Kerr hits back at Harte attack

REPUBLIC of Ireland manager Brian Kerr has hit back at claims by Ian Harte he is being frozen out of the international scene.

Harte has not played under Kerr since making a surprise summer move to Primera Liga side Levante following Leeds' relegation from the Premiership.

Yesterday, the Levante-based full back was quoted as saying that the Irish manager hasn't returned his calls, even after the player asked assistant manager Chris Hughton to act as go-between. "It's a joke and disappointing that after playing 58 times for my country and scoring nine goals, he can't pay me a bit of respect and give me a call," said Harte.

The full-back, who is currently out injured, also claimed that Kerr had opposed his move to Spain. Kerr offered a diplomatic reply saying that he hadn't seen the interview and didn't want to get involved in "a slagging match."

But he did say: "Players know that I'm available and I do return calls and I expect them to return them to me. As far as I know Ian is injured at the moment and he's not available. And I had no discussion with him about him going to Spain or otherwise. I spoke to him after he went and I was happy for him that he got a move to a level that he felt was higher than the league he was going to play in with Leeds.

"I've said repeatedly that we've got a squad of players who've done well in the games they've played in, and Ian has done well when he's played, but these are the ones now who are in pole position in terms of keeping their place in the squad. There are other players who are just outside the squad who I'm watching as closely as I can in relation to their form, and if I feel they're better than what we have, they may well come back into the team."

Kerr would generally be unused to having an embarrassment of riches on the eve of a friendly game, but after yesterday's training at Malahide, he had the rare luxury of being able to confirm that he was retaining a squad of 26 players from the original 27, following Manchester United's withdrawal of Roy Keane.

However, the Irish manager did reveal that although Stephen Carr is staying in Dublin to train with the squad, the Newcastle defender will not take any part in tomorrow night's game against Portugal. Carr has played only one game for his club since returning to action after three months out with a knee injury that at one point was feared to be career-threatening.

Speaking of the value of having the squad together for the first time in 2005, at a busy time on the club front, Kerr said: "This is an opportunity for the players to refocus on what's coming up and also for us to give them some information for the programme for the year ahead, the possible dates when we might be coming in and the times they might be able to get a break holiday-wise and family-wise. And, of course, it's a really good game for us as well, with the Israel match coming up soon."

The point was echoed by captain Kenny Cunningham. "The fact that we play Israel in a month's time and the fact that we've been away from each other since last November, makes a friendly game important at this point in the season. Particularly against the standard of opposition we'll be facing. Portugal are a very competent side, as they proved last Summer. It will be a real test for us, defensively and offensively.

"The system they play can cause you a lot of problems. They play with a lot of width down both sides and when they have to, they put five across the middle and make it very hard to penetrate, so it will be a good exercise for us. They've got some outstanding young players, they like to get the ball down and pass it and I think the supporters will be in for an excellent game of football."