I will admit that I was happy when Brian got the job. Of course I was a little worried that he didn't have any international playing experience and might find it difficult to get the full respect of the players but his heart was in the right place and he loved Irish football. He was by far the best candidate that applied for the job so I thought he was worth the risk.
Unfortunately, it turned out that he did have problems motivating the team for most games, for whatever reason. I thought we were onto a winner when we had a good 2-0 win over Scotland with his first game. I know it was only Scotland (who have improved a lot since then) but all the players seemed up for the game. However, it appears that they were just trying to impress the new manager in his first game, rather than Kerr himself motivating them.
None of the teams he put out since then looked very motivated, apart from the games against France (players were probably self-motivated to play against such a big team) and a few friendly games (Holland) where again the fridge players like Quinn, Mabury and even Barrett played well and this was, as far as I can see, due to them really wanting to make the squad for competitive games and not due to Kerr’s motivation skills. After a few sloppy games he should have had some harsh words with the players who are were more or less guaranteed to be in the starting 11 (Keane, O’Shea, Kilbane) and if that didn’t work replace them. This didn’t happen.
In the end it is obvious that Kerr really loves and wants the job but the problem is that he is/was so afraid of messing up that he made too many safe/negative decisions.
So the risk of trying him out didn’t really work but I am glad that we gave him a shot or else if we had to of chosen someone else like Brian Robson and he also failed to qualify then Kerr would be next in line to take over and the next two or three years could be wasted. If a better candidate becomes available Kerr should be replaced but I don’t think it should be automatic. They should put the position on offer and allow Kerr to reapply with other candidates. If nobody better applies rehire Kerr. We shouldn’t just sack him and replaces him with any sh!te.
Maybe second time around he will be less uptight and make some brave decisions.