigns - Ireland had many chances in both campaigns under kerr
In the first one - he even got off to a good start with an away win and draw - and he messed it all at home

[sullanefc]

thats not true, he had two campaigns - Ireland had many chances in both campaigns under kerr
In the first one - he even got off to a good start with an away win and draw - and he messed it all at home

One full campaign. I think you missed the word full in the above post.

[bennocelt]

One full campaign. I think you missed the word full in the above post.

fair enuff - but the point was he had two bites

[irishultra]

in reality you'd expect the french and swiss to qualify ahead of us but finishing 4th wasnt good enough

[amaccann]

thats not true, he had two campaigns - Ireland had many chances in both campaigns under kerr
In the first one - he even got off to a good start with an away win and draw - and he messed it all at home
But that's my point, did he really? He came into the job amid a storm of post-Saipan arguments and the worst possible start to a campaign. I don't believe that he had the circumstances or the time to impose his regime, not properly anyway, until the '06 one. But by then the damage was done I would guess.

[Drumcondra 69er]

But that's my point, did he really? He came into the job amid a storm of post-Saipan arguments and the worst possible start to a campaign. I don't believe that he had the circumstances or the time to impose his regime, not properly anyway, until the '06 one. But by then the damage was done I would guess.


Can't agree, we needed to beat Russia at home and the Swiss away in our last 2 games to top the first group, he'd been in charge for well over a year and a half by then and we drew at home and were embarrassing away, he had 6 games out of 8 and the entire campaign bar 4 months. We still finished higher then we did in the '06 campaign where we managed to beat the Faroes twice and were blessed to do the double over Cyprus and they were our only wins. The only reason we were even in with a shout was due to France being garbage in qualifying till they came to Dublin. The Israel games are his legacy I'm afraid....

[bennocelt]

But that's my point, did he really? He came into the job amid a storm of post-Saipan arguments and the worst possible start to a campaign. I don't believe that he had the circumstances or the time to impose his regime, not properly anyway, until the '06 one. But by then the damage was done I would guess.

just different POV's then:)

[eirebhoy]

But that's my point, did he really? He came into the job amid a storm of post-Saipan arguments and the worst possible start to a campaign. I don't believe that he had the circumstances or the time to impose his regime, not properly anyway, until the '06 one. But by then the damage was done I would guess.
Aye and the team he stuck with for the first campaign was McCarthy's. He only really made changes to the team after that campaign bringing in O'Brien, Reid, Kavanagh, Morrison and putting Duff into his best position after years of playing up front.


The Israel games are his legacy I'm afraid....
And we were probably the toughest team Israel in that group. We deserved to win the 2nd match by 4 or 5. I'll say that til I die. :) It's very easy to say we drew because of the substitution. Israel's best chance of the game came in the minutes before Keane went off and they were controlling possession before Kav came on.

[Emmet7]

Being an international manager is a tough job. Charlton delivered on his first full campaign, although he had a squad of top players, any 11 he picked were playing for top teams.

McCarthy also did well in his first full campaign and nearly delivered qualification.

Kerr, ok we can forgive him the first campaign. But the second campaign, there was no sign of improvement, no sign of a chance of qualification. The Irish supporters expect more these days than also-rans. If managers can't deliver us a top two position in a qualifying group, they have to go.

I don't see what Kerr is still bitter about. He also seems to think he knows more than Trapattoni. There seems to be a cottage industry in criticising Trapattoni in Ireland.

[eirebhoy]

Kerr, ok we can forgive him the first campaign. But the second campaign, there was no sign of improvement,
I'd strongly disagree with that but there's no point in debating this again for the 20th time. :)

[irishfan86]

I think Kerr is bitter in that he employed very similar tactics and didn't achieve the same success that Trap has to date.

Trap has a reputation as a "lucky" manager, and you've got to say based on what's happened so far you wouldn't call him unfortunate.

The handball against Montenegro and the red card against Italy are two massive slices of fortune that I don't remember Kerr getting anything like during his tenure.

Either way, the hard part of the campaign is ahead of us, not behind us, and despite what Kerr may write, I'm sure he'll be as happy as anybody if we qualify (at least I'd like to think so).

[Emmet7]

The sending off of the Italian actually mightn't have been good luck for Ireland if you believe playing against 10 players is tougher than playing against 11.

In any case whatever Trap's critics like to say, and many of them like to say it shouldn't have been a sending off and hence Ireland were lucky, from an objective point of view it was a clear sending off. Maybe years ago elbowing someone in the face was not a sending off offence but today it is. The guy lead with his elbow when jumping and he didn't go for the ball with his head. He knew O'Shea was going to stick his head in there and so he knew what he was doing and he absolutely deserved to go, no question, it was a sickening challenge on O'Shea.

