‘Reid right to want top flight’

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND manager Brian Kerr would like to see Andy Reid move to a Premiership club - but only if the player was sure of a first-team place.

The Dubliner emerged as one of the stars of the opening games in Ireland’s World Cup campaign this year, and with the January transfer deadline looming, he could be one of a number of Irish players to change clubs. Earlier this season, the Nottingham Forest midfielder had a public falling-out with his club boss Joe Kinnear over his desire to leave the club, and although they subsequently resolved their differences, Forest’s continued difficulties in the Championship have renewed speculation that Reid may move on.

“I would prefer to see all the players playing at the highest level,” says the Republic of Ireland manager.

“So yes is the answer with Andy. But I would hope he wouldn’t go to a club and end up as a fringe player. It is better to be in the First Division and playing. But Andy’s good enough to do it at the next level and I’d like to see him playing in the Premiership.

“With the shortage of good players in the Premiership and the pressure clubs are under to either get off the bottom, get up from the middle or get nearer the action, I think something will happen with Andy this time around.

“And with the situation Notts Forest are in, they might see it as an opportunity to say ‘we’ll cut our losses, take what we can get now and get a few players in for the money’. But that’s their decision.”

Despite words of praise for the player this week from Alex Ferguson, there has also been much speculation about the uncertain position of John O’Shea at Old Trafford, where the Irish international has dropped down the pecking order after a promising start to the season.

“From our point of view I’m not overly concerned,” says Kerr.

“I’ve never said that someone has to be playing in the first team in order to play for us. You don’t need to make those chopping block rules for yourself, because needs be at times. John seems to have been squeezed out and it’s coincided with a bit of a run for the team. But he was sub the other night and he’s still so adaptable. I thought he actually played very well in midfield for Manchester United earlier in the season and I spoke to Alex Ferguson about it at the time.

“Against Spurs away he played in the middle with Roy Keane and played really well. It was such a good combination that I considered playing the pair of them together coming up to the France match. I don’t know where it’s going to go for John at Manchester United but I’m not overly concerned at the moment.

“This is December - the next main match for us is near the end of March. A lot of things could change in terms of whether John goes or stays but I’m sure he’s not likely to be going down to Rotherham. He’ll still be playing at a good level.”

Another Irish player in the news is Celtic’s Aiden McGeady, who earned rave reviews for his performance against AC Milan in the Champions League. McGeady came on in the dying moments for his first senior game in the friendly against Croatia, but while Kerr recognises the 18-year-old’s quality, he has an open mind about how best to deploy him.

Kerr said: “We’ll have U-21 matches at the same times next time around so we’ll have to make a call on whether it’s more valuable for Aiden to play with them, where he’s a key player, or be part of the senior side where he might not be in the starting team and might not get much of the action.

“It’s very early for Aiden. He did well against Milan last week out on the left hand side but we already have three or four who can play there. Aiden is a possibility there but he’s got to mature physically. It’s early days but we’ve known for four years that Aiden has special ability. Willo Flood is the same - we have great hopes for him.

“But there are a lot of good players in the current U-21 group. So we have to work out that balance as to whether they’re better off being on the fringes with us or playing for the 21s.

“But these are nice problems, instead of us scratching and scraping and saying where are we going to find the next one.”

Looking ahead to the resumption of World Cup Group 4 action in Israel on March 26, Kerr’s recent spying mission to see the Israelis take on Cyprus revealed that the game in Tel Aviv will be a tough test for the visitors.

The manager had earlier received reports on the Israelis from Lou Macari and Noel King and, having now seen them first-hand for himself, he concludes: “They’re a good all-round side, with a lot of spirit about them, and they showed great joy in winning the match (in Cyprus) at the end.

“They’re obviously making headway and saw it as a crucial game so that they would be on eight points coming into the match with us. They’re a big, strong team, well-organised, with a couple of handy players.

“Noel reported they would be a hard nut to crack and what I saw certainly confirmed that.”

And while Ireland are taking on Israel, France will play host to Switzerland, suggesting that March 26 could prove to a be red-letter date in terms of dictating the ultimate shape of Group 4.

“There’s no question about that, although it’ll still be only match five with five to go,” says Kerr.

“But there is an opportunity there that night to have a big impact on the rest of the group.”

*Read Liam Mackey’s in-depth interview with Brian Kerr in Arena on Wednesday, December 22.