Gaffers (29 page)

However, in March 2007, after almost eighteen months out of the game, the lure of everyday football proved too much for Brian to ignore, and he returned to former club St Patrick’s Athletic, this time as director of football. However, the return to his old stomping ground was not the success everyone had envisaged and in May 2008 Kerr announced his resignation from the role.

St Patrick’s Athletic defender Damian Lynch remembers Brian’s second coming at Inchicore: ‘I was there for the final seven months of his time there. I remember he brought some lovely small touches to the club. He had gained a lot of experience from international football, and as a club it was great to be able to call on this. Brian was willing to get involved, but he made sure not to overshadow John McDonnell, who was the man in charge.

‘Brian wasn’t too involved with the day-to-day coaching – that was left to John – but he would come up two to three times a week to watch us. His main role was to help bring in players and look at the overall set-up. A fitness coach was brought in, and these are the sorts of things that take clubs to another level. Brian was trying to build Pat’s for the future, creating links with schoolboy clubs and establishing a strong youth set- up.’

Four years after losing his job as Ireland manager, Brian made a return to international management in April 2009 when he was appointed manager of the Faroe Islands national football team, a country with a population of 49,000 people and
roughly the size of County Carlow in Ireland. The challenge of the Faroe Islands brought Brian back to his footballing management roots of no hope and very little budget, but in just five months in the job he had achieved the seemingly impossible and guided a team made up of fishermen, students and policemen to their first World Cup qualifying victory since 2001. His return to international football management with the Faroe Islands saw Brian re-capture the imagination of the Irish public once again, and his profile was enhanced further in a documentary entitled
Away with the Faroes
which covered Brian’s week in the build up to the Faroe Islands’ match with France. The Faroe Islands narrowly lost 1–0 to the French. Brian’s reputation as a manager is back on track.

BRIAN KERR’S CLUB MANAGERIAL HONOURS RECORD:

League of Ireland: St Patrick’s Athletic, 1989–90 and 1995–96

BRIAN KERR’S IRELAND RECORD:

UEFA Under-16 European Championship
UEFA Under-18 European Championship
Total number of games in charge: 33
Total number of wins: 18 (ratio 54.55%)
Total number of draws: 11 (ratio 33.33%)
Total number of losses: 4 (ratio 12.12%)
Biggest win: 3–0 (Canada November 2003 & Cyprus, September 2004)
Biggest defeat: 0–3 (Nigeria, June 2004)
Longest unbeaten run: 13 games

Sometimes the right job comes about for the right man but at the wrong time. Depending on your point of view, international football can be a good entry point into management – a perfect example being Mark Hughes, who started his management career with Wales, before having success with Blackburn Rovers and Manchester City – or international football is for the more mature man, the man who has experienced all football has to offer, men such as England’s Fabio Capello, Wales’ John Toshack or Ireland’s Giovanni Trapattoni.

From his very early days with the team it seemed that Stephen ‘Steve’ Staunton was destined for the role of Ireland manager. His status in the Ireland camp, his involvement with a successful Liverpool side in the early 1990s and his caps record all pointed to someone who was being groomed for the role. On paper he was the perfect man to motivate the players and show them how to play for your country.

Perhaps it was the wrong time for Staunton. He was unlucky in some respects, and in others his inexperience as a manager did not help. He tried to return Ireland to the glory days of Jack Charlton’s time as manager and surrounded himself with people who would ultimately help him grow and develop in the role. However, it was sadly a case of too much too soon.

While Staunton’s era was characterised by a mix of paranoia and poor results, it is very hard to point the finger at him. If anyone was offered money (or even no money) to manage their country, they would take it, that’s the simple fact, whether or not they felt they were the right person for the job or qualified enough for the position. If the chance came along, wouldn’t you take it? However, as Irish football pundit Eamon Dunphy put it to Bill O’Herlihy at the time of the appointment, ‘Would you let him sit in your seat, Bill? Would you let him drive the train to Cork without any training, Bill? It’s the same thing!’ The point being that you need to have all the relevant qualifications and experience to do any job you are hired to do.

International managers do not require coaching badges, unlike in the Premier League, for example. However, they are an essential qualification for any football manager to have. To do the best job, you need to have all the tools to hand.

Staunton was not ready for the Ireland job, but he made the right moves with his appointments to the back room staff. Terry McDermott and the late Sir Bobby Robson were inspired appointments on paper, although sadly for football, and Ireland in general, illness meant that Staunton could not count on Sir Bobby as much as he would have liked.

STAUNTON THE EARLY YEARS

Staunton was born in January 1969 in Drogheda, County Louth. In his early years he showed promise at a variety of sports, and as well as playing soccer he also played Gaelic football for Louth, appearing in the Under-21 GAA Championship. However, it was his performances for Dundalk that prompted the interest of Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish, and in September 1986 he signed for Liverpool in a £20,000 deal.

Turlough O’Connor was the manager of Dundalk in those days, and he recalls the fair-haired kid who would one day play for and manage his country: ‘He was a super fella. He was very enthusiastic and also a very good listener. He wanted to be a success. He was a credit to Dundalk. He played Gaelic and local soccer before he got into the second team under Tommy Connolly. We played Stephen as a left midfielder in those days. He had a lovely left foot. In the game before he went to Liverpool for the trial he scored a lovely free-kick from outside the box.

