Potentially eligible players thread

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

He's made no secret that England is his first preference ahead of Jamaica and Northern Ireland.

I don't think he's up to much any ways. And I don't have much use for people that kick defenceless people in the head.

[Wangball]

http://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/sport/watfordfc/watfordfcnews/14393108.Hornets_bring_in_Nigerian_striker_Adeyemo/

Doesn't this guy qualify for us?

[tetsujin1979]

http://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/sport/watfordfc/watfordfcnews/14393108.Hornets_bring_in_Nigerian_striker_Adeyemo/

Doesn't this guy qualify for us?

According to wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ola_Adeyemo - he does, but has been called up by Nigeria (where he was born) for their U23 squad

[Olé Olé]

According to wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ola_Adeyemo - he does, but has been called up by Nigeria (where he was born) for their U23 squad

That Wiki page says he was born in London though?

Disappointing he's not with us given that he's been living in Ireland (per Wiki) from the age of 2. Although, he was hardly going to get a call up when he couldn't get a goal for East Fife in Scottish League 1 or 2. Watford must have liked what they saw. If he's over-age for our under 21 side then maybe we'll have a senior tug of war for him with Nigeria in the future!

[Wangball]

I know this is hardly the ultimate proof but in FM2016 he gets always gets U21 caps for us!

[DannyInvincible]

I know this is hardly the ultimate proof but in FM2016 he gets always gets U21 caps for us!

It's usually a pretty accurate indicator as their research is unparalleled. Clubs utilise their database now as a real-life scouting tool: http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/aug/12/why-clubs-football-manager-scouting-tool

[DannyInvincible]

According to wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ola_Adeyemo - he does, but has been called up by Nigeria (where he was born) for their U23 squad

If he doesn't have an Ireland-born parent or grandparent (and as he himself was born in London), then the FAI and he would most likely have to apply for an article 7 (assuming a new nationality) exemption (http://foot.ie/threads/147164-Eligibility-Rules-Okay?p=1805274&viewfull=1#post1805274) so as to enable him to represent us without having resided in Ireland for five years after the age of 18, although that ought to be a straightforward process, if ever required, considering he grew up in Ireland from the age of two.

[Lionel Ritchie]

Doubt financial clout or stature comes into it for most of the players concerned. Davies, O'Hara, Noble & Naughton all could have made more money and increased their clout by declaring for Ireland 6 years ago but haven't. Doubt finances were main driving force for lads like Rooney, Cahill and Bamford.

I wouldn't rule it out either -though that imperative might not be from the player themselves. They all have agents and agents will do what's best for agents as they see it regardless of what they tell players. Young Grealish' agent made it patently clear where he wished his player to commit and gurned that one of his other more famous charges could have made them both a (much larger) fortune if he'd switched from Wales to England.
Put another way, that decision isn't always one made from the heart, it's as likely made with a calculator.

If I were an (English) agent of a dual national player who might just be about to come onto the 'England radar' I'd tell him this true story. Before the 2002 world cup back before footballers committed their every notion to twitter -thus giving red tops copy for free -those red tops were trying to court England players to keep 'world cup diaries'. One day the English squad got back from training and found that one of those red tops had dropped off FREE laptop computers for the entire England squad with internet dongles and all ...the works. The very same red top gave the entire Republic of Ireland squad FREE laptop cases.

That's about a representive breakdown of the sums.

[dr_peepee]

What?... No April Fools joke re Mark Noble declaring availability??

[Olé Olé]

Scott Hogan has really picked it up even better than he left off (before cruel injury). Got 2 tonight against Cardiff to add to his one the weekend.

[SkStu]

Haven't read much about Hogan. What's the connection? Decent prospect?

