Kerr in limbo as FAI keep silent over new deal

[pineapple stu]

Qualify He stays
3rd Place, He goes
Go out in the play off fifity fifty on whether he stays or not, depends on the manner of the defeat.

Hard to disagree with that, to be honest.

The problem is that it appears Delaney wants Kerr out so he can install his preferred manager (i.e. one who spends all his time in England and comes over to Ireland for the internationals only). In that respect, any play-off defeat could cost him his job. Just be grateful Bryan Robson's employed at the moment!

[RedX]

I would take Mick McCarthy back in the morning just to get rid of Kerr..i think a lot of the craic of even supporting the Irish team has gone since he came in..he is a very negative guy with his tactics and he bores the hell out of me..he had absolutely no experience at top level football before he came in and should never have been given the job in the first place..he did well with the young lads and thats where he should go back to but it would be hard to see him do that if sacked..there are quiet a few of the regular Internationals that have disimproved since he took over also..Isreal are average..France have not played as poor in a group in years..Switzerland are average..and we are struggling...Kerr must not be offered a new deal...

[tetsujin1979]

I would take Mick McCarthy back in the morning just to get rid of Kerr

Tough, he's employed

i think a lot of the craic of even supporting the Irish team has gone since he came in

Ask the lads who met the team out after the Faroes game, or the crowd that outsang the French in Paris

he is a very negative guy with his tactics and he bores the hell out of me

Most people say the same about Mourinho

he had absolutely no experience at top level football before he came in and should never have been given the job in the first place

Ditto Klinsmann at Germany, Rijkaard at Holland, Van Basten at Holland, Hughes at Wales.
Who would you have had in? He was the best available at the time.

he did well with the young lads and thats where he should go back to but it would be hard to see him do that if sacked

I'd prefer to see him in an overseeing role, not managing any particular team but ensuring the development of players and facilities around the country

there are quiet a few of the regular Internationals that have disimproved since he took over also

Hardly Kerr's fault

Isreal are average..France have not played as poor in a group in years..Switzerland are average

All 3 teams are unbeaten, all 3 can't be that bad.

and we are struggling...Kerr must not be offered a new deal

Keep your opinion until the qualifying series is over

[RedX]

Keep your opinion until the qualifying series is over

I can speak my opinion at anytime before or after any game lad..and thank you for disecting my whole post and reply with the biggest waffle i have read in a while..

You state the likes of Klinsman at Germany and Hughes when managing Wales had no experience?..oh and Van Basten and Rijkaard also..maybe not to much experience managing but you are talking about masters of there craft with years of playing football both at club and International level..thats experience!

Do you honestly think i was serious about Mc Carthy?

And just that all three teams...Isreal,France and the Swiss are unbeaten at the moment does not prove your point that they are bot great...France by there own admission are playing terrible..thats why thye begged former players to return..Switzerland are slightly above average but are well beatable..Isreal are having a good group but are also well beatable..where was your point?..

Now if you are to reply to my post please make some points and stop talking complete drivel..

[Cowboy]

Do you honestly think i was serious about Mc Carthy?

why not, you made no indication to the contrary? How are we to know exatly what your position is?

[Cowboy]

Now if you are to reply to my post please make some points and stop talking complete drivel..

I thought the points you made were responded to in a like manner, because you disagree does not constitute them as "drivel" to use your description.

[skbio_toronto]

My tuppence worth.

This thread has reflected the general trigger happy approach that the modern day football fan has with their teams manager. Since when so we have the right to 'expect' qualification in every group we participate in. This seems to be the expectation of many of ye out there. Facts of the matter are:

a. We've one fo the smallest player pools in Europe to choose from.
b. In spite of signinficant improvements in recent years. We don't have a strong domestic league.
c. The governing body (FAI) are traditionally one of the most chaotic, unorgainised bunch of blazers known to the sporting world.

