Brian Kerr has said that he would be surprised to see Lee Carsley taking charge of the Republic of Ireland in April.
The former Ireland manager, who was in charge of the national team from 2003 to 2005, has returned to the FAI in his new role of technical advisory to interim Ireland head coach John O'Shea.
And Kerr who has kept in touch with his former midfielder does not expect to see Carsley take the permanent position, which is set to be filled after the upcoming double header against Belgium and Switzerland later this month.
"I’d be surprised if Lee was back in the frame," said Kerr, speaking on RTÉ Radio 1's The Ray D’Arcy Show.
"Lee played when I was manager and I’ve been in touch with Lee a bit, and I’d be surprised. Unfortunately, I don’t think that he is in the picture, but I could be wrong.
"Marc Canham and Jonathan Hill have been doing the work on this, and Packie Bonnar, and have kept things close to themselves, and I haven’t asked what is happening but they seem very assured that they will have their man in April.
"But I don’t know, I’d only be speculating at this stage, I'm as intrigued as everyone else."
Meanwhile, Kerr has gone straight to work in his new role, having watched the Manchester derby on Sunday, while he is back on the road today as he sets off to London to watch QPR take on West Bromwich Albion at Loftus Road in the Championship.
"I was on a bit of a job on Sunday, I was at Mancehster City and Manchester United. There was a couple of lads there who play for Belgium playing for Manchester City, so I was watching them in terms of what they might do, so I have been busy the last few days.
"This is my first match in terms of assessing how the Irish players are doing in live games.
"I’m going to QPR and West Brom and we have a few lads playing, Jayson Molumby, and Mikey Johnston for West Brom, who has started very well, scoring a couple of goals in recent matches.
"For QPR, we have a few players there, Jimmy Dunne, and Sinclair Armstrong, who scored at the weekend, and one or two others who are on the fringes that are eligible to play for Ireland as well.
"But you don’t know til you get there, who is going to play, so hopefully there will be three or four Irish lads playing in the match."
And Kerr admitted that he was pleasantly surprised to get the call from O'Shea and the FAI to help out with the upcoming international window, however, he does not believe that he will be involved after the March fixtures.
"John called me himself, and then I had calls from Jonathan Hill and Marc Canham in the FAI," said Kerr. "It was a big surprise. I saw the announcement about John when I was away on holidays but I wasn’t thinking that I would be part of it,
"I thought that type of stuff had gone. But I had a good relationship with John going back to when he was a young lad playing with Waterford Bohs and was in the underage international teams.
"When I was senior manager, I think I saw a statistic that John played 27 of the 33 matches I had, and only three others – Kenny Cunningham, Gary Breen and Kevin Kilbane - played more than John during that time. So over the years, I've known him, but it was a massive surprise."
Kerr added that he does not feel a sense of vindication coming back into the international scene after such a long exile since his departure back in 2005, but did express satisfaction
"I'm one of John's men and will do whatever I can to help John get a couple of results...I'm involved for roughly a month and I don't expect to be involved any further than that, but I'm more than delighted to be involved in these two games, and to pitch in.
"I'd be lying if I said I'm not happy about it. I did feel a bit sore going back. Over the time I thought I had done reasonably well for the association, going back to the time with [Liam] Tuohy from 1982 to 86, which was a successful time, and then the other nine or ten years I was there as well.
"It was hurtful enough to be cut off. That wasn't nice, but that's life, and sometimes football is harsh but I'm delighted to be back involved even if for only two games."
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