[tetsujin1979]

Haven't read much about Hogan. What's the connection? Decent prospect?
from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Hogan#International_career

Hogan was called up to the Republic of Ireland U21 squad in February 2014, but did not feature in a match. Though born in England, he is eligible to play for Ireland through having two Irish grandparents.
Strangely enough, he doesn't feature in the FAI's weekly "Green Shoots" column

[TrapAPony]

Anybody know if young Brighton centre half Connor Goldson is eligible. His middle name is Lambert. Surely some Irish in there.

[SkStu]

I have requested to follow him in Twitter... I will ask! BTW he looks mixed race/heritage.

[DannyInvincible]

Anybody know if young Brighton centre half Connor Goldson is eligible. His middle name is Lambert. Surely some Irish in there.

Lambert's a Germanic surname, isn't it?

[SkStu]

Lambert is a very popular name in Ireland and Great Britain. It's one of those names I see that I'd consider "default Irish". There was actually a Lambert Castle in Galway near where some of my extended family lives. It wouldn't be crazy that there's some lineage in the name going back to Germany via English aristocracy (that were given Irish land) given all the English/German banging that used to happen.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

Connor Lambert Goldson. Sounds like a Roscommon name.

What about Shaquille O'Neal? He's pretty old now but I reckon he could do a job in goal?

[Fixer82]

Lambert is a very popular name in Ireland and Great Britain. It's one of those names I see that I'd consider "default Irish".

Lambert is Scottish surely???

[Fixer82]

Lambert is Scottish surely???

Just did a Google, yip it's German.

[DeLorean]

Irwin3 is a good man for this kind of topic...

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

It doesn't sound like a remotely Irish name.

Then again; David Healy, Grant McCann, Warren Feeney, Kyle Lafferty and Gareth McAuley off the top of my head have "Irish" sounding surnames and are of Protestant denomination.

[Irwin3]

Irwin3 is a good man for this kind of topic...

Indeed! After checking I see people above have correctly pointed out its origins. From what I can see it is of germanic derivations and it was/is a forename meaning 'bright' 'land'. This forename then later became a patronymic surname. It also appears to have become an occupational surname (Lamb-herd). There were Lamberts from Normandy and it seems likely that some of the Irish Lamberts would be of this extraction.

To this day it is most common among French (20th most common surname) and Belgian (26th) people as well as being fairly common throughout Britain and Ireland and beyond.

[Paddy Garcia]

Kieran Tierney - Celtic's best player & going to be a huge huge talent - is he on the radar?

[DeLorean]

I was impressed with him on Sunday, reminded me of that Robertson guy that plays for Hull. I was so impressed I looked him up and he's already been capped for Scotland's full team, their recent friendly against Denmark. Don't know if there's any Irish connection but I guess it doesn't really matter.

[Charlie Darwin]

It doesn't sound like a remotely Irish name.

Then again; David Healy, Grant McCann, Warren Feeney, Kyle Lafferty and Gareth McAuley off the top of my head have "Irish" sounding surnames and are of Protestant denomination.
They are Irish and of protestant denomination. They're not mutually exclusive.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

They are Irish and of protestant denomination. They're not mutually exclusive.

They would probably beg to differ on that.

[SkStu]

Pulled this from my post in the play off thread...


Interestingly, while looking through the Burnley squads I noticed a player for their development squad called Khius Metz who is noted as Irish. A little bit more sleuthing and it appears he is a striker who has been capped for us at U17 and U19 level (Sept 2015). Anyone know anything about him as a prospect outside of that and the connection to Ireland? Maybe ill also post this to the other thread...

someone tell me Metz is a fierce popular name in Leitrim and his brother, Paudie, is the next Messi...

[DannyInvincible]

Kieran Tierney - Celtic's best player & going to be a huge huge talent - is he on the radar?

He's represented Scotland at under-age level and played in a senior friendly against Denmark (http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/35923550) last month. We'd need to get acting quick (if he's even eligible). He was born in the Isle of Man himself to two Scottish parents (http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/13899935.Kieran_Tierney_taking_his_Manx_connection s_seriously_as_he_embarks_on_Celtic_career/) but dunno about grand-parentage.

