Old pros give Brian benefit of the doubt

Reaction: Emmet Malone finds a broad welcome within the game for the new Ireland manager.

It may not exactly be the time to be expressing reservations about the man who is suddenly in a position to influence the future of so many people, but there was broad agreement over the weekend that the FAI had done the right thing in choosing Brian Kerr as the man to succeed Mick McCarthy.

Don Givens insisted that Kerr has a hard act to follow.

"It will be a very tough challenge for Brian - he's familiar with some of the players but not so much with others," said the under-21 manager.

"I really don't know how the players will react to him but in my experience players tend to react well to somebody who is hardworking, passionate and professional and Brian is certainly all of those things."

Givens, who looked after the senior team in Greece before Christmas, added that he thought the selection of Chris Hughton as Kerr's assistant was an astute one.

"I played with Chris and he's a really smashing fella. He'll be important to Brian because he'll be able to provide advice as somebody who has actually been in particular situations as a player and it will be good for Brian to be able to call on that."

The man who has provided a good deal of advice to Kerr through much of his managerial career to date and who is likely to stay by his side, Noel O'Reilly, claimed he had had no confirmation of the appointment and he had had no contact with his friend since returning from the Middle East last night.

"When I left him in Abu Dhabi he had had no word," said O'Reilly. "When we got home it was everywhere in the papers but I haven't heard anything official and I haven't been on to Brian so I can only say it would be wonderful if it's true."

Curtis Fleming, who captained Crystal Palace in yesterday's goalless draw with Liverpool, warmly welcomed the news that his old boss from the St Patrick's Athletic days had got the job.

"I've heard it said that he won't get the respect of the dressing-room but that just isn't a worry," he said.

"What worried me was that a foreigner would get the Irish job because he might not have been able to understand the nature of the Irish squad.

"We aren't like other teams," he added. "We have the craic, have water fights at 10 o'clock when other teams may be in bed. Certain things motivate us. You have to know and understand us to get the best out of us. Brian will know."

While current internationals like Mark Kinsella, Matt Holland and Rory Delap all generally welcomed the appointment, there was some dissent, with Andy Townsend claiming it was a "terrible mistake" to give the Dubliner the job.

"I'm not sure he would command the respect some of the other candidates would," observed Townsend in his column with a Sunday paper. "He's never been an international player and therefore he doesn't know what the pressures are on the lads."

Bohemians manager Stephen Kenny, who played at St Patrick's while Kerr was there and has played an occasional role in the Ireland youth set-up during the past few seasons, dismissed Townsend's reservations, however.

"There's been some criticism from ex-pros but these are the sort of people who think that the world starts at Land's End and ends at John-o-'Groat's," said the man seen as a possible replacement for Kerr with the Irish youth teams.

"There's a tremendous groundswell of support for him within Ireland, something which people in England appear not to be aware of.

"This is a good appointment for football throughout Ireland. He won't be interested in playing golf or opening pubs but in ensuring that football thrives across the country."

Eoin Hand said he felt Kerr would win over the players with his approach to the game but the new man may receive another former Ireland manager's comments less warmly.

"Brian Kerr has done well with the under-19 and under-20 teams," said Jack Charlton in an interview given prior to the decision being made but published yesterday in England.

"I don't know a lot about Brian," he continues. "But I do know that he has worked well with the players that were mainly brought in by Maurice Setters, who was my assistant."