Jack Grealish

[liamoo11]

Good to see Grealish from aston villa away with the under 16s this week. This must be the 4th or 5th squad at under16 and under17 level he has been involved in this season. Hopefully this is a good sign of his committment to us. He has brought his colleague Lewis from villa with him into the set up on this occasion.

[cornflakes]

http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?p=21503364


[Very impressive for Villa to supply so many, wonder how many will make the cut. Hopefully Jack Grealish (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1maOiysZe-4) will. Ireland are already up to their tricks of calling up English youngsters for their teams before we have had the opportunity to look at him.]

[Stuttgart88]

Does he have a beard?

[boovidge]

just googled him and found a post on the villa forum by someone claiming he played Gaelic with him in Birmingham so looks like he has strong Irish links.

http://www.villatalk.com/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&p=2222232

[Yard of Pace]

Another winger!

[geysir]

If he's a Grealish, he was probably born with a beard

[co. down green]

He was called up to an England u16 development camp last year but decided to stay with us. His fellow u16 Aston Villa teammate Bradley Lewis played his first game for the Ireland u16's yesterday.

[liamoo11]

Villa had six players called up to their victory shield provisional squad including grealish(who is eligible for under16s next season), Lewis and Graham a lad who played for us at under15s last season. Looks like we have lost out on Graham who is also a winger but I think we have the best of the deal if we keep Grealish! Graham is a tony Daley type Grealish is more of a Duff with passing ability!

[tetsujin1979]

are you suggesting Duff can't pass?

[liamoo11]

Absolutely. Duff is no Bergkamp. Certainly does not have that playmaker ability to open up defenses with his passing ability like Ozil does. Outstanding dribbler with super quick feet though great to see him getting back to top form and along with mcgeady the creative hub for us. I ve only seen grealish once against the north last season but he oozed class witrh his passing, dribbling and crossing. He is tiny though unlike the Graham lad

[geysir]

We do like our midget footballers.

[liamoo11]

Scored his first goal for the villa under 18s today. Played twice for our under 16s last week against belgium

[tommy_c12000]

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

[tommy_c12000]

Kevan is his older brother by the looks of it

[AlaskaFox]

Kevan is his older brother by the looks of it

He sure is, he commented here:
http://greenscene.me/2010/10/match-report-italy-u16-0-0-ireland-u16/

[liamoo11]

His brother[?} posts on YBIG. The fact that Graham from villa played with us and grealish for the under 15s against the north last season( and scored twice} and then switched to the crown under 16s this season is a good sign I think. You would have thought grealish would have gone with graham if he didnt have some feeling for us. Also the fact that in the last few under 16 squads Lewis from Villa joined him would suggest that he has good things to say about the irish set up. Also villa have at least 6 youth irish internationals which might help.

Both Grealish and Graham are left sided wide players with Graham a year older. The big test will be in the summer when the brits pick their under 16 victory shield squad and name Grealish hopefully the fact that we offer him the chance to play under 17 will help him make the right call. Either way the best of luck to him. Hopefully FIFA will bring in a regulation that only allows players who have ever playede Gaelic to play for Ireland!!

[liamoo11]

Grealish started for villa at weekend in their under 18 victory over chelsea which won them their league and qualified them for play off finals. He won a peno.Not bad for an under 15s player! 5 irish youth internationals played for villa at weekend who were also without their 3 under 19 internationals carruthers, williams and devine.

[mark12345]

Good lad Jack. Can't wait to see you wearing the green.

[liamoo11]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1o3SEWdc3J0 This was posted on a villa site. footage from last week Grealish is no 11 wins peno and sets up 2 chances.

[liamoo11]

someone over on YBIG quoted his brother saying that he was staying with us. Hopefully there is under 17 game soon to get him over. This lad is mr technical hopefully he has grown

[Greenbod]

Quote from Jack's brother on Villa forum:

" Jack's Done a complete U-Turn and decided to stick with ireland after me submitting his form back to England. yeahh i know im as clueless as you lot on this one but hes sticking with ireland for the near future for sure"

[DannyInvincible]

Only for the near future? :p

[Fixer82]

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

"But theres so many paddys demanding jack to play for ireland, on this,greenscene and you boys in green forum !"




