Brian Kerr and the Saturday Night Lights

Kerr is an accomplished manager

I found myself accidentally tuning into Brendan O'Connor's Saturday Night Show last night when I switched the TV on. I caught the introduction which promised interviews with Love Actually star Martine McCutcheon, an African Irish-speaker and most importantly, the former Republic of Ireland manager Brian Kerr.

O'Connor's style is distinct, but it's uninspiring and surprisingly even unfunny, considering his background in comedy. Like most chat-show hosts he conveys an undertone of disinterest when interviewing his guests - an undertone that can be detected in his desperate attempts to crack jokes in order to conceal the awkwardness he is surely sensing. But saying that, he was frank in his conversation with Brian Kerr, perhaps as a result of already being familiar with the Dubliner, admitting at the outset that he was ignorant when it came to soccer.

What struck me about the conversation however, was not O'Connor's demeanour, but the revelations of Kerr, which is either an attestation of O'Connor's subtle interviewing technique, or Kerr's down-to-earth honesty. Kerr had a shit-eating-grin on his face for the entirety of the conversation, happily relating in his thick Dublin brogue the experiences he had while managing the Faroe Islands, only lamenting the Faroe Islands' FA's decision to hold games in Torshavn rather than Toftir - a place Kerr maintains would be a nightmare for bigger teams to come to (and when you're the Faroe Islands, almost all teams are "bigger").

He also dispelled any of the myths that had heretofore been cultivated about his relationship with the FAI. It had earlier been suggested that Kerr's exit from his job as Republic of Ireland manager had left, to put it mildly, a chip on the Dubliner's shoulder, but Kerr's reaction to O'Connor's probing insinuated that whatever it was then, it was now well and truly water under the bridge.

Crucially, however, when questioned about the Northern Ireland job with which he had been linked and had applied for, Kerr spoke candidly, still smiling heartily as he japed, "Well the IFA are holdin' interviews, and I'm here sittin' bein' interviewed by you!". Such an admission seems to reflect poorly on the Irish FA, who appeared not to have the courtesy to let applicants know whether they were considered suitable or not. It denotes a lack of respect for Kerr, a man whose managerial record when compared with that of the three candidates that appear to have made the "final shortlist" stands strongly, if it does not eclipse theirs.

Farewell, Christopher Hitchens

Christopher Hitchens

It was with great sadness that I learned of the death of Christopher Hitchens. Even when embattled with cancer, his scholarly integrity shone through as he continued to churn out column after column of thought-provoking polemic. I credit him, among others, with having inspired me to put my thoughts to writing, to discuss, to argue, to have principles and to defend them as passionately as one's faculties permit.

Even though he had been diagnosed with cancer in the summer of 2010 and it was, by his own admission, likely to kill him quickly, I was always rooting for Hitchens and, somewhat irrationally, believed that he would overcome the affliction. I had it in my head that the world simply could not do without figures such as Christopher Hitchens. He had to triumph - “Who, then, would be the voice of reason in a world increasingly characterised by sheer unbridled madness?”, I would find myself asking. I would sometimes comfort myself by watching previous debates and TV appearances, chortling contentedly at this man's unapologetic world-view, which, if only in its innate rebelliousness, resonated with my own. Then it hit me that the end was indeed nigh for dear Hitchens, when I saw a picture of him recently balded from chemotherapy and increasingly frail, his clothes hanging reluctantly to his gaunt frame.

However his mind remained indefatigable. His magazine columns appeared to retain the acerbically polished finish that his earlier writings displayed and his public appearances were characterised by a typically witty and curious disposition. Apart from the crackling of his distinctive voice, only upon viewing his withered body would one have been aware of how close to expiry he was. It was indeed a sad sight. But the nature of his masterful mind remained rousing.

Characters like Hitchens are inimitable. Do not be deceived, they are rare, a commodity in the tapestry of human existence. He will be missed.

Who Will Be Next Northern Ireland Manager?

This article appeared on SportsNews Ireland on December 8. I have since learned that Brian Kerr has not even made the IFA's shortlist. Interesting indeed!

Who should be the next Northern Ireland manager?

