Jack Grealish

[Bottle of Tonic]

The right decision. Eventually. He is an English lad with English parents. I've no problem with Granny-rule players but I'd never expect them to feel particularly Irish. If they want to play for us and give their all then that's enough for me. But the lad appears talented and has to back himself in this situation that he will make the team of the country of his birth. That said I'm still a football fan ruled by his heart so I hope he goes on to have a ferociously woeful career.

[Olé Olé]

Feeling really, really disappointed by this. All the best to him. Whilst I understand his decision, I don't understand why played with the emotions of passionate Irish supporters who would have loved to see him stay with us.

I can only just point to his award for under 21 player of the year and his response to Tony O'Donoghue's questions. I find that insulting, looking back on it so I wish him well but I do so begrudgingly.

[Olé Olé]

That said I'm still a football fan ruled by his heart so I hope he goes on to have a ferociously woeful career.

Can't disagree with you here, even though I want to wish him well. I'm sure if he ever lines out against us then he'll face plenty of boos.

I'd love to take the moral high-ground on that one but I can't. The Sterling boos were pathetic. I think that hostility from Ireland in this case support would be some way understandable.

Not that I'd ever abuse him if I met him. I feel disappointed more than angry. "You could have been our hero" would be my sentiment towards him. "You could have been our hero but now your an English one cap wonder" probably carries more impact but I'm not sure if I want that to be the case.

[colonelwest]

Good luck to the lad but he's about 5th or 6th at least in line for a starting spot and those ahead of him will be in the squad for the next 5-10 years so he's an uphill task, also Barnett definitely held sway there with the ££££. He'll be doing well to get 15-20 caps, most of them as a sub for them but if he's happy with that good luck to him, I'm sure the cut his agent is on of all his commercial deals is even happier.

Now, can we just move on to Nathan Redmond and Dan Crowley?
:D

[KK77]

I would have loved him to have played for us but was obvious last year he wasn't going to.

[Closed Account 2]

One door shuts and another can open... MoN could give Mark Noble a call. :p

[DannyInvincible]

Disappointing for Irish football and supporters, but it's his choice and best of luck to him.

I'd written something a few weeks ago after Sam Wallace reported a decision in favour of England was imminent at the time. It's still applicable, if anyone's interested in having a read: https://danieldcollins.wordpress.com/2015/09/10/let-us-irish-not-be-too-precious-about-jack-grealishs-international-decision/

To summarise, I don't think we have much right to be getting indignant about this seeing as we've been happy to give him the time he wanted and we're also more than happy to benefit from the system which allows dual national footballers a choice, so we ought to accept it when it goes against us too. We weren't powerless in all of this either. Some would have us believe a helpless football association was being strung along by a 20-year-old, but we could have called an end to it at any time; the reason we didn't was because we ultimately stood to benefit and didn't want to blow our chance of seeing him line out in the green at senior level.

Interestingly, there's been a lot of talk he'll be called into the England squad for their games against Estonia/Lithuania. That will not be possible as it takes 3-6 months for a switch request to be processed by the Players' Status Committee. Unless he made the application some time ago but kept it under wraps, whilst insisting a decision was yet to be made; the FAI would have been aware though, so I don't think that's likely.

[IsMiseSean]

One door shuts and another can open... MoN could give Mark Noble a call. :p

Jamie O'Hara is still eligible....

[DannyInvincible]

The next Stephen Froggatt. Yawn.

Though MO'N is a tool for not capping him v.the Theme Park, a year ago...

Grealish wouldn't have been available for that game. He got cold feet any time O'Neill raised the idea of bringing him into the senior team. It seems in hindsight that any offer by O'Neill would merely have hastened the decision to take time out to mull over his long-term options.

I read speculation (and it is only that, although does seem plausible) that the reason there was confusion over the US friendly game (if you recall, Kevin Grealish/John Fallon were initially reporting that Grealish would be in the squad although there was no sign of him when the squad was announced), was because Grealish was happy to be selected for friendly games and had made himself available for these games only but Martin O'Neill was not prepared to accept this. The theory goes that O'Neill wanted Jack to make himself available for all games, both friendly and competitive, or none.

[jbyrne]

The theory goes that O'Neill wanted Jack to make himself available for all games, both friendly and competitive, or none.

which is exactly the correct stance MON should have taken

[DannyInvincible]

which is exactly the correct stance MON should have taken

I wouldn't disagree. I would have no problem whatsoever with such a stance, if true.

