Kidd throws hat into Irish ring

SOCCER:  Leeds United coach Brian Kidd is reported to be the latest candidate to have put himself forward as a potential replacement for departed Republic of Ireland manager Mick McCarthy.

The former Manchester United player has apparently approached the FAI to express his interest and indicated that if successful Kevin Moran would take on the role of assistant.

Kidd (53), once seen as a strong contender to succeed Alex Ferguson at Old Trafford, has enjoyed mixed fortunes since leaving the club in December 1998. Initially lured away to take over at the then relegation-threatened Blackburn Rovers, he failed to prevent the club going down despite spending heavily on strengthening the team.

He departed early the following season following the club's poor start in Division One and after a brief spell out of the game was hired by David O'Leary to take over the youth academy at Elland Road. He proved a considerable success there and O'Leary subsequently promoted him to first-team coach, a position many believe to be his strongest.

Recently he has been spoken of as a potential replacement for Steve McClaren within the England set-up although it is difficult to see how he would be prepared, or allowed, to take on any outside responsibilities on a part-time basis while Leeds are struggling so badly in the Premiership.

More than once, though, he has been linked with managerial vacancies at other clubs and it now appears that he also has his eye on the opportunity presented by McCarthy's departure to try his hand at international management.

Moran, meanwhile, has gone on to a successful career as an agent since retiring from the game and had originally dismissed the suggestion that he might be interested in taking over from McCarthy.

He knows Kidd from the late 1980s when the pair - one a player, the other just starting out on his coaching career - were both at United for a couple of seasons. It now seems that he may see a way of combining a role in the Ireland set-up with his work at the highly successful Proactive agency where he is a partner.

Whether the FAI accepts that the two roles can be combined without significant conflicts of interest arising remains to be seen but if the interest of the pair is confirmed then it is likely that Bryan Hamilton, who has been appointed to assess candidates for the Ireland job, will be talking to them over the coming week or so.