WITH BETTING SUSPENDED on Martin O’Neill being the next Ireland manager, Brian Kerr has stated his belief that Mick McCarthy has been treated disrespectfully.
Speaking on The Last Word this evening, former Ireland manager Kerr agreed that McCarthy should feel a sense of disrespect at his treatment by the FAI.
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“Yeah, I would think in his position, if he wasn’t contacted directly by one of the main people in the FAI, either John Delaney or Michael Cody or the president Paddy McCaul, well then I think it’s disrespectful.
To expect Mick, a former manager [of Ireland] who did very well in the job, to talk to Ray Houghton and Ruud Dokter, who’s barely in the country and has no history of working with the Irish soccer players or managers; Ray isn’t on the board of the FAI. They can’t really have talked to too many people.”
Kerr admitted that it now appears O’Neill will be appointed by the FAI with betting suspended.
“When they stop the betting, it usually means they know something serious is going on. I always felt the Ray Houghton/Ruud Dokter thing was a bit of a smokescreen for them to go out and check around with people, and that in the background the FAI, the main heads, would be trying to entice Martin O’Neill into it.”
The ex-Faroe Islands coach also revealed that he suspects the FAI first spoke to O’Neill as early as before the Sweden game in September, when Giovanni Trapattoni was still in charge.
I would assume at this stage they’ve made contact. I felt that they’d made contact even before the home match with Sweden. I understood there was a meeting in Shanahan’s restaurant the night before the Swedish game involving Martin O’Neill and some of his advisers with an FAI head on that occasion.”
“So going as far back as that, I would have thought he was their main choice. I agree totally that Mick McCarthy wasn’t going to continue to be messed about and asked to meet people who aren’t on the board of the FAI like Ray Houghton and Ruud Dokter. I’d say Mick said, ‘If you want me, come to me directly.”
The FAI has treated Mick McCarthy disrespectfully - Brian Kerr
WITH BETTING SUSPENDED on Martin O’Neill being the next Ireland manager, Brian Kerr has stated his belief that Mick McCarthy has been treated disrespectfully.
After Ipswich revealed that they have had no contact from the FAI, and with O’Neill now apparently set to be named as the next boss of the boys in green, Kerr says the governing body of Irish soccer could have handled the situation better.
Speaking on The Last Word this evening, former Ireland manager Kerr agreed that McCarthy should feel a sense of disrespect at his treatment by the FAI.
“Yeah, I would think in his position, if he wasn’t contacted directly by one of the main people in the FAI, either John Delaney or Michael Cody or the president Paddy McCaul, well then I think it’s disrespectful.
Kerr admitted that it now appears O’Neill will be appointed by the FAI with betting suspended.
“When they stop the betting, it usually means they know something serious is going on. I always felt the Ray Houghton/Ruud Dokter thing was a bit of a smokescreen for them to go out and check around with people, and that in the background the FAI, the main heads, would be trying to entice Martin O’Neill into it.”
The ex-Faroe Islands coach also revealed that he suspects the FAI first spoke to O’Neill as early as before the Sweden game in September, when Giovanni Trapattoni was still in charge.
“So going as far back as that, I would have thought he was their main choice. I agree totally that Mick McCarthy wasn’t going to continue to be messed about and asked to meet people who aren’t on the board of the FAI like Ray Houghton and Ruud Dokter. I’d say Mick said, ‘If you want me, come to me directly.”
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bad business Brian Kerr FAI Mick McCarthy Ruud Dokter