Jim O'Brien changes allegiance

[tetsujin1979]

Motherwell winger Jim O'Brien, who has u21 and u19 caps, has confirmed he's switching his allegiance to Scotland. Didn't think he had much chance of getting into the senior team playing in Scotland, but I'm still a little disappointed with this. Best of luck to him in the future.
Perhaps slighlty coincidentally, I read a rumour yesterday that he will move to Rangers in the summer on a Bosman. Not sure how the Ibrox faithful will take to a former Celtic and Ireland player in the blue.

[ofjames]

unless you play regularly for celtic or are scoring a hatful of goals, irish players in the spl seem (rightly or wrongly) to be widely ignored in the senior international setup. whereas scotland pick the vast majority of their players from spl clubs

therefore, he probably thinks he has a better chance of being selected for scotland at this stage. and i think he'd be right in that view.

as you said, best of luck to him. at least mcgeady and mccarthy stayed the course

[Boo_Boy]

G'wan Jim.

[MuckaTucka]

I thought that you could only change allegiance once. If O'Brien has played for Scotland U17 and Ireland U19 and 21 then can he switch back?
According to him, a major decision is Craig Levein is the manager who he played under at Dundee United for a short while.
It really shows you how little players care about what country they play for, it's treated like a club at this stage.
Does a country have a chance of going to a major competition? Will they make the team/squad? If so, then they'll join up. If not, sure some other country will take me.
Good luck to him though.



From RTE sport (http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2010/0422/obrienj.html)

O'Brien switches back to Scotland

Thursday, 22 April 2010 07:46
Motherwell winger Jim O'Brien has confirmed he is switching his international allegiance back to Scotland from the Republic of Ireland.

The 22-year-old recently revealed he was considering the change and has now opted to make himself available to Craig Levein, who he played under while on loan at Dundee United two years ago.

Vale of Leven-born O'Brien, who played for Scotland Under-17 before representing Ireland at Under-19 and Under-21 level, told the Scottish Sun: "It's something I looked into and had a long think about.

'I have decided to make myself available for selection for Scotland in future. A chance came up to play for Ireland and I wanted to do that for my grandfather.

'But your situation changes and with Craig getting the job, I wanted to work with him again.'

O'Brien, who is out of contract at Fir Park this summer and has been linked with a move to Aberdeen and Rangers, added: 'I grew up watching Craig Brown take Scotland to the World Cup finals and if the chance comes along to win Scotland caps it would be great.'

[greendeiseboy]

wish him all the best. But it would have been interesting to see the reaction if he stayed with us and signed for Rangers!!

[Predator]

I thought that you could only change allegiance once. If O'Brien has played for Scotland U17 and Ireland U19 and 21 then can he switch back? That's interesting. I assume it must be because he last made his switch under the old rules.




Motherwell winger Jim O'Brien, who has u21 and u19 caps, has confirmed he's switching his allegiance to Scotland. Didn't think he had much chance of getting into the senior team playing in Scotland, but I'm still a little disappointed with this. Best of luck to him in the future.
Perhaps slighlty coincidentally, I read a rumour yesterday that he will move to Rangers in the summer on a Bosman. Not sure how the Ibrox faithful will take to a former Celtic and Ireland player in the blue.
Best of luck tesujin? Don't you mean 'Burn in hell, Judas! Mercenary! Liar!'? I mean, he's clearly just 'used' us! :p

It's his decision and he's entitled to make the switch under the rules. Good luck.

[OwlsFan]

Ex Celtic reserve now playing for Motherwell going to the dark side - not exactly a crisis.

[co. down green]

I think the FAI should get straight onto the Court Of Arbitration in Sport and demand a hearing over the O'Brien issue :)

[Charlie Darwin]

We should take this to the CAS!

I have actually only now realised that he's not the same person as Alan O'Brien. What happened to him?

[Predator]

We should get compensation or something, you know, for all the er, time, money and effort invested in his development...

[MuckaTucka]

We should take this to the CAS!

I have actually only now realised that he's not the same person as Alan O'Brien. What happened to him?

Alan O'Brien ran as fast as he could away from Easter Road before banging into Danny Wilson, losing possession of the ball, and signing for Swindon at the beginning of the season.
Tore his hamstring in August, another minor tear of his hamstring then again at Christmas when he was coming back. And of course another hamstring injury in March and hasn't been seen since.

He has only managed 3 starts and 5 from the bench.

[MeathDrog]

Alan O'Brien ran as fast as he could away from Easter Road

Well he is a pacey lad.

[Metrostars]

Who??

[Razors left peg]

I thought I heard about this months ago.I assumed it was an old thread when I opened it up. Maybe Im just psychic

[TrapAPony]

I thought I heard about this months ago.I assumed it was an old thread when I opened it up. Maybe Im just psychic

Ya Razor, it's not shocking news to me either. Thought this was said before.

[twoenz]

Ex Celtic reserve now playing for Motherwell going to the dark side - not exactly a crisis.

Yeah, in terms of international news, this is as world moving as when Andy Cole retired from international football.

[Charlie Darwin]

Ya Razor, it's not shocking news to me either. Thought this was said before.
Surely the Irish media wouldn't report old news!

[tetsujin1979]

I thought I heard about this months ago.I assumed it was an old thread when I opened it up. Maybe Im just psychic

think it's been rumoured for a while, this is the confirmation

[Crosby87]

Payback for Jimmy Mac. I think it is a good trade for us.
The Only Jim O'Brien I have ever heard of is the basketball coach and a bartender on the eastside that always tries to sell me the funny sugar. So no big loss i think.