Brian Kerr...

[Lionel Ritchie]

We should all be behind Brian and the team until we at least the final whistle against Switzerland. Then will be the time to begin evaluating and re-evaluating.

I think our print media have been an absolute disgrace this last week. First they pull a spark out of nothing, then they pour petrol on it. Shame on them.
Day upon day they read more and more like the camp that harass the England team at every turn. Further evidence of the tabloid-isation of our media.


I think the problem with Ireland is that they don't have as good a team as McCarthy had. He had Keane in his prime. We have to play an ageing player on his last legs and a converted winger who can't pass the ball in central midfield. I can't see how a change of Manager is going to solve that.
McCarthy also had the long ball option with Quinn coming off the bench.

Hmmm that might be a bit revisionist in fairness. Mick had some good players -as Brian does -and Mick had some holes to fill and patch up jobs to do -as Brian does. I see no major gap in quality between the two eras to be honest.

[colster]

We should all be behind Brian and the team until we at least the final whistle against Switzerland. Then will be the time to begin evaluating and re-evaluating.

I think our print media have been an absolute disgrace this last week. First they pull a spark out of nothing, then they pour petrol on it. Shame on them.
Day upon day they read more and more like the camp that harass the England team at every turn. Further evidence of the tabloid-isation of our media.



Hmmm that might be a bit revisionist in fairness. Mick had some good players -as Brian does -and Mick had some holes to fill and patch up jobs to do -as Brian does. I see no major gap in quality between the two eras to be honest.

The team that McCarthy qualified with was better than this one. It had a strong CM pairing. At the moment we don;t have a strong CM.
We have better wingers and probably a stronger defence. CM is where we are lacking. Without a strong CM we can't exploit our strength down the wing.
McCarthy's team also had a viable long ball option in Quinn.

[Macy]

If we get to the WC he deserves an improved contract.
If we get there, he should tell the FAI to stick it and go public. They'll have as much credability post Genesis as Phil Collins...

[Tram_14]

If we get there, he should tell the FAI to stick it and go public. They'll have as much credability post Genesis as Phil Collins...


First time I laughed today. ;)

[Tram_14]

I'm really disapointed in the Irish sports pages, I know its been going this way for a while but destructive pieces in the star & Indo/herald over the last few days... well its a real shame. It's as if some fans on this forum & journalists would prefer to disect Kerr's management right now at the risk of undermining his & the teams confidence, purely so they can say, I TOLD YOU SO. Why don't you all keep your negativity until the worst actually happens, if it ever does happen, that is.
Everyone seems to be in rush for us to fail???? Don't these people want to see Ireland at the World Cup? Talk about self destruct....
I seriously can't believe this "we've already lost" mentality here & in the papers. Have some belief & don't listen to the utter sh!te in these papers they have ZERO interest in Irish football other than it being a means to sell papers.
Give the man a chance over the next two games. God knows he needs it now, with all the rubbish that's been written.

[mypost]

I'm really disapointed in the Irish sports pages, I know its been going this way for a while but destructive pieces in the star & Indo/herald over the last few days... well its a real shame. It's as if some fans on this forum & journalists would prefer to disect Kerr's management right now at the risk of undermining his & the teams confidence, purely so they can say, I TOLD YOU SO. Why don't you all keep your negativity until the worst actually happens, if it ever does happen, that is.
Everyone seems to be in rush for us to fail???? Don't these people want to see Ireland at the World Cup? Talk about self destruct....
I seriously can't believe this "we've already lost" mentality here & in the papers. Have some belief & don't listen to the utter sh!te in these papers they have ZERO interest in Irish football other than it being a means to sell papers. Give the man a chance over the next two games. God knows he needs it now, with all the rubbish that's been written.


Well, you can have either realistic assessment, or a load of rubbish. And a load of rubbish is not going to keep BK in a job beyond next week.

It's all very well getting behind the side. However, with disgruntled fans, a depleted squad, a techy boss, and a media in revolt, can you honestly, realistically say that when we need, really need, to win 2 games or wave goodbye to Germany, we will do it? Going on BK's recent record, you would have to say no. :( And if he can't do it, he will have to go.

[Tram_14]

It's all very well getting behind the side. However, with disgruntled fans, a depleted squad, a techy boss, and a media in revolt, can you honestly, realistically say that when we need, really need, to win 2 games or wave goodbye to Germany, we will do it? Going on BK's recent record, you would have to say no. :( And if he can't do it, he will have to go.


