Jamie O'Hara [Archive] - Page 12

shakermaker1982

23/03/2010, 11:05 AM

Football i.e. Soccer our National sport - come on boi will you get a grip

All Irish Rugby Squad Irish to the core - I assume you mean by that Irish born and bred -dont think so - Issac Boss, Tom Court, Brett Wilkinson all born abroad some have tentative links - and we also had the Easterby's and Simon Geoghan born and bred in England to name a few.

And for the record Jamie Heaslip was born in Israel!!!!

Bit more research Ardrock

O'Gara was born in San Diego as well!!

greendeiseboy

23/03/2010, 1:00 PM

O'Gara was born in San Diego as well!!

Yip, now that explains why the Yanks are up in arms about him declaring for us with their online campaigns and booing him every time he takes a penalty when we play against them and why the American troops returning from Iraq on the Shannon stopover are regularly protesting there about him declaring for us.:)

Paddy Garcia

23/03/2010, 8:19 PM

I thought I'd take a look at this thread to see if there was an update on possible additions to the squad. Should have known better!

SilkCut

23/03/2010, 11:23 PM

Yes, intellectual giants all of you...............:rolleyes:
Well living in Ireland and not the other side of the world I dont know the exact merits of Australian football but at least they have a professional structure in place the offers a starting point for potential international quality players. Much like Norway, sure most their first choice players are usually based abroad but they all made their mark first in Norway's league. We have a similar population and , unlike Australia where your soccer is a minority sport, football is our national sport(please don't mention gaelic) so having a reasonably serious national league like most European countries manage, should be realistic. Look at Irish rugby - much less popular sport but they have the right structure in place and the results at club and international level to back it up, and every one of the Ireland team is Irish to the core. Maybe a Celtic super league with teams from Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland could be an option, I'm sure FIFA wouldn't stand in the way.

Something we agree on and if you check my post history something you will see I have been boring the arse off people with for some time.

The A-league is semi - pro same as the LOI, most of the better Aussie players have never played in the A-League and few played in the old NSL, much like Irish players they leave for England in thier mid to late teens. Kewell, Viduka, Emerton, Cahill, Schwarzer,Moore all left when they were kids and the trend is continuing, in fact it has worsened with Verbeek saying he will pick players who are merely TRAINING with a team in a European league before he will pick an A-League player for a WC squad or even an important WC qualifier. Much the same as we will not pick a regular LOI player ahead of Liam Miller even when he did not have a club. Please don't use the A-League as an example of what we should aspire to be. Also Football is not the minority sport over here, Rugby union currently is, the popularity of all codes except AFL varies from season to season depending on what events are on. Football is huge right now because of the WC.

dr_peepee

12/04/2010, 10:46 AM

O'Hara was on Soccer AM on Sat. No mention of the Irish team or even a choice afforded to him. Is very comitted to playing for England from what I saw. It was all about impressing Fabio, Tweeting comments like "The sun team of the week again, are you watching Fabio", commenting on the current midfeilders age and future oppertunities etc. So we can put that to bed...

I wonder how Gary Cahill is doing??

Serb

12/04/2010, 11:14 AM

Is very comitted to playing for England from what I saw. It was all about impressing Fabio, Tweeting comments like "The sun team of the week again, are you watching Fabio", commenting on the current midfeilders age and future oppertunities etc. So we can put that to bed...

Didn't see him mention other midfielders, but he does have the following two tweets on Twitter:

28th February, MrJamieOHara (http://twitter.com/mrjamieohara/status/9771056792)
another team of the week, any chance fabio i can play anywhere u want lol
5th April, MrJamieOHara (http://twitter.com/mrjamieohara/status/11632470173)
The sun team of week again, what more can I do fabio lol

Yard of Pace

12/04/2010, 12:06 PM

Will he make the England team though? I can't see it, to be honest. And I think when September rolls around and he hasn't been picked at all, he'll come and play for us.

Predator

12/04/2010, 12:09 PM

Is it just me or do O'Hara's virtual pleas to Capello seem...desperate?

Wolfie

12/04/2010, 12:34 PM

Is it just me or do O'Hara's virtual pleas to Capello seem...desperate?

This hedging of bets scenario in such a public manner is farcical.

We should not pick him at this stage - as I think it creates a damaging precedent for us for a variety of reasons.

Serb

12/04/2010, 12:41 PM

This hedging of bets scenario in such a public manner is farcical.

