Even allowing for the natural messiness of a divorce, Steve Staunton's predecessor has had to acquaint himself with by far the muckier end of the stick in the few months since he and the FAI went their separate ways.

Nothing can push back a tide once it gains momentum, something Kerr must be becoming more and more aware of as the weeks and months go by. It's got to the stage now where questions as to his managerial ability have, in places, crystallised into downright hostility towards him and his reign.

He's become a dumping ground for all that's gone wrong in recent years, either through straight-out suggestion or by subtle implication.

No spirit in the squad? Brian didn't really understand how to handle players coming over from England. And he made them watch endless videos of their opponents. And he got rid of Mick Byrne. Lack of depth or quality in the squad?

Brian didn't go chasing Granny Rule players. Lack of young talent? Brian fell out with Stephen Ireland.

Has it really come to this?

Can we not be grown-up enough to accept that he gave the job as much as he had to give but simply came up short? So it turned out he wasn't the man for the big job. So his innate belief in the bird in the hand caught him out badly. So he couldn't rouse enough vim or vigour out of his players. So he didn't qualify for the World Cup.

None of these are inconsiderable arguments (and he'd argue with you on all but one of them anyway) but even when put together, they don't make a case for the treatment he's received.

Death comes, taxes go and former managers get wiped from the memory banks. It's the way of the world. So it was no surprise to see pretty much all mention of Kerr notable by its absence at Citywest last Sunday night. To conduct what was ostensibly a review of the soccer year with the man who oversaw the most interesting part of it all but airbrushed out wasn't especially nice but there you go. As Denis Leary puts it, "Life sucks . . . get a f**king helmet."

No, it's the implication that Kerr was at the root of any problem you care to mention that's so objectionable. The FAI have been the ringleaders here. From John Delaney's deep look into the eyes of the Swiss to the association's come-and-have-a-go-if-youthink-your-lawyers-are-hardenough reaction to Kerr's subsequent threat of legal action, they've made no bones about drawing battle lines. A quiet word here, a gentlyloaded briefing there. It all adds up.

Kerr has certainly left some grinding axes in his wake. What's become more and more clear in the time since his departure is the extent to which he annoyed . . .

although that's probably not strong enough a word . . . people behind the scenes of Irish football. Merrion Square people, Eircom League people . . .

few have a good word to say about him. In the week between the Switzerland game and the FAI's Board of Management meeting at which his fate was decided, he rang around looking to call in favours or snatches of goodwill. Nothing was doing.

More than anything, it's a sad state of affairs. Memories are short. It's not so long since the only chinks of light in a dark era for Irish football came from television pictures beamed back from Malaysia and Cyprus and Scotland, Kerr's kids providing hope as another World Cup came and went without us. And if that sounds like romanticising achievements that didn't matter very much in the great scheme of things, it's worth remembering that four of last Wednesday's starting line-up were on those teams.

Another two came off the bench.

The point is that however badly things ended and whatever failing it was that caused the Irish squad to stop playing for him, his legacy is about more than just the fourth seeding he left behind for the Euro 2008 draw. In a week when Irish football has cause to feel good about itself again, it shouldn't be too much to ask that the dogs be called off Brian Kerr.