Brian Kerr was on Off The Ball for the Deadline Day Special and discussed the speculation of Rio Ferdinand as Manchester United’s director of football.
Kerr admitted his surprise at the prospect, saying that he didn’t understand why Ferdinand was in the running for the role or why he would deserved to be there.
“What were Rio Ferdinand’s qualities and qualifications for being director of football?... What are the qualifications for that job?
The primary role of the job to Kerr is the negotiating element of the job. The former Republic of Ireland manager continued:
“The qualifications for that job are, on the negotiations side, experience of doing deals and sitting down with people and it’s hard work in terms of getting contracts over the line... (being) good at extracting the maximum when they're selling and then paying the least possible when they’re buying.
Understanding of the industry is also a part of the role that Kerr believes to be crucial to the position. A good understanding of agents and their information is something that he also believes to be pivotal.
“With a ‘rookie’, I would call him, Ferdinand... the next most important thing is contacts in the game.
Understanding how agents work, understanding the marketplace and where the reliable agents are and reliable information is in relation to players.”
Kerr clarified that he couldn’t see Ferdinand fitting the role especially not for a club as big as United.
“I would not have seen Ferdinand as being in the class of what Manchester United did.”
Off The Ball is once again the only place to catch live and exclusive national radio commentary of the Premier League every Sunday. We’ll have 2 live games every week with analysis from Brian Kerr, Kevin Kilbane, Gary Breen, Jon Walters and Pat Nevin. Tune in this Sunday from 1 for Newcastle v Arsenal with Pat Nevin and Stephen Doyle, then it’s Old Trafford for Manchester United v Chelsea with Kevin Kilbane and Nathan Murphy
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