[DeLorean]

I wouldn't hold it against the FAI for not investiating this one any further!

[TrapAPony]

Young Everton striker Courtney Duffus seemingly on the verge of declaring for us :

I was born in Cheltenham so lived there but my mum’s half-Irish and my dad’s family are Jamaican. I’m eligible to play for Jamaica, England or the Republic of Ireland. I’ve just got my Irish citizenship actually so just waiting for everything to go through with UEFA. I was supposed to go away with the Under 21s in March but it didn’t go through in time and I had an injury anyway.

www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3541428/Everton-starlet-Courtney-Duffus-Romelu-Lukaku-idol-Bojan-best-player-ve-played-against.html (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3541428/Everton-starlet-Courtney-Duffus-Romelu-Lukaku-idol-Bojan-best-player-ve-played-against.html)

[paul_oshea]

Kieran Tierney - Celtic's best player & going to be a huge huge talent - is he on the radar?

I am pretty sure he played a recent friendly for Scotland

[Charlie Darwin]

As exclusively revealed by DannyInvincible three days ago.

[DeLorean]

I think you'll find I had the exclusive two days before that. :)

[Charlie Darwin]

As exclusively revealed by DeLorean five days ago (and shamelessly plagiarised by DannyInvincible two days later) :)

[gastric]

Any word on his younger brother Tyrone coming on board too?

[samhaydenjr]

Young Everton striker Courtney Duffus seemingly on the verge of declaring for us :

I was born in Cheltenham so lived there but my mum’s half-Irish and my dad’s family are Jamaican. I’m eligible to play for Jamaica, England or the Republic of Ireland. I’ve just got my Irish citizenship actually so just waiting for everything to go through with UEFA. I was supposed to go away with the Under 21s in March but it didn’t go through in time and I had an injury anyway.

www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3541428/Everton-starlet-Courtney-Duffus-Romelu-Lukaku-idol-Bojan-best-player-ve-played-against.html (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3541428/Everton-starlet-Courtney-Duffus-Romelu-Lukaku-idol-Bojan-best-player-ve-played-against.html)

That could be a very good addition as we could really do with some young strikers coming through. We have young defenders and midfielders both in the national team and close to breaking in but no real out-and-out goalscorers. There are a few potentials on the horizon - Reece Grego-Cox, Khius Metz, Sam Byrne, Gerry McDonagh and possibly Michael Drennan and/or Sean Maguire if they can successfully use the League of Ireland as a platform to another shot at the English leagues - but none who could be considered as close to the national team as the likes of Jack Byrne, Alan Browne, Darragh Lenihan, Tommie Hoban, Derrick Williams or Ian Lawlor. So if Duffus does come on board, it would very much improve our chances of having a decent forward line in years to come

[RiffRaff]

Have to say I emailed the FAI twice about these guys 3 years ago and didn't get a reply. Evertons academy players profiles on their website mentions what countries they are eligible for and from a quick glance at their website now, I noticed there is at least a couple of lads there who claim to be eligible, Jack Kiersey and Ciaran O'Loughlin. Don't think I'll bother the FAI with this since they couldn't be arsed to reply last time.
Young Everton striker Courtney Duffus seemingly on the verge of declaring for us :

I was born in Cheltenham so lived there but my mum’s half-Irish and my dad’s family are Jamaican. I’m eligible to play for Jamaica, England or the Republic of Ireland. I’ve just got my Irish citizenship actually so just waiting for everything to go through with UEFA. I was supposed to go away with the Under 21s in March but it didn’t go through in time and I had an injury anyway.

www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3541428/Everton-starlet-Courtney-Duffus-Romelu-Lukaku-idol-Bojan-best-player-ve-played-against.html (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3541428/Everton-starlet-Courtney-Duffus-Romelu-Lukaku-idol-Bojan-best-player-ve-played-against.html)

[Olé Olé]

Have to say I emailed the FAI twice about these guys 3 years ago and didn't get a reply. Evertons academy players profiles on their website mentions what countries they are eligible for and from a quick glance at their website now, I noticed there is at least a couple of lads there who claim to be eligible, Jack Kiersey and Ciaran O'Loughlin. Don't think I'll bother the FAI with this since they couldn't be arsed to reply last time.