[OwlsFan]

Almost the biggest topic ever in World Football Forum - shame. It's almost like seeing a friend's name in an obituary column.

[DeLorean]

To think of all those Saturday afternoon's I wasted scrolling down the LiveScore app to see if he'd done anything of note for Notts County!

[RiffRaff]

The key to our most successful periods have been a core of players prepared to give 110 per cent every time they play for their country and JG obviously doesn't fit that category. Not just for us but also for England given how much time it took him to make his mind up. Good luck to him but I'm glad its over. The focus on him was a bit insulting for the players we already have in our panel and ultimately a bit deflating now he has chosen England. I hope a lesson is learned and we spend a lot less time trying to persuade others in similar situations if they are not already committed. We have a taste of how the Nordies feel.

[Closed Account 2]

Villa managers have form for this..

"Dorigo was initially called up by Australia for the 1986 World Cup qualifying campaign. However Aston Villa manager Tony Barton refused Dorigo permission to travel.[2] Barton felt that playing for Australia would be a waste of time for Dorigo as their opponents were generally weaker opposition from Oceania"

[paul_oshea]

Di why did he not say "our year" instead of irelands. In the same context about Terry. its completely obvious where he feels he belongs.ive always felt that.
CD said:

we could see him in the travelling party to the US this summer, but even if he doesn't I think he's committed to us.

[IsMiseSean]

From a KevanGrealish (presumably a close relative) on the Villa forum:

"There is always this debate but I will say one thing is that jack is open to either england or ireland and it depends what he chooses. But as I keep on saying he is continueing to play for ireland as hes enjoying every moment of it. But apparently kenny swayne was asking about jack to jordan or callum again. So who knows? Hes taking it one step at a time and ill keep you informed. But theres so many paddys demanding jack to play for ireland, on this,greenscene and you boys in green forum ! They have great support... As for optimist I agree by saying that he didnt have a great game but not the worst either.we're hoping his confidence will grow with time and hopefully he can become as confident as he is playing with the 16's."


Really seems still up in the air, would not be surprised at all if he changed his allegiances to England

This post is from April 2011. The writing was always on the wall...

[tricky_colour]

whoscored stats,

Grealish 114th, Brady 14th

Villa have lost every PL game Grealish played this season.

[the doc]

The right decision. Eventually. He is an English lad with English parents. I've no problem with Granny-rule players but I'd never expect them to feel particularly Irish. If they want to play for us and give their all then that's enough for me. But the lad appears talented and has to back himself in this situation that he will make the team of the country of his birth. That said I'm still a football fan ruled by his heart so I hope he goes on to have a ferociously woeful career.

Disagree, some players who are born in England but come from an Irish family, consider themselves to be IRISH not English and are proud to wear the green.

As regards JG, the lads wouldn't of accepted him in the squad if they thought he'd been hanging on for England and then used us as his 2nd choice if England hadn't picked him.

When you wear the Green, you have to be 100% committed to both your country and your fellow players, that's one of our strengths.

Proud to be Irish.

[DannyInvincible]

Dunphy using the Grealish decision to have a factually-suspect go at Martin and Roy again: http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2015/0928/730968-dunphy-oneill-missed-out-by-not-capping-grealish/


"A couple of comments, one made about his father by Roy Keane about a year ago, would not have helped," Dunphy said.

"Another comment by Martin O'Neill after the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley that the next Irish game would have been a bit too much for him mightn't have helped either.

"We could have capped him against Gibraltar [in October 2014] and that might have made his mind up for him but we didn't."

"We could have capped him against Gibraltar and that might have made his mind up for him but we didn't"

"To be fair to everyone concerned, including Roy Keane, Martin O'Neill and the FAI, if he had a chance he was always going to go with England.

"But 18 months ago we could have capped him at full international level.

"Roy Keane was in that club [Aston Villa] and if he knows anything about football he would have known, from the coaching side, that this guy is a real class player, pop him in the first team and we've got him. As Trap said, the cat would have been in the bag."

"That's where the trick was missed, the Gibraltar game," agreed RTÉ analyst Alan Cawley. "Everybody knew the potential and I think if he was picked at that stage he would have [played]."

...

Dunphy also contrasted Ireland's recent approach to international recruitment with the strategies employed by previous managers of the Boys in Green.

"Jack Charlton was outstanding at that and so was John Giles, who got Mark Lawrenson, then one of the best defenders in the world, to qualify and play for Ireland," he said.