Well why don't you wait until we don't qualify, why are you jumping the gun, mistakes have been made, I don't disagree, but do you think its intelligent of the media to be suggesting alternative managers when there is a still a possibility to qualify?

[Marked Man]

Why isn't Kerr given the chance that McCarthy was.[/QUOTE]

If we were not to make the play offs this time, that would be the second tournament in a row under Kerr that we failed to get that far. That didn't happen under McCarthy. I agree we should hold off until the results are in, but those asking the quoted question should ask themselves how likely it was that McCarthy would have kept his job with an 0/2 record--and whether they would have supported him to keep it.

[eirebhoy]

If we were not to make the play offs this time, that would be the second tournament in a row under Kerr that we failed to get that far. That didn't happen under McCarthy. I agree we should hold off until the results are in, but those asking the quoted question should ask themselves how likely it was that McCarthy would have kept his job with an 0/2 record--and whether they would have supported him to keep it.
But Russia and Switzerland got a 3 point headstart since Kerr wasn't in charge at the start. I actually think he should be gone if we don't qualify as he's been treated more harshly than any other Ireland manager I can remember and it means my fear has outpassed excitment 10-fold before games.

[Marked Man]

True, but by the time we were down to the last two matches, qualification was there for the taking. So it's not as if that tournament represented nothing more than a warm up for the job for Kerr. He was in charge, there was a good chance to qualify, and it was passed up. That's got to be taken into the reckoning when we look at his record.

[mypost]

But Russia and Switzerland got a 3 point headstart since Kerr wasn't in charge at the start.

Kerr repaired the damage, and we had qualification in our own hands going into the last 2 games in the group. The regulations meant that a 2-goal win over Russia would have guaranteed us a play-off spot at least, and knocked the Russians out. Instead, Russia got a point from Lansdowne, we threw in the towel in Basle, and stayed at home the following summer, while both sides got knocked out in the first round of the finals. :(

[CollegeTillIDie]

"The Irish are a fair people; they never speak well of one another." —Samuel Johnson 1709-1784

And another in a similar vein " If there were only 3 Irish people left alive after a nuclear bomb was dropped ; you'd find 2 in a corner plotting against the 3rd one" Niall Tóibín

[eirebhoy]

Kerr repaired the damage
You should edit your post before someone see's it. :eek: Way to positive. :)

[Macy]

Kerr repaired the damage, and we had qualification in our own hands going into the last 2 games in the group.
So you'll give him the credit for rescuing the campaign after the terrible start that McCarthy gave us?

[mandrake]

repaired the damage, !!! he got one point from 6 !!!mccarthy got 0 from 6 and we had a small chance by beating the swiss..thats not repairing damage.

[Stormin Normin]

Kerr didn't exactly repair the damage. As with this group the other teams in contention kept on dropping points. In the EC group under Kerr we were absolutely blessed to beat Albania at home, were dreadful V Russia and the performance against Switz was one of the worst, most inept I've witnessed since the days of Eoin Hand.

Regarding the current campaign the results V Israel have been a mixture of bad fortune and getting his tactics wrong. The real worrying aspect of Kerr's approach is that if Plan A ain't working he'll throw that useless fcuk*r Doherty on and give up on any attempt to play football. The French were laughing at us the last day once we went behind. If Doherty appears in either of the last two games we are hosed.

Kerr said at the start of his reign 'judge me on results'. Well if we don't win the last two games that should be exactly what happens.

[Stuttgart88]

Got to agree with the debut poster on this one: there's no way Kerr can be credited with "repairing the damage". Even after the two defeats, the subsequent games were collectively among the worst I've ever witnessed, with the possible exception of Georgia at home.

[eirebhoy]

The shít mypost gives Kerr and then he goes and opens a thread like this:
http://foot.ie/showthread.php?p=363735

[jbyrne]

i was quite positive about our situation a couple of weeks ago but the whole media v manager situation we've had over the last week or so just stinks of this time 3 yrs ago. the pressure and bad feeling around the team then was so great that it contributed to our 1-2 loss to switzerland. all this talk in the papers etc isnt doing our cause the slightest bit of good at all. i just hope the manager and players are above it all and that it will just make them even more determined to qualify. i honestly believe that a huge reception for the team both on sat and next wed will have a huge positive influence on the teams mindset for the games like it did when the supporters got madly behind the team v cameroon after all the saipan shenanigans

[Tram_14]

i honestly believe that a huge reception for the team both on sat and next wed will have a huge positive influence on the teams mindset for the games

I couldn't agree more, it will be really important & after all the talk & discussion, there is actually only one way a fan can make a difference & its by support on saturday and next wednesday.

