Ciaran Clark D Free agent b.1989

[Razors left peg]

We cant really read anything into it so if hes never been capped before

[Crosby87]

Is he even any good? He's gone from being in the squad to being out? That aint a good sign. Why would we want Engerlands sloppy seconds? I wont take this kid seriously until I see an endorsement from Pineapple Stu. :pizza::usa::poo:

[Sullivinho]

Good enough to captain various Villa and England youth sides and start a few premier league games this season. :thunder::cat::brb:

[AlaskaFox]

Is he even any good? He's gone from being in the squad to being out? That aint a good sign. Why would we want Engerlands sloppy seconds? I wont take this kid seriously until I see an endorsement from Pineapple Stu. :pizza::usa::poo:

He was injured, that's why he was out of the squad. He's expected to be back for the Spurs game.

[Crosby87]

Good enough to captain various Villa and England youth sides and start a few premier league games this season. :thunder::brb:

So this is silly, he isnt going to switch.
We talk about England being so deep that they dominate all these tournaments when they flame out in all of them and occasionally miss them. Im sure he will crack the lineup. :msn-busy:

[TrapAPony]

Phil Jones, Chris Smalling, Michael Mancienne and Martin Kelly are all ahead of him for the u21 side.

[SkStu]

Why would we want Engerlands sloppy seconds?

hey - why stop now? :ghost::thunder:

[Sullivinho]

So this is silly, he isnt going to switch.

Yeah, it's unlikely but worth a shot I s'pose. Nothing ventured and all that. :car:

[kev mcq]

:plane::snowman::bowl:

[Razors left peg]

If this thread keeps going the way it is Im gonna have to study hieroglyphics to understand the bloody thing

[Closed Account]

:soldier::hypnotized::monkey:

In other words, Dickey Dunne has convinced Clark to play for Ireland

"I went straight onto our recruitment guy and he's been in touch. It's great. I think he has declared so once it goes through it will be great to have him in the squad. http://www.avfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10265~2175027,00.html (http://www.avfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10265%7E2175027,00.html)

[Predator]

Nice one. Looks like we'll be well covered in the centre half department anyway.

[Stuttgart88]

Good man Dicky. Clark's namesake (though spelt properly) played full back for Ireland rugby in the 1990s. Useless trivia but as there are no other threads being responded to at the moment I felt compelled.

Very quiet on foot.ie during international week.

[shakermaker1982]

Good to have him on board.

[paul_oshea]

i hope more irish players are like that, in terms of proactive and thinking about their country like that, im sure keane is, and kilbane but i wouldn't be so sure about the others.

[geysir]

How do they pronounce Ciaran in England?

[paul_oshea]

like key-ran

[drummerboy]

Seen this guy playing at the start of the season against West Ham and he looks very accomplished indeed. Great news. Don't think England will take it lying down though.

[SwanVsDalton]

Brilliant news. If he fulfills his potential Clark could be our number one CB for years to come. We do have a lot of great defenders coming through. Get him straight into the squad for Norway I say...

[SwanVsDalton]

Seen this guy playing at the start of the season against West Ham and he looks very accomplished indeed. Great news. Don't think England will take it lying down though.

Remember Froggatt and Gallen? England will have to take their oil.

[Razors left peg]

Fantastic news

[ChrisRed]

Is it to early to be getting excited..... Coleman , Duffy, Clark, Wilson, Cunningham could be a cracking defence in 4/5 years if these boys keep progressing.

[AlaskaFox]

Someone on another forum said there was an article about both Clark and Hogan Ephraim declaring for us today. Can't find anything else about Ephraim though. Anyone know anything more?

[geysir]

Can we take a solemn oath never to refer to him as Clarky.

[irishfan86]

i hope more irish players are like that, in terms of proactive and thinking about their country like that, im sure keane is, and kilbane but i wouldn't be so sure about the others.

Whatever you think of Stephen Ireland, Keogh did contact him to try and convince him to come back.

Not saying that was a good or bad move, but it did show that Keogh cares about the national side if he was trying to get Stephen Ireland back on board.

Great news on Clark though, he sounds a very promising prospect.

[Sullivinho]

Fantastic news, the guy looks a great prospect. And what about Dunney eh? Not content with busting his b@lls for Ireland, he only goes and unearths his possible long term successor into the bargain.

[SwanVsDalton]

Can we take a solemn oath never to refer to him as Clarky.

It's going to happen, no chance of fighting it. Probably better than Ciarny anyway.

[SkStu]

It's going to happen, no chance of fighting it. Probably better than Ciarny anyway.

ive already christened him the Clarkinator.

