Brian Kerr Soccer analyst: Mick McCarthy's forced exit just three games after a decent World Cup campaign; my own two years later; and now Stephen Staunton's demise sees the FAI in a third search for a manager all within a five-year period. This is a crazy way to do business.

Each of the last three managers clearly had difficulties, either in the public and media perception of their performances or with the Svengali of the FAI itself.

The lack of stability is ridiculous. The FAI decision makers (at present there appears to be only one) seem to enjoy the profile that the current vacuum bestows upon them. They weather the storm that comes from poor results, and the subsequent dismissal of a manager, but ineptitude hinders them from learning any progressive lessons.

They may have learned the necessity to speed up the process but they've certainly discovered how to survive and deceive in Machiavellian terms.

Not that the author of The Prince would ever hold them up as an example. The main value Machiavelli emphasised was the need for stability. Above all, the prince must not be hated, while ruling by fear or love were both deemed acceptable.

Having entered into a manager search on a biannual basis, perhaps the FAI could consider making it an annual event similar to St Patrick 's Day where their deliberations become the complete focus of Irish football.

The fallout from these periods spent on clandestine hunts for a manager or "football consultants" to find a manager is time wasted from the FAI official's actual role, which is to develop the game in Ireland.

Huge amounts of money are being flittered away in pay-offs to discarded managers (not me I might add as my contract had expired) and all sorts of support and administrative staff that are then replaced with more expensive personnel.

The current Merrion Square gang of three - John Delaney, Michael Cody and David Blood - stated their intention to pass the buck of managerial selection to a group of consultants. They may as well start looking in the yellow pages now that so many have turned them down.

Surely the role of a highly paid CEO and staff is to make the tough decisions and take responsibility for the consequences, as their selected managers must. Outsourcing this pivotal task only highlights a lack of a decision-making backbone.

They have muddied the waters further this week by distancing themselves from John Giles informal meeting with Paul Jewell.

From my own experience, I remember being surprised that Bryan Hamilton was chosen as the consultant to present a shortlist for the former gang of three - Delaney, then treasurer, Kevin Fahy and Milo Corcoran.

My concern was that someone from Northern Ireland was involved in our process and could be unaware of my work or credentials.

I met Hamilton in Dublin on December 11th, 2002, (the timescale was quite similar to the present scenario) and was immediately relaxed by his confirmation that I would be shortlisted. However, he did tell me there were a lot of other candidates to meet.

From a personal perspective the waiting and dangling until the next interview was frustrating. Five weeks later, January 15th, I had a formal meeting with the big three in the Berkeley Court. Hamilton was also present and occasionally involved. This lasted over two hours and while I was happy that two of the three were impressed, I was aware that my interview was moved forward to accommodate our departure the following day with the under-20s to the UAE.

At no time during the period following Mick's departure did I have any discussion with the decision makers. Nor was there any confirmation of who the other candidates were but I was very conscious that there was a game against Scotland on February 12th.

I felt the process was taking far too long but perhaps that was because I was being questioned everywhere I went after announcing my candidacy the previous November.

The big deal at the time was who was going to get Roy back. Hence the significant lobby for Bryan Robson and Kevin Moran.

At 2am, UAE time, on January 24th, I finally got the call from Kevin Fahy asking me to come home to iron out terms for myself and chosen staff of Chris Hughton, Packie Bonner and Noel O'Reilly.

I never did get a call to say my time was up; just a letter saying I owed the ticket office money and they wanted the company car back. I think Stan got a nicer no thanks.

Again, I thought it took too long to find my replacement.

Even the current interim solution seems flawed. The cosy instalment of Don Givens and his under-21 assistant Paul Clement, who manages the Chelsea youth team, to the senior role for today implies the dreadful results at under-21 are irrelevant from an FAI perspective.

There are people out there and even working for the FAI who could make a difference but they are ignored to the detriment of our young players.

But I don't think anyone in Merrion Square really cares.

Let's hope we can soon get back to talking about matches, players and opposition - maybe even win a few games because the current run of results is depressing. Drastic change is required.