Good spot. Re these two lads, O'Loughlin has such an Irish name that he even has the first name spelled without any *******ised version like Kieron or Kieran. And look at the red head on Kiersey here: http://www.evertonfc.com/players/j/jk/jack-kiersey

You'd have to presume that Tyrone Duffus will get his papers in order now as well.

[DeLorean]

You'd have to presume that Tyrone Duffus will get his papers in order now as well.

You shouldn't presume anything when you're dealing with a Duffus. :o

[CraftyToePoke]

Going to post this here, Gary Breen reckons you should have to pin your international colours to the mast upon turning pro at 16 and that should be final. He feels this would keep club hierarchies from influencing matters at a later date and at that age its when you have your purest thoughts about who you are.

http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2016/0427/784667-breen-players-should-have-to-pick-one-country/

[DannyInvincible]

At that age, I'd contend that that's when a player might be most vulnerable to offerings from self-interested associations with pulling power. The introduction of the right to switch once was to protect players from this power-imbalance to the later detriment of their careers. Tim Cahill, who became tied to Samoa after playing for their under-20 team at the age of 14, is an extreme example - he saw the invite to play for them as an opportunity to go on holiday to see his ill grandmother with expenses paid - but the present rule is to protect against that sort of thing later hampering a player's international career.

In many cases someone's purest thoughts about who they are won't be singular; it can be plural and complicated. Someone might (completely legitimately) feel as equally English as they do Irish at the age of 16. That's not impurity. It's just complexity that Breen doesn't seem prepared to acknowledge. I would suggest it's easy for Breen to talk as, even though he was born in London himself, his father was from Kerry and his mother was from Clare. I think that's pretty evident.

His thoughts on residency are also interesting. The stipulation at present is five years and possession of nationality. (Rugby and cricket eligibility rules are incredibly lax in comparison, to the best of my knowledge, so hardly worth mentioning in this context.) Breen thinks of taking on a new nationality as just "living in the area", but if a country deems an individual a citizen (thereby allowing him or her to enjoy all the civil rights that come with that) and they've contributed to life in that country for the requisite period of time (five years is a considerable period of time), why shouldn't they be entitled to be selected for the national football team? It won't necessarily be a career-move; some might see it as a means of returning something to their adopted country. It was interesting that before Diego Costa was declared eligible to represent the Spanish national football team, he would actually have been entitled to represent his adopted country in the European parliament.

[DannyInvincible]

I thought there was a Michael Duffy thread on here, but maybe not. He is definitely eligible as he's from Derry and played in an under-18 friendly for us in 2012, but I think he's been mentioned in this thread before as he's been playing at international level for the IFA otherwise, so I'll post here.

He scored at Ibrox for Alloa at the weekend in their 1-1 draw with Rangers:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtYvQvqilFg

He's presently on loan at Alloa from Celtic. More on it here: http://www.derryjournal.com/sport/derry-city-news/celtic-michael-duffy-s-delight-at-spoiling-rangers-title-party-1-7349443

[CraftyToePoke]

At that age, I'd contend that that's when a player might be most vulnerable to offerings from self-interested associations with pulling power. The introduction of the right to switch once was to protect players from this power-imbalance to the later detriment of their careers

Yes, and not to mention clubs making it known to lads at 14 & 15 years of age that as commodities they are worth more as England internationals, so who is going to do anything which jepoardises their chances when the pro contracts are being decided, even if its a bluff, who at that age will call a big club on it ?