[CollegeTillIDie]

Deja Vu ............

Totally agree that he should be supported 100% through the remainder of WC2006 qualifiers and playoffs if we reach them.

This smear campaign is absolutely disgraceful. The FAI should issue a strong statement supporting their manager and team and outlining when a decision will be made on renewing his contract.

The gutter press are just trying to stir things up in a most disgusting manner, seemingly with the connivance of FAI .

Thank God the boys are playing away this week so they can get away from rthis sh*te and concentrate on the game on Saturday.

Come on you boys in green.


While I agree with almost all of your posting a thumbs up from the FAI for Kerr now would look like the famous vote of confidence from the board for a manager at club level :eek:

[Block G Raptor]

In fairness kerr as done an above average job with an average/aging squad
if he was to go who would repace him martin O'neil is the only one Id like to see but it aint going to happen until his wifes illness runs it course
so get behind kerr rate him or not he's all we've got
and I think we will get six pts frm our last two games
en-ger-land in the playoffs and were off ta deutchland

[OwlsFan]

In fairness kerr as done an above average job with an average/aging squad

I'm not into this anti-Kerr thing but I would dispute the above.Kerr has taken 2 pts out of 6 from Israel, 1 from 6 from Switzerland, 1 from 3 from Russia, 1 from 6 from France and our performance against the Faroes were not exactly earth shattering. I am not sure how this is "an above average job" against teams which, France aside, are also mediocre.

It's also not an ageing side. Some players are getting on but the majority are young or in their prime. Mick inherited an ageing squad. Not Brian.

ANyway, fingers crossed for Saturday and Wednesday and hopefully all this nit picking will be forgotten.

[Dotsy]

THis Kerr versus the media craap has gone on long enough. Caught the front page of the Herald at lunch. A FRONT page article by Hyland titled "Kerrazy" and slagging off Kerr for not concentrating on the match instead of blaming all and sundry for the poor results of his team. Can these fookers not just get behind the team and leave their petty points scoring until after we either qualify or we don't.:mad:

[eirebhoy]

It's also not an ageing side. Some players are getting on but the majority are young or in their prime. Mick inherited an ageing squad. Not Brian.
Kelly, Breen, Holland, Kinsella, McAteer and Carsley were all part of Micks first 11 or there about before he resigned/sacked. Kerr had a lot to do to rebuild the Irish team.

[OwlsFan]

Kelly, Breen, Holland, Kinsella, McAteer and Carsley were all part of Micks first 11 or there about before he resigned/sacked. Kerr had a lot to do to rebuild the Irish team.

Breen and Holland are still around playing but have been overtaken by other players. Carsley was no more than a periphery player for Mick and didn't want to continue in the same vein for Kerr so retired. Kelly was well replaced by Carr or Finnan and McAteer was in and out of Mick's side. So the only one not replaced really was Kinsella when he hung up his boots.

Every team changes each year. There was no huge surgery required by Kerr unlike McCarthy.

[eirebhoy]

Breen and Holland are still around playing but have been overtaken by other players. Carsley was no more than a periphery player for Mick and didn't want to continue in the same vein for Kerr so retired. Kelly was well replaced by Carr or Finnan and McAteer was in and out of Mick's side. So the only one not replaced really was Kinsella when he hung up his boots.

Every team changes each year. There was no huge surgery required by Kerr unlike McCarthy.
Of the players I named, only Carsley was not a first teamer, all the others were regulars for McCarthy.

[thejollyrodger]

While everyone wants Ireland to win against Cyprus at this moment I
must agree with mypost that the game will finish 1-1.
In fairness the media have given Kerr a very easy ride so far.
Mainly because he is a decent football man with a long history
in the Irish game.
If it was M McCarthy or an Englishman managing at the moment
that had made as many errors as Kerr the media would have savaged him
by now.

I totally disagree. If this was an english manager the papers would be giving him a far easier time. Just look at Mick or Jack. they got such an easy ride. The gloves were off with kerr early on, brady was just dying for a slip up.

[mypost]

If this was an english manager the papers would be giving him a far easier time. Just look at Mick or Jack. they got such an easy ride. The gloves were off with kerr early on.

