Stephen Hunt

[tricky_colour]

Good luck to him!

I bet his column is pretty good too.

[tricky_colour]

Indeed

http://www.independent.ie/sport/socc...-34349788.html

Stephen Hunt: 'I told the manger I was sh** - He agreed'

[Crosby87]

Hunt thinks Fota training is much better idea than setup before Euro 2012.

http://www.independent.ie/sport/socc...-34430043.html

[DeLorean]

The players will be fit, they need to be ready.

Interesting, given the Richie Towell 'debate' in his thread.

We need to be strong mentally if we are to get out of the group, not fed up before the tournament even begins, as happened in 2012.

How bad could it actually have been? Sounds like a bad excuse to me, I mean, preparations were far from ideal in 2002 also and we put on a good show.

[geysir]

Strange that Stephen almost quotes Trap verbatum "We need to be strong mentally"
Preparations were not ideal in 2002 but gradually the "strong mentality" of that bunch of players shone through and we had Duffer in his prime for us. Hunt's account of 2012 is anecdotal and we have to put into the equation that he was one of the disaffected.

[Yard of Pace]

Interesting, given the Richie Towell 'debate' in his thread.



How bad could it actually have been? Sounds like a bad excuse to me, I mean, preparations were far from ideal in 2002 also and we put on a good show.

They were bored stiff in 2012, seems to be the main gripe, as far as I can see? I doubt 2002 was ever boring. The lads were probably giddy as heck.

(Not that I'm excusing the performances or validating Hunt here)

[DeLorean]

Interesting comments from Stephen Hunt with regards Mike Dean, in light of what followed a mere 24 hours later.

There's one referee, however, I'd like to see more respect from. You can probably guess who it is - Mike Dean. He's the most arrogant referee going. In fact, he's probably the most arrogant man I've ever met on a football pitch. At least you could have banter with players, no matter what they were like. I've come across some big players in my time and there were times when you'd be thinking, 'I can't believe he's said something like that', but, even in that context, Dean takes the cake. He just won't talk to you. He dismisses you like you're a piece of dirt.

I know there's a lot of talk about respect for referees and all of that, but there's a human temperature to a football game that has to be acknowledged, and I think calmly talking to a player helps in that aspect.

Dean won't do that. He goes the other way and seems to have no respect for players. Even his facial expressions reveal a lot. I'd say he drives managers bananas.

How many of my games did he referee? Too many to mention. He drove me to the wall. Even when he comes on the TV now, I can barely look at him.
I suppose I'd like to see a change from him in 2017 in that respect - but he must get his decisions right, since he's still refereeing. As much as some might hate him, it's his style.

[geysir]

Interesting comments from Stephen Hunt with regards Mike Dean, in light of what followed a mere 24 hours later.

Hunt's new year's optimism, utterly crushed by Jan 2 .............that's Mike Dean.


edit,
Ironic that Dean is the person in football who most resembles Jasper Carrot.

[DannyInvincible]

Stephen Hunt's latest piece is about protecting our Irish sporting identity with a particular focus on South African CJ Stander: http://www.independent.ie/sport/socc...y-35462818.htm

...

So when CJ Stander scored the third try of his hat-trick last week, I was out of my seat and absolutely thrilled as an Irishman, and for the player. I don't know him but I knew his story. He doesn't seem very Irish to me.

As I got back in my seat, I thought about the lad - I don't know his name but I feel for him - sitting on the bench, or sitting at home, who had been deprived of a cap so CJ Stander could play for Ireland and score a hat-trick against Italy.

This is an Irish lad who has played his schools and club rugby up and down the country, who thought he had a clear pathway to the green shirt. That honour has been snatched away from him so we can sign a brilliant South African who has lived in Ireland for three years.

There were English and Scottish-born players who jumped on the bandwagon to play football for Ireland, and I certainly did not resent them joining the squad at the time. I always welcomed the likes of Liam Lawrence with open arms because I had no fear about fighting for my place, and was pretty ruthless in that regard. It didn't matter who they were.

...

Hunt's issue seems to be more so when he feels that Ireland-born-and-raised players are missing out. I get the impression he may have taken issue with Lawrence if Lawrence's selection had threatened his place, which suggests his view is coloured by self-interest rather than pure principle; maybe I'm mistaken...