Hmmmm...mildly offensive

[tetsujin1979]

As far as I know, that's his brother

[Rasherboy]

Kevin is Jacks brother and considers himself a paddy as well,absolutely not offensive as the Grealish family would consider themselves very Irish.As for Jack committing to Ireland for the near future,he is going to be around for a long time.It took some guts for a 15 year old boy,who is considered to be "the best prospect"that Aston Villa have produced in a long number of years to make this decision despite coming under an amount of pressure from his coaches,peers etc.It augers well for his future if this is the measure of resilience that he has.Well done Jack

[greendeiseboy]

Kevin is Jacks brother and considers himself a paddy as well,absolutely not offensive as the Grealish family would consider themselves very Irish.As for Jack committing to Ireland for the near future,he is going to be around for a long time.It took some guts for a 15 year old boy,who is considered to be "the best prospect"that Aston Villa have produced in a long number of years to make this decision despite coming under an amount of pressure from his coaches,peers etc.It augers well for his future if this is the measure of resilience that he has.Well done Jack


I'm not being smart but how are you so sure of this?

I've read his brothers' comments as well and the impression I get from them is that he would be happier if he chose England....I might be wrong but that's the impression I get.

[paul_oshea]

Rasherboy is the older of the two brothers, and he is the Irish one influencing him :)

[liamoo11]

few comments from him in the star today sayin how much he loves playing for ireland and how at villa they could put out an ireland team with all the irish lads including him in it. He has seemingly been extremely impressive for the 17s winning 2 peno s and been a creative force.

[SwanVsDalton]

Jack's brother just put this on the Villa Talk forums:

"Hey guys Kev again,
Ermm for those of you that dont know via jacks twitter or through anywhere else. Within the past hour Jack has been assigned a sqaud number and has been given the shirt number 41. He could be on the bench tomorrow against chelsea we have been told."

With Petrov just being diagnosed with leukaemia (very sad news btw - seems a great guy, hope he gets better soon), seems there may be a first team opportunity for Jack and also perhaps Samir Carruthers who made the bench last week.

[IsMiseSean]

Jack's brother just put this on the Villa Talk forums:

"Hey guys Kev again,
Ermm for those of you that dont know via jacks twitter or through anywhere else. Within the past hour Jack has been assigned a sqaud number and has been given the shirt number 41. He could be on the bench tomorrow against chelsea we have been told."

With Petrov just being diagnosed with leukaemia (very sad news btw - seems a great guy, hope he gets better soon), seems there may be a first team opportunity for Jack and also perhaps Samir Carruthers who made the bench last week.

Good news for Grealish & Carruthers.
Shame it had to come from the bad news about Stan Petrov, I wish him all the best!

[SwanVsDalton]

Grealish, Samir Carruthers and Derrick Williams all make the Villa bench today. The side is packed full of young academy players - it wouldn't surprise me if one was to get a debut today.

[seanfhear]

Grealish, Samir Carruthers and Derrick Williams all make the Villa bench today. The side is packed full of young academy players - it wouldn't surprise me if one was to get a debut today.I hope that Villa do enough to stay up (and they probably will)

If you are relying on Stephen Ireland to give backbone to your midfield you are be in trouble.

[liamoo11]

Grealish has shown massive commitment to ireland over the last 2 years since he was a 14 yo playing for our under 15s turning down england at under 16 level and again last summer been named in an under 17 squad on the fa site and turning that down as well. He is our best prospect since duff/keane. He is one of the best prospects in the academy system in the uk for years. He is for instance a far better footballer than another winger sterling who played last week for liverpool and is a year older. He has been and will continue to be under massive pressure to switch allegiance to the fa. Paul doolin next season needs to ensure that he nurtures Grealishs committment to ireland and does not crush it with terrible man management skills like he showed last season with brady, duffy, mcginty, keane and mceleney. He would do well to use john morling the under 16/17 managers man management skills as a guide. Losing Grealish because he does not feel wanted or loved by a manager like Doolin would be unforgivable. The lad needs to have his committment matched and supported by management and the FAI

[Charlie Darwin]

I foresee this thread matching the James McCarthy one for irrational paranoia. Grealish has done absolutely nothing to suggest he's anything other than 100% committed to Ireland and Doolin has done absolutely nothing to suggest he's going to alienate him. I know inventing ludicrous scenarios is fun but cool your jets.