Wrong, and you know that is wrong. Imagine if this was Eriksson behaving towards the press in the same way, the English media would savage him 10-fold. Kerr is having to take a lot of stick, and rightly so. He got us into this "win or bust" mess, now he has got to get himself out of it. Ignoring the media is backfiring on him. He's just giving carte blanche to the journos, to write as they please, and it's affecting our preparations. All so unnecessary. :(

[Tram_14]

He got us into this "win or bust" mess, now he has got to get himself out of it. . :(



Maybe he will :D

[geysir]

Wrong, and you know that is wrong. Imagine if this was Eriksson behaving towards the press in the same way, the English media would savage him 10-fold. Kerr is having to take a lot of stick, and rightly so. He got us into this "win or bust" mess, now he has got to get himself out of it. Ignoring the media is backfiring on him. He's just giving carte blanche to the journos, to write as they please, and it's affecting our preparations. All so unnecessary. :(
Why do you bother coming to this forum when your positive sporting interests lie elsewhere? Obviously the Irish national team is very low (if at all) on your list of intrests. In fact it looks like that almost everything about the Irish team is high on your list of pet hates. Do you not have a relegation dogfight to occupy your sporting thoughts at present?

[Tram_14]

Do you not have a relegation dogfight to occupy your sporting thoughts at present?


:D ............(muttley type snigger)

[jbyrne]

Wrong, and you know that is wrong. Imagine if this was Eriksson behaving towards the press in the same way, the English media would savage him 10-fold. Kerr is having to take a lot of stick, and rightly so. He got us into this "win or bust" mess, now he has got to get himself out of it. Ignoring the media is backfiring on him. He's just giving carte blanche to the journos, to write as they please, and it's affecting our preparations. All so unnecessary. :(

so we are now comparing our media to probably the worst media in the world are we?? our media should be compared to the likes of switzerlands or norways, for example, who are in as equally a precarious position as ourselves regarding qualification and are also of a similar status to us footballing resources wise. I bet their press arent giving their managers half the stick ours is giving Kerr at the moment because they know their footballing limitations.

all qualifying games are a "win or bust" situation as there are relatively so few games to qualify. no one else is breezing through our group and we have just as good a chance of the play offs as anyone else in the group. kerr should be judged on his finished work alone at the END of the campaign. all that matters is that we have enough points at the end of qualification. very few european teams ever qualify with a couple of games left to play. if we qualify then he has done his job but he cant be slated when we still have, on paper, two very winnable games left. Kerr should only be judged on the finished product only

news is supposed to be just that, news! not the same old line being trotted out all the time. everyone knows whats going on currently yet at todays press conference kerr was still pressed on his contract situation. this question could only have been put to him to try and stir trouble by getting a reaction from kerr. it cant have been for any other reason as there is nothing new to be said on the topic

[shakermaker1982]

why are the Irish media trying to stir up **** before our fate is known? I'm glad Kerr wouldn't answer the questions surrounding the team today. That conference was to do with Cyprus game and trying to qualify.

[tetsujin1979]

I totally disagree. If this was an english manager the papers would be giving him a far easier time. Just look at Mick or Jack. they got such an easy ride. The gloves were off with kerr early on, brady was just dying for a slip up.
Easy ride my arse!! Kerr was welcomed more, and had a longer honeymoon period than any manager I can remember, internationally or at club level by the press here. Jack had to fight for respect from day 1, Mick wasn't seen as the popular choice and it took until 2002 before most of the media accepted him, and following Saipan half of them dropped him just as fast.

[jjppc]

Go Brian go, we're all behind yer, well most of us anyway

[Noelys Guitar]

How would Kerr change things for Euro 2006 if we don't qualify? We haven't beaten one team of note in a competive match during his tenure. We will be in a more difficult group for the Euro's than than one we are in now. His agent Drury stated on wednesday that "the Greener!" has had to work with players inferior to those from previous Irish managers(that should go down well with the players). Why would he want to stay on if thats the case? Surely that "unnamed" champions league team will come in and whisk him away.

[Tram_14]

Easy ride my arse!! Kerr was welcomed more, and had a longer honeymoon period than any manager I can remember, internationally or at club level by the press here. Jack had to fight for respect from day 1, Mick wasn't seen as the popular choice and it took until 2002 before most of the media accepted him, and following Saipan half of them dropped him just as fast.

