Irish concerns grow as the Premiership goes cosmopolitan

As he sat around the house kicking his heels and wondering how to keep himself busy until this afternoon's first games of the new season, there's been plenty happening in recent weeks to keep Republic of Ireland manager Mick McCarthy wandering back towards the living room and hitting the text button on his television remote control.

Ahead of the biggest month or so of his managerial career, McCarthy has been as much a helpless bystander as any club's supporter over the close season, the main difference being that while a good many fans come to feel that their lives depend on the wheelings and dealings of the summer transfer market, the Ireland boss rather reluctantly concedes that, like it or not, events entirely beyond his control may well end up having an uncomfortably large impact on his livelihood.

McCarthy was forced into a quick climbdown on his initial proclamation that, during his reign, only those players playing first-team football at their clubs would be considered for the national team's starting line-ups. It doesn't take a genius to work out, though, that the more of his panel that are playing regularly at the highest level, the better it is for McCarthy as he heads into the crucial final phase of Ireland's qualifying campaign for the Euro 2000.

Prior to the summer there were a number of key concerns. For starters, the Republic's firstchoice goalkeeper, two of the three regularly-employed centre backs, and one, if not both, of the wide midfielders couldn't nail down a regular place with their clubs.

Worse than that, there is a serious lack of depth to his squad, with several of the players who regularly sit on the bench or get drafted in when first-choice players are forced to withdraw through injury, either playing reserve-team football for a good chunk of their careers or have to content themselves with life in the lower divisions. It's a situation that every Ireland manager has to cope with and all McCarthy could realistically hope for was that there would be minor improvements to his lot over the close season.

On one or two fronts there has been. Mark Kennedy, a favourite of McCarthy's since their days together at Millwall, finally made a move that seems likely to result in first-team football. The switch from Wimbledon to Manchester City has resulted in the Dubliner dropping down a division, but there was virtually no prospect of avoiding that after spending the guts of five years in Liverpool's and Wimbledon's reserves.

His pre-season at Maine Road, most notably this week's game against Gerard Houllier's side when he was widely reported to have been outstanding, suggests that Kennedy can quickly rebuild his reputation at club level. And that is certainly good news to the man who has often been criticised for standing by the young winger through some of the darker days.

"I always said that Mark was a good player and I still believe that he is," says McCarthy. "His problem has always been that he needs to be playing and if he gets to play at City - and it looks like he will - then it will be a good move for him and nobody will be happier for him than me."

Kennedy was the only one of McCarthy's regular starters to actually move during the summer, but another may have benefitted just as much from the lack of a move going through. At Newcastle, Ruud Gullit has been openly casting an eye around for a new goalkeeper and even brought in Marc Ziegler for the friendly game against Celtic to see if the German fitted the bill.

Shay Given and Steve Harper have been injured during the build-up to the new season and that has not helped their cause, but for the moment at least the Dutchman's attention has been diverted to other areas of his team. Given will fancy his chances of regaining his starting slot if Harper remains his only real rival at the club, but if a new man on an expensive contract arrives, then the Irish number one could quickly find himself once more having to leave a club in order to get first-team football.

A move that might have gone through, and may go through in the not too distant future, is Phil Babb's proposed return to his former club Coventry City. A fee was agreed early in the summer, but nothing further has happened due to complications over Babb's contract with Liverpool and the personal terms offered by Gordon Strachan.

"I think the truth is," sighs McCarthy, "that that's a move that everybody wants to happen at this stage. It would be good for Phil, who has been told that he doesn't figure in the plans at Liverpool, good for Coventry who could do with him, and good for me. It's not that simple any more, though, nowhere near that simple, I don't think Phil has too long to go on his contract and he's probably on a good wage at Anfield. It's difficult, but I just have to keep on hoping that something will happen over next while, because Phil doesn't look like he's going to get to play much if he stays where he is now."

A little ironically, Babb moving to Highfield Road could prove to be a major setback for his main rival in the Irish camp, Gary Breen.

Breen's fortunes under Strachan have closely resembled Babb's under Houllier, but they are likely to take a rather spectacular nosedive if the competition for places hots up at the club.