"Charlton got Ray Houghton, John Aldridge, Kevin Sheedy and others. Real top, top players.

"Jack made it his business. It was good for Jack and good for Irish soccer. Nobody else has done it since. John started it, Jack continued it.

"Everyone is using the 'granny rule'. Spain use it, they have a couple of Brazilians in the team, including Diego Costa, when he shows up.

"Every country is doing it so we shouldn't be ashamed of it or apologise for it."

I'm pretty sure Roy's comment about Kevin Grealish wasn't said in complete seriousness and they seemed to have an OK relationship in spite of it. Both parties spoke of their positive relationship and I recall Roy commenting in an interview that he appreciated Grealish's dilemma, having also personally expressed such to Kevin Grealish.

Martin's comment on upcoming games perhaps being too much for Grealish was before the impressive FA Cup semi-final performance, wasn't it? That was when he entered the English sporting public/media's consciousness, and probably Dunphy's too!

Grealish had asked Martin for time to weigh up his options by August of 2014, as confirmed in this handy timeline of events (http://www.the42.ie/jack-grealish-timeline-2355927-Sep2015/), so he obviously was never going to be available for the Gibraltar game in the second week of October of 2014. He also pulled out of an under-21 squad that October, which serves to reinforce the reality that he would not have been available.

As for capping him 18 months ago, he was still at Notts County in League One at the time. Did Dunphy even know who Grealish was then? Doubt it. Either way, you can't just cap youngsters willy-nilly in competitive games to tie them because they show a bit of potential. If that was an actual policy and it cost us silly points, you can be sure Dunphy would be pointing the finger at the "incompetence" of the management team.

Is utilising the "granny rule" so extensively really good for Irish football or is it just a means of papering over the massive cracks in our own developmental infrastructure? We shouldn't be ashamed of using it, no - the likes of Algeria use to quite a lot too; nothing wrong with it per se - but stronger nations certainly don't "piggyback" so extensively like we do; it's indicative of a failure at home and has let the FAI off the hook time and time again for far too long. It would be much more preferable for the health of Irish football if we did not have to keep relying on it and getting dragged into desperate long-term will-he-or-won't-he sagas like this Grealish affair.

You can only convince eligible players born outside Ireland to declare if they actually want to. Martin has spoken with numerous players or their representatives, including Harry Kane, Patrick Bamford and Nathan Redmond, as far as I know. Daniel Crowley is another with whom the FAI have been in touch (and it looks like we might be in luck in this instance). Also Cyrus Christie, obviously. Possibly Mark Noble and Curtis Davies too? That's all he can do. What else does Dunphy expect the management to do with eligible players if they're not all that keen because they think they have a genuine future chance with England? Hold a gun to their heads?

Diego Costa qualified for Spain through residency after acquiring Spanish nationality, by the way.

Basically, Dunphy is talking through his arse, as usual.

[tricky_colour]

whoscored stats,

Grealish 114th, Brady 14th

Villa have lost every PL game Grealish played this season.

Actually going back to the stats, Kieran Clark is 9th.

So we have 2 in the top 20, England only 1 more at 3.

Gets a bit worse after that, we have 5 in the top 100, but that is still pretty good for us in recent history.

England have 28. 35 in the top 115, Grealish being #35, just out of the stats squad!!

You have to go down to #229 before we have a full 11.

Granted it is a rough guide, Rooney is about #161.

[Olé Olé]

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2015/sep/28/jack-grealish-england-republic-of-ireland-aston-villa

Interesting article by Barry Glendenning. He's a highly respected journalist and puts forward a balanced perspective of an Irish supporter.

He might be ignoring the fact that Grealish has shown support for the English side in the past, however.

[Closed Account 2]

As for capping him 18 months ago, he was still at Notts County in League One at the time. Did Dunphy even know who Grealish was then? Doubt it. Either way, you can't just cap youngsters willy-nilly in competitive games to tie them because they show a bit of potential. If that was an actual policy and it cost us silly points, you can be sure Dunphy would be pointing the finger at the "incompetence" of the management team.


How would it cost us silly points? In the last 4-5 years we've always had at least one "competitive" game a year where we could have cap-tied a player as a sub in the last 5 mins.