Okay BK was welcomed more... but there is no way MC Carthy had to endure what kerr has had to put up with the last 10 days

[mypost]

there is no way MC Carthy had to endure what kerr has had to put up with the last 10 days

McCarthy received the same treatment, if not worse before his last game against the timepieces. By that stage, all of the media had turned against him, mainly because of the Saipan saga, there were rumours that he was sniffing out English club jobs, he said that he would leave at the end of the campaign, which unsettled the players, and led to vitriolic abuse from the press. Following the defeat that followed, his position was untenable, and he duly resigned 3 weeks later.


Why do you bother coming to this forum when your positive sporting interests lie elsewhere? Obviously the Irish national team is very low (if at all) on your list of intrests. In fact it looks like that almost everything about the Irish team is high on your list of pet hates. Do you not have a relegation dogfight to occupy your sporting thoughts at present?

With respect mate, you don't support a club in our league, so you're in no position at all to lecture me, or others like me, on why I should support domestic football, especially at this crucial stage of our season.

This Ireland team is a good side, we have good players, many of them in their prime right now, and on their day they can walk over the best in the world. But unfortunately, the coach won't let them play to their potential, he insists that they play conservatively, he refuses to learn from his mistakes, as shown against Israel in Dublin. He hypes up clearly inferior opposition, and shows a lack of ambition at this level. We have failed to beat any useful side during his reign. This current French team is the worst since the late-80's, and we should have beaten them in Dublin, and we would have, if Kerr played for a win instead of playing for his beloved point. Switzerland, and Israel are poor sides. We are the best team in the group, but unfortunately we have a coach who has well and truly fkd us up in at least 3 crunch games.

As getting a point is no use to us anymore, he has to go for broke, and take chances in the last 2 games, something that is completely alien to him. If we won, as we should have, both games against Israel, we could have qualified as group winners after Game 9, Kerr's negativity, bad tactics, and wrong subs in both games, has come back to haunt him, and probably deprived one of our best ever sides from going to the World Cup in Germany. I want us to qualify of course, but I cannot see BK delivering what we need in the current circumstances.

It didn't have to be this way. We must win the games left, or he is out of a job on Thursday morning.

[Plastic Paddy]

Here's a first: I agree with mypost on this one. :eek: If we're knocked out on Wednesday night, Kerr should clear his desk on Thursday. Until we're out though nothing less than full and total support for Kerr and the team will do. He may yet surprise us all and (cough, splutter) "lead" us to Germany.

:ball: PP

[thejollyrodger]

Tom Humphries feels Brian Kerr has not played tactically cute in his hard-ball game with the FAI


http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/sport/2005/1008/3640947972SPS2TOM.html
Remember Jack Charlton? Big, blunt Geordie whose tactical sophistication ran no further than giving it a lash? Wouldn't have known a spin doctor from a witch doctor? Well, scorn not his simplicity. Charlton understood two very basic things about the media.

First. Managers get paid not to take media too seriously or too personally.

Second. Editors abhor a vacuum. When you give 60-second press conferences, when you send in fringe players to speak to the media, you create a vacuum. It gets filled with speculation and opinion and conjecture. If there's one thing soccer people hate, it's media opinion.

And in the Irish papers this week there has been much media opinion. Six points left to play for and everyone was reaching conclusions. The evidence is still not fully submitted but the jury was issuing verdicts.

Times have changed since Jack strode among us, but the truths are eternal. The media is easy to satisfy. The media is not like Oliver, constantly wanting more. The media asks for sufficient.

If 60 or 70 media people gather in a room on the week of a World Cup game for a press conference, they expect to be speaking to somebody who will actually play in the game.

This week, the media, who have paid through the nose to come to Cyprus, were allowed to speak to Paddy Kenny, Keith Doyle, Liam Miller, Andy O'Brien and Gary Doherty. The Expendables, insufficient to the point of being an insult.

If the media goes to a training session in the expectation of being given a five-minute, pitch-side briefing, as per the official media guide, they expect the briefing to happen. On Tuesday it didn't happen at all. On Wednesday it lasted just over 60 seconds. Again, insufficient.

So, in the most important week for Irish soccer since the last World Cup, the media and the Irish squad were engaged in a phoney war which need not have happened. It has been distracting, dispiriting and disappointing.

Why did it happen? Why has media professionalism in the FAI never advanced beyond the old McCarthyite view of the media either being "in the tent ****ing out or outside the tent ****ing in". Why? Because nobody wants it to change.

The FAI this week were letting the media do the dirty work, as usual. You would think that after Saipan, after Genesis, after the messy end to the McCarthy era that lessons would be learned? They have.

