Brian Kerr has been in the job not quite 18 months and there have been some significant changes; while it is too early to make a definitive judgement on his stewardship, there are disquieting signs that not all is well. His results at the back end of the Euro qualifying campaign were OK, as he certainly had been handed a poisoned chalice initially. However, the fact remains that under McCarthy, Ireland lost to Russia and Switzerland and under Kerr, Ireland picked up only one point. That's barely an improvement. He did do well against the minnows, but that's a given in modern football. The only reason Ireland stayed alive for so long in that group is because the others didn't take care of the minnows as well as Ireland did. The biggest thing that has bothered me since Kerr took the helm has been that I don't think I can ever remember Irish sides playing with so little passion and heart. The Basel game was almost painful to watch, and the team that day bore little resemblance to any Irish team I had seen in recent years. There may be many who would decry McCarthy and his style, but say what you will, his teams always played with heart, passion and guts. Gary Breen is an example in a microcosm - whenever he pulls on the green shirt, he usually plays out of his skin. The other side of this equation is John O'Shea - in the green shirt his Utd. form goes out the window, though this season he has been patchy, at best, at club level. Under McCarthy it seemed as if Ireland was a team of Gary Breens(!), but to date under Kerr, the side has looked like a team of John O'Sheas. Perhaps a bit of an exaggeration here, but the general principle is close to the truth. Maybe much of the ennui on the field can be blamed on the Keane factor, but regardless of the outcome of the alleged present talks, there is only so long that Ireland's failings can be laid on this particular doorstep. Tactically, Kerr appears to be on the ball, but you have to wonder if he has the respect of the players. There were all sorts of reports of a row before the Czech game and something does seem to be wrong. You have to wonder about Kelly, Kiely and now Carsley making themselves unavailable for selection. Obviously all three would be pushing it to make the starting eleven, but their retirement appears to imply a certain problem with Kerr and his management style. Carr's abrupt return to Spurs and then lining out a scant three days later, despite a 'serious' injury in Dublin, would seem to add further fuel to the fire that not all is rosy in the Irish camp. When it comes to the manager, footballers can be quite harsh with perceived weaknesses. The fact is that Kerr has neither played nor managed at the highest level (neither underage international and League of Ireland are) and that can easily be seen as a fault. Few managers without top notch playing experience make it - Wenger would be an exception - precisely because players feel that if you haven't played it, you can't manage it. This certainly was a problem for Eoin Hand who had been little more than a journeyman player and suddenly Brady, Stapleton and O'Leary were meant to listen to him. Apparently it was so bad in the Hand days that Brady, Stapleton and O'Leary had a veto on all selections. This same squad, essentially qualified for Euro '88 and WC '90 because there was a belief in, and a respect for, Charlton. (There is a wonderful story told about Charlton before the WC '90 when the Irish team were based in Malta, I think. O'Leary was whinging and moaning, day-in, day-out about tactics; eventually Charlton had enough and told him he could manage the team when he had one of these (something in his pocket) in his hand. O'Leary in front of the whole squad asked what 'it' was. Charlton pulled out his '66 WC winner's medal!) But the point here is that with most/all the Irish players playing at highest level in Britian, they are playing in environments where Kerr has never trod. Perhaps that is one of the reasons why Kelly, Kiely and Carsley retired; the hope is that Carr won't follow the same route and declare that he must concentrate on his career at Spurs, a second rate premiership side who aspire to survival and the league cup quarter-finals every season. Many of the senior players in the camp were supposedly much pissed off when Kerr texted everyone of them telling them to text Healy, wishing him a speedy recovery from his broken leg. A bit too much of the mother-hen there. Also, Kerr is known to be a meticulous planner for every game, but it is believed that many of the players object to watching hours of videos/DVDs on the opponents before each game. This is the respect angle - if this were Ferguson, Scolari or Beckenbauer, this tactic would be accepted readily. What all this ultimately means, I don't know, but if the worst case scenario happens - Ireland continuing to play flat in big games, Kerr not being taken seriously by not just the senior players - it bodes very badly for a tough WC qualifying campaign. The signs are there, and I am concerned, way more so than about the Saipan debacle. However, who is really to know how deep rooted these problems are? But there is something amiss. Something is rotten in Irish football; we can just hope that it's not serious or at least fixable.
You may have a point, people generally let Kerr off the hook when he failed to beat Russia and lost in Switzerland at the end of Euro 2004 qualifying because he was dealt a bad hand to begin with. But the fact of the matter is that if Ireland had won those two games, we would be spending our holidays on the eastern side of the Iberian penisula this summer. This was a very poor group, the Russians and the Swiss are no world beaters and if either make it past the group stage in Portugal I would be very surprised. As for the respect factor, Kerr has had many of the current senior team come through under him in his youth teams so they will already be aware of his methods. I'm not sure if they agree with him but the musings from Duff, Robbie Keane & Co when he was first appointment were nothing but positive. As for the others, I don't know. I think Kelly "retired" before Kerr's first game in charge, right? Carsley was continually called up and got some playing time, but in truth, his playing time at club level recently has been minimal. As for Kiely, he was always going to be the number 2 'keeper and must have gotten tired of that. I really don't think these 3 retirements are because of a lack of repect for Kerr. Whats happens next? Who knows. Maybe Keano will come back, we beat Cyprus, finally beat Switzerland and get a win in Paris on a last minute Barthez own goal. And all is well.