The BBC has reported that the Irish Football Association has narrowed down its preferences to a shortlist of six men, with Jim Magilton, Michael O'Neill, Iain Dowie, Gerry Armstrong and Dave Jones said to be on the list. Former Republic of Ireland and Faroe Islands boss Brian Kerr is among the favourites for the job and has repeatedly made his desire to take the job public.

So who is the best candidate? Which man possesses the requisite credentials to take Northern Ireland forward? Will we see managerial teams, or will such a prospect prove too expensive for the IFA?

Jim Magilton

Former Ipswich Town player and manager Magilton played 52 times for Northern Ireland during his career. Magilton was fiery midfielder with a no-nonsense attitude on the pitch and he appears to have carried this attitude on to his managerial philosophy. For example, the Belfast man was shrouded in acrimony when, as manager of QPR, he allegedly head-butted his own player during a post-match dressing room confrontation. This incident apparently led to Magilton's decision to leave QPR at the end of 2009. After a period in managerial wilderness, Magilton joined his compatriot Michael O'Neill as the assistant manager of Irish champions Shamrock Rovers. Magilton is considered by many bookmakers to be the favourite for the job, but he may end up forming a managerial team

Michael O'Neill

"My future is very much up in the air to be honest and the Northern Ireland job is very attractive, no doubt about that.". Those were O'Neill's words in mid-November. Like Jim Magilton, O'Neill is a young manager at 42 years of age and is also a former Northern Ireland international, having played 33 times during his career. However, despite his emphatic success as manager of one of Ireland's biggest football teams, O'Neill cannot yet boast an impressive CV, his experience prior to Shamrock Rovers limited to his time as manager of Scottish Second Division outfit Brechin City from 2006 to 2008. Therefore, considering this relative lack of experience, it is thought that, were Michael O'Neill to take the Northern Ireland job, his current assistant Jim Magilton would help form a managerial team contributing his greater experience to the IFA's cause.

Iain Dowie

English born Dowie is another former Northern Ireland international who scored 12 goals in his 59 appearances. Dowie's snarling visage has gone down in football's hall of infamy and, like Magilton, he is widely acknowledged to champion a strict approach. Out of all the touted candidates Dowie has one of the most extensive CVs, having managed six clubs, including Crystal Palace, Coventry and Hull City, but he has yet to steer the fortunes of an international team. Nevertheless he ticks many of the boxes for the Irish Football Association.

Gerry Armstrong

The newly appointed “Elite Player Mentor”, Gerry Armstrong has been tremendously vocal about his attempts to stop players from Northern Ireland opting to play for the Republic of Ireland and he has indeed been quite vocal about his desire to manage Northern Ireland. A legend of Northern Ireland football folklore, the World Cup hero has the advantage of having worked as an assistant to Bryan Hamilton and Lawrie Sanchez when they managed the team. However, Armstrong's managerial CV boasts only the lowly Worthing F.C., which, even at that, was a very short-lived venture. Rather than being appointed as manager, it is possible that Armstrong will reprise his previous role as assistant manager to a more suitable candidate.

Dave Jones

Dave Jones is the only candidate without a connection to Northern Ireland, but since being sacked from his job at Cardiff City, Jones has reportedly expressed an interest in taking over the reins. Jones has managed clubs in the top flight of English football, including Southampton and Wolves and has suffered the agony of narrowly missing out on promotion with Cardiff on three occasions. With the IFA looking for a man who is particularly aware of issues facing Northern Ireland football, Jones may not be the right man for the job, although his CV stands strong against the rest.

Brian Kerr

Although considered by some Northern Ireland fans as a non-runner due to his history as manager of the Republic of Ireland, Kerr is the only candidate who boasts extensive experience in the realm of international management. He has steered Republic of Ireland youth teams to success on the world stage as well as managing the Republic's senior team when Mick McCarthy stepped down. Interestingly, Kerr's Faroe Islands managed a draw with Northern Ireland in the European Championships Qualifiers, as well as doing what Nigel Worthington failed to do in defeating Estonia. Despite the apparent unease among sections of the Northern Ireland support, Kerr, like Iain Dowie has parents from Northern Ireland. However if he is appointed, I would expect a secondary role for someone such as Gerry Armstrong to soften the blow of having an ex-Republic of Ireland manager from Dublin as the Northern Ireland manager.

