Potentially eligible players thread

[DannyInvincible]

Kane gets his senior England call-up; a very proud day for him and family, according to his Twitter. Someone needs to have a serious word with his da! :p

[Charlie Darwin]

If you're referring to "He who cannot be named" (It rhymes with Smack Fealish) did you see you see his St Patrick's Day tweet? He's either still on board or setting himself up for the ultimate heel turn
Daniel Crowley too. They're teasing us.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

They are going to wait until they are good enough to play for England, till they get called up to the England squad for World Cup 2018, till they pose in an England kit for a photo shoot with Roy Hodgson for 4-4-2 magazine's "England's future is in good hands" cover story and then they are going to hit Roy Hodgson with a steel chair on the back of the head when he turns around, hulk out and tear off their England kits revealing Ireland jerseys.

[tetsujin1979]

Daniel Crowley too. They're teasing us.
This was published on Crowley just yesterday: http://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/arsenals-next-midfield-sensation-whos-bothered-backlines-all-over-europe
There's some relevant quotes in the article, the full article has some vids of him playing as well

The defensive lock-picker made his Aston Villa Under-16s debut at the tender age of 12, and England calls-ups swiftly followed. Crowley has made 13 appearances for England’s under-17s so far, and the landmark under-18s call is surely just round the corner.
...
Crowley could yet choose to represent the Republic of Ireland, despite his appearances for England’s Young Lions. "My grandparents are Irish," he says. "I played for Ireland [at U17 level], went for trials with England and got in. I’m still young and I’d never rule anything out. You just don’t know what’s around the corner."
....
"In a few years' time I hope to be playing football for Arsenal and internationally," Crowley says. He’s certainly on the right road.




Also, he's been training with the Arsenal first team recently: http://hereisthecity.com/en-gb/2015/03/14/photo-daniel-crowley-continues-to-train-with-arsenal-first-team/page/1/

[CraftyToePoke]

They are going to wait until they are good enough to play for England, till they get called up to the England squad for World Cup 2018, till they pose in an England kit for a photo shoot with Roy Hodgson for 4-4-2 magazine's "England's future is in good hands" cover story and then they are going to hit Roy Hodgson with a steel chair on the back of the head when he turns around, hulk out and tear off their England kits revealing Ireland jerseys.


Yeah, all with number 32 on the back & shouting 'up the 'ra, up the f**kin raaa'

[gastric]

I don't know what the problem is with these call ups, King informed Hodgson that we are now using England as a development squad. Crowley and Bamford will soon be ready to join us. I saw this in my tea leaves this morning.

[Charlie Darwin]

I don't know what the problem is with these call ups, King informed Hodgson that we are now using England as a development squad. Crowley and Bamford will soon be ready to join us. I saw this in my tea leaves this morning.
It's a wonderful irony that it was a man named King who informed them of their inferior status.

[Olé Olé]

Bamford is like Kane- he wants to play for England (see recent comments re his mother's family). In fairness to Crowley, he's not exactly committed to England. I know he's playing for them at the moment but if he ever made the decision to play for us then I'd be very receptive of a talented and proud dual-national.

[samhaydenjr]

Ah, they'll all come to regret this decision in 2022 as they watch the World Cup Final at home on TV, having not made the England Squad (who get knocked out after the group stage anyway) and see Tommie Hoban head the ball into Noe Baba's path, who passes to Jack Grealish, who goes on one of his famous mazy runs before laying the ball off for Reece Grego-Cox to bury the extra-time winner. ;)

[Wangball]

Bamford is like Kane- he wants to play for England (see recent comments re his mother's family). In fairness to Crowley, he's not exactly committed to England. I know he's playing for them at the moment but if he ever made the decision to play for us then I'd be very receptive of a talented and proud dual-national.

I think Crowley is different to the others, the others might be aware of their Irish roots but if you look back over Crowley's social media you can see that he's still very much in touch with the Irish side of his family, he still comes to Ireland for holidays every year. His parents (or parent as the case may be....is it just his Da thats Irish?) are model 2nd generationers!

In saying that the Irish side of Bamford's family (his mum) seems to be quite prominent in the family, again this is based solely on some social networking analysis, his sisters are all named things like Ciara & Orla and with him being Paddy it seems that there is a grá for the old sod in the home so I wouldn't rule him out yet!

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

"We'll see what happens".

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

Jamie Carragher was approached about playing for Ireland but elected to stick with England, for obvious reasons.

“I think I was, yeah. I wasn’t going to do it so I never had to look into that much … me and Richard Dunne at the back!”

http://www.the42.ie/jamie-carragher-ireland-2004542-Mar2015/

[boovidge]

Glorious pub talk - when I was watching Spurs/Utd one of the barmen says Mason has family in Cabra and is being looked at by the Irish management, literally paid no heed to this but then saw Kinger in the crowd with Hodgson and pretty much straight away the next morning see this - which screams of "Please don't leave us"

http://www.irishmirror.ie/sport/soccer/soccer-news/tenacious-ryan-mason-one-kind-5325297

I'm drawing conclusions based upon some very tenuous evidence, I''ll fit in well around here.....