As for Trap being lucky, what about Kevin Kilbane's og, which was a bit of a fluke if you are to be honest, the Bulrgarians presented no real threat up until then, they had possession but in the final third were pretty poor and Ireland were unlucky to lose that goal.

Anyone who thinks Trap is good because he is lucky is fooling themselves. You don't win 10 national titles, 3 European club titles and many more cup competitions by being lucky.

Kerr was not unlucky, he just didn't have the experience at the top level of management. He cannot seriously be thought of as being in the same league as Trapattoni, no matter what he or others think.

To be honest, Kerr was very lucky to get to be Ireland manager and in terms of rankings and seedings we slipped badly under him.

[Stuttgart88]

The handball against Montenegro and the red card against Italy are two massive slices of fortune that I don't remember Kerr getting anything like during his tenure.I think you mean against Georgia. In Montenegro we were denied a stonewall penno for handball.

We got a bit of luck in Mainz - Whelan's goal - and more than a bit of luck against Georgia when they hit the inside of our post at 1-0 even before the dodgy penalty. But we had a good goal ruled out and also a good claim for a penalty turned down. We deseved to win that game quite clearly, even if the first goal was fortuitous.

I think luck has evened itself out for us so far. Italy have arguably been luckier than us - how they avoided defeat in Cyprus is a mystery. Cannavaro should have been sent off in Montenegro and on that basis you can clearly say that was unlucky for us as well as Montenegro.

Kerr didn't get much luck I agree, though the Faroes missed a great chance just before Elliott was needlessly taken down to open the scoring up there, and Kilbane's second was a wicked deflection. We were pretty lucky in that game. Albania at home was only won due to an own goal deep in injury time.

[NeilMcD]

He is on Tubridy Tonight, tonight.

[tetsujin1979]

That tubridy interview should be on rte.ie in a day or so, they usually do make the interviews available

[amaccann]

The interview's on the website now if anyone's interested. I haven't looked at it myself yet, I have read remarks that Brian may have had a few prior to going on?

[Nipper]

He basically just ripped the **** out of the Faroes.

Certainly looked like he had a good time in the green room.

[irishfan86]

He didn't seem that drunk to me.

He was certainly relaxed, but to say he ripped into them would be stretching it.

They had a clip of him talking about the tough conditions of the Faroes while he was manager of Ireland, and they joked around about the weather conditions a bit, but it wasn't anything insulting.

The worst was:

(talking about the 200+ days of rain per year)

Tubridy: So it will be a sort of home away from home then?

Kerr: No, it's a lot worse than that.

Hardly insulting stuff, just a bit of fun.

[amaccann]

There was also an interesting article in the Sunday Tribune about Kerrs move to the Faroes & how it's another grand ****-up by the FAI. The gist of it was that even if he failed as senior manager, Kerr should have been shuffled back into a technical role or another underage position rather than just turning him into persona non grata. It does seem insane that our most talented underage coach has simply become unwanted in this country & that certain people look at him as a failure.

[NeilMcD]

I wonder did Trap do a similar interview on Italian TV about Ireland.

[macdermesser]

Kerr was a very organised, solid manager. I always felt that under him we were incredibly difficult to defeat home or away and the only competitive defeat under him was caused by a moment of Henry magic. Not trap standard but in my view he was a better manager than McCarthy and obviously Stan.

To his credit to this day he's still the only Irish manager to fully appreciate what Andy Reid can offer us.

While I would agree with your sentiments about Kerr, we were beaten in Basle in 2003 under Kerr .. so France was not the only competitive defeat

[Stuttgart88]

Yes, but we were so uncompetitive in Basle it doesn't count! Kerr should probably have told them it was a friendly, they'd have fought tooth and nail for the result!

[as_i_say]

Indeed. Forget about Israel-we were unlucky in both of those 2 games.(his madness in bringing on kavanagh aside) It was the 2 games against the swiss where we needed wins to qualify and we'd still be playing those games today and not score we were that negative. He had his shot and deserved to go.

If we only finish 3rd in this group then theres the same case that Trapetoni should go as well but too soon to judge that.

[Stuttgart88]

Regardless of who's in charge I'd always have an open mind if we finish 3rd. It's wrong to say finish 3rd so must go.

If the signs are that we're obviously going in the right direction then I'd stay with the manager. In Kerr's case it was clear it just wasn't happening.

I think it's a terrible shame the FAI and the media set out to crucify him. I suspect him not being a career "yes man" meant the likes of Givens with no success whatsoever to his name is thought more highly of in the FAI than him. I also think it's a shame that Kerr seemingly burnt a lot of bridges with people naturally inclined to support him in the media and just generally involved in the game.

[jbyrne]

If we only finish 3rd in this group then theres the same case that Trapetoni should go as well but too soon to judge that.

isnt he only hanging around for the wc anyway?