Reduced Rooney Ban an Education

Rooney lashes out.

As England fans rejoice at the news that Wayne Rooney's 3-match ban has been reduced by one game, the rest of the football world can learn an important lesson: the squeaky wheel gets the oil.

Recently, the [English] FA kicked up a massive fuss when FIFA told them not to adorn their shirts with poppies for the friendly against Spain. The result of the whining saw FIFA eventually relent and agree to a compromise which allowed the England team to wear armbands embroidered with poppies.

Today, it emerged that UEFA agreed to reduce Wayne Rooney's three-match ban on the grounds that a two match ban was "more reasonable".

The FA's legal team also pointed to the fact that Miodrag Dzudovic, the Montenegro player who was the victim of Rooney's ire, had asked Uefa to show leniency because Rooney had acted out of “desperation rather than anger”, and had allegedly been “provoked by problems his family had to face a short time before the game”.

There you have it. Victory for England once again.

However, I can't help but wonder what the reaction would have been if a lesser association, say, the Maltese FA, had appealed a similar ban? Without the clout that the [English] FA possesses, you'd probably wager that the Maltese FA's pleas would be dismissed.

On a related note it's interesting that the superiority complex of the FA has been noted in recent times by Sepp Blatter, who criticised the British media for hounding him:

"In the '60s and '70s, the major sports federations were in British hands. This is no longer the case. The English lost power and, more recently, the 2018 World Cup. They were anxious to have it - much more than they were to have the Olympics.They thought football was coming home and the World Cup was rightfully theirs: when they came here with Beckham, Prince William and Prime Minister Cameron, they were sure they'd win the rights. They got two votes. Since then, they have been looking for any means to justify their defeat."

Take from that what you will.

Glasgowbury Taking Submissions

Ash at Glasgowbury

I asked "What's small but massive?" in a previous post.

The answer is Glasgowbury. If you're a fan and practicioner of local Irish music and if you like the sound of being a part of an event that has collected various Irish Festival Awards, including winning the Best Family and Best Service categories for three consecutive years, I urge you to apply now.


Here is the Glasgowbury team's instructions:

"To submit for Glasgowbury 2012, all you have to do is email submissions@glasgowbury.com with a link to your website, social networking site, third party site with a link to your music etc - wherever your music and a bit of information about you/your act is included.

Please also use 'Glasgowbury 2012' as the email subject.

Feel free to include some up to date information, some nice words or horse tips in your email too.

The panel will listen to all submissions over the coming weeks and months before the submissions period officially closes at the end of January.

See www.glasgowbury.com for more information."

The Great "Northern Ireland" Anthem Debate

Northern Ireland fans

Over the past two weeks, The Irish Football Association (IFA) has once again come under public scrutiny following comments from former Northern Ireland international Paul McVeigh, who criticised the association's decision to use the anthem 'God Save the Queen' before games. The former Norwich man said, “Northern Ireland, as long as it continues with that anthem, will not have an identity of its own and players will continue to turn to the Republic.”. Radio phone lines have swelled and internet forums buzz with debate. Former international Gerry Armstrong has even stated that he has asked Snow Patrol frontman Gary Lightbody about the possibility of penning a new anthem.

I want to make two things clear before I start. One: as with all things international football, this debate is inherently political, there is no escaping that fact and two: despite the noises of the Amalgamation of Official Northern Ireland Supporters' Clubs (AONISC) to the contrary, the “eligibility row” has been emphatically settled since the famous Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) case of 2010.

It must also be noted that the IFA, as defined by FIFA, constitutes one of the four “British Associations”, along with the Scottish Football Association (SFA), the Football Association of Wales (FAW) and the (English) Football Association (FA). As a consequence, in order to play for the representative teams of the IFA, one must necessarily hold British nationality. This is abundantly clear from even a cursory glance at FIFA's statutes, which are readily available online, and can also be gleaned from a reading of the report of the “IFA versus Daniel Kearns, the FAI and FIFA” CAS case (also available online).