I have to say I was a little surprised by the stories which came out after the Czech game. There does seem to be some tension behind the scenes. Kerr is going to make some mistakes and will always have this "respect" thing looming over him. Everyone knew it would be an issue. However the players involved must surely share some responsibility here. Is this a case of the lads being upset at not having their night out in Dublin? Perhaps some prefer the good old days out on the piss during a world cup finals. Maybe Kerr has gone too far with the disciplne in some areas, but he made changes that needed to be made. We can't always have a world cup winner in charge showing off their medal to shut up moaners like O'Leary. We only qualified for one tournament (in 6 years) under McCarthy. Lets at least give Kerr the chance of one full qualifying campaign.
I think you may be underestimating what it is like to take on the coaching position of a National Team, especially the boys in green, in the middle of a qualifying campaign. I think the Czech and the Brazilian results were a very positive sign for a team that isn't screaming with international superstars. I faith in Kerr. And even if I didn't, I don't think 18 months is enough time to really judge him, considering the circumstances.
i more than happy with kerr's performance to date. as for as the debacle in switzerland is concerned, i'd have to lay the blame at the feet of the players. if PROFESSIONAL footballers can't motivate themselves for a match of such importance then there is very little a manager can do. i'm not concerned that he hasn't played at the highest level, if anything i think it's better - look at wenger as an example. footballers are not known for being their mental prowess and i think kerr is a much better tactician that he's given credit for. kerr is a true professional in every sence of the word. i know some players weren't happy with some of his changes but pro footballers are the biggest moaners around. one of the recent complaints the players had with kerr was that he made them sit down and watch videos of the opposition. mccarthy let them come and go as the please - sadly, most perferred the play table tennis or computer games rather that put in any extra effort.
I think you're being rather pessimistic in your analysis of the state of Irish football. Players retire all the time, for reasons other than lack of repect for the managers. Look at Irwin, Shearer, etc. Gary Kelly, Dean Kiely and Lee Carsley all had good reasons to go that had nothing to do with the way the team was being managed. Kelly is getting old, he would have seen how Shearer has flourished after leaving England, and figured "hey, Carr and Finnan are two of the finest right back in the Premiership, so I probably stand to win very few caps," and in addition to that why would he want to go off to some god-forsaken town in the middle of Albania, train with the squad on some muddy pitch with rocks in it, and then sit on the bench for the match and go back to Leeds tired and frustrated? Now, on international match-days he can rest up his shins or his knees or whatever is troubling him and he can therefore play better for his club and significantly prolong his career. It's the same deal with Kiely - he realized he will never get to play competitive international football barring and injury to Shay Given, and made the choice to concentrate on his club football. I'm not saying they were right to retire, I'm saying it had nothing to do with Brian Kerr. Carsley has an mentally handicapped child, and that must put a huge amount of strain on the poor man's personal life. And now after losing his place at Everton, he needs to work harder than ever to make sure he has a contract next season. Again, this has nothing to do with any lack of respect for the manager. I agree with Roy Keane when he said "things are finally being done right." This isn't a team of amateurs who can go and have a few pints of guinness before a world cup qualifyer. The squad must have a much more professional attitude, and Kerr has brought that in. Was anyone else embarrased when a visiting journalist (I can't remember the team - mabye from Estonia?) asked McCarthy about some of their key players, and he had never heard of them? He knew nothing about the team we were about to play. Granted we won in the end, but it didn't inspire confidence in me. There's no manager who will work as hard as Brian Kerr for Ireland, and I think he will, with a bit more experience, become the most successful Irish manager of all time.
The next campaign is really where he can be judged, this will make or break Kerr as Ireland manager. Results in friendlys at least have been good so far, and the preformance espically against the Czechs was excellent I thought, if we carry on that form into the qualifyers we should be fine.
I agree with many of the sentiments expressed thus far. Kerr has had very little time to make this team his own and we can only justifiably judge the manager's performances after he has been allowed the chance to qualify for a major tournament. I was unfortunate (fortunate maybe) enough not to see the game in Basel (due to those idiots in the O'Neills branch in Dundee not having a brain-cell between them - but that's another story), but I would hope that the return of Roy Keane will provide the sort of influx of positive energy that will prevent that sort of flat performance occurring again. The Keane factor will hopefully nullify any complacency within the squad and, if we can take a few points in the away games in France and Switzerland, then we should at least get a play-off place.
Interesting points raised and some valid response. I would agree to a large degree but certainly it is far too early to pass judgement. I have already commented that the performances against the Swiss & Russians under Kerr were no better than those under McCarthy and these were after the team had been on a good run and had gathered momentum whereas McCarthy's games came soon after a major tournament - historically a difficult time for many International sides. Pointwise of course Kerr picked up one for the home draw against Russia, where we never really looked like we had the belief to win it. Alternatively McCarthy had a point in the bag at home to the Swiss only to lose it by (courageously some would say - stupidly others would) going for the win! Not much in it in terms of performance in any event. Ultimately the professionalism that Kerr has/will brought/bring to the team has to be a good thing. The fact that many of the up & coming players, and certainly the two best we have (Duff & Rob Keane) have played for and been successful with Kerr at underage level and therefore have respect for him & his methods should ensure compliance. There was definitely a fairly major disturbance in the force before the Czech game and some of the older players are clearly having a problem with the new regime, but with any new manager they will learn to shape up or ship out. Of far greater concern is the potential fallout from the prodigal's return!