PAT FENLON has called on the FAI to solve their differences with Brian Kerr and place the former Irish manager in a key developmental role.

With a clear vision for how Irish football could move forward, Fenlon believes the restructuring of the underage game here would result in a huge number of new recruits to the international team. And Kerr, he believes, is the man with a clever mind who could deliver results.

"The League of Ireland is an industry worth €12m a year and, if clubs want to develop their own players, they will have to dramatically improve their schoolboy sections.

"If 10 clubs took €5,000 out of their budgets to finance an underage set-up, we would be keeping 200 kids at home rather than seeing them head off to England where a lot of them get €100 a week.

"Brian Kerr is not involved in the game and that is criminal because he has so much to offer. He could drive a developmental project for Irish football. We need to look at developing our players here rather than having to rely on English clubs to do it."

Irish Independent