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'Oriel Park is an embarrassment at the moment' | Kerr wants Europa income spent wisely

With Dundalk's qualification for the Europa League group stages confirmed, Brian Kerr sounded a s...



With Dundalk's qualification for the Europa League group stages confirmed, Brian Kerr sounded a strong note of caution on what they do with the incoming windfall.

Goals from Sean Murray and Daniels Cleary and Kelly gave Filippo Giovagnoli's side a 3-1 win over the Faroes of KI and attention turns to the group stages.

Kerr told The Football Show that Dundalk have not made huge strides since they appointed manager Filippo Giovagnoli.

Dundalk

"I didn't see anything dramatic," Kerr said of the differences between Filippo Giovagnoli's side and Vinny Perth's iteration.

"I saw bits and scraps of the game in Andorra [against Inter Club] where they looked like they had good control in that match. The one in Slovenian were a better quality altogether and the errors at the back cost Dundalk.

"Did I see anything dramatically different? No, I can't say I did. But remember that this squad was, by League of Ireland standards, put together quite expensively with the idea of getting through qualifying rounds of the Champions League or Europa League.

"As I understand it, that is why Peak6 bought into Dundalk. They thought that there would be a lot of income from European football on a regular basis."

Income

Kerr wants to see money coming into the club invested in the facilities at and around Oriel Park.

"Now they are there and have that income. When that income comes, I will be very interested to see whether they invest in the facilities, by improving the stadium in Dundalk.

"That stadium in Dundalk at Oriel Park is an embarrassment at the moment, even at League of Ireland level. It is dreadful, really.

"Given that they have been so successful over so many years and it hasn't been improved at all is very poor. The people in charge of Dundalk need to take a grip, tell the supporters where they are going, what the future is for the development of the stadium - because those facilities are an embarrassment compared to the stadiums we see in the smaller countries around Europe.

"These are the things for Dundalk for the future with the money coming into the bank. But the squad that they had was built not just with the intent of winning the League of Ireland again, but competing well in Europe."

Kerr was not impressed by the standard of opposition and football on show at the Aviva on Thursday.

"They have got there by, I would say, fortunate means in getting the Faroes team in the playoff stage. If you look at the fixtures, they were the two lowest teams in the coefficient.

"I would also say that the quality of the football in the first half matched that. It is harsh, but I am prepared to stick with that opinion - it was rough and tumble stuff until they scored the goal."

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