He does go on to say though that he thinks the "granny rule" in football is a fair one and that the majority of footballers born outside of Ireland who opt to play for us do have an affinity with the country, which he believes to be important. He appreciates the rules are different in rugby but states that "Ireland should be concentrating on our own talent, at all levels and in all sports".

Personally, I do think the rugby rules to be particularly lax and certainly odd in the sense that a player representing a particular national team need not even hold the nationality of that country.

[KrisLetang]

Great post Danny.

I humbly submit that in this PC culture of ours, he is dangerously close to being labeled.

[DannyInvincible]

Great post Danny.

I humbly submit that in this PC culture of ours, he is dangerously close to being labeled.

Hunt is? How do you suspect people might label him?

[DeLorean]

I get the impression he may have taken issue with Lawrence if Lawrence's selection had threatened his place, which suggests his view is coloured by self-interest rather than pure principle; maybe I'm mistaken...

I thought he was saying the opposite, that he relished the challenge of Lawrence competing for his place, which in effect he was.

"I always welcomed the likes of Liam Lawrence with open arms because I had no fear about fighting for my place, and was pretty ruthless in that regard. It didn't matter who they were."


Overall I don't think there's much substance in the piece bar the usual basic sentiment that you couldn't really dispute too much. It's not very current either with Stander storming on to the scene over a year ago at this stage.

[DannyInvincible]

I thought he was saying the opposite, that he relished the challenge of Lawrence competing for his place, which in effect he was.

"I always welcomed the likes of Liam Lawrence with open arms because I had no fear about fighting for my place, and was pretty ruthless in that regard. It didn't matter who they were."

Maybe he is. Can be hard to work out the exact point Stephen is trying to make sometimes!

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

http://www.independent.ie/sport/socc...-35462818.html

As I got back in my seat, I thought about the lad - I don't know his name but I feel for him - sitting on the bench, or sitting at home, who had been deprived of a cap so CJ Stander could play for Ireland and score a hat-trick against Italy.

This is an Irish lad who has played his schools and club rugby up and down the country, who thought he had a clear pathway to the green shirt. That honour has been snatched away from him so we can sign a brilliant South African who has lived in Ireland for three years.

Fully agree with those sentiments but they will no doubt be ridiculed just like they were when Ian Harte and Kenny Cunningham said the same thing.

[DeLorean]

I don't think that stance should be ridiculed but basically, as things stand, the "Irish lad" missed out because another player who is eligible to play for us is better than him. When all is said and done I don't think there are too many Irish rugby fans who would possess the ethical compass to swap Stander for an inferior Irish thoroughbred, rightly or wrongly, and the IRFU would be foolish not to avail of his services under the current criteria. The rules do seem a bit lax but I think that should remain the moral responsibility of the governing body, not the individual associations who are obviously going to try to assemble the best team/squad they can.

[tetsujin1979]

There's a proposal to extend the limit to 5 years, this would ensure the player would miss at least one of the next World Cups, if not two, meaning they'll really, really want to play for the country in question if they're prepared to wait that long.

[DannyInvincible]

Stephen Hunt wrote in his Sunday Independent column today that he nearly moved from Reading to Spurs during the 2007-08 season as part of a swap-deal with Gareth Bale going in the opposite direction. Bale was struggling as a left-back at the time and hadn't been on a winning Spurs side in his first 24 appearances.

Nothing came of it, but there was definite interest and a couple of ideas were put to my agent. There was even talk of Spurs allowing Gareth Bale to leave in the opposite direction.

Well, what a lucky escape for Tottenham and Real Madrid when that fell through!

[DannyInvincible]

'Stephen Hunt: Martin O’Neill’s lovely Seamus Coleman gesture a clever piece of man-management': http://www.independent.ie/sport/socc...-35764399.html

The Ireland manager is being intelligent in his preparations and the build-up to the all-important game against Austria at the Aviva next month. He brought the Championship players in early, and then gave them the weekend off, and the preparations will gather pace when the Premier League players join up this week.

He has invited Seamus Coleman back into the group ahead of the Austria game. I like that. It’s a clever piece of man-management once again from a manager who seems to know how to give the Ireland players a lift at the right time. Bringing the captain back in will do that for Seamus and the whole squad, I’m sure.

Hunt goes on to describe his former Ipswich team-mate David McGoldrick as our best striker in terms of footballing ability and is confident that he'll have a big part to play in this campaign.