McCarthy has other, pressing concerns, too. "It's the problem with having players involved with big Premiership clubs," he says. "There is so much money floating around that even players that you would think would be automatic starters can end up struggling. Just look at Steve Staunton. To me he's a first-team player wherever he goes, but is he going to play regularly this season at Liverpool? I don't know and I don't think he knows either."

Alan Kelly's move to Blackburn, Robbie Keane's decision to stay at Wolves for the moment, and the arrival of Danny Mills at Leeds just as Gary Kelly is returning to full fitness are among his other concerns. No less than the players, McCarthy has been taking it all in and weighing it all up.

"Of course it's better for the lads to be playing in the Premiership, but if they can get regular football in the first division then I have no problem with that. The standard there is good. I played Niall Quinn and Robbie Keane together up front last season, both of them were playing there and I had no complaints."

Given that Blackburn alone have taken four of his players down with them and signed another, it's not hard to see why he would talk the division up.

"The other thing is that this was always going to happen with the number of foreign players coming into the game now. Everybody knew that if a lot more foreigners came in there would less opportunities for lads from Ireland or Scotland or Wales. It stands to reason, doesn't it? I even saw the other day where Kevin Keegan's suffering now," he adds, with a just hint of sarcasm in his voice. "He's got less than 50 per cent of the Premiership to choose from for the first time ever."

Over the course of the season the Ireland manager is optimistic that some of those who poked their noses into first teams last year will make further progress.

"Jason Gavin (Middlesbrough), Richard Dunne (Everton), Barry Quinn (Coventry) are all players who seem to be making progress, but the fact is that my important games for this season are in a few weeks' time and, barring a whole load of injury problems between now and then, they're not going to come into the reckoning.

"We had a crop of young players come through a couple of years ago when I went all over the world with them getting my backside kicked. We know who they are and who the more senior players are and they'll be the ones that I'll be trying to look at over the next few weeks. There'll be time later to catch up with the others."

Gavin, Dunne and Quinn are more likely to be of interest to Republic of Ireland under-21 manager Ian Evans, whose own side is still in with a chance of qualifying for next year's Olympics in Sydney.

"I think, like Mick, I probably have a pretty good idea of the players I want for the games that are coming up and I'll probably be busier over the next while working with Brian Kerr, looking at younger players, 16 and 17 year-olds, and seeing who we can take in with a view to the future."

Like McCarthy, Evans has been keeping an eye on the transfer news over the past couple of months and, like his boss, the Welshman is not always entirely sure which way a move is going to work out for his players.

Brian Barry Murphy's switch to Preston North End is an exception for Evans feels that the Corkman is capable of pinning down a first-team place at Deepdale and has the potential to develop quickly.

"Barry Conlon going to York, though, or Dave Worrell going to Dundee United, how are you supposed to know how something like that is going to work out? And then there are some of players who are at Premiership clubs who you end up feeling would be simply better off getting away and getting a start somewhere."

On the brighter side, Stephen McPhail (Leeds) and Dunne will bring Premiership experience with them when they join up with his squad at the end of this month. "Another one or two, like Kevin Kilbane (West Brom) I'll lose to the senior squad, but I'll be happy to lose them because that's what it's all about, getting them through to the highest level."

Just now the conveyor belt isn't exactly overloaded, but the hope is that when the teenagers that have done so well in European and World championships over the past couple of seasons come through at club level there will be the nucleus of the next generation of senior Irish internationals.

Grooming the likes of last season's European Youth Championship winners into senior internationals is fraught with difficulties, though, as Brian Kerr admitted the day after Nigeria eliminated his team from the World Championships in April.

Asked to put a figure on how many of the side could make it all the way to the top, Kerr was reticent. The likes of Damien Duff (Blackburn), Keane and McPhail had already shown themselves well capable of playing first-team football in England, but which ones will make the right moves at the right time during the summers ahead and which ones will fall victim to an edgy manager with cash to spend?

"Maybe only a couple of them," said Kerr, "but all you can do is keep on trying and hoping for the best."