2015 Gibraltar away (3-0 up at 51mins, 4-0 on 79 mins)
2014 Gibraltar home (7-0 up on 56 mins)
2013 Kazakhstan home (Game was dead rubber, we were out anyway, but we were 3-1 up on 77min)
2013 Faroes home (3-0 on 81 mins)
2012 Faroes away (3-1 on 73 mins, 4-1 on 88 mins)
2011 Andorra away (2-0 up at half time)
2010 Andorra home (3-1 up on 54 mins)

There are 12 subs in those games (of which you can use three) so there is scope to use a sub for cap-tieing purposes.
Some of the unused subs in those games include Ward, Elliot, Stephen Kelly, in the Faroes home game we had two sub keepers (Randolph and Westwoood). I don't think we would have taken a risk from a results point of view had we subbed on a player in that way.

[DannyInvincible]

Fair point. Still, it's very easy to say we should or could have capped him in hindsight.

It would have been a cynical carrot-cap and you'd have to think that Grealish, then playing in League One, would have seen right through it. Not that he was available for the game anyway.

Would you advocate capping one or two youth-level dual nationals for the last few minutes in games against minnows simply to cap-tie them? What would others make of such a policy? It's possible these players would receive a senior cap and then it'd be back to youth level for a few years as we all wait to see if they actually develop into the player we were all hoping they'd become. It'd make a mockery of things, surely, especially if half of them eventually failed to make the grade. Think of one-cap-wonder Joey Lapira... It was a friendly he played in, sure, but he's become a figure of ridicule and a stick with which to bash Staunton.

[Wolfman]

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/sep/29/jack-grealish-ineligible-england-next-two-euro-2016-qualifiers

[Closed Account 2]

Fair point. Still, it's very easy to say we should or could have capped him in hindsight.

It would have been a cynical carrot-cap and you'd have to think that Grealish, then playing in League One, would have seen right through it. Not that he was available for the game anyway.

Would you advocate capping one or two youth-level dual nationals for the last few minutes in games against minnows simply to cap-tie them? What would others make of such a policy? It's possible these players would receive a senior cap and then it'd be back to youth level for a few years as we all wait to see if they actually develop into the player we were all hoping they'd become. It'd make a mockery of things, surely, especially if half of them eventually failed to make the grade. Think of one-cap-wonder Joey Lapira... It was a friendly he played in, sure, but he's become a figure of ridicule and a stick with which to bash Staunton.

Yeah I probably would advocate that. If we were comfortably winning against a minnow in a competitive game (e.g. 3 goal lead 2 mins to play and had a spare sub) I would do it. Certainly if we had an under 21 player who looked like a huge prospect and there was a chance another federation could pick him then yes I would cap-tie him. If we had forced the issue with Grealish a year or two ago then one of two things would have happened to him:

(a) he would have played for us and become cap-tied to us
(b) he would have said no and we would at least have had it made obvious that he saw his future with another national team

I supposed there is a possibility that (b) would have been fudged into a (c) where the FAI would have said "we don't want to put him under pressure" and the issue would have been kicked into the long grass, though it would have only delayed the decision.

With (a) you potentially get a quality player guaranteed to be tied to your team, even if he's a duffer you've only used 2-3 mins of (pretty much inconsequential) game time which could have gone to another player. With (b) well at least you know his heart isn't in it and you can drop him from the U-21s etc and let other, more committed players, develop in the youth teams.

[DannyInvincible]

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/sep/29/jack-grealish-ineligible-england-next-two-euro-2016-qualifiers

Has Grealish only learned now that he can't just switch over immediately and actually has to go through an administrative process post-request? That article says the process should take 4-6 weeks, although it can take up to 3-6 months. I recall Shane Duffy's switch taking quite a while. He applied to switch in mid-February of 2010 (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/irish/8528248.stm) and eventually received clearance in mid-August (http://web.archive.org/web/20110816003733/http://www.fai.ie/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=101183:shane-duffy-declared-eligible-for-the-republic-of-ireland-&catid=1:senior-men&Itemid=8) of the same year.

[DannyInvincible]

Yeah I probably would advocate that. If we were comfortably winning against a minnow in a competitive game (e.g. 3 goal lead 2 mins to play and had a spare sub) I would do it. Certainly if we had an under 21 player who looked like a huge prospect and there was a chance another federation could pick him then yes I would cap-tie him. If we had forced the issue with Grealish a year or two ago then one of two things would have happened to him:

(a) he would have played for us and become cap-tied to us
(b) he would have said no and we would at least have had it made obvious that he saw his future with another national team

I supposed there is a possibility that (b) would have been fudged into a (c) where the FAI would have said "we don't want to put him under pressure" and the issue would have been kicked into the long grass, though it would have only delayed the decision.

