SOCCER: The new man is likely to bring in some of the players who performed for him but were ignored by Mick McCarthy, and there may be a rapprochement with the estranged Ireland captain, writes Emmet Malone

Sure, it was billed as a press conference, but what the FAI organised at the Shelbourne Hotel in Dublin yesterday felt much more like a homecoming for Brian Kerr, the pleased-as-punch new manager of the Republic of Ireland's senior football team.

The media were there in numbers all right, many of them making little secret of their satisfaction at seeing a man they have worked with and respected for many years getting a chance to prove himself on the big stage. But the real warmth around the place was generated by the many friends - men like Mick Lawlor, who encouraged Kerr at Home Farm; Phil Mooney, who worked with him through the good and not so good days at St Patrick's Athletic; and Eamonn Coghlan, who knew the new Ireland boss up in Drimnagh back before he started dabbling in football management - who had come along to be a part of a special occasion.

At the top table Kerr was all charm as he attempted, for the most part, to laugh off questions about how he intended to deal with the Roy Keane question, any plans he might have to change the look of the Irish team he has inherited and, most of all, his failure to achieve the sort of playing career that his critics appear to believe is essential if the members of our international team are to be won over.

He has, he said, a plan with regard to approaching the Manchester United midfielder which, he added, he would not be "foolish enough to reveal to you lot". Throughout his long career in management, he added however, he had always looked high and low to ensure that the best team possible was put out on the pitch. The message was clear even before he remarked, "I do want the best players to play for us, to play for you - it's everybody's team".

Quite when Kerr will sit down and talk to Keane is unknown, but that he has, he revealed, already spoken to other members of the squad and watched others in action during the past few weeks - "just in case they were man enough to give me the job", he grinned - suggests he is not going to be hanging about.

The terms of the new man's contract provide for a straight salary of €350,000 for the first year, plus performance-related bonuses.

Kerr's next public task will be to name his squad for next month's friendly in Scotland, which he intends to do this Friday. "It gives me a couple of days to assess the players," he said, before adding that he had already discussed the panel with Don Givens and intends to do the same with Packie Bonner today.

Asked whether he sees any players being dispensed with, he remarked, "I don't see any players' careers being over with unless they say so".

Then, as an indication that some of those players who have performed strongly for him in the past without ever attracting the attention of Mick McCarthy will come in for consideration, he added, "We don't have a huge pool of players to choose from, although I might have a slightly wider pool of players in my mind really."

WITH the process of his selection having rumbled on so long, he made clear he feels time is short prior to the resumption of the team's European Championship qualifying campaign at the end of March and that there is a great deal to do.

"Until Thursday night I was still preparing for a World Youth Championships in two months' time. The fact is that I don't know a huge amount about Albania or Georgia right now, but I will."

He would give the attempt of getting the side to the finals "if not directly then by way of the play-offs . . . a right good go", and added that his aim was to "extract that little bit extra from players if they have it to give". But that, he observed, would only be done on the basis that he too was giving absolutely everything.

Through it all, he said, he hopes to retain his sense of humility about his role in the "biggest job in Irish football, the biggest job in the world as far as I'm concerned", and insisted he feels like "somebody ordinary who is trying to achieve something extraordinary".

Talks, he said, are continuing between the association and Tottenham over Chris Hughton's involvement, but the former Ireland defender is expected to get the all-clear to take on the role of assistant manager on a part-time basis within the next day or two. Kerr clearly sees this an important factor in his overall scheme.

"I first met Chris not long after he took over at a reserve game between Spurs and West Ham. I introduced myself to him and was struck straight away by how open he was. I've felt very comfortable with him ever since and he will be great to have involved. And, of course, he has the UEFA Pro Licence."

On the wider issue of the game here and how his new role will fit in with its development, Kerr was extremely upbeat, emphasising his belief in achieving a level of "integration" far beyond what has existed between the national team and the rest of the Irish game.

"People say that Irish football is in disarray, but the fact is that our schoolboy structures are the envy of many of our neighbours. Huge work has been done without fanfare or the people involved getting the credit they deserve, and I'll certainly be looking to ensure that that work continues. In my opinion this is the most hopeful time ever for the game here."

He added he would hope to work with managers and coaches from Eircom League clubs to achieve a far more unified, top to bottom approach to moving the game here forward.

It was stirring stuff. But it is unlikely, he knows, to provide much consolation to ordinary supporters around the country if the senior team does not deliver over the three years he in charge. With that in mind, he asked the media to give him some peace over the days ahead. There is, he said, so much to do he doesn't know where to start.

"Well, hold on," he added, giving a hint of the organisational skills for which he has long been renowned, "I do know where to start. I've written out a list."