One of the most interesting television programmes over the Christmas period was the documentary last Tuesday night on the World Cup adventures – or should that be misadventures? – of Brian Kerr. It was expertly produced and RTE deserves a lot of credit for the high standard of the show from a visual point of view – this was documentary making at its finest.

While the producers of the show did their best to attempt to get to the bottom of Brian Kerr’s inexplicable failure as Irish manager, they never really were able to explain the collapse in form that Kerr’s team suffered during the World Cup qualification. The dilemma that faced the documentary team was perfectly articulated by Liam Mackey of the Irish Examiner when he said there had been something surreal about Ireland’s capitulation to Israel in Landsdowne Road earlier in the year.

The result could not be explained in purely footballing terms, he said. It was something more peculiar than that.

Some Irish supporters might argue that Mackey was being a little melodramatic in his analysis of the situation. For a lot of fans, Ireland’s draw with Israel was a simple matter of a team – and, more particularly, a coach - surrendering an excellent advantage. Ireland had a dream start to the Israeli match and it was a game from which they should not have taken anything other than a victory.

The fact that they were unlucky in front of goal – or that the Israeli goalkeeper drove them to distraction – should not have really mattered in the end. An Irish soccer team worth its salt – and, especially, one hoping to qualify for a World Cup – should have been capable of beating a team that is hardly ranked amongst the superpowers of international soccer.

The most extraordinary aspect about last Tuesday’s documentary was that Kerr stubbornly refused to accept any blame whatsoever for the Israeli result. He did not see any error of judgement in his failure to play Stephen Elliot after Robbie Keane picked up an injury nor did he accept responsibility for his team’s inability to push forward after their second goal.

Instead he tried to suggest that he wasn’t on the field to head the ball or put in a saving tackle as the Israelis piled forward – so why should he be blamed! It was a nonsensical argument and one got the impression that Kerr did not believe it himself. Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of Tuesday night’s show was the insight it gave into the spectacular collapse of Kerr’s relationship with the Irish media.

He had begun his career as Irish manager as a media darling, fresh from his incredible exploits with the various underage teams that he managed to European Championships. Kerr was one of the most quotable and accessible managers in the game and there weren’t too many soccer reporters who were not on first name terms with him.

But when the results started to go against him Kerr’s relationship with the media quickly went into a steep decline. Some of the fly-on-the-wall footage from the team press conferences was remarkable. Kerr was literally falling apart under the pressure and it could be seen all over his face. At one point, he took umbrage at a journalist who dared to suggest that he was a “lucky” manager while his discomfort in the aftermath of the French match was clearly visible to everyone at the press conference.

It may seem a little harsh but when the pressure came on Kerr struggled to cope and his techiness seemed to permeate through the entire squad of players. Every international manager experiences periods of crisis – for example, Jack Charlton came under enormous pressure in Italia ’90 after Eamon Dunphy’s infamous outburst after the Egyptian match. The job of the manager is to ensure that the pressure he is feeling does not carry into his everyday dealings with the players.

Kerr, it would seem, was incapable of separating his dealings with the media and his dealings with his players. He may have presented a defiant face to the media but it was obvious that the pressure was impacting on his day-to-day work. And it was evident on the field of play. The difference in performance between the Irish team’s early games under Kerr and his final game against Switzerland was quite staggering. For whatever reason, the players seemed to have lost all faith in their manager and the lack of passion was startling.

It’s not easy to put a finger on the exact causes of Kerr’s downfall. It’s not as if he became a bad football coach overnight but the job simply seemed too big for him. Sure, the players that he had at his disposal were not particularly special but they were still capable of qualifying from a fairly average group. Where and how it all went awry will remain a mystery to all of us.

But one got the impression that Kerr was not being entirely honest when he declared at the end of the show that he would not have done anything differently. There are very few people who fail in life and then claim that they would not change a thing. Kerr had a wry smile on his face when he announced at the end of the show that he had “no regrets”. He wasn’t fooling anyone. His face had the looked about as free of regrets as a man who entered Las Vegas with a fistful of dollars and left with a sackful of IOUs.