‘It lacked class and it disappointed me’ – Brian Kerr gains closure for 2005 exit but is now ‘finished’ with Ireland

Brian Kerr says he will play no role in a future Ireland management team after his involvement as part of the backroom staff of interim boss John O’Shea ended on Tuesday night.

But while Irish fans await the arrival of a permanent successor to Stephen Kenny, with an appointment now expected in the second week of April, Kerr has distanced himself from the position taken by Ireland defender Dara O’Shea that the new boss should be “somebody who understands Irish football and who knows what it is”.

Former Ireland manager Kerr will now revert to his roles in TV and radio punditry as he’s confirmed he has no plans to seek a place on the staff of the next manager.

“I was asked to help out for two matches and that’s finished. As far as I’m concerned, I’m finished,” he said.

“I haven’t been asked to do anything else. I’ve enjoyed that time. I don’t know whether I would want to do any more. I have commitments to the media, which I have broken over the last few weeks.

“Both Virgin and Off The Ball have been very cooperative in allowing the time out to do this, but I don’t have any problem going back to do that again.

​“I found this really interesting, intensive, demanding and I don’t know how important my contribution was. The initial question I asked John [O’Shea] was, ‘Why do you think you need me, can you not do it yourself?’ I said the same thing to Jonathan Hill, and having looked at him over the last few days and looked at the staff working, I don’t think there is a great necessity for me.”

Some figures within the FAI believe that the Ireland manager should be Irish, a theory Dara O’Shea appeared to back in his pre-match comments before the Switzerland game. But Kerr, who managed the national team of the Faroe Islands as a foreigner, was keen to keep the door open.

“When I went to the Faroes, it was a massive honour to trust someone with a national team, I always think that,” says Kerr, aware that of the four managers who took the Republic to a major finals, two (Jack Charlton and Giovanni Trapattoni) were non-nationals.

“Previous managers of Ireland who weren’t from Ireland have done very well. You don’t need to name them. So if the association decides to go that way, the players will get along with it and the country will get along with it and it will be up to him to devise a way of playing that helps us get the results that everyone wants to see us get and give us a hope of qualifying for tournaments again.

“Dara is a very bright and intelligent lad and I thought he was exceptional in both games. I was fierce impressed with him, but it doesn’t mean he is right in terms of advising the association as to what the right thing to do is.

“I think he is entitled to say that, and maybe there was a bit of emotion sitting beside John, and he mentioned John was one of his heroes as a young lad.

“Maybe it was a natural thing to say, but I don’t really know what’s happening.”

The last week was Kerr’s first time to be involved with the FAI at any level since he was sacked as senior team manager in 2005.

“While the manner of his departure from the FAI, where he had been on staff since 1997 and had also worked on Liam Tuohy’s coaching staff at youth level in the 1980s, did hurt, he admitted that this spell was closure “to a degree”.

Kerr said: “The way I finished wasn’t very nice. It wasn’t very nice to get a letter in the post after working for them for eight or nine years.

“You get a letter in the post saying they decided not to renew your contract and would you send us the money you owe us for tickets and give us back the computer and the car and phones and any paperwork you have belonging for us.

“It lacked class and it disappointed me at the time because I done my bit. I done it as a volunteer with Liam Tuohy in the ’80s as well. It was just poor.

“But anyway, I have enjoyed this period and I’m grateful for the opportunity to work with the international team again and working with those players. They’re a lovely group of lads.

“They made me feel very welcome and they were very open to any bits of advice I had to give them. I’ve really enjoyed their company.

“Irish people can be proud of them. Their parents and their clubs; they really are a very impressive group of lads.”

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