Kerr’s days numbered?
Kerr’s contract expired with the 0-0 draw against Switzerland on Wednesday, which condemned Ireland to missing out on next summer’s World Cup finals. A three-man FAI sub-committee - consisting of CEO John Delaney, president David Blood and honorary secretary Michael Cody - has already begun to examine the fall-out from Wednesday’s game and will report its findings to the 10-man Board which will ultimately vote on whether to renew the manager’s contract.
The expectation is that Kerr will not be offered a new deal, despite statements of support from some of his players in the aftermath of Wednesday’s scoreless draw against the Swiss.
The FAI said its Board of Management “will now consider the implications of non-qualification and assess all the issues in respect of the senior international team with a view to achieving success in future European Championship and World Cup campaigns, and growing the game throughout the country.”
John Delaney expressed his “disappointment” at the failure to qualify for the 2006 World Cup but praised the effort put in by all concerned during the campaign.
“Everyone associated with the quest for qualification - Brian Kerr, the technical and support team, the players and the squad members and the staff in Merrion Square - have all applied tremendous effort in terms of commitment and dedication to the task,” said Delaney. “Unfortunately, our collective efforts have not been sufficient to take the squad to Germany next year.”
It has been estimated that failure to qualify for the World Cup finals will cost the FAI around e5m in potential revenue but yesterday the association insisted it had set out to manage its core finances on the basis of non-qualification, and regarded qualification as a bonus.
“Nevertheless,” the chief executive admitted, “the additional income from a major Championship campaign would have been a very welcome addition to our investment in the game at home.”
Delaney also praised the Irish fans, saying they had contributed “massively” to the campaign and that the World Cup finals would be a less colourful tournament for their absence.”
There were certainly no goodbyes from Kerr to his squad on Wednesday night and some players left their Portmarnock base to return to their clubs without apparently seeing the manager on Thursday morning.
“Why should he say goodbye?”, asked striker Clinton Morrison. “Nothing has been decided yet. If he does get the sack then he will probably call us all and say goodbye then.
“Brian has done a good job but as a manager you are judged on results and qualifying for championships. I am happy to see him stay in the job. He has been brilliant for me since I came into the squad and hopefully he will stay. I think most of the players will back him.”
Steven Reid also backed the boss, saying: “Hopefully he will stay and I think that’s the consensus among the rest of the players.”
Meanwhile, captain Kenny Cunningham, who announced his international retirement after the game, said he would like to see the manager receive an extension to his contract.
“I hope he does,” said the Dubliner who has stepped down after 71 appearances for his country. “There is talk of a succession or a change but I think you have to say sometimes continuity is a good thing and sometimes it’s the right thing. Is there a better man out there to do a job? There aren’t too many. That’s out of our hands, the FAI will decide that but I hope Brian gets an extension to his contract. He’s got the players behind him. The players appreciate the effort he has put in over the last two to three years and we hope he’s around for the European Championship qualifiers.
“He’s thrown himself heart and soul into the job, is a hugely passionate man. He wants to be successful for the country as do all of the players. He was absolutely crestfallen in the dressing room. I’m sure people will throw others claims forward but it’s an easy thing to do. You have to ask yourselves, is there a manager capable of doing the job better than Brian? Not too many spring to mind if you ask me. I think an easy decision would be to look for somebody else. If we stick together, the lads will have some continuity and hopefully some success.”
Cunningham also feels Roy Keane still had more to contribute to the international team on the pitch.
“When you look at Roy’s qualities, he’s capable of going on. He’s been a big help in this group at particular times. I still think he has a huge role to play in the international team.”
And, reflecting on where it had all gone wrong for Ireland in this campaign, Cunningham once more highlighted those dropped points against Israel.
“We felt at the start of this group, we were really confident that we could get through it,” he said. “We thought we could win the group or at least get a play-off place.
“To finish fourth in the group is hugely disappointing. It was a lot closer than that but as we said in the dressing room, it wasn’t tonight, it was the games that preceded it that really cost us the group.
“We spoke before about how we were going to accumulate points in the group and felt that ultimately it would come down to the games against Israel and that was the case.”
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