Quote:
From: Gerry McDermott [mailto:Gerry.McDermott@fai.ie]
Sent: 17 October 2007 12:20
To: Brian
Subject: Current Management Set-up
Brian,
Thank you for your recent to email to John Delaney. He has asked me to reply on his behalf.
We appreciate you taking the time and effort to express your thoughts personally and I would like to make a few points that might clarify where the FAI stand in relation to the senior international team.
First of all, contrary to what you might read or hear elsewhere, the decision on the future of any of our international team managers is not solely the remit of John Delaney. It would be a decision for the ten members of the FAI Board of which he, as chief executive, is an ex-officio member. In relation to the appointment of a manager to the senior international team in 2006 John Delaney was part of a three man sub-committee selected by the board to make recommendations but the ultimate decision on the appointment was taken by the ten board members.
In January 2006, the FAI didn't just appoint a manager to the senior international team, we appointed a management team consisting of Stephen Staunton, Bobby Robson, Kevin MacDonald and Alan Kelly.
Each of those individuals brought different talents and expertise to the job. Stephen Staunton brought the experience of playing over 600 clubs games as well as representing his country on 102 occasions and being the only Irish player to have played in three World Cup Final tournaments. Bobby Robson, having managed England, Barcelona, Newcastle, PSV Eindhoven, Porto, Ipswich Town and Fulham over a 35 year period, supplied top level management experience. Kevin MacDonald holds the UEFA pro-licence which is football's top coaching qualification and is part of the management and coaching team at English Premier League club Aston Villa while Alan Kelly is a former Ireland international goalkeeper who was brought in to work with the team's goalkeepers.
At the time it was clearly stated that this would be a four-year programme with the long term objective being the assembling of a squad capable of qualifying for the 2010 World Cup.
As the Euro 2008 qualification campaign draws to a close, the association genuinely feels that progress is being made. The spirit within the squad is now akin to that found at club level and Stephen Staunton has left no stone unturned in trying to unearth players for the team he is building. Since becoming manager he has used 48 players, of which 24 were new caps. In addition, and this is perhaps the most important point, he has given 15 players their competitive debut during the current qualifying campaign and used 32 players in total.
Because we work off a small pool of talent, we can ill-afford to do without key players at any level and it is fair to say that our campaign has been blighted by the loss through injury, at different times, of high calibre players like Stephen Reid, Shay Given, Damien Duff and Steve Finnan. It also hasn't helped that Bobby Robson has found himself battling against cancer for most of the past 18 months and this has curtailed his presence at games.
We recently took steps to tackle the strength in depth issue by producing a High Performance Strategy that will back up our successful Emerging Talent Programme which was launched last year. The High Performance Strategy includes the appointment of a High Performance Director to work with the under-age international managers and players and also oversee the National Academy which will be located at Abbotstown. In addition we have introduced strategies such as the Interculturalism Programme in order to increase participation and integrate people from different cultures into Irish football.
The Football Association of Ireland has made a lot of progress on many fronts over the past three years and is attempting to lay solid foundations that will sustain the game, and the senior international team, into the future.
Once again, thank you for taking the time to express your feelings and I hope that we will all have plenty to cheer about in the months and years ahead.
Regards
Gerry McDermott
Communications Manager
Football Association of Ireland
I really still can't believe McDermott is the press officer for John Delaney. I just wish Kerr was allowed speak out.
