Republic of Ireland manager Brian Kerr has revealed that the Manchester United skipper had initially assured him that he would return to play for the national side, however, he subsequently changed his mind. The pair met on Thursday last week and Kerr said: “I left the meeting very happy and Roy gave me an unequivocal commitment that he would be back to play in the team. On Friday, I believe he met the medical people from Manchester United and as a result of that meeting, he called me to say that he was having to re-think his position. I was obviously disappointed and suggested he should spend some more time thinking about it.”
Kerr continued: “Before I spoke to Roy, Sir Alex Ferguson had called me to explain the medical difficulties and also to explain that it was not the desire of Manchester United that he continue to play for Ireland. Roy called me last night to tell me that he had made a decision not to return to play for Ireland, that he had discussed it with his family and that he was disappointed to have to tell me that. I accepted his decision, I wish him the very best of luck in his career with Manchester United."
And Mick McCarthy’s successor was also disappointed with the timing of the announcement: “I had agreed with Sir Alex Ferguson earlier today that there would be no statement on this issue until the match was over tomorrow night and that it would be Thursday before there was any statement issued. You can understand I am a little disappointed, but that's how it goes. We have a match tomorrow and I have a lot of work to get the players ready.”
However, despite the major setback, Kerr was endeavouring to remain positive ahead of his side’s friendly against Scotland tomorrow: “I have been employed by the Football Association of Ireland to do this job, irrespective of whether Roy was going to play or not. I made no commitment to the FAI that Roy would return, they did not make any demands of me that I would pick any certain players and that's how it will stay. I am going to move on. I have 40 players here who want to play for Ireland. I need to move on with the players who want to play for Ireland for the future and that's what I intend doing.”
Meanwhile, the FAI tonight issued the following statement in reaction to Keane's decision: “The FAI is disappointed with the news that Roy Keane has retired from international football. Since his appointment as international team manager, the Association has been fully supportive of Brian Kerr in his efforts in recent weeks.” And commenting from Scotland, FAI President Milo Corcoran said: “We now have to concentrate on the immediate challenges in hand - the match against Scotland and the remaining qualifying games in Euro 2004.”
Filed by James Boylan.
