Brian Kerr believes that Irish authorities could be doing much more to help League of Ireland sides perform to the best of their abilities in European competitions.
The Virgin Media pundit launched into an impassioned plea last night on TV for authorities such as Sport Ireland and the Irish Government to do more to help League of Ireland clubs.
It's been a cracking summer for Irish clubs in Europe with Sligo Rovers, St Patricks Athletic and Shamrock Rovers all claiming big scalps over the past few weeks. However, these achievements have been soured by travel debacles, with all three clubs facing struggles to get in and out of the country in a timely and organised fashion.
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"The only poor game they've played was probably the first half against Ludogorets in Bulgaria, where obviously the travel arrangements and getting there were very difficult for the team," said Kerr about Shamrock Rovers and their European run to this point.
"The team was split into three different groups. Pats have had problems, Sligo have had problems, Derry I presume had too in terms of getting there.
"It's disgraceful that they found it so difficult to get out and prepare for the matches in the way that you should be able to."
When asked by presenter Tommy Martin whether there was a lack of respect being shown to LOI teams, Kerr agreed wholeheartedly before taking aim at Sport Ireland and the minister for sport. In the opinion of the former Republic of Ireland manager, other sports would have been treated better and helped out more by the sport authorities in Ireland.
"Start off with Sport Ireland, Minister for sport and then the Government, I'm sure that if it was other sports that were involved other than a soccer team it would have been a lot smoother than what they've had to go through."
The 69-year old then brought up the recent examples of how Irish sides have faced travel chaos. Sides have had to travel to Shannon and Knock before flying to Europe, while clubs have also been unable to fly home direct to Dublin.
St Pats were stranded in Bulgaria for two days after their first leg encounter with CSKA Sofia, while Shamrock Rovers were only allowed return to Dublin Airport last week as a result of thick fog at Shannon.
"It's been awful, but they've not got the help that they deserve from the authorities who should be setting the stall out to make it as easy as possible."
The veteran of Irish football went on to speak about how important European competitions are to the Irish league. It's Kerr's opinion, that the only time the league gets respect from the general public is when an Irish side does well in Europe.
"We need to do everything possible in our power, everyone, to allow that to happen. To get us up in that coefficient, to make it easier for us to win qualification knockout rounds so that we more regularly have teams playing in the knockout stages."
Concluding, Kerr acknowledged the travel difficulties many are facing at Dublin Airport in all walks of life, but when asked whether these travel issues are symbolic of a lack of respect shown towards the league, Kerr responded with an emphatic, "For definite."
Kerr will be sure to have an eye on how Shamrock Rovers do this evening when they face Ferencvaros in Budapest at 5:30pm, with live updates being provided across all of the Irish Mirror's online platforms.
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