His supposition that the Sun team of the week actually matters to Fabio Capello is even more farcial.

EalingGreen

12/04/2010, 2:27 PM

Is it just me or do O'Hara's virtual pleas to Capello seem...desperate?

Why should it be remarkable that someone who was born and brought up in England and who is playing regularly for an EPL club (just!) be "desperate" to play for England?

Granted, I think he's a long way off being good enough (and I'm a Spurs fan), and so he may be deluding himself, but I kinda respect the fact he's showing this attitude, especially since he knows NI would likely give him an opportunity to play international football, even if Trapattoni might not fancy him.

Predator

12/04/2010, 5:39 PM

Why should it be remarkable that someone who was born and brought up in England and who is playing regularly for an EPL club (just!) be "desperate" to play for England?

Granted, I think he's a long way off being good enough (and I'm a Spurs fan), and so he may be deluding himself, but I kinda respect the fact he's showing this attitude, especially since he knows NI would likely give him an opportunity to play international football, even if Trapattoni might not fancy him.
I appreciate the fact that he'd rather play for England and his reasons why. I just find his constant 'tweeting' about his performances somewhat shameless, but that's just me. In a few years time, he could maybe break into the England set-up; I wonder is he willing to wait for his chance?

I suppose Nigel Worthington is aware of his eligibility. Do you know if NI are actively pursuing him in the way that Trapattoni is?

MuckaTucka

12/04/2010, 6:03 PM

While O'Hara would undoubtedly improve the Irish team a small bit. I don't think midfield is that badly stocked right now.
It's interesting that despite the continued calls to exploit the granny rule, for the most part Irelands best players have been homegrown lads like Given, McGrath and Keane. It's the same in Rugby with O'Driscoll, Wood and O'Connell. We're well capable of producing our own.
Adding Meyler, Reid and Fahy to a squad which already contains Duff, Hunt, Gibson, Whelan and Andrews isn't too bad a position that we need to be chasing some tweeting geezer.

SkStu

12/04/2010, 6:15 PM

have to say i agree. Was willing to give his soccer am and newspaper comments the benefit of the doubt but when he is tweeting that crap you know where his allegiances truly lie. And as you point out, we have the makings of an excellent midfield there anyway and thats even with you forgetting to mention McCarthy..

Razors left peg

12/04/2010, 9:47 PM

I was all for giving O Hara a call up because I think he is a very good player, but I must admit in the last month I have changed that view a bit. For no one reason in particular, but he does seem to be making it a bit too obvious that an Ireland call up would be too much of a distant 2nd choice. Plus the emergence of Gibson, Meyler, Wilson and McCarthy is very pleasing and I would like to see those lads who are fully 1000% committed given the chance

elroy

12/04/2010, 9:51 PM

As mentioned before, fair enough if the lad wants to play for England, he is English after all and good luck to him. I certainly wouldnt be as desperate from him to play for us as he appears to want to play for England.
Anyways Im sure Trap mentioned in some interview around the brazil game that he had set a deadline for those that he has approached under the granny/parentage rules, I believe that deadline was the training camp this summer. Therefore, it appears O'H has well and truly made up his mind.

geysir

12/04/2010, 10:39 PM

It was a case of us approaching an English player, asking if he would declare for us and he says 'maybe later but for now I really want to play for England'.
He does not owe us anything bar a polite answer, he gave an honest enough reply to Trap as to where his loyalties are.
We do not have to pursue him any longer. Let him live out his football career and his ambitions. He is of no more concern to us than any other English footballer.

Charlie Darwin

12/04/2010, 11:22 PM

I'm not sure why people are surprised. He's English and has repeatedly expressed his desire to play for England. If he does choose to declare for us, it will because he has accepted he's not good enough to play for England (although he seems fairly dumb so maybe he'll think we're the better team). With a few exceptions, that's how we've gotten most of our granny-rulers.

Adrock

12/04/2010, 11:30 PM

It's interesting that despite the continued calls to exploit the granny rule, for the most part Irelands best players have been homegrown lads like Given, McGrath and Keane. It's the same in Rugby with O'Driscoll, Wood and O'Connell. We're well capable of producing our own.
Adding Meyler, Reid and Fahy to a squad which already contains Duff, Hunt, Gibson, Whelan and Andrews isn't too bad a position that we need to be chasing some tweeting geezer.