Called up for England now anyway

[BonnieShels]

How did no-one not like this post? That was a gem there Stutts. Well done.

Cos there's no like button.

[geysir]

Cos there's no like button.

http://thesocialmediamonthly.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/likebutton1-300x191.jpg

[DeLorean]

Mancini: Me no likey plastic Azzurri (http://forzaitalianfootball.com/2015/03/mancini-italy-national-team-is-only-for-italians/)

[nigel-harps1954]

Mancini: Me no likey plastic Azzurri (http://forzaitalianfootball.com/2015/03/mancini-italy-national-team-is-only-for-italians/)


All set up for Mancini to be the next Italy manager and search far and wide through South America for the next Messi with a hint of Italian heritage.

[Charlie Darwin]

He's just rubbing it in now:

Harry Kane ‏@hkane28 (https://twitter.com/hkane28) 27m27 minutes ago (https://twitter.com/hkane28/status/581594699141668864)
Best night of my life by far! So proud to have made my debut and to score is just something else! Had dreams of that moment for many years!

He could have been a contender here. He could have been bigger than Gary Doherty.

[geysir]

Gary Doherty has scored more goals for ireland than SSL..... that's big!

[Charlie Darwin]

A case of Dr Jekyll and... Dr Hyde.

[Charlie Darwin]

Interesting interview from Peter Rowan in the Sunday Times today. He interviews the head of scouting for the Polish FA who has 12 unpaid scouts working in Ireland and expect to have an Irish-born player in the Poland underage set-up within the next five years.

[Crosby87]

Lucky them. Terry Dixon likes Perogies.

[liamoo11]

Interesting interview from Peter Rowan in the Sunday Times today. He interviews the head of scouting for the Polish FA who has 12 unpaid scouts working in Ireland and expect to have an Irish-born player in the Poland underage set-up within the next five years..
There is that polish irish lad at Everton don't tink he has played for us underage maybe the poles have Hewitt

[Charlie Darwin]

.
There is that polish irish lad at Everton don't tink he has played for us underage maybe the poles have Hewitt
The goalkeeper?

[Crosby87]

Thats the guy that always has his shirt on backwards.

[Stuttgart88]

A young skinny eligible player played pretty well for Villa last night at home to relegation rivals QPR. He is definitely a very talented boy, an exciting talent, though his set pieces weren't the best.

I couldn't help noting just how silly the Villa fans were for celebrating a late equaliser that prevented a direct rival getting within a point of them. Have they no dignity?

[DeLorean]

That direct rival would have swapped places with them actually, toppling Villa into the relegation zone with a game or two extra played on most of their other rivals. I get your point though :)

I didn't see any of it... was there highlights on Sky Sports or something? I noticed that the eligible kid started alright, Sherwood must have a lot of faith in him to select him in a game of that importance.

[paul_oshea]

He was very good but I think you would have to move his thread to EPL to talk about it ;) geddit?

I looked at him at times and saw hoolohan, except a hoolahan just as skinny and light but who didnt get easily nudged off the ball and was well able win it back.

[Stuttgart88]

Thanks for the correction, I was too lazy to check the table. Sherwood not only trusted the kid to start, but also to take nearly every free and corner. He allowed him the license to just play without fear. Paul was right too, Grealish is very enthusiastic without the ball too and tries hard to win the ball back a la Barcelona. He is slight but able to hold of bigger players due to good technique. Certainly an exciting talent albeit WIP.

[DeLorean]

What channel were the highlights (deferred coverage?) on? I might take a look to see if anything's repeated today. How did Clark play?

[Stuttgart88]

I taped extended highlights on Ford Football Special on Sky last night which I guess will be repeated sometime today.

[DeLorean]

Damn repeat started at 10am.

[paul_oshea]

Clark was out-muscled for one of the goals. That seems to be a persistent problem of his, the lapses seemed to have ceased/less and less, but he is repeatedly being out-muscled and a goal conceded off the back of it.

[DeLorean]

He was extremely lucky to escape conceding a penalty at Old Trafford at the weekend.

[Olé Olé]

http://www.irishpost.co.uk/sport/fai-checking-eligibility-of-in-form-preston-striker-garner

This chap will be 27 in a couple of days time and plays in L1. His record at Championship level during his career is pretty poor (a goal in 22 games for Watford in 2011/12). Would prefer if this was filed beside Richard Stearman, especially given that Daryl Murphy is top scorer in the Championship and far from first choice for us.

[Charlie Darwin]

It's beyond embarrassing at this point. We'll chase any old journeyman with an Irish name.

[Stuttgart88]

He was extremely lucky to escape conceding a penalty at Old Trafford at the weekend.

I thought Rooney made a meal of it, happier to go down than actually take a shot which he might have done. The way Rooney bent both knees was classic Drogba.