Yes in my life time. We have qualified for one Euro Championship and three World Cups - a remarkable achievement given the above factors. This success (and yes qualifying for these tournaments does qualify as a success) has artificially heigthtened expectaions amongst many of us. Make no mistake, we're no Germany, Spain or Italy. Qualifying for any of these tournaments is a tremendous achievemetn for Ireland that takes much perspiration, skill and fortitude.

Relating to Brian Kerr's tenure so far. What are we crticising him for. The insipidness of the players in Basle. The substitutions he's made. Has he brought the jobs positon into disrepute ala Ericsson. Has there been an outstanding decision of ineptitude we can all agree on. (e.g. McCarthy not realising we were playing against 10 men in WC '04)

In my opinion... no. Lets see how these two games go. It will indeed define the Kerr era thus far. Until then, lets get back to supporting Ireland and less of the conspiracy theories.

[Marked Man]

The post is supposed to be about Kerr. So what's the story with the postings slagging off McCarthy? The man had his flaws of course, but still. Just for the record, he is, after Jack Charlton, our most successful manager ever. People should remember that.

[OwlsFan]

Yes Delaneys vote, the same person who is whining behind closed doors about the money that Kerr spends on the team.

If he is whinging behind closed doors, how do you know about it ?

[eirebhoy]

I'd say his tendency to try to hang on to 1 goal leads against far inferior teams has cost us a fair few points in fairness (he did it against Israel twice and in Switzerland when we went ahead).

He did it against Switzerland and Israel? Certainly not Switzerland. Israel is questionable but the after match quotes seem to show that Kerr didn't tell them to sit back.

Roy: “In saying that, we should still have killed the game off. We could have done more in the second half in terms of possession and testing their goalkeeper."

Kerr: “We didn’t create a whole lot, and could have been more incisive going forward"

Kav: "it certainly wasn't a conscious effort on the lads to sit back and defend deep"

I have searched for a certain quote a load of times without success but Kerr said he told the players at half time to push up and create more. The main objective was to keep possession, unfortunately the players thought this meant sacrifising creating chances. The ironic thing is that someone on this forum said that Israel got possession for their goal because of a shot from an Irish player.

[stickyjoe]

Kerr hasn`t covered himself in glory so far. He didnt impress in the Euro 2004 qualifiers for the 6 games he was in charge and so far in this campaign we`ve been far too defensive for my liking and have only won 3 games(Faroes cyprus).

At the end of the day I dont care how boring/defensive we are so long as we qualify. So from where I`m standing if we qualify give Kerr a new 2 year contract and if we don`t qualify he is gone

[Cowboy]

If he is whinging behind closed doors, how do you know about it ?

Because he was not talking to himself, you dont seriously expect me to tell you who told me this do you?

[mjpcc]

Unfortunately (and it was the same in the run-up to France), we are going to be subjected to constant media reports with no substance to them and whose only objective is to stir up trouble and mistrust .

If Im honest I dont see the reasoning behind changing the manager. For all the whining on this forum and others about selections , tactics etc I dont believe Kerr has done anything different to what supporters wanted.

There was a lot of garbage spoke about who should have been playing in the side (all good aftertiming of course after the results of the matches). We have people suggesting that players who ply their trade in lower divsions should be selected over proven premiership players. We have other lower division players being touted as a better option than guys who have Champions League experience etc etc. The facts are we have a limited side at the moment. There are a couple of genuinely 'special' international players and the rest are all what I would call 'solid' - not spectacular in what they do but certainly capable at this level. The trouble is , there are not enough of them about. With one or two exceptions we would all pick the same side as BK going into the games. It is not his fault that JOS handballs against the Israelies or that the goalkeeper plays the game of his life.

I doubt if anyone can honestly say we were second best or outplayed by any team in our group. One or two things havent fallen in our favour but have in others (Swiss last minute winner against Cyprus for example). You can argue all day long about tactics for games but I dont think BK made any mistakes barring the Keane injury against Israel and even then just how many chances did we need to still win that game. He is not responsible for Henrys 25 yarder, the Israeli dream-strike in the 1-1 draw or us not beating the French in Paris.

