FORMER IRELAND MIDFIELDER Jason McAteer says he questioned whether Brian Kerr was qualified to be senior manager of the national team at the time.
Having won two league titles with St Patrick’s Athletic and after enjoying unprecedented success with Ireland at underage level, Kerr was appointed to the senior international job in January 2003.
He held the position until October 2005, when his contract wasn’t renewed by the FAI as the Boys in Green missed out on a play-off place for the 2006 World Cup.
Speaking on beIN Sport’s Champions League coverage last night, 52-cap McAteer recalled a conversation with the then Ireland boss.
“I played for Jack Charlton, who had won the World Cup,” McAteer said. “He instantly had the respect of the whole dressing room. We looked up to him.
“Jack’s tactics weren’t great but they worked for us. We looked up to him and we played that way and we got success.
“Then Mick McCarthy came in… and he was a big figure in the Republic of Ireland. We looked up to him and did what he wanted to do. We ended up running through brick walls for him and we got success by reaching the World Cup.
Then Brian Kerr took over, and I’ve got to admit and I’ll say it now, I’m looking at this fella thinking ‘what have you actually done?’.
“We’re having words with each other, ‘and you’re trying to tell me to do this and that but what have you won in the game? What have you done in the game? Where have you played? Who have you played for? And you’re trying to implement these things and talk down to players?’”
"I'm looking at this fella thinking, what have you done in the game?!"@MCATEER4 with a brutally honest assessment of former Republic of Ireland manager Brian Kerr. pic.twitter.com/GtuiSqpH8A
— beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS_EN) October 11, 2022
Former Ireland international Andy Reid, who played for Kerr at underage and senior level, shared the video clip, saying: “Very strange comments. There’s a whole load of us that worked with Brian from when we were kids and we’d have run through brick walls for him and Noel O’Reilly. Even the ones that didn’t work with him from young respected him.”
And McAteer has subsequently tweeted: “In relation to my comments on Brian Kerr last night, it was a 15-second clip of a 20-minute conversation. If the Brian Kerr fan club would care to take in the whole conversation they might get some context to the clip and what we where talking about.
“And to clarify – Brian and myself had had words on very delicate subjects and disagreed. I felt his management style, albeit successful at youth level, was not right for a first team of the national team. I certainly didn’t mean to disrespect Brian and I apologise if I did.”
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