[DannyInvincible]

http://www.irishpost.co.uk/sport/fai-checking-eligibility-of-in-form-preston-striker-garner

This chap will be 27 in a couple of days time and plays in L1. His record at Championship level during his career is pretty poor (a goal in 22 games for Watford in 2011/12). Would prefer if this was filed beside Richard Stearman, especially given that Daryl Murphy is top scorer in the Championship and far from first choice for us.

According to the Irish Post, he "has relations still living in Galway city"! Bloody hell, will they ever catch on and get out before it's too late?

[DannyInvincible]

In seriousness, interesting comment also from O'Neill from the Irish Post piece above:


Last month O’Neill said: “I would love to leave a legacy. I would love to leave some young players who came through in my tenure for the next person.

“Ideally they would be born in Dublin, Cork, Waterford or Galway, but that is certainly not to say I won’t consider second generation Irish players. I want to make that very clear.

“If a guy like Cyrus Christie or David McGoldrick comes along and expresses an interest in playing for Ireland of course we will want them.”

I note the absence of any mention of possible consideration of northern-born players. That's not necessarily to say Martin wouldn't consider/want them - indeed, I think he might have said he would be open to it a fair while back - but there is another part of me that feels he'd be reluctant to actually go after a northern-born player (in the same way he's clearly happy to go after players like Christie, McGoldrick or former/current England under-age internationals) for fear of irritating the IFA, with whom he probably still has some sort of close informal relations or for whom he probably possesses some sympathetic if not affectionate sentiment.

[TrapAPony]

Why Garner? Can't be any better than Eoin Doyle or Paddy Madden who aren't good enough either by the way. When we were chasing Wilson & Bamford then that was a step in the right direction..... but this????

[DannyInvincible]

Why Garner? Can't be any better than Eoin Doyle or Paddy Madden who aren't good enough either by the way. When we were chasing Wilson & Bamford then that was a step in the right direction..... but this????

Increasing our options can't ever be unhelpful, surely. He'll be an option, but if he's not good enough, we'll select someone superior. No harm done.

[Olé Olé]

Increasing our options can't ever be unhelpful, surely. He'll be an option, but if he's not good enough, we'll select someone superior. No harm done.

I dunno, Danny. I'm normally very receptive to the players that have switched their allegiances to us but I think this is a step too far. I think it actually does more harm than good because he's no better than the options TrapAPony listed above (definitely not Doyle anyway, if you compare their L1 tallies) and it is very disheartening to the likes of Doyle and those coming through if the FAI is actually investing resources in Garner. Garner has never shown anything at a level above League 1 (fair enough, Doyle and Adam Rooney haven't either) so I don't see how the FAI (if the report is indeed accurate) believe he's worth adding to the ranks.

Maybe he'll move into the Championship and shatter all records next season. Who knows.

[osarusan]

I couldn't help noting just how silly the Villa fans were for celebrating a late equaliser that prevented a direct rival getting within a point of them. Have they no dignity?

What is this in reference to?

[Stuttgart88]

Some people complaining about Irish players and fans celebrating an injury time equaliser against Poland as if it is some kind of hardwired permanent acceptance of mediocrity.

[nigel-harps1954]

Increasing our options can't ever be unhelpful, surely. He'll be an option, but if he's not good enough, we'll select someone superior. No harm done.

Despite players playing European football this year, scoring 20 goals a season in Ireland, and the rising standards of football here..that a 27 year old English fella who never made it at the highest level and only scoring goals in League One, arguably a slightly lower standard than the top League of Ireland sides, would be considered before them would be a disgrace in my opinion.

[SkStu]

this is a bizarre one alright.

[Charlie Darwin]

He'll be tempting Lee Trundle out of retirement before long.

[Stuttgart88]

Relax for the moment, there's relatively little of substance in the story - so far.

Nigel, I went to Rovers v Bohs when home for the international break and didn't see much evidence of a rising standard! A dull 0-0 that I loved every minute of, but I think your protestations would be taken a bit more seriously with a better sense of context.

[tetsujin1979]

Take it all with a pinch of salt, the article itself is fairly short, there's no quotes from the player, management, or the club involved and I haven't seen any other news outlet pick up the story

[nigel-harps1954]

Relax for the moment, there's relatively little of substance in the story - so far.

Nigel, I went to Rovers v Bohs when home for the international break and didn't see much evidence of a rising standard! A dull 0-0 that I loved every minute of, but I think your protestations would be taken a bit more seriously with a better sense of context.

Most agreed that it was a poor game, but in all fairness, Pat Fenlon has never really had attractive football as part of his managerial CV.

The likes of Dundalk, St Pats and Cork are starting to really lift the standard. Shamrock Rovers have a good side that will be hard to beat without playing spectacular football and players such a Keith Fahey, an Irish international only a couple of years ago and Mikey Drennan, a rising Irish star only a year ago.

I firmly believe that any League One player picked ahead of a top League of Ireland player playing at least a handful of European games this season would be a disgrace.