When I look back at the campaign I can pinpoint the occassions where it went wrong and none of them are the fault of the manager in the same way McCarthy should not have been held responsible for the Macedonia incident. It is the players on the pitch that need to perform and although it is not ideal we are still in with a chance. If we finish second to France I would say thats exactly where 90% of us thought we would be a year ago. If that is where we end up then win or lose in the play offs I think BK would have taken the team to exactly the stage I expected them to be.

We do have a next generation of possible stars coming through like Kevin Doyle and at the other end we will lose more established players like Roy. Someone has to make that transition over the next few years and I would prefer BK who has worked with them previously , than letting the FAI appoint a manager with no idea of the irish set-up/attitude whatever you want to call it. Whether we want to accept it or not Ireland is way short on world class and even shorter on strength in depth I dont see a change of manager making a difference. It does make a difference in a situation like Englands where you have a huge pool of quality to pick from and can therefore select different formations, different players depending on the opposition and have plenty of cover in all areas but that is not how Ireland is built at this time.

Would a change in manager make a difference to us ? would we become a better team ? Im not so sure. Going into the last two games my thoughts are not 'is the manager good enough ?' but 'are our players good enough' ?

agree totally ................. well said

[colster]

I would take Mick McCarthy back in the morning just to get rid of Kerr..i think a lot of the craic of even supporting the Irish team has gone since he came in..he is a very negative guy with his tactics and he bores the hell out of me..he had absolutely no experience at top level football before he came in and should never have been given the job in the first place..he did well with the young lads and thats where he should go back to but it would be hard to see him do that if sacked..there are quiet a few of the regular Internationals that have disimproved since he took over also..Isreal are average..France have not played as poor in a group in years..Switzerland are average..and we are struggling...Kerr must not be offered a new deal...

Can you give me an example where Kerr has picked the wrong team or used some bizarre tactic?
Can you tell me what another manager would improve upon?
Can you give an example where Kerr has shown his top-flight inexperience?
How is Kerr the reason for an Irish player disimproving? Name the players
Kerr has been responsible for some players improving e.g. Morrisson, Kilbane (up until recently) etc.

The problem with Ireland is with the players he has at his disposal. The central midfield is a huge problem. We're playing a 34 yr old on his last legs and a converted winger who can't keep possession in a tight game. We also miss a Niall Quinn type to knock long balls to which would help to cover up deficiencies in the midfield.
Even so we are still in with a shout of qualifying. Most of us would have taken that when the group was drawn.

[Stuttgart88]

Even so we are still unbeaten

Thank God for that. I had this terrible nightmare that we lost to France recently!

[NeilMcD]

Yeah it was a good post up until then

[colster]

Thank God for that. I had this terrible nightmare that we lost to France recently!

Sorry about that!!
Changed it. Get really frustrated with some of the rantings about Kerr.
I think he's done a pretty good job and should be given contract to the 2010 WC.

[Peadar]

I think that regardless of the manager, we'd have struggled in this campaign. We just don't have the quality up front to punish teams.

The future doesn't look bright at the moment.
All we can hope for is Pele getting Damien Duffs ma pregnant with sextuplets while we all save up for the World Cup 2022.

[colster]

I think that regardless of the manager, we'd have struggled in this campaign. We just don't have the quality up front to punish teams.

The future doesn't look bright at the moment.
All we can hope for is Pele getting Damien Duffs ma pregnant with sextuplets while we all save up for the World Cup 2022.

I think we have reasons to be optimistic for 2010. We have a number of promising players Whelan, Ireland, O'Brien, Garvan, Potter, Doyle, McShane, Kelly, Stokes, McGeady, O'Dea etc.

[Lionel Ritchie]

Yeah it was a good post up until then

I thought it was fine up until he went long ball myself.

regardless of having a Quinny type or not we're STILL knocking long balls ...and it's tactically bankrupt in international football as it is on the school pitch.