[liamoo11]

I foresee this thread matching the James McCarthy one for irrational paranoia. Grealish has done absolutely nothing to suggest he's anything other than 100% committed to Ireland and Doolin has done absolutely nothing to suggest he's going to alienate him. I know inventing ludicrous scenarios is fun but cool your jets.
True. It must be said though in Doolins defence he has not met Grealish yet!

[Olé Olé]

Jack tweeted recently that he wants Ireland to do well in the under 17 Euro's but that he wants England to win the senior one. Then there's the issue of the form being returned to the English FA.

Grealish seems to be fairly happy in the Irish camp but the insecurity is mostly due to the fact that Grealish is comfortably talented enough to be making the underage English sides and could be viewed as having the potential to earn senior caps.

[Manblue]

Either this kid is on his way to united or going to play for England (or both), can't think of any other reason Rio would reach out to him and randomly take a kid and his fam to dinner

[EastTerracer]

Either this kid is on his way to united or going to play for England (or both), can't think of any other reason Rio would reach out to him and randomly take a kid and his fam to dinner

Rio has an Irish grandmother too so maybe he regrets playing for England and wants to ensure Jack doesn't make the same mistake

Any link to this anyway?

[DannyInvincible]

Haha, I like your thinking, ET.

[Sullivinho]

Any link to this anyway?

Manblue was seated at the next table.

[TrapAPony]

Either this kid is on his way to united or going to play for England (or both), can't think of any other reason Rio would reach out to him and randomly take a kid and his fam to dinner
Nothing to do with him going to Man Utd anyway - so his brother Kevan says on the Villa forums.

Theres a lot of things i cant say but it has nothing to do with jack leaving for united. We all had a great night and rio was a massive help for jack by giving him some helpful advice. Jacks villa through and through and he wants to continue his footballing career at villa park

[Deckydee]

Either this kid is on his way to united or going to play for England (or both), can't think of any other reason Rio would reach out to him and randomly take a kid and his fam to dinner

Whos Rio?

[tetsujin1979]

Whos Rio?Aston Villa played Manchester United at Old Trafford, and they're mentioning someone called Rio.
Who could it be?

[paul_oshea]

Theres a lot of things i cant say but it has nothing to do with jack leaving for united. We all had a great night and rio was a massive help for jack by giving him some helpful advice.

That can only mean one thing.

[Wangball]

It'll be a Nike thing, afaik Grealish wears Nike boots and has a commercial deal as does Ferdinand (one of their marquee names I think). Probably got matched up through that or the other thing it could be is a shared agent or representative.

[liamoo11]

Great to see paul doolin include grealish in the 19s squad http://www.fai.ie/international/under-19/102702.html. This is his first season at this level he has started season real well in the hole at villa. Looks good attacking squad which will be hugely better when we get george back from injury at celtic after x mas hopefully we can get through first round of qualifiers. Goalscorers in roberts and dreennan which I think we have lacked at this level recently. kieran sadlier has played very little at under 17 for us but he is a very creative footballer who could be a nice addition.

[SkStu]

Don't ask me why but I picture Jimmy Greaves everytime I see Jack Grealish's name.

[geysir]

This image is similar to what comes to my mind,
after a Grealish tackle, he orders the player off the pitch to receive attentionhttp://www.inpho.ie/cache/inpho/79/21/9f/0d8d66ef6b7329ed1bc041805db003eca607b1e623/INPHO_00274263.jpg

[Yard of Pace]

God be with the days when Irish footballers looked like men who could easily pass for gnarled session musicians sitting in on a JJ Cale recording session and laying down licks in the late 70s.

[tetsujin1979]

Great to see paul doolin include grealish in the 19s squad http://www.fai.ie/international/under-19/102702.html. This is his first season at this level he has started season real well in the hole at villa. Looks good attacking squad which will be hugely better when we get george back from injury at celtic after x mas hopefully we can get through first round of qualifiers. Goalscorers in roberts and dreennan which I think we have lacked at this level recently. kieran sadlier has played very little at under 17 for us but he is a very creative footballer who could be a nice addition.
Grealish has had to pull out of the squad with a groin problem: https://twitter.com/JackGrealish1/statuses/242635421148925952

Just to let some of u ppl know I didn't go away with Ireland u19s as I have a problem with my groin