When it comes to ditching a manager, it takes the pressure off if you let the media soften him up a bit first.

Brian Kerr's team play football tonight. The kick-off in Nicosia will put an end to one of the more bizarre weeks in the already quite bizarre recent history of the Irish soccer team.

Playing football will be a welcome return to business as usual, but Kerr will feel the bruises on his body and the burns on his neck. He was left dangling from a tree this week and he was beaten with sticks like a pinata.

After the week he has had it is important to remember that, whatever happens on the pitch over the next few days, and whatever goes down in the bloodstained boardrooms of the FAI over the next few weeks, Brian Kerr will remain potentially a great Irish manager. Whether he gets the chance to realise that potential depends largely on the convergence of several sets of circumstances.

Lie down. Imagine you are Brian Kerr. Go back in time a little way. Picture yourself approaching the final three games of a tense World Cup qualifying group. France. Cyprus. Switzerland.

Could you please list in order of horror which of the following you would need like a hole in the head. Best player and leader suspended and injured? Only decent striker pictured on the razz at 4am? Other half-decent striker suspended? Half of your team not getting regular football? Employers leaving you dangling over the issue of a new contract? War with the media?

On Wednesday evening at Larnaca Airport a member of the Kerr backroom team could be found musing aloud as he stood near the baggage carousel. "Am I mad?" he said, "or are we six points away from a World Cup play-off? Do we have an away game against Cyprus and a home game against Switzerland to make the play-offs? Is it just me that thinks that?"

He had a point, but if the message has got lost this week, a time which demanded the relentless accentuation of the positive, then it is not, for once, the media who are entirely to blame.

Brian Kerr, the FAI and the players handled things badly, and the entire tone of the week has been negative and defensive. From Le Meridien Hotel in Limassol there issues the scent of fear and loathing. The odd thing is that, if it all goes wrong this week, only Kerr will be paying the price.

Perhaps it will all come good. If next Thursday morning transpires, though, to

be a time for reflection and regret, it

would be best to divide all the circumstances which got us there into those which could have been avoided and those which couldn't have been.

It's important to remember that there are things which Brian Kerr can do nothing about.

He can do nothing about who gets to play in English Premiership teams. The paucity of our resources, though, was never better highlighted than during the ludicrous fuss which followed young Stephen Ireland having a good debut for Manchester City last week.

If a 19-year-old who seems already to have a record of placing petulance above patriotism (Ireland has apparently announced he will never play for Kerr) is hailed as a solution, well, then the problem is more crippling than we thought.

Brian Kerr can do nothing about the past. We have somehow arrived at a state of mind where we assume we have the right to be at every major soccer tournament. We don't have the right and we don't have the players.

Brian Kerr can do nothing about the psychological make-up of his players. He has some technically gifted footballers at his disposal. He has few leaders. He has few big men. He doesn't have anybody who will grab a game by the scruff of the neck and win it on his own.

That's the hand Brian Kerr has been dealt. Fintan Drury alluded to as much on the radio this week. Kerr was quick to point out that Drury wasn't speaking on his behalf at the time, but what Drury said wasn't nearly as big a deal as the space it occupied suggested.

Obviously, the wisdom of the manager's agent commenting on team affairs is moot, but taken as a contribution to the debate the point itself bears argument.

None of these guys are leaders. None of them are of the quality which persuades one that collectively they should grace any tournament of world-class players. We get to tournaments by punching above our weight.

To the list of things about which Brian Kerr can do nothing (at this stage) could be added Roy Keane's absence, the structure of his contractual arrangements with the FAI and the re-emergence of a clatter of world-class French players. He could add to his list of untimely misfortunes the recent regime change at the Irish Independent, which has seen a notable stiffening of the line on his stewardship.

Will all this be taken into account by Kerr's employers, or are they already rushing girlishly after some big man in a suit and looking to ditch Kerr regardless? How did the Irish manager come to be engaging in the sideshow of a major media bunfight in the most important working week of his life? How did he get to Cyprus with a World Cup play-off spot beckoning (the very route by which Mick McCarthy's long reign was redeemed) and find the clouds gathering over him, the mood sour and the Cypriots chuckling to themselves?

As Brian Kerr bumbled through his media engagements this week, the spotlight on him served only to emphasise the isolation he must feel.

Those who know Brian Kerr will say the job hasn't changed him much, that behind the tight public face he is still essentially the same likeable, genial character who took the job three years ago and was welcomed into the Shelbourne Hotel for his firstpress conference with garlands and palm leaves.

