'Maybe it ended quicker than it should have' - Kerr delighted to complete unfinished business
Brian Kerr admits he’s yearning to help the FAI after a call from the blue to assist his former player John O’Shea.
Ireland’s interim boss has enlisted the 70-year-old as technical advisor for the home double-header of friendlies against Belgium and Switzerland on March 23 and 26 – a short-term arrangement he’s no knowledge of being extended beyond that.
Kerr was last involved with the FAI in 2005, a nine-year stint that began as their most successful-ever youth team boss by winning both the U16 and U18 Euros in 1998.
He doubled up in that role as technical director before assuming the senior post, one curbed by John Delaney in 2005 at the end of a sole qualification campaign.
He succeeded in ending Roy Keane’s post-Saipan exile and the Cork man would subsequently convey in his autobiography his disapproval at Kerr being jettisoned.
The Dubliner had previously worked in the association as Liam Tuohy’s assistant for the U18 squad that reached the Euros and World Cup. He later managed the Faroe Islands with some success but a desire to help the Ireland cause always burnt bright.
His precise role has yet to be defined amid a busy week.
O’Shea, himself recalled for national service on Tuesday while the pursuit of a permanent boss ticks towards an early April completion according to the FAI, soon called one of his mentors with an offer he couldn’t refuse.
That was in contrast to the last one in 2019, from stopgap general manager Noel Mooney which revolved around a cryptic brief of media watchdog.
Scouting is sure to form part of this to-do list. He indirectly begins that portfolio on Sunday by seeing Belgium’s Kevin De Bruyne in the flesh. Kerr’s punditry duties will stall once Sunday’s Manchester derby is completed.
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