With (a) you potentially get a quality player guaranteed to be tied to your team, even if he's a duffer you've only used 2-3 mins of (pretty much inconsequential) game time which could have gone to another player. With (b) well at least you know his heart isn't in it and you can drop him from the U-21s etc and let other, more committed players, develop in the youth teams.

Hmm, I guess I can't really think of any other drawbacks besides the player occupying the squad place of another better and more experienced player and us looking a bit daft if the player concerned eventually fails to live up to his potential.

[Closed Account 2]

There is an element of that (depriving an experienced player of a place in the squad), but I think 1 (or 2) places in a squad for a game against minnows is a risk worth taking. In the Gibraltar/Georgia squad we could have left out Stephen Ward, McShane or Adam Rooney (although he himself could be deemed promising) as all three of them were very unlikely to all be used in normal circumstances. Would we look that daft if the player fails to live up to expectations? You have to expect false dawns in international football, did Joe Lapiera really make us a laughing stock? We've had quite a few other false dawns (or near false dawns) over the years, Alan O'Brien, Terry Dixon, Sean Devine, Ronnie O'Brien, Liam Daish etc. If say Grealish had been added to that list what difference would it have made.

On the other hand if we had forced the issue a bit more, irrespective of what decision he made, we would have been in a better position. We might have ended up with a player of good quality who could be making a big impact for us in the play offs (should we get there). Imagine that say Grealish, Crowley and Nathan Redmond had all been cap-tied to us. They all are reasonably good young attacking players and we could be looking a really good attacking trio who would have played in the same team at youth levels (and perhaps overage friendlies), that would have been an ideal (and perhaps improbable) scenario. Now on the other hand suppose we pressured them into playing a cameo role in a competitive minnow match and they all said no. It would be a bit of a body blow, but at least we would know that they were never really going to consider us and, through the youth teams, we could try and bed in other attacking players who would be contenders for us. We could have had players like Will Hayhurst, Alan Browne developing in the U21s, and we could have players like Tommy Hoban getting the experience of being captain in those games.

[DannyInvincible]

There is an element of that (depriving an experienced player of a place in the squad), but I think 1 (or 2) places in a squad for a game against minnows is a risk worth taking. In the Gibraltar/Georgia squad we could have left out Stephen Ward, McShane or Adam Rooney (although he himself could be deemed promising) as all three of them were very unlikely to all be used in normal circumstances. Would we look that daft if the player fails to live up to expectations? You have to expect false dawns in international football, did Joe Lapiera really make us a laughing stock? We've had quite a few other false dawns (or near false dawns) over the years, Alan O'Brien, Terry Dixon, Sean Devine, Ronnie O'Brien, Liam Daish etc. If say Grealish had been added to that list what difference would it have made.

Indeed, you're correct. It doesn't have any tangible or substantial detrimental effect that I can think of. If some people find "one cap wonders" amusing and ripe for ridicule, ultimately it's no more than an insignificant superficial concern if you actually give a damn. The odd one or two now and again wouldn't really disrupt squad fluidity/consistency/continuity either.

[DeLorean]

Edmundo has made a good case, a better case that I could have imagined being put forward, but it still wouldn't really sit well with me. I don't mind having a reputation of been opportunistic beneficiaries due to the eligibility rules, but I wouldn't want a reputation of aggressively pursuing every confused young player who shows some ability in the lower leagues. It's overly desperate, a bit unfair on a possibly impressionable young player who could easily regret his decision later on, in which case his heart probably wouldn't be fully in it anyway and, as alluded to, I don't think it would do much to help unity within the existing squad. It might not have been too bad in Grealish's case, as he was playing for us up along anyway, but I wouldn't like if it was our common approach towards other young players that qualify. I think MON handled the situation very well, the result wasn't a favourable one but so be it.

[paul_oshea]

Unlike some of those who replied to Grealish’s tweet in the strongest possible terms, we can only wish him all the very best in his international career … up to a point, but writing as a Republic of Ireland fan who always felt this was the fork in the road Grealish would eventually take, the conspicuous absence of any explanation for it does rather stick in the craw.

I think the crux of edmundos argument is the potential of said capping player. Grealish stood out well above the rest. They don't come along often. Rarely in fact for us at the moment, so it would be a rarity handing out these caps.

