Brian Kerr believes Lee Carsley will not be appointed the next Republic of Ireland manager

Brian Kerr

Brian Kerr Credit: Michael P Ryan (ETPhotos)

The former Republic of Ireland manager gave his opinion on the situation last night on Virgin Media. 

Brian Kerr does not think the FAI will appoint Lee Carsley as the next Irish manager. The former Republic of Ireland midfielder has been the favourite to replace Stephen Kenny since his departure last year.

This follows Shay Given, who on Tuesday night casted further doubt on Carsley taking the Irish job.

Kerr believes that Carsley will let the opportunity pass this time around and show loyalty to his current position within the FA as U-21 manager. 

“I believe Lee Carsley won’t be taking the job. 

"I suspect one of the reasons Lee will not be taking the job. I had managed him for a while and had some dealings with him for a while, and sometimes he would ask me for a bit of advice.

"But, what I know of his is that he's a very loyal and principled fella, and I believe he wouldn't break the deal his has with the English FA at the moment because that's the sort of fella he is”. 

One name Kerr chose to rule out was his former assistant when he was Irish manager, Chris Hughton. 

‘It won’t be Chris Hughton. Chris had two very intense years with Ghana. AFCON didn’t go well for him. He wants a break.’ 



Other names linked with the job have been Neil Lennon, Roy Keane, and Chris Coleman, who Kerr mentioned last night as he has a link with Ireland due to his Irish father.

The 70-year-old stressed that the FAI need to make an appointment swiftly especially with games coming up in March. 

‘It has gone on a long time. We do need someone soon. Matches are coming in March. You have to think they have someone in mind. You don’t want to be appointing a temporary manager for these matches in March.’

Elsewhere, Republic of Ireland international Mikey Johnston scored his first goal for his new club.

About Luke Jordan

Luke joined the extratime.com team in 2022 and is the current host of the extratime.com podcast.

He’s been a follower of the league since 2007 after the FAI Soccer camps gave out … View Full Profile