Vintage Dubliner has good year left

SOCCER: Kenny Cunningham wants to play club football for at least another year after being released by Birmingham City earlier this week but the 34-year-old Dubliner admits he has yet to receive a firm offer. Emmet Malone, Soccer Correspondent, reports

The former Ireland skipper had an agreement with City that the two parties would sit down and discuss his situation at the end of the campaign and, after the club's relegation from the English top flight, the defender was duly informed on Tuesday he would not be offered a new contract.

"I think that was all fair enough," he says. "I wanted to assess my physical condition while they wanted to see what was happening. Now I've decided I want to play on while they've decided they get new people in so we go our separate ways with no hard feelings."

His immense popularity amongst City fans means the Irishman will be missed around St Andrew's but Cunningham is not certain how attractive he will look to prospective employers. He has been linked with Sunderland, Southampton and Derby Count in the media but, he insists, nobody has been in touch.

"I'm more fortunate than most in that I've had a decent enough career and I'm not going to find myself squatting under Charring Cross Bridge. I'm pretty relaxed about things but I do think I have something to offer for another while."

As for management, Cunningham said he remained unsure. "It requires a particular type of commitment, 10-hour days and putting the job ahead of your family sort of stuff and frankly, I'm not sure I'm prepared to give that," he says.

"What's certain is that I'd have to feel I could really bring something to a management job and right now at least I'm not sure that I can. It's something I'll think about further down the road."

Cunningham, meanwhile, has strongly criticised his former bosses in the city's morning paper, the Birmingham Post, with David Sullivan, the Gold brothers and manager Steve Bruce all identified as having contributed to the club's downfall this year.

The owners are accused of running the club without any "soul", with their attitude to players and other staff having left everyone at St Andrew's disillusioned and dispirited. In particular, their decision to cut costs by allowing Clinton Morrison to leave against the wishes of the manager is described as a "huge gamble (that) badly backfired on us".

Regarding Bruce, he says, "Man for man, we could hold our own against the likes of Blackburn, Bolton, and West Ham. If you agree with that statement then you have to find a reason why we finished up to 30 points behind those clubs.

"Unfortunately, and I take no pleasure in saying this, the reason was due to a lack of organisation, preparation and attention to detail at the football club.

"The only person who must take responsibility for that is the manager. Our preparation was nowhere near good enough."

He says the players repeatedly told Bruce what needed to be done at meetings called by the manager but that he failed to take the required action. The early season sacking of a new fitness coach was, he said, one of several key mistakes."