[geysir]

Afaic, O'Neill did his job well, he asked Grealish on more than one occasion if he was ready to join the senior squad and Grealish declined. O'Neill when making a personal visit to talk with the Grealish family was him going out of his way to persuade Grealish to declare for the senior squad. Just because Grealish declined, doesn't mean O'Neill didn't do his job properly or that there was a pressure option available that O'Neill/FAI didn't use, to lead Grealish by the nose into the Irish senior set up.

[DannyInvincible]

Hodgson emphasising Grealish's Englishness and downplaying his Irishness today: http://www.football365.com/news/no-sweeteners-for-grealish-says-hodgson


Hodgson will not make special allowances to fast-track Grealish into his squad.

“I’m very pleased,” he said of the player’s decision.

“I think it is the right decision, frankly he is English having met him and his father, it is an English family albeit with fairly distant Irish roots.

“I think he has got the talent to be an England player, he has a lot of work today before that day is concreted – but I was happy that in a choice between the two countries he took the bolder decision to try and be an England international.

“I was keen to point out to him and his father that there are no guarantees from my point of view – one thing I can categorically say is that the only way he will get into the England squad is if he is one of the best 23.

“We can’t offer him any sweeteners or bonuses because you have made a decision to play for England.”

[OwlsFan]

Grandparent to grandchild a "distant root". Try telling that to most grandparents.

[DannyInvincible]

Grandparent to grandchild a "distant root". Try telling that to most grandparents.

Indeed. It's a peculiar way of putting it. It almost sounds like a little dig. I think the aversion many Britons have to the "granny rule" is a cultural thing (British citizenship law assigns no legal significance to the grandparental bond in terms of inheriting nationality), although the fact we have benefited quite a bit from it with England and Scotland-born Irish nationals who might otherwise have been considered by the FA or SFA is bound to contribute. I put down some thoughts on after writing a response to Martin Samuel's awful Daily Mail piece on Grealish a few months ago: https://danieldcollins.wordpress.com/2015/04/23/a-response-to-martin-samuel-of-the-daily-mail-regarding-jack-grealish/


Solihull-born Grealish qualifies, by virtue of his Ireland-born grandparents, to play for Ireland under littera (c) of article 7 of FIFA’s Regulations Governing the Application of the Statutes (although, having already represented Ireland competitively at under-age level, he remains entitled before being capped competitively at senior level to switch association once, under article 8, to England, for whom he is eligible by birth, in accordance with article 5). Article 7(c) is popularly referred to as “the granny rule” and the Football Association of Ireland’s perfectly legal use of it in order to facilitate members of the Irish diaspora in Britain has long been mocked by figures within British football as well as contemptuous voices, like Samuel, in the English media. Of course, unlike Irish nationality law, which is heavily influenced by the jus sanguinis principle, and the nationality law of other states, like Italy and those of continental Europe, that similarly have significant, identifiable and celebrated diasporas, British nationality law does not feature any provision for the inheritance of British citizenship beyond parentage or through grandparentage, so the Irish way perhaps seems a little alien to the British. Nevertheless, using the “granny rule” as a stick of ridicule with which to beat the Irish has been a means of asserting a distasteful and imperious sense of English superiority; since Jack Charlton in the 1980s first started selecting en masse England-born players for Ireland who were eligible on account of their Ireland-born parents and grandparents, Ireland have been derisively dubbed the “England ‘B’ team“. The term remains in use today given the still-frequent presence of a handful of England-born Irish nationals in Ireland international squads.

...

Whilst the UK may not allow for the inheritance of British citizenship through grandparentage, this does not mean that a significant number of other states within the international community do not formally appreciate this familial bond for the purposes of extending citizenship. It is their sovereign right to officially acknowledge such a bond and FIFA evidently concur.

[SkStu]

The original and still the greatest Grealish to have donned the beautiful Irish jersey.

http://e2.365dm.com/15/07/768x432/football-tony-grealish-ireland_3328283.jpg?20150722164523

F*ck J*ck.

[DannyInvincible]

Radio Kerry had an exclusive interview with Kevin Grealish on Sunday in relation to Jack's decision: http://www.radiokerry.ie/sport/exclusive-interview-with-jack-grealish-dad/

Balls.ie had a bit on it here: http://www.balls.ie/football/jack-grealish-reason-choose-england/311185


Last week, following Jack Grealish's announcement that he wishes to play international football for England rather than Ireland, the Telegraph's Luke Edwards claimed that the main factor in the decision had been 'commercial reasons'.

