Scotland managers praise Irish blueprint

THE German managers of Scotland’s international football teams were full of praise for the under-age structure that Brian Kerr has established in Ireland.

They pointed to the high level of activity provided by the FAI for the various under-age squads and said the 1.5m they invested each year was reflected in the success of the senior team. They wished the Scottish FA would copy the Irish blueprint.

Brian Kerr accepted the argument, but he made the point that some of that expenditure at least was forced upon the FAI by the success of the under-age teams. A case in point is the U20 team that will travel to the UAE at the end of March to compete in the World Cup finals. The FAI are now obliged to fund that campaign because Ireland qualified - it was not pre-ordained that this level of expenditure would be incurred.