In many cases someone's purest thoughts about who they are won't be singular; it can be plural and complicated. Someone might (completely legitimately) feel as equally English as they do Irish at the age of 16. That's not impurity. It's just complexity that Breen doesn't seem prepared to acknowledge. I would suggest it's easy for Breen to talk as, even though he was born in London himself, his father was from Kerry and his mother was from Clare. I think that's pretty evident..

Granted, he doesn't leave room for this, people can genuinely feel both and credibly represent either and I am sure as a London Irishman he will be well aware and indeed accepting of this, even if it didn't apply to him. However he rightly seeks to cut off the route we again have a number of guys taking presently, whereby an Ireland career is there as a back up career if an England one doesn't materialise. In seeking this, its difficult not to agree with him. A tricky one to navigate. His method would be foolproof, but would it lose us more players than it would ever gain us ? Hard to know.

[Olé Olé]

I thought there was a Michael Duffy thread on here, but maybe not. He is definitely eligible as he's from Derry and played in an under-18 friendly for us in 2012, but I think he's been mentioned in this thread before as he's been playing at international level for the IFA otherwise, so I'll post here.

He scored at Ibrox for Alloa at the weekend in their 1-1 draw with Rangers:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtYvQvqilFg

He's presently on loan at Alloa from Celtic. More on it here: http://www.derryjournal.com/sport/derry-city-news/celtic-michael-duffy-s-delight-at-spoiling-rangers-title-party-1-7349443

Some going by Duffy. Fair play to him. Celtic fans have surely applauded that degree of loyalty.

On the other hand, correct me if I'm wrong, but that won't endear him to some sections of supporters of NI?

[osarusan]

However he rightly seeks to cut off the route we again have a number of guys taking presently, whereby an Ireland career is there as a back up career if an England one doesn't materialise. In seeking this, its difficult not to agree with him.
I don't think there's anything 'rightly' about it and it's easy for me not to agree with him.

I've no problem whatsoever with people viewing an Ireland career as a backup to a career for another country.

[Charlie Darwin]

MON met face-to-face with Dan Crowley recently: http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/international-soccer/oneill-steps-up-pursuit-of-highly-rated-irisheligible-arsenal-underage-star-34668024.html

Says there his father David, an ex-pro at Coventry, was born in Waterford.

[tetsujin1979]

MON met face-to-face with Dan Crowley recently: http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/international-soccer/oneill-steps-up-pursuit-of-highly-rated-irisheligible-arsenal-underage-star-34668024.html

Says there his father David, an ex-pro at Coventry, was born in Waterford.
does anyone really think he could be "drafted in next month for one of the pre-tournament friendlies against Holland and Belarus"??

[DeLorean]

Not even John Fallon.

[Olé Olé]

MON met face-to-face with Dan Crowley recently: http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/international-soccer/oneill-steps-up-pursuit-of-highly-rated-irisheligible-arsenal-underage-star-34668024.html

Says there his father David, an ex-pro at Coventry, was born in Waterford.

I think we figured out before that his grandparents are living in Waterford (there was a pic of him on social media visiting Waterford to his grandparents and someone on here noted they recognised his grandfather from about the place). Also, his old man played gaelic football (like Daniel) so it's not out of the question that he was born in Ireland. But, I don't think Crowley Sr. emigrated to England himself as I think his own siblings are in England so it could be the case that the grandparents went over with the family and the family stayed there but the grandparents came back home.

I hope his old man isn't like Grealish's. He always gave me the impression that he was a small bit of a loose cannon. Not to mention the influence of the agent.

One would hope that Dan Crowley's observed how Grealish's season has gone since he declared for England (though both aren't directly linked) and had a good think for himself. He always struck me as positively identifying with Ireland anyway (there were some tweets, pictures of his baby brother in an Ireland top etc.) so fingers crossed that a meeting with O'Neill will be enough to swing him.

[DeLorean]

He's theirs to lose :eek: