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BRIAN KERR, NOW AND THEN
By Garry Doyle
GARRY DOYLE speaks with the Republic’s former manager about Trapattoni,
the FAI and his distaste for Ireland’s increasing racial intolerance.
The truth often hurts and as both a manager and a man Brian Kerr has
never been afraid to dish out the pain. At times he has been stung by
the consequences of his policy — not least at the end of the 2006
World Cup qualification campaign when his tenure as Ireland manager came
to a close.
Yet he hasn’t changed. He remains a blunt, strong-minded, industrious
and honest person — someone incapable of tolerating fools gladly.
Which is why the Irish Government’s strategy on immigration disturbs
him and why the FAI’s governance of Irish football is a source of
deep frustration.
When you throw any issue in front of him, he will tackle it head on —
the appointment of Giovanni Trapattoni, the chances of Ireland qualifying
for the 2010 World Cup, the necessity for an All-Ireland soccer League,
the mixed morals of modern Ireland.
On the day we met Kerr was travelling to Belfast to attend a Sport Against
Racism function and when he spoke about today’s Irish society he
freely wondered if a side-effect of the Celtic Tiger was the production
of a generation who knew the price of everything yet the value of nothing.
“I accept that times change,” says Kerr. “I accept that
people have fears about their jobs and about losing them. I accept that
there have to be controls on immigration, that numbers have to be realistic.
“But when I look around Ireland now and see so much green space
I just wonder why we can’t do more to accommodate people who want
to come and live here. Through football I have been fortunate, or unfortunate,
enough to go to some seriously-impoverished places in the world —
Nigeria being the most obvious one.
“So if those people are capable of finding a way out of there then
fair play to them. They’re obviously scrappers, ambitious people
who want to improve their existence.
“So do we do enough as a society to accommodate them? I don’t
think we do. Does the Government do enough? No.”
Like every man Kerr’s take on life is a mixture of nature and nurture.
By habit he is opinionated and often indignant yet this disguises a genuine
kind and warm personality, one that takes him on hospital visits to see
the sick and to schools to speak to the youth about issues like obesity
and respecting elders. He is more than just a football man.
So what made him like this? To get a glimpse into the character of the
man you have to go back to the family and generation he grew up in —
the Drimnagh of 1950s Ireland.
Kerr was the youngest boy in his family, the son of two Belfast people
who had moved south when sectarianism was at its worst. Frankie, his father,
won seven Irish boxing titles, missed out on the 1932 Olympics because
they said he was too young to travel and then on the Berlin games because
the OCI did not send a team.
By the time Brian was born Frankie had graduated into coaching the undergraduates
of Trinity College giving his youngest son a glimpse of a world that existed
beyond Drimnagh’s tiny community.
“Every morning I’d wake up and there would be a different
fella lying on the floor of our living room,” says Kerr. “There’d
be students from Africa, America and everywhere. Whoever was stuck for
a roof over their head me da would sort them out.
“That was just the way it was and the way he was. He believed in
helping people. So did me ma. Those were the values instilled in us. And
those were the values that Irish people stuck to.
“For me it was amazing because a black person was so rare in Dublin.
You’d learn about where they came from, what their countries were
like, what went on outside of Ireland. I found it fascinating.
“Then as I grew older, I began to realise the level of ignorance
that existed in Ireland, how people were afraid of a multi-culture society.
That concerns me.
“We should have a social conscience here. There is a lot of potential
in Ireland and there is also plenty of evidence from other societies who
can teach us how to avoid ghettos and how to help us all integrate. And
on a purely personal basis I always felt huge sympathy and responsibility
for anyone who is on the outside.”
The outside is where Kerr finds himself now. After nine successful years
of employment with the FAI his divorce from the Association in 2005 was
filled with acrimony.
Three years on the bitterness has subsided yet the sense of annoyance
has not. The FAI, he feels, need to improve their manner in running the
Eircom League.
Kerr says: “I get a sense — from speaking to people on the
ground and from speaking to other managers around the League — that
morale is pretty low in the Irish football community right now.
“That stems from a few years of failing to qualify but also from
the fact that progress under the FAI appears to be very slow. They seem
to be so involved in keeping people in line and belting them with a hammer
and with threats and fines rather than working with people.
“While the Eircom League needed to change, while more structure
and more control over the clubs was needed, I think it is has gone too
far and it is uncomfortable at the moment. If it continues along the lines
that it has started then I can see people getting very frustrated.
“What we need is an All-Ireland League supplemented by regional
Leagues. This is too small a country for us to support 50 or 60 clubs
— especially when you consider that England, with its substantially
larger population, has 92 League clubs. We need to get the top clubs from
the largest population bases on this island into one League. That’s
crucial.”
Yet all isn’t bad inside the FAI.
Kerr says: “I haven’t been involved for the last couple of
years but I do know the plans that were in place to improve the structures
and standards of soccer in the country and am aware of some of the work
going on in regional training centres.
“In a nutshell, they are trying to identify talent earlier and have
accepted that we cannot rely on the Premiership to provide us with players
for the international team for ever and ever.
“I think they are working hard on rectifying this issue. Whether
we can get any returns on that remains to be seen. Long-term I’m
sure we will see more players being produced for the national team from
all across Ireland.”
But in the short-term Trapattoni has what he has — the same group
of players who could take only one point out of six against Cyprus, who
fluked a win in San Marino and failed to get any other victories on the
road in the last campaign.
Which is why Kerr is realistic rather than optimistic about the next campaign
— one that pits Ireland against Italy, Bulgaria, Georgia, Cyprus
again and Montenegro.
“You look at our away form and it is awful,” says Kerr. “That
has to improve. Overall I think Trapattoni has a tough task getting us
to the World Cup because Italy, obviously, are a major threat being world
champions and Bulgaria’s record for qualifying for World Cups is
excellent. So you couldn’t be overconfident about our chances but
you would think we would have a fair shout.
“There are other teams who could be a handful. Georgia, who weren’t
great in the last campaign, always have something about them and have
the potential to do better.
“Montenegro are only sixth seeds because they are a newly-formed
nation. Cyprus are hard to beat. Qualifying is difficult. I should know.
Still, you would expect that if we get off to a better start that we would
be in contention to the last couple of matches.
“Trapattoni has come in. He is a new manager with an impeccable
CV. And it could be a very good appointment. My only concern is with his
hunger. At 69 does he still have as much desire as before? If he does
then we are in good hands. You can’t fail to respect his achievements
in the game.”
But how will Kerr’s achievements in the game be judged? Right now
opinion is divided in Ireland about his legacy.
To some he is a man who bit off more than he could chew when he got the
senior job. There was always the question of players respecting him because
of his background in League of Ireland and youths football.
Yet to others he remains an intriguing character, a winner who transformed
St. Patrick’s Athletic between 1986 and 1996, winning two League
titles on shoestring budgets before he went onto make history with the
Irish youth teams who won under-16 and under-18 European Championships
in 1998.
“What I remember about 1998,” he says, “was that we
got the rub of the green. Like in the under-16 final we beat Italy 2-1
but in the last minute of that game John O’Shea tripped one of their
players in the penalty area. It was a stonewall penno. But the ref didn’t
give it.
“Then in the under-18 final Germany created chance after chance
but we held them off and ended up winning the match on penalties. That’s
luck going your way.
“Sometimes you don’t get it. Like with Pat’s I had years
and years when I cursed myself, angry that other teams seemed to get better
fortune than us. But by 1996 we got the bounce of the ball.
“That’s sport. I’m a firm believer that luck evens itself
if you are given enough time. Unfortunately I wasn’t given enough
time with the senior team.”
These days his time is spent back in Inchicore, as Director of Football
with St. Pat’s. The role is varied. He recruits players, is involved
in transfer and contractual negotiations and devises strategies to maximise
the income through the club’s coffers.
It helps that the club has a benefactor — the billionaire property
developer Garret Kelleher. Yet even so it takes more than a sugar-daddy
to help clubs progress.
“It’s a tough world running a football club no matter where
in the world you are. Fundraising has to exist at every level. You always
have to consider various ideas, always have to be one step ahead of the
posse.
“Yet no matter what the level is the thrill you get from seeing
your team win on a Friday night is what keeps you going. That’s
where the passion comes from, that adrenaline rush that accompanies winning.
That’s what makes the game great.”
And the characters involved in it.
Brian Kerr factfile:
Full name: Brian Kerr
Date of birth: March 5, 1953 (Age 55)
Kerr grew up in Drimnagh, south Dublin and played schoolboy football
from Crumlin United. He quickly realised he didn’t possess enough
quality to make it at the highest level and at 18 turned his hand to coaching.
After stints as coach with Shelbourne, Home Farm and Drogheda United Kerr
was appointed manager of St. Pat’s Athletic in 1985 — the
club he supported as a kid. Working on a shoestring budget Kerr quickly
gained the reputation of being a wheeler-dealer picking up players from
junior football.
In 1990 Kerr led St. Pat’s to their first League championship in
44 years and after winning the title again in 1996, quit to become technical
director of the FAI.
He enjoyed unprecedented success in his new role winning both the under-16
and under-18 European Championships.
Following the resignation of Mick McCarthy, Kerr was appointed senior
manager in 2003. He inherited a team that faced a huge task to qualify
for Euro 2004 and despite some encouraging results finished third in their
group behind Russia and Switzerland.
Kerr’s side was only defeated once during the qualifying campaign
for World Cup 2006 but the concession of late goals to Israel both home
and away saw Ireland finish in a disappointing fourth. Kerr was criticised
for negative tactics and an unwillingness to talk to the media.
What they said:
Damien Duff: “I thought Brian did a great job and really it was
the players on the pitch against Israel who messed up. Had we got those
four points then we would have got to the World Cup and Brian would have
been a hero.
Robbie Keane: “I had Brian at underage level — he was a good
motivator, had a good knowledge of football. He knows the game.” |