Unsurprisingly, there was no mention of this when Grealish's father Kevin was interviewed on Radio Kerry by Gary O'Sullivan. Kevin Grealish's mother hails from Sneem in Kerry.

Instead, the Aston Villa midfielder's father asserted that his son simply thought it right to 'represent the country that he was born in'.


He had a good, long, hard think about it. We met both managers, Martin O'Neill and Roy Hodgson. We met the Ireland U21 manager Noel King aswell.

He said to us 'Look Dad, I was born in England' - the same as me, I was born in England - he just said 'I should represent the country that I was born in' and that's what he has done.

When Grealish first started playing international football with the Boys in Green, it was not because of any deep-seated connections to Ireland, according to his father, it was down to wanting to play with his friends and teammates at Aston Villa.


When he was first starting off, England were calling for him and Ireland were calling for him. Some of the Villa teammates he was with like Mikey Drennan and Samir Carruthers, they were all at the Villa and they were all young Irish lads.

He used to suffer from a lot of homesickness when he was away on international duty. He jumped into it with Ireland because of Mikey Drennan and Samir Carruthers. He just went with the flow.

Obviously Jack's career has taken off and some of the other lads, like Drennan is at Shamrock Rovers and Carruthers is at MK Dons. In the beginning, he just played for Ireland because there were a good few Irish lads there at Villa.

He had some great times. We have a picture of him in his Ireland top for the U17s and that'll stay there for as long as we live there.

[tetsujin1979]

did someone steal Eamonn Sweeney's cornflakes this morning?? - http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/international-soccer/eamonn-sweeney-the-way-weve-used-the-granny-rule-is-a-prime-example-of-sleeveenism-31580069.html

[DeLorean]

Think that's from a couple of days ago and presuambly what O'Neill was referring to below...


We can justify this whoring after players who couldn't find Mayo on a map by wittering on about our emigrant history and London-Irish identity and a lot of other stuff which sounds like a particularly bad Pogues lyric.


I think contrary to what was written yesterday, by a journalist, far from it, I never chased it, I never chased Jack Grealish at all. I never prostituted myself in any way, shape or form trying to get Jack Grealish. I think Jack Grealish and his father would readily admit that. In fact, actually, I was accused of the other thing, of not chasing it up — so I didn’t do that.

Angry O’Neill denies ‘prostituting’ himself in Jack Grealish pursuit
(http://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/soccer/angry-oneill-denies-prostituting-himself-in-jack-grealish-pursuit-357682.html)

[OwlsFan]

Most of the comments appear to be jocular but I think it would have been better to leave him alone and let the matter rest http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/international-soccer/jack-grealish-trolled-by-irish-fans-after-euro-2016-qualification-34208965.html Walking Roy Keane's dog :)


did someone steal Eamonn Sweeney's cornflakes this morning?? - http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/international-soccer/eamonn-sweeney-the-way-weve-used-the-granny-rule-is-a-prime-example-of-sleeveenism-31580069.html

Pathetic especially mentioning Paddy Kenny (both parents Irish) and Gary Doherty who was born in Ireland !!

[SkStu]

Either way, I'd say it's Thomas Delaney who has the real egg on his face at the moment... ;) at least Grealish still has a small chance of making the euros.

Delaney looks very comfortable at this level though in seriousness- another one that got away.

[pineapple stu]

Curiously, the Indo article doesn't mention the North getting Maik Taylor to play for them despite having literally no connection to them.

Probably would defeat the author's point though.

[TheOneWhoKnocks]

Je te l'avais dit.

[OwlsFan]

Je te l'avais dit.


Nous saluons le retour

[Stuttgart88]

Ce que vous avez dit de Jon Walters?

[OwlsFan]

Il a dit : " Personnellement, je pense que nous serions mieux sans Walters dans l'équipe si nous allons faire un aller bon de cela. "

[Eminence Grise]

Il me paraît que CeluiQuiRabaisse et aussi celui qui réapparaît....

[tetsujin1979]

Anyone else bothered by the use of the informal/singular tu instead of the formal/plural vous?
My secondary school French teacher would be turning in her grave.

[DeLorean]

The lads

http://www.irishtimes.com/polopoly_fs/1.2436920.1447953276!/image/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/box_620_330/image.jpg