‘After two weeks over at Liverpool they had seen enough and they wanted to sign him. They were coming to Cork for their pre-season, and we travelled down to meet them and agreed a fee. It was marvellous for Dundalk and marvellous for Stephen, who was ambitious and wanted to play in England. I remember I met him when he was manager of Ireland, and I said to him, “You probably didn’t realise it at the time, but the money we got for you kept the football club going for a good few years.” It was a great deal for Dundalk. There were a number of clauses in the deal whereby we got a bonus if he made a certain number of appearances, if he played for Ireland and if they ever sold him.’

His first two seasons were spent at Liverpool in the reserves and on loan to Bradford, learning the trade. However, it would not be long before he finally made his debut for the club, coming on as a substitute in a 1–1 draw with Tottenham Hotspur in September 1988. His performance that day ensured that he made the bench again a few days later, coming on against Arsenal in the semi-final of the centenary trophy, and over the course of the season he continued his integration into the team. Typically a defender, Staunton showed his scoring skills in 1989 when he replaced Ian Rush during a League Cup tie at Wigan and scored a second-half hat-trick.

He soon became a vital part of the line-up and was a member of the Liverpool side that was hit by tragedy in the FA Cup semi-final at Hillsborough in 1989. However, he rallied to help his side win a memorable final 3–2. He was also a member of the side that won Liverpool’s most recent League title in 1989–90, some twenty years ago.

Despite his part in Liverpool’s success, Staunton failed to make an impression on the new manager in charge, Graeme Souness, and he was sold to Aston Villa in August 1991 for £1.1 million. However, he put the disappointment behind him and became an instant hit at Villa Park by scoring during his debut game, in an away fixture at Sheffield Wednesday. The solid start helped him settle well into life at Villa Park and in his first season there he helped his new club to a seventh place finish, just behind his old club. In 1994 Staunton, who had been joined in the Villa team by former Liverpool players Ray Houghton and Dean Saunders, helped the club to a League Cup win over Manchester United and in the process Steve completed his collection of domestic medals. After his starring role in the 1994 League final, Steve added another League Cup winners’ medal to his collection in 1996, although this time he was an unused substitute in Villa’s 3–0 win over Leeds. Two years later Steve left the club to make a shock return to Liverpool on a Bosman (free) transfer, but he did not have the same impact he had on his first stint with the club and was largely a squad member. His two years back at Anfield, which included a loan spell at Crystal Palace, saw Steve reach 147 League games for Liverpool. At the end of his second stint at Anfield, Steve made the move to another previous club, when he returned to Villa Park for a two-year stint. His playing career then wound down with spells at Coventry and Walsall. It was at Walsall that he got his coaching career off the ground, becoming assistant manager at the Bescot Stadium. However, the following January he got a call from the FAI, and Staunton’s world was turned upside down.

STAUNTON THE INTERNATIONAL LEFT-BACK, CENTRE-BACK AND MIDFIELDER

Just a month after Staunton made his debut for Liverpool, and still not having completed a full ninety minutes for his club side, he also made his debut for Ireland, playing the full game and setting up a last minute goal for Tony Cascarino in a 4–0 win over Tunisia. A month later, in November 1988, he made his first competitive start for Ireland in a World Cup qualifying loss to Spain. Over the coming year, Staunton started to cement his place in the team and at the age of twenty-one, with thirteen caps to his credit, he was selected for the 1990 World Cup squad, starting in Ireland’s opening game against England. He played the full ninety minutes in all of Ireland’s games at Italia ’90, with his only substitution coming during extra time in the second round match with Romania.

Post-Italia ’90, Staunton continued to be an important part of the Irish line-up and four years later he made his second appearance at a World Cup tournament. Once again he featured in all of Ireland’s matches. Despite missing out on the World Cup in France 1998, he was a senior member of the 2002 squad. His four appearances in Japan in 2002 meant that Steve Staunton is the only Irish international player to have played in all of Ireland’s 2002 World Cup games. His appearance in the group game against Germany was his hundredth game for his country. Despite his record appearances at World Cup tournaments, he never got to play in a European Championship, as Ireland failed to qualify for Europe’s biggest competition during his international career. This was the only blot on a successful international career. In all Staunton won 102 caps for Ireland, calling time on a thirteen-year international career after the 2002 World Cup.

STAUNTON THE GAFFER

Just a year after retiring from professional football, Steve Staunton became the second youngest manager in the history of Irish football, when at the age of thirty-six he was picked as the successor to Brian Kerr, who had paid the price for his failure to guide the team to the World Cup in Germany. Prior to his appointment Staunton was assistant manager at Division Two side Walsall. He was a surprise appointment by the FAI, which, after the departure of Brian Kerr, had promised that a world class manager would be appointed. The organisation took the step of appointing a three man committee to oversee the selection process. Despite being one of Ireland’s greatest players, Steve was not the world class manager promised; in fact, Steve’s journey on the managerial road was just beginning. However, the FAI’s reasoning was clear. Staunton was a Division One and FA Cup winner with Liverpool and a double League Cup winner with Aston Villa. He was used to success, and he was going to be working in tandem with Sir Bobby Robson, a manager of the highest calibre who had managed Barcelona, Newcastle, PSV Eindhoven and England with great success.