Kerr in contention for India job

**sligoman** · 26/04/2006, 12:13 PM

Not sure if this goes here now saying as he's not manager anymore but I'm sure Ireland fans are still interested in it:
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Former Republic of Ireland boss Brian Kerr has emerged as a candidate for the vacant national team manager’s job in India.

Kerr has been out of football since effectively being dismissed by the Football Association of Ireland in October, his fate sealed by failure to qualify for the World Cup finals.

He made clear his desire to stay in international management, and applied for the South African job earlier this year.

And India is the latest country to be considering an application from the affable Dubliner, with Kerr said to be among a ten-strong list of candidates from which a short-list of five will be selected for interview next week.

Others who have applied to the All-India Football Federation include former Chelsea manager Ian Porterfield, ex-PSV Eindhoven and Ajax coach Hans Westerhof and the legendary former France boss Michel Hidalgo, who guided Les Bleus to the European Championship crown in 1984.

http://www.eleven-a-side.com/acrosst...p?newsid=22230

**thejollyrodger** · 26/04/2006, 12:15 PM

thought this one was a joke.

seriously though.. best of luck to him and india !

**drinkfeckarse** · 26/04/2006, 12:17 PM

I was going to say "is he desperate?" but there are some other decent names in the frame too. Still smacks of desperation to take any job to me though.

Going from being the Rep of Ireland manager to being the India manager would be a bit of a come down.

**Hitman** · 26/04/2006, 12:53 PM

Their federation make the FAI look professional as well. He'd be mad to go anywhere near it, there's no infrastructure there, and the only football that gets a look-in is the Premiership, otherwise it's all cricket.

**NeilMcD** · 26/04/2006, 2:14 PM

Lads he is not a millinoaire so he is right to apply for a job it his livilng. I am sure people on here would not be liked to be called desperate if they applied for a job that was deeme lesser than the one they had last year.

**Dodge** · 26/04/2006, 2:23 PM

Originally Posted by Hitman

He'd be mad to go anywhere near it, there's no infrastructure there, and the only football that gets a look-in is the Premiership

He's well used to it. Its far from desparation. A lot of thee jobs are very highly paid.

**drinkfeckarse** · 26/04/2006, 2:43 PM

Originally Posted by NeilMcD

Lads he is not a millinoaire so he is right to apply for a job it his livilng. I am sure people on here would not be liked to be called desperate if they applied for a job that was deeme lesser than the one they had last year.

I'm not denying that he needs to earn a living but this is quite simply applying for the sake of it. Do you honestly think Kerr would have thought of giving the Indian job much thought a year ago, do you honestly think he can name one of their players??

He, like 99% of the population has little or no interest in the Indian National football team so he's just applying for it to keep his name in the news.

I honestly think he'd be better off applying for a top EL job but maybe that would be too much pride to swallow for him so instead he belittles himself and his achievements IMO in applying for jobs like this...

**Plastic Paddy** · 26/04/2006, 5:57 PM

Originally Posted by drinkfeckarse

a top EL job

Name one.

PP

**Dodge** · 26/04/2006, 6:07 PM

The Pats one. The only one he'd take (its a love thing)

**Plastic Paddy** · 26/04/2006, 6:38 PM

PP

**TheJamaicanP.M.** · 26/04/2006, 10:40 PM

I don't know much about the state of football in India but if they take Kerr they'll be in a worse position before too long.

**hamish** · 26/04/2006, 11:19 PM

Always surprises me that India are not stronger in Asian footie as they have a long tradition in the game. I see that two of their recent Cup Finals had crowds over 100,000 - I think in one game it was something like 115,000

So, there is plenty of support for the game there and loads of kids playing it as far as I know but poor organisation is the problem.
Cricket is also huge but the support and passion for football is often overlooked.
How Kerr, though, would be in a position to improve them given the slipshod organisation of the game there is questionable.
I guess, if anyone reads this post and replies, they will include a reference to the FAI.

**Thunderblaster** · 27/04/2006, 12:03 AM

A couple of facts about Indian football:

The biggest football stadium in the country is the Krirangan Stadium in Calcutta, which holds 125,000.

Their big name player is Baichung Bhutia who once plied his trade with Bury FC.

They are ranked 117th in the world in the latest Coca Cola FIFA rankings.

They played in the 1948 Olympic Games in London and qualified for the 1950 World Cup but withdrew when FIFA told the federation that India could not play barefooted.

The main star for India on Sensible Soccer in 1995 was Tushar Bak****.

Top clubs are Mohun Bagun and East Bengal.

**Hitman** · 27/04/2006, 8:18 AM

I was there for six months, the only area which seemed to have any real interest in football was Goa. The standard of the domestic matches was appaling, and reading the scant coverage in the local media about the federation they're unlikely to make much of an impact at international level in Kerr's lifetime, whether he takes the job or not.

**eirebhoy** · 27/04/2006, 12:04 PM

Originally Posted by TheJamaicanP.M.

I don't know much about the state of football in India but if they take Kerr they'll be in a worse position before too long.

Come on JPM. He has an excellent CV.

**Superhoops** · 30/04/2006, 11:21 AM

MOD EDIT Its not funny, and it is rascist....

Leave it alone

**CollegeTillIDie** · 30/04/2006, 4:48 PM

India has got to be the MOST underachieving country in World Soccer.
Given their potential playing population , their failure to reach a World Cup is nothing short of amazing. Pakistan's record is also pathetic but they only have 10% of India's population resources. If Soccer/Association Football really was the National Sport of England , why are these two former members of the so-called British Empire so brutal at the game?
Cricket is England's national sport, Pakistan and India are world powers in that sport!

India had an English coach whose first name was Steven,(I think there was a feature about him on some football programme and the Indian lad, mentioned above in this thread , from Bury F.C. , was still playing for them at the time) a few years back and he had managed to raise their international ranking...I think he got them up to being 4th seeds in Asian Qualification terms which is "quite remarkable" in the words of David Colemanballs!

**CollegeTillIDie** · 30/04/2006, 4:55 PM

Originally Posted by Hitman

I was there for six months, the only area which seemed to have any real interest in football was Goa. The standard of the domestic matches was appaling, and reading the scant coverage in the local media about the federation they're unlikely to make much of an impact at international level in Kerr's lifetime, whether he takes the job or not.

Goa was ruled by Portugal until the 1990's I think. Says it all really !

**CollegeTillIDie** · 30/04/2006, 4:57 PM

And for the record Baichung Baita, looks slightly Tibetan in case any of you are trying to remember what he looks like from Coca-Cola Football League highlights etc.