Kerr slams FAI chief Delaney
by Nick Royle, 24 October 2007
Former Republic of Ireland manager Brian Kerr has launched an astonishing attack on Football Association of Ireland chief executive John Delaney and the Board of Management, after the sacking of Stephen Staunton on Wednesday morning.
Staunton's 21-month tenure as manager was ended after a meeting with the FAI management board, but much of the criticism in Ireland has been directed not at Staunton personally, but at the decision of the FAI to give the job at all to an untried manager.
Kerr believes that the Board of Management is in thrall to Delaney, and feels that the responsibility for Irish football must be handed to those with a background in the game if the national team is to thrive.
“Of those ten people, there are two and three very decent people. The rest of them, you would not ask to mind your corner shop for ten minutes. Yet they are regularly making vital decision as regards Irish football, and our international teams,” he told Ireland radio station Newstalk’s Off the Ball programme.
“I have a problem with the authority, and the qualifications or lack of them, that those ten people have to make the decision [to sack Staunton]. Nine of the ten are the same as when I finished up a couple of years ago.
“I have a problem, and people within Irish football who know the game have a problem with the power they have. They have a lack of knowledge or real experience of the game, of what makes teams tick, of what make the difference regarding the future of football.”
Kerr, who was sacked in 2005, feels that Delaney in particular is a negative influence on Irish football, choosing to focus on public relations rather than the game at grassroots level.
“John Delaney has always had a credibility problem with the football public,” he continued.
“He puts spin on things that happen. He has taken the credit for any thing in the FAI that is even remotely positive in the last few years. The majority of it, he has had nothing to do with.
"Indeed, when he was Treasurer, he tried to undermine development. In my opinion, he was not supportive of the plans that I had for the game when I was technical director or as youth team coach.”