Those who know him lament, though, that he can't bring himself to perform for the media as if nothing has happened to alter that happy relationship. It's not, they say, that Kerr didn't expect criticism and pressure when he took the job, he just didn't realise it would hurt so much.

Kerr suffers a disadvantage not felt by an Irish manager since Eoin Hand's days: he lives in Dublin. He can pretend to ignore what is said and what is written, but it is all around him. He lives in and breathes the same atmosphere.

Much of what is written is penned by people he knows personally and has known for a long time. Kerr can't bring himself to pretend he doesn't notice.

Early in his reign, the first hint that his media hand would be less steady than other aspects of his talents came when he steadfastly refused to meet the group of English journalists who cover the Irish team for a get-to-know-you lunch.

His argument that they hadn't wanted to get to know him before he became Irish manager was dubious, at best, but if he decided to tread gingerly with the English media it was the home-based contingent he was failing to cater for.

[thejollyrodger]

cont...


Part of Kerr's problem this week lay in his inability to fake it. There was a smarter way to handle matters, but it ran against his grain. Also, he may have miscalculated.

Take the issue of the contract. There are some of us who believe no Irish manager should be allowed to go into two crucial World Cup games with the smell of death on him. It didn't happen to Mick McCarthy. It didn't happen to Jack Charlton.

It has happened to Brian Kerr. The manager didn't help his situation, however, by directly answering a question on the business last week.

His words, to the effect that he was trying to find out what was going on about his contract but nobody was telling him, were oddly chosen, but, one assumes, deliberately chosen. Yesterday, in Limassol, he defended his right to give an honest answer to the question, but as a manager he is sufficiently astute at deflecting questions to have known he could have batted this one off the agenda.

In the power-play between himself and the FAI, Kerr will have realised that shedding a little light on his employers hard-ball tactics will have upped the ante a little. The FAI, however, have remained inscrutable and left the media vacuum to be filled willy nilly. The issue blew up in the media and did collateral damage to Kerr.

The media response this week seems just a little pre-emptive and trigger-happy, but there has been a sense these last few days that the criticism has almost been licensed by the FAI's indifference to media matters and their willingness to let the Irish manager squirm without issuing the sort of statement of strong support which previous managers drew comfort from.

Kerr is an emotional man too. If he doesn't like you, it's not in his make-up to pretend that he does. If he is uncomfortable with questions, you don't have to examine his words to find how uncomfortable.

His face tightens, his neck stiffens and he rolls his head like a boxer before answering.

Nobody questions that he has had some bad luck, that he is professional and meticulous and has an honourable view of how Ireland should or could play football. But his inability to simulate emotions is his Achilles' heel, and his opponents and detractors within the FAI, men with lean and hungry looks, are easily smart enough to sit back and see him hoist upon his own petard.

Kerr's expression of bewilderment about his contract will have garnered some sympathy from a public which holds lots of residual goodwill towards him since his days as a youth team miracle worker.

How the contract comments played to the Irish players is another thing. Yesterday, in Limassol, his captain Kenny Cunningham was circumspect when offered the chance to step in and slug for his boss. He spoke of respect for the manager, but of players being essentially selfish beings. Watery stuff.

With Kerr's blood turning that water orange and then red, a media feeding frenzy has ensued. Not shark-like bites. Piranha-size nibbles.

Unfair? Probably.

Premature? Certainly.

Avoidable? Definitely.

If Brian Kerr pulls six points out of the bag in the next few days the entire view of his tenure will be up for review. When a team qualifies for a major competition the means to that end is forgotten about. If the team make a play-off, he will be judged almost exclusively on how the play-off unfolds.

In the interim, everyone, including the media and the FAI, is entitled to give their own answer when asked what they think of the show so far.

The FAI, however, owe a little more to their international manager and a man who has provided them with so much over the last decade. This week he was left unprotected.

The silence concerning his contact position was deafening. That the FAI see the role of public relations as being to indulge the petulance of the international team by protecting them from exposure to the scurvy media became clearer than ever this week. With nothing to write about and a very large bill to be paid for the privilege of coming to write, the house fell down on Kerr.

The odd thing is that in aping the media tactics of the English FA (who are otherwise without competition when it comes to the winning awards for most disastrous media relations), the FAI have gone further and refined the technique of withholding into one of calculated insult.