One of the arguments, therefore, used by fans against changing the anthem of the Northern Ireland football team, is that 'God Save the Queen' is the British anthem so it is fitting for Northern Ireland, a British association. However this argument falls down on the simple basis that two other British associations, namely the SFA and the FAW use their own, unique anthems for football, much to the satisfaction of their fans. This argument is also an insult in that it completely disregards the socio-political reality of Northern Ireland, whereby a sizeable portion of the population simply do not identify as British.

Somewhat paradoxically to the assertion of Britishness through the use of 'God Save The Queen', the idea of a singular British association is something that the IFA is vehemently opposed to, as there are fears that the association may eventually lose its autonomy at the behest of FIFA. It would seem logical then, for the IFA to assert its uniqueness through the adoption of a new, separate anthem, as the FAW and SFA have done.

It has been suggested that the notion of changing the Northern Ireland football anthem to something “less British” is a mere red herring, because some players will continue to opt for the Republic of Ireland in opposition to what is an inescapably British association. While this suggestion may contain a degree of truth, it would be remarkably naïve to suggest that moving towards neutral ground would make absolutely no difference. Why exactly has there been such a clamour about the issue through the years, one asks?

On BBC Radio Ulster last week, Joel Taggart took calls from a variety of callers and I was struck by the views of one caller who complained, much like a petulant child, about the fact that the IFA always comes in for criticism. In a tremendous fit of 'whataboutery', he strangely moaned “Why is it always the IFA, why don't people ask the Republic to change their anthem?”. 

To try and drag the FAI into the debate is utterly desperate - the issue is the IFA's to resolve and the FAI have nothing to do with it.

So the issue is indeed the IFA's to resolve, but who should they consult? Current Northern Ireland fans, desperately clinging to the identity of their national team, snarl that only they should have a say and that those who do not support Northern Ireland in its current guise should not have any input whatsoever; it's “their” wee team, after all, they argue. 

It seems strange to me however, that a team that purports to represent the people of the six counties of Northern Ireland would not at least take into consideration the views of those people as a whole. The IFA is the governing body for football in Northern Ireland, it is not the governing body for football for current Northern Ireland supporters alone.

The IFA faces many obstacles in a society that has always been characterised by division and conflict. If they wish to be an association representative of the people of Northern Ireland and attract those from all corners of society, they must start being proactive and assume the most neutral ground conceivable without favouring one side over the other. The alternative, of course, is the status quo and, well, look where that has got them.

No Easy Draws

European Championships Trophy

The Republic of Ireland will learn its Euro 2012 fate tomorrow as the group-stage draw takes place at the Palace of Arts in Kyiv, Ukraine. Below is a run down of the seedings.

Pot 1: Poland (A1)*, Spain, Netherlands, Ukraine (D1)*
Pot 2: Germany, Italy, England, Russia
Pot 3: Croatia, Greece, Portugal, Sweden
Pot 4: Denmark, France, Czech Republic, Rep. of Ireland

At this stage of the competition, there are no easy draws. Those of you who consider Poland or Ukraine as an easy draw are mistaken; as Trapattoni noted, pointing to his experience against South Korea in World Cup 2002, home teams tend to have a slight edge.

If you don't believe him you need only look to the precedent of Spain 1964, Italy 1968 and France 1984.

Then of course there's the precedent of Uruguay 1930, Italy 1934, England 1966, West Germany 1974, Argentina 1978, and France 1998 all of whom won the World Cup trophy in their own backyard.

It would be interesting if Ireland drew Germany and/or Sweden, as a precursor to the 2014 World Cup qualifiers, but either of those teams would be very tough. Or even England à la Stuttgart 1988. Regardless of who we draw, we will face a stern test. But even so, I'll fire ahead and posit my perfect draw.

From Pot 1, I'd like Poland, thank you. If we can avoid Germany in Pot 2 and Portugal in Pot 3, I am confident we can beat or at least draw with any of the remaining teams.

*Poland will be seeded in Group A and Ukraine will be seeded in Group D.