The greening of Ireland

I have to admit I was a bit surprised when Brian Kerr was confirmed last week as Ireland manager. I’ve a lot of time for Brian – he’s a real character and a great coach – but I thought the nod would go to somebody who’d played and managed at a higher level.

What probably swung it for him is that we’ve got crucial qualifiers coming up in a few weeks time, and out of all the candidates he’s the one who doesn’t really need a settling in period. He knows how the FAI works – or doesn’t a lot of the time – and has already worked with most of the squad. Ask the likes of John O’Shea, Robbie Keane and Damian Duff what they think of the decision, and I’m sure they’ll tell you they’re delighted.

A lot of the UK newspapers were saying “who?”, but Brian has a good reputation in the game and even if he hasn’t had much direct contact with Gerard Houlier and Alex Ferguson, they’ll know who he is and afford him the same respect they do other international managers.

He did the right thing arranging a face-to-face meeting with Roy Keane in England. Brian’s attitude will have been, “What’s past is past, let’s look to the future and getting Ireland into the European Championships.” I haven’t spoken to Roy since, but I know the things he’d need to hear before agreeing to come back. He wants the players to be treated as well as the officials are and reassurances that, should we make another finals, the organisation and facilities will be up to proper international standard.

It sounds simple but, to be honest, I don’t think the FAI are any more together now than than they were during the World Cup. If you worked for the English or French FA and messed up you’d be out on your ear, but you’ve got Brendan Menton being blamed for the World Cup fiasco and only being moved sideways. That suggests to me that any restructuring that’s going on is purely cosmetic.

The FAI’s decision to bring Bryan Hamilton in as an advisor was a good one, but then the whole selection process descended into farce. Add to that the controversy about what Mick McCarthy was or wasn’t paid as a bonus, and you can imagine Roy going, “Jesus, they’re still at it!”

Don’t get me wrong – there’s nothing I’d like to see more than Roy Keane in a green shirt again, but unless Brian Kerr was able to tell him something we don’t know about, I’m not convinced that come February 21 his mind will be changed.

Something else that has to be taken into consideration is Alex Ferguson urging him to quit international football for the good of Manchester United. He may have worded it a bit differently, but that’s what he meant. With United still in the Champions League and breathing down Arsenal’s neck in the Premiership, it’s a persuasive argument and one that Roy’s doubtless weighing up at the moment. One thing you can depend on, though, is that if he does come back, Roy will give Brian and the team 110%. There’ll be nothing half-hearted about the return if it happens.

I don’t know if their minds were made up before the final interviews, but even if they weren’t, the FAI’s on-going treatment of Frank Stapleton is disgraceful. I know that Frank laughs along with Aprés Match’s impersonation of him, but it’s created this impression of him being a bit slow which couldn’t be further from the truth. Nobody knows and thinks more about football than he does. Time and time again he’s said he’d like to help his country out, yet the men in blazers refuse to give him any sort of role. Rather than shunting Brendan Menton sideways, they should be begging Frank to come on board in some capacity. Other countries value their most experienced players, we discard them.

With so much else going on it’s been overlooked, but Damien Duff’s niggling hamstring problem is a real cause for concern. I know training methods are supposed to be more sophisticated nowadays, but that type of injury was far less common when I was a player. People cite lack of confidence as the reason for Michael Owen scoring less goals than he used to do, but I don’t think he’s fully recovered from his own hamstring problems. The explosive pace he had to get past defenders isn’t there at the moment. David Moyes has got it spot on when he says that Wayne Rooney is too young to be playing 90 minutes of football week in, week out. Teenagers must be brought on gradually or they’re going to be burned out by the time they’re 22 or 23. Brian Kerr needs to have a diplomatic word in Graeme Souness’ ear and say, “Can we work together on this?” Of all the young lads Ireland has at the moment, he’s the one who’s got it in him to be truly World class.

It’s not all gloom, doom and despondency though! I actually think that not being expected to qualify for Portugal can work in our favour. Nobody’s going to crucify Brian Kerr if we don’t get there, and if we do, him and the team will be heroes. He’ll do his best to take the pressure off the players in public, and in private tell them, “Look, we’re still in with a shout here!”

Six points from the Georgia and Albania games, which is very do-able, and the play-offs won’t seem quite so out of reach!