Great news!

[greendeiseboy]

Didnt take them long or out of sight out of mind!!

http://www.thefa.com/England/mens-u20s/Team/Search?s=ciaran+clark

[Closed Account]

Didnt take them long or out of sight out of mind!!

http://www.thefa.com/England/mens-u20s/Team/Search?s=ciaran+clark
http://www.thefa.com/England/All-Teams/Players/C/Ciaran-Clark

[Irish_Praha]

If he has actually declared for ROI it's nice to see a case where someone makes such a quick decision and doesn't hang around weighing up his options until he's 100% sure that he's not going to make it for England. I have no problem with him having played underage for England if he doesn't make a big fuss about the change over.

[Charlie Darwin]

This is great news. I was convinced Shane Duffy would never switch to us and felt the same about Clark. Maybe I should be wrong more often!

[Razors left peg]

This is great news. I was convinced Shane Duffy would never switch to us and felt the same about Clark. Maybe I should be wrong more often!

haha thats exactly what came to my mind earlier.Didnt think we had a hope of gettin this lad or Duffy after Duffy had been in a senior squad for the north

[Sullivinho]

This is great news. I was convinced Shane Duffy would never switch to us and felt the same about Clark. Maybe I should be wrong more often!

I didn't think this guy would switch or make such a quick decision. Pleasantly surprised to be wrong on both counts.

[geysir]

This is great news. I was convinced Shane Duffy would never switch to us and felt the same about Clark. Maybe I should be wrong more often!

Maybe you are - more than you think.

Couldn't resist, sorry.

[Charlie Darwin]

>:/

Well it's worth a try.

I don't think Jack Wilshere would ever dream of switching to us...

[tetsujin1979]

>:/

Well it's worth a try.

I don't think Jack Wilshere would ever dream of switching to us...
Off topic, I think the same things being written about Rooney's form right now will be written about Wilshere in ten years

[elroy]

Great stuff. Would make you wonder why this guy wasnt approached sooner, by the sounds of it, he was more than happy to declare for us. Welcome on board CC.

[geysir]

Well the lack of an earlier approach just goes to show that next to nobody reads the Donegal Democrat.

[gastric]

As SwanvsDalton mentioned, there are a lot of potential defenders appearing and hopefully many will play for the senior side. This potentially reminds me of a time, many years ago, when a certain Paul McGrath had to play at right back as this was the only way he could be accommodated in the team! Looking at the near future our goalkeeping options, defensive options and midfield options are quite strong, but upfront finding potential goal scorers remains difficult. Murray at Ipswich, Roberts at Arsenal come to mind, are there any others?

[AlaskaFox]

Stokes for Celtic, perhaps Adam Rooney with ICT, and Conor Sammon with Killie too. All scoring in Scotland.

[bwagner]

they have called up Kieran Trippier into the under 21s

[liamoo11]

Looks like the irish influence at Villa may have brought left winger jack grealish on board.he is in the under 16 squad this week after been called up to England under 16 training squad last month.Irish grandfather and used to play gaelic.Has been getting rave reviews on villa forums best player to ever be in their academy apparently.Tore the north apart when he played for us at under 15 last season.

[AlaskaFox]

Looks like the irish influence at Villa may have brought left winger jack grealish on board.he is in the under 16 squad this week after been called up to England under 16 training squad last month.Irish grandfather and used to play gaelic.Has been getting rave reviews on villa forums best player to ever be in their academy apparently.Tore the north apart when he played for us at under 15 last season.

Sure he was already ours anyway. So it's nothing major him sticking with us. The training camp probably just helped him raise his game.

[liamoo11]

dont think it is that straight forward to be fair.His teammate graham from villa scored twice in that game and has seemingly switched to the england victory shield setup since.Think the irish setup will need to work hard to show Grealish he has made right choice and ward off england advances and call ups.

[co. down green]

Sure he was already ours anyway. So it's nothing major him sticking with us. The training camp probably just helped him raise his game.

Don't think the England training camp went well for him

[liamoo11]

Dont think he went to the england training camp pulled out according to some posters on a england under 16 forum, which may be good sign of his intent to stick with us.He is still eligible for under 16 next season so it certainly is not because the England set up does not want him that he is with us (hopefully)

[AlaskaFox]

Don't think the England training camp went well for him

Good, hopefully he'll stick to us 100% now.

[co. down green]

Good, hopefully he'll stick to us 100% now.

He travelled with the Ireland u16 squad for the tournament in Italy this week.

[AlaskaFox]

Excellent news.