Its true that the only genuine international class players we produce are likely to be Irish born and bred. Any English with Irish family who fit in that band are inevitably going to pursue a career with England simply because they have the potential to do so. This is the case with O'Hara, who I genuinely believe has the quality to make it as an England player and seeing as he seems a nice lad I hope he makes it. The English that do end up in our team, such as Lawrence and St Ledger simply weren't rated high enough to even be offered a call-up at youth level for England. To put it simply if O'Hara were say 20% less talented he'd probably be playing for us by now because England wouldn't be on the horizon. For all the talk of the proud diaspora how many English born players have actually chosen us over England when actually being wanted by both? Even Steven Reid only made it to under-16 level with England before being overlooked.
To add to those mentioned above a lad who always impresses me as a potential international player is Keith Treacy. Watching our under-21's is quite a dispiriting experience generally but he always looks a cut above the general mediocrity. So if Trap's looking for a wide midfield player to add to the squad perhaps he might consider an Irish option instead.

irishfan86

13/04/2010, 4:21 AM

For all the talk of the proud diaspora how many English born players have actually chosen us over England when actually being wanted by both?

I know people would laugh at the thought of Kevin Kilbane playing for England now, but they wanted him at U-21 level and he rejected them for us.

Paddy Garcia

13/04/2010, 5:59 AM

They fought very hard for him - as they did with McAteer.

bholg

13/04/2010, 12:33 PM

Personally speaking, I wouldnt want to see OHara near the squad. He has no interest.

dr_peepee

13/04/2010, 12:57 PM

I know people would laugh at the thought of Kevin Kilbane playing for England now, but they wanted him at U-21 level and he rejected them for us.

I wouldn't laugh at all. Kilbane would have won a handfull of caps had he been English (only a handfull mind).

Charlie Darwin

13/04/2010, 2:09 PM

Kilbane probably would have been in contention with England's dearth of quality left-sided players (which is as much an issue now as it ever was), but I don't know if he would have progressed passed the odd friendly.

Colbert Report

13/04/2010, 3:42 PM

I think we can just about close the book on O'Hara playing for us. Fair play to him, he's a good player and he's desperate to play for his country, nothing wrong with that. No different than me, I'd give my left ball to play for Ireland but if I was towards the end of my career and had not received a call up I might consider playing for Canada.

TrapAPony

13/04/2010, 4:22 PM

I'd be very surprised if England came calling for Jamie O'Hara any time soon, if at all. Far too many players ahead of him.

Yard of Pace

13/04/2010, 5:36 PM

SkStu

13/04/2010, 6:28 PM

TrapAPony

13/04/2010, 9:20 PM

Kevin Nolan got his 16th & 17th league goal of the season tonight against Reading making him the 2nd top scorer in the Championship. That's good going for a midfielder in all fairness.

irishfan86

13/04/2010, 9:44 PM

Kevin Nolan got his 16th & 17th league goal of the season tonight against Reading making him the 2nd top scorer in the Championship. That's good going for a midfielder in all fairness.

A lot of games he has been playing basically as a second striker, similar to the role Gerrard generally plays with Liverpool, so to call him a "midfielder" may be a bit generous at this stage, although he can and does player deeper on occasion.

Yard of Pace

13/04/2010, 9:51 PM

i think most (me included - he's a decent player) were willing to give him until then and let his performances do the talking as far as his England hopes are concerned. Its his tweeting along with some dodgy comments in interviews that have closed the issue for me. It is clear where his true allegiances lie and that leaves a bit of a bad taste.

Plus, as pointed out we have some excellent (irish born) midfield talent making great strides in the Premier League and suddenly a half committed O'Hara doesnt seem as necessary or attractive.

Well, he's still young. Who knows what might happen down the line. I think most here would accept Stephen Ireland back even though he's said he feels nothing playing for us. O'Hara's comment about feeling English AND Irish is enough for me to give him leeway. If Fabio doesn't answer his tweets then he'll be a nice option for us, though I do hope the younger lads coming through will be enough in that regard. He's a player I really like though.

Charlie Darwin

13/04/2010, 9:55 PM

A lot of games he has been playing basically as a second striker, similar to the role Gerrard generally plays with Liverpool, so to call him a "midfielder" may be a bit generous at this stage, although he can and does player deeper on occasion.
Plus he's probably the best player in the league.

elroy

13/04/2010, 10:46 PM

They fought very hard for him - as they did with McAteer.