While Irish hacks were wondering what to do with five or six minutes of banal Paddy Kenny quotes this week, they were watching Sky News and seeing their colleagues with the England team speaking with Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher, Peter Crouch, Frank Lampard, Darren Bent and others.

To put that into context, this was an English team coming off a defeat to Northern Ireland, players who have been through the full tabloid mill and an English manager whose every peccadillo and venality has been blown up and magnified for the edification of the English audience. And there they were going about their business like professionals.

Deep down, Brian Kerr appreciates that two views of his tenure are possible. He concedes not everything has been peachy. If he didn't, he wouldn't be as smart a man as we gave him credit for.

His opponents and detractors within the FAI are easily as smart as we give them credit for, though, and must look on with thin smiles as Kerr immolates himself in front of the media.

Every instinct of Kerr's being must tell him that it would be smarter to play the game . . . And yet, in Le Meridien Hotel (where a cordon sanitaire has been erected and only paying guests are allowed past the front door this week) the view was indulged that it was unhelpful and unpatriotic for all these arguments to be rehearsed this week.

Nobody from the FAI did anything to fill the void, though. Instead, there were new and frankly ludicrous restrictions on TV crews and photographers at team training. There were no player quotes. No co-operation other than what was mandatory. The pressure on Kerr got ratcheted up subtly.

The harsh fact is that with players hiding or sulking, with Brian Kerr having put the issue on the table himself and with space to fill, practically all coverage this week was going to, at best, have the feel of an end-of-term report.

Every criticism gathered like a storm cloud over the manager's head. If you were holding Brian Kerr's new contract in a drawer in your desk, perhaps you'd smile too.

Kerr's isolation this week was awful and agonising to watch. He made mistakes and he paid the full price. That's been the way right through this campaign on and off the field. Somebody said to him yesterday that he used to have the reputation of being a lucky manager - did he still feel lucky?

He smiled tightly. Sometimes you have bad luck.

Sometimes you have bosses who play the game well.



© The Irish Times

[CollegeTillIDie]

jollyrodger

Thanks for posting the article. More balanced one than most this week. Kudos to Humphries.

[thejollyrodger]

no worries CollegeTillIDie. I agree also. It looks at both sides of the arguement, something that has sadly been lacking in the Indo and the scúmmy tabloids.

[Plastic Paddy]

As would I, Gonzo, as would I... ;)

:ball: PP

[thejollyrodger]

Easy ride my arse!! Kerr was welcomed more, and had a longer honeymoon period than any manager I can remember, internationally or at club level by the press here. Jack had to fight for respect from day 1, Mick wasn't seen as the popular choice and it took until 2002 before most of the media accepted him, and following Saipan half of them dropped him just as fast.


Your talking bóllócks. Jack was a dictator and didnt speak to anyone he didnt want to, he over took the underage setup to keep on to power (even though he hadnt a notion about it). He was thick as a ditch and thats how he kept the whole thing going.

Mick was a slow learner with a incomptent FA backing him with all the contracts he ever wanted when he failed pathetically.

Kerr was a breath of fresh air because he actually knew a few things about football and he was home grown. His lack of tatical knowledge wasnt any worst that of Mick's or worse Jack Charltons approach.

Just watch where kerr goes after the Ireland job. There was one champions league club that already offered him a job. Im sure he will be able to take such a job if he wants it.

[CraftyToePoke]

yeah.....nice one jollyrodger, a decent read.thanks.

[eirebhoy]

The Irish Times is the only paper I'd read coming up to these games.

[gustavo]

one would have thought a man of humphries knowledge would have known its kevin doyle not keith doyle . a deliberate mistake to emphasise a point perhaps?

[Noelys Guitar]

Humphries is as disigenious as most of the other hacks writing about Kerr. The potentionally great manager thing is laughable at this stage (3 years!). He mentions the return of the French greats without mentioning the fact that when we played the French in Paris they had the worst French side out since the early 70's. The Swiss who are and always have been mediocre at best. And Israel who have no world class players. Kerrs record out of a possible 18 points 4. The players aren't good enough is another joke especially to those of us with long memories. Stapleton stated in 1985 that the Hand managed Irish team didn't have enough world class players to qualify for a tournament! And if Kerr considers the players weaker than previous Irish teams then why stay on? Humphries has been a cheer leader for Kerr from day one and has never dissected his tactics or substitutions in any meaningful way. He mentions Charltons tactics as been caveman like which is partially true but fails to mention the dourness and negativity of Kerrs tactics.