WHO IS BRIAN KERR?
Outside of Ireland few would have heard of Brian Kerr , so here is some info on the new Ireland manager. He was born in Dublin on March 5th 1953. He played with Rialto, Crumlin United, Larkview United, Shelbourne, College of Technology and Bluebell United where twenty one years ago he picked up a FAI Intermediate Cup medal in 1982. He moved into coaching and management first with Shelbourne reserves and then with Shamrock Rovers youths. Then he was persuaded to move up as assistant manager at Home Farm and Drogheda United. International experience began with he was assistant to Liam Tuohy with the Irish youths from 1982-1986 before Touhy and his staff resigned following a spat with the then new senior Ireland international boss Jack Charlton. St Patrick's Athletic offered him the first opportunity to manage when he replaced Jimmy Jackson at the Inchicore club in December 1986. He led the Saints to two League of Ireland championships in 1990 and 1996. Appointed manager of the Republic of Ireland under age set-up and technical director in 1997, Under his management Ireland has won an U16 European championship , an U18 European championship, a 3rd place in U20 world cup as well as two 4th place and one 3rd place finishes in the U18 European championships. He is the only manager to win the U16 and U18 euro championships in the same year (no other country has done this never mind manager). His teams have played attractive confident football that has led to an unprecedented self-belief in his players. Robbie as well as fellow internationals Damien Duff, John O' Shea and Gary Doherty have played in his teams. All Irish players that have played in the youth teams have played for him. There is no better man in the world to get the job.
Before you on have a look at his record

Ok so he hasn't managed a premiership team or even a club side outside of Ireland, will he be able to manage the senior side.A lot of people think highly of him. Robbie says "I had Brian at underage level- people may question whether he's good enough to do senior level, but I'm sure he will. When he was my manager he was a good motivator, he had good knowledge of football, he knows the game-so it would be good". Fellow world cup star Damien Duff had this to say "everyone knows what Brian Kerr has done for my career. He took me to Malaysia when I was 3 years younger than most of the lads. He is an absolute legend in the game". John O'Shea added "I had Brian and Noel O' Reilly with the U16s and U18s, they always made us very confident we could go out there and beat teams. They don't have experience of managing in the premiership but all the young lads have Brian and Noel to thank for their development. At senior level, dealing with younger lads won't be a problem for them". Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier is a close friend and would have liked to see him at the Anfield academy should he decide to assume the role as director of football at Liverpool in the future.
Given his record he deserves his chance. It will be a tough job, it still will be hard to play in Portugal in 04 but if we can play like we did pre and during the world cup we can beat Russia at home and Switzerland away. If we don't it will be great experience for him to help in our quest for world cup glory in 2006.