SOCCER:The decision by Dublin property developer Garrett Kelleher to purchase St Patrick's Athletic, guaranteeing the club remains in Inchicore and to invest substantially in the Richmond Park facilities and new players has persuaded Brian Kerr to take up the role of director of football.
Kerr, speaking to The Irish Timesyesterday, confirmed he will immediately begin a three- year contract not dissimilar to the brief he had over the Irish youth system while technical director of the FAI.
It is his first official role since his contract as Irish soccer manager was not renewed in October, 2005.
Kelleher is chairman of Shelbourne Development, an Irish- based but international property company whose contracts include the construction of the Chicago Spire, which, when completed, will be the tallest building in North America. He takes complete control of the club having purchased 100 per cent of the equity in the holding company that owns the club.
St Patrick's chairman Andrew O'Callaghan and the board will step aside but manager Johnny McDonnell has signed an improved contract and will remain in control of team affairs, including selection.
Kerr will, said McDonnell help "to guide team affairs," oversee player recruitment and club developments that will include the creation of a youth system that aspires to rival the best academies in the English Premiership.
"St Pat's in many ways is a very unique club," said Kerr. "It has certain traditions and certain fans within the community that it has retained. We will also seek to include the new community that is there to expand the potential that is Inchicore and the surrounding area.
"It is a multi-cultural area now so in some ways the team should reflect that, which it has in the past.
"But the reason I'm taking this position is because it is something much more progressive than anything that has been attempted here before."
The decision to return to the club that established the 54-year-old as a successful manager - he delivered league titles in 1990 and 1996 - is a reversal of earlier assertions that he wished to remain in international management.
The ideal offer simply never presented itself, although he does retain aspirations of returning to that arena in the future.
"I enjoyed it. I thought I was good at it and I loved the challenge of it. I liked the pressure of it. That didn't bother me. But those chances don't come along very often."
Kerr's relationship with the media deteriorated sometime before Ireland failed to qualify for the 2006 World Cup. Recently, there has been a drawing back in some sections of the media of Kerr's dismissal, due to the record of his successor Steve Staunton.
Despite an inevitable interaction with the Irish soccer media in his new role, relations in some cases appear permanently damaged.
"I have a problem with a lack of accuracy and laziness. And that's across the board. A lack of pride. Lazy journalism is accepting the opinion of a player who doesn't like working hard. To me that's laziness. Instead of asking is that really true? Is that a fact? They have a job to do. Let them work away. They needn't expect me to be all singing, all dancing."
How does he see the upcoming qualifiers against Wales and Slovakia in Croke Park panning out? "I looked at the Welsh squad and it wouldn't be something that would frighten you. Slovakia are working off a small playing base. A lot of pride, play with a lot of pride.
"A lot of work at underage level has been done. Again, you would expect we would be capable of winning both home games. You would expect a better performance than the last match. A similar reaction to the Czech Republic match, when there was a lot of criticism.
"But the criticism does affect players as well. At times it seems like the media are hoping the team lose to justify what they said about them.
"At times they seem to want to assist in undermining the morale of the team. That seems to be taking place at the moment. Now I understand criticism if the team don't play well - they are highly paid professionals . . . but I would hope that the players react positively to the Croke Park environment."
The current state of the League of Ireland was not what enticed Kerr back but rather the potential that comes with an investor of Kelleher's ambition. "The idea of who was running the league had no effect on my decision to come back into the league. In fact, the opposite might be the case. The attraction is somebody is trying to do something different from what has been done before, with a vision of what is really important to a club."
Kerr has already ruled out an immediate delivery of a league title.
"Not this year. Bohemians, Drogheda, Derry and Cork will be the contenders this season. But a top five position is something we can aim at."