Really??
Although at the time McAteer joined up with us (i.e 94), Ireland (was probably the only time in recent memory) the more attractive option than England for a player eligible for both countries.

Adrock

14/04/2010, 2:09 PM

I know people would laugh at the thought of Kevin Kilbane playing for England now, but they wanted him at U-21 level and he rejected them for us.

Is that actually true? I don't recall Kilbane ever being called up by England or any stories of them showing an interest. Wasn't he playing for Preston when he debuted for us? I know there's a lot of KK fans out there but I've honestly never much rated the guy. Funny how he seems to be held in such high regard, whereas Mcgeady - a clearly more talented individual who genuinely could have walked in to the team of his birth country - gets so much flak :confused:

tetsujin1979

14/04/2010, 2:49 PM

Is that actually true? I don't recall Kilbane ever being called up by England or any stories of them showing an interest. Wasn't he playing for Preston when he debuted for us? I know there's a lot of KK fans out there but I've honestly never much rated the guy. Funny how he seems to be held in such high regard, whereas Mcgeady - a clearly more talented individual who genuinely could have walked in to the team of his birth country - gets so much flak :confused:
he was called into an England underage squad, and turned it down. While some players have regarded international football as a distraction from the club game, or a nuisance to be avoided, he's one of the few who genuinely enjoys playing for his country. Despite his lack of ability, he's amassed over 100 caps, playing in a variety of positions, and has never (to the best of my knowledge) refused a call up to the squad.
We could do with a few more like him.

MuckaTucka

14/04/2010, 3:31 PM

he was called into an England underage squad, and turned it down. While some players have regarded international football as a distraction from the club game, or a nuisance to be avoided, he's one of the few who genuinely enjoys playing for his country. Despite his lack of ability, he's amassed over 100 caps, playing in a variety of positions, and has never (to the best of my knowledge) refused a call up to the squad.
We could do with a few more like him.

Excerpt from a Kilbane interview
You were born in England, but consider yourself Irish. Has that always been the case?

It has been a bit of a joke over the years, that you just need to a have a pint of Guinness to get called up to the squad, but I think that a lot of the English-born lads in the squad have a strong affinity to Ireland. When I was growing up, I always felt like I had a strong link, both my parents are Irish so I always felt close to the country. I had the chance to play for England at a youth level but turned down the chance because I always felt connected to Ireland.’
also

http://findarticles.com/p/news-articles/daily-mail-london-england-the/mi_8002/is_2008_May_30/retirement-joking-love-playing-ireland/ai_n38912187/
"Despite being English-born, Kilbane was always fiercely proud of his roots. Nobetter example of that came at Preston North End, when an excited Sam Allardycetold a young Kilbane he had been selected for England Schoolboys.

Kilbanes response to his flabbergasted manager was straight forward: Why wouldI want to play for England? Im Irish."

Not many left sided players in England so it's not a huge surprise.

Adrock

14/04/2010, 7:14 PM

he was called into an England underage squad, and turned it down. While some players have regarded international football as a distraction from the club game, or a nuisance to be avoided, he's one of the few who genuinely enjoys playing for his country. Despite his lack of ability, he's amassed over 100 caps, playing in a variety of positions, and has never (to the best of my knowledge) refused a call up to the squad.
We could do with a few more like him.

If that's the case then repect to him. I've made it quite obvious I'm more than a little sceptical of the plastic brigade but if he sincerely grew up considering himself Irish and not hedging his bets on the issue then I'm happy to consider him so too. Different situation certainly to someone with one Irish grandparent pulling on the green shirt because they cant see anything better coming along.
The reason I've been a bit dubious about KK is this, possibly apocryphal, story about his playing an England youth trial game but not really trying. I can't really imagine a professional footballer doing that. I remember reading in Alex Ferguson's biography about Nicky Butt refusing pointblank to ever consider an interest from the Scotland youth set-up despite his insistence and if someone can stand up to Fergie like that Big Sam's got to be a pushover in comparison

Deckydee

27/04/2010, 6:39 AM

According to Trap and the Irish Times, Kyle Naughton is set to switch his allegiance.....

