O'Brien hopes FAI will keep things close to home

SOCCER: Republic of Ireland defender Andy O'Brien has said he wouldn't like to see the FAI appoint a Continental European coach to succeed Mick McCarthy as manager of the Irish senior team.

The 23-year-old Newcastle centre back said he feels such a move might be too dramatic a departure for a side that, he says, has done well under Jack Charlton and the recently departed McCarthy, and that any great shift in thinking within the Irish camp now would be likely to prove another blow to the Republic's already badly dented hopes of qualifying for the 2004 European Championship finals in Portugal.

"It would be a massive change for Ireland and I am not convinced it is the right way to go," he said. "England have gone that route with Sven-Goran Eriksson and it has worked, so maybe we all have to accept that times have changed. But I don't know if it would be right for us.

"The last two men in the Ireland job have been very down to earth, working-class guys. If someone comes in from a foreign country with some radical new ideas it will take a long time to get what he wants. And we haven't got that time because we need to start winning again soon if we want to qualify for Euro 2004."

The one-time England under-21 international suggested, however, that he was not too unhappy to see the back of McCarthy who, it seems, he felt was overly loyal to a number of his more established players.

"Mick had a great loyalty to certain players and in some ways it was a good thing," he said. "It built up a team spirit and meant the players were always going to stand behind him. But when you are on the outside looking in, as I was to an extent, it can be very frustrating."

O'Brien feels aggrieved that his strong club form last season didn't count for more with McCarthy, but he admitted that things might actually have been worse.

"I felt there was a good chance I was going to be left out of the World Cup squad altogether," he remarked.

"When you looked at the facts, I had been playing well for Newcastle all season and we got into the top four of the Premiership, but it didn't seem to count for too much.

"I never got my foot in the door of Mick's team and nothing I did for Newcastle was going to change that. Still, it's all in the past now and as far as I'm concerned I have a lot of unfinished business with Ireland. I want to kick-start my career under the new manager."