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sport/2010/0427/1224269160310.html

Others are in the pipeline, he said, with work on securing international clearance for "two or three" English-born players to switch their allegiance already underway. Kyle Naughton, the Tottenham defender who has been on loan at Middlesbrough recently, he said, is one, while Jamie O'Hara, remains a possible recruit.

tetsujin1979

27/04/2010, 8:59 AM

similar report in today's Independent: http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/trap-on-2153640.html

I have already said, (Jamie) O'Hara, ok, we wait until after the World Cup. Those in this squad now are the players for whom documentation and procedures have already been put through but there are others for whom that has started. Also, Kyle Naughton. Marco (Tardelli) speaks with two or three and they say 'we wish to come'.

Deckydee

27/04/2010, 10:25 AM

similar report in today's Independent: http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/trap-on-2153640.html

Do you think you will be adding them to the irish abroad section like you added Colin Green? ;) :D

I hope so!

tetsujin1979

27/04/2010, 12:28 PM

Do you think you will be adding them to the irish abroad section like you added Colin Green? ;) :D

I hope so!
If they confirm their allegiance to the team then yes, if not then no.

Deckydee

27/04/2010, 12:42 PM

If they confirm their allegiance to the team then yes, if not then no.

Ok, cool :o

More about it here on the Examiner:

http://irishexaminer.com/sport/soccer/trap-opens-door-to-young-guns-118281.html

Me wonders who the 7 are?

bwagner

27/04/2010, 9:20 PM

Ok, cool :o

More about it here on the Examiner:

http://irishexaminer.com/sport/soccer/trap-opens-door-to-young-guns-118281.html

Me wonders who the 7 are?

I would reckon Simon Cox ,Naughton, ( O'Hara ) Ambrose, Nolan has been on fire lately! and maybe some total random guys sure who the hell knew about Paul Green!

bwagner

28/04/2010, 4:20 AM

Gary O'Neil and I would definetly go with Kilgallon ( I remember reading he approached Stan 3 years back ) I would like to see Jonjo Shelvey but apparently he snubbed a approached from Brady before the France games.

Charlie Darwin

28/04/2010, 5:06 AM

We should probably dial down our aspirations a bit here. Naughton is a young lad who is very much on the England team's radar, and Gary Cahill even has an outside chance of making the World Cup squad. I'd be delighted to see that calibre of player declare for us, but it's more likely to be the likes of Paul Green and Martin Rowlands who can do a job, albeit an unexceptional one.

Deckydee

28/04/2010, 6:42 AM

ifk101

28/04/2010, 8:07 AM

The list of players has been posted many a time on this site, but heck, one more time wont kill. It has to be from this list, I cant think of anymore. (I said the same about Paul Green)

Gary Cahill (Bolton)
Mark Noble (West Ham)
Kyle Naughton (Tottenham)
Anton Ferdinand (Sunderland)
Kevin Nolan (Newcastle)
Jamie O'Hara (Portsmouth)
Gary McSheffrey (Birmingham)
Matt Kilgallon (Sheff United)
Matt Connolly (QPR)
Hogan Ephraim (QPR)
Adam Hammill (Barnsley)
Andy Lonergan (Preston)
Kevin McCann (Hibernian)
Zander Diamond (Aberdeen)
Darren Ambrose (Crystal Palace)

A case of quantity above quality. We have a number of exciting young talents coming through. It really would be a shame if any of the aforementioned names are fast tracked into the international squad at the expense of our up and coming players.

TrapAPony

28/04/2010, 8:19 AM

The list of players has been posted many a time on this site, but heck, one more time wont kill. It has to be from this list, I cant think of anymore. (I said the same about Paul Green)

Gary Cahill (Bolton)
Mark Noble (West Ham)
Kyle Naughton (Tottenham)
Anton Ferdinand (Sunderland)
Kevin Nolan (Newcastle)
Jamie O'Hara (Portsmouth)
Gary McSheffrey (Birmingham)
Matt Kilgallon (Sheff United)
Matt Connolly (QPR)
Hogan Ephraim (QPR)
Adam Hammill (Barnsley)
Andy Lonergan (Preston)
Kevin McCann (Hibernian)
Zander Diamond (Aberdeen)
Darren Ambrose (Crystal Palace)

Those in bold would be useful IMO. Simon Cox (WBA) is also eligible.

If the marriage ruling still exists Matt Derbyshire of Olympiakos is eligible. Although Paul Butler wasn't the best, he used this ruling to play for us back in 2000.

http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2000/0223/soccer.html

Fairly sure Gary O'Neil of Middlesbrough is eligible too.