Zak Knight 'Irish' ?

[dynamo kerry]

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Knight to check out links with Republic
Monday October 18th 2004
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FULHAM defender Zat Knight has declared an interest in representing the Republic of Ireland.

Knight is hoping to benefit from FIFA's limited amnesty, which benefits those who have represented a country at under-age level, but who have not been capped at senior level and wish to change their allegiance - a procedure Manchester City striker Jon Macken has already taken advantage of this season.

Speaking after Fulham's 4-2 defeat by Liverpool on Saturday, Knight, who has won England U-21 caps, outlined his desire to explore the possibility of playing for Ireland, while at the same time conceding the lack of opportunities for England had driven his quest.

"Maybe I should be looking at different avenues, what with the World Cup coming up in two years' time," said Knight, with a singular display of opportunism bound to be noted by Richard Dunne and Gary Breen, amongst others.

"I'm aware that I can still play for the Republic of Ireland and that is something that I have been seriously considering. I am at an age where I am playing regularly in the Premiership, one of the best leagues in the world.

"I don't say that I have been overlooked by England, but if I can look down another road and try to get into their team, then maybe I should. As far as England is concerned, I know it's going to be hard for me to break into the side."

Knight will have to act quickly to expedite the paperwork to confirm his switch, believed to based on his Irish ancestry, but the FAI and Irish manager Brian Kerr would have to give their final assent to his change of mind.

At 6fr 6ins, the 24-year-old Knight, now five years at Fulham having spent the early part of his career at Peterborough, has attributes which are clear enough.

However, with current incumbents Andy O'Brien and Kenny Cuinningham heading a list which also includes Breen, Dunne, John O'Shea, Gary Doherty and John Thompson, Knight's qualities would have to be singularly outstanding in order for him to force his way into the Irish team for forthcoming friendlies against Croatia and Portugal.

David Kelly

good luck ya big lump of opportunistic rubbish

[Plastic Paddy]

good luck ya big lump of opportunistic rubbish

We're not interested. Thanks but no thanks Zat.

:ball: PP

[thejollyrodger]

no thanks ! :o

[Colm55]

outlined his desire to explore the possibility of playing for Ireland, while at the same time conceding the lack of opportunities for England had driven his quest.

Says it all really, if he's not good enough for England, he's definitely not good enough for us.

He has a silly name aswell!

[wallis]

"outlined his desire to explore the possibility of playing for Ireland, while at the same time conceding the lack of opportunities for England had driven his quest.

" Says it all really, if he's not good enough for England, he's definitely not good enough for us. "

Since when do England pick players because they are good enough. If you are not playing for the top 5 teams forget it. The guy has no chance getting ahead of Campbell, Ferdinand or Terry

He's a good defender , KC wont go on forever, always useful to have another premiership player around.

As long as these players are fully committed when they pull on the shirt I dont mind.

Our current postion/success was built on these types of players during the Charlton era.

[barglee]

even if he did declare hed be well behind a list of centre backs.
kenny obrien dunne breen doherty oshea

thenn again i guess we should take what we can get.

[lopez]

Crazy name! Crazy FAI if they take him on! :mad:

[Colm55]

As long as these players are fully committed when they pull on the shirt I dont mind

you make good points here but i disagree with the above due to the fact that he has only picked Ireland when he realised his chances with England were over, Will he play with the pride and passion that Irish players have played with over the years or is it just a scam to get to a world cup whatever way he sees fit, when he pulls on the jersey?

[wallis]

I just think that we should keep all options open when a player offers themselves. Ok , so he's annoyed that England wont give him a crack at it but that to me doesnt mean he is not good enough.

I could name all the players we 'picked up' during the 80s from similar credentials but the thread would be too long (wasnt Houghton ex Scot U21 ?). If he is prepared to give himself for the cause he could be a great addition to the the squad. The guy seems to be an honest pro, no disciplinary problems and I think is a very underrated defender.

I know what you are saying and I can see why we should 'keep it Irish' but with the player base that we have I dont think we can afford to be choosy if someone of his calibre (premiership quality defender , international U21 etc) puts himself forward.

[stickyjoe]

i`m not a fan of picking these kind of players for our national team :mad: what kind of message does it sound out to other players in the squad(r dunne etc.)and young players if we go and pick english players like this that have no idea of what that jersey means :confused:

btw, on a related topic - something that made me smile last wednesday against the faroes :D . our starting 11 were made up entirely of irish players. kilbane was born in england of irish parents and andy o`brien who i am led to belive is "proper irish" and who qualifies through an irish father. perhaps now we`re finally losing our plastic paddies tag ;)

i wonder when was the last time this happened

[Éanna]

I'm sure morisson and macken will make him feel at home :mad: ****s sake, I thought this crap ended when we got shot of Jack "I wanna manage the england reserves" charlton :rolleyes:

[Colm]

Keep this mercenary clown well away from our team, thank you very much.

[DolansWaistcoat]

Aw come on lads,we need a goal scoring centre back!

Zat scored a rocket off his arse against liverpool at the weekend,even managed to lob Edwin Van Der Zar,the prems tallest goalie. ;) :D

Might be worth a try alongside Robbie. :p :D

[dynamo kerry]

i`m not a fan of picking these kind of players for our national team :mad: what kind of message does it sound out to other players in the squad(r dunne etc.)and young players if we go and pick english players like this that have no idea of what that jersey means :confused:

btw, on a related topic - something that made me smile last wednesday against the faroes :D . our starting 11 were made up entirely of irish players. kilbane was born in england of irish parents and andy o`brien who i am led to belive is "proper irish" and who qualifies through an irish father. perhaps now we`re finally losing our plastic paddies tag ;)

i wonder when was the last time this happened


the bulk of our team for many years now has bene irish born or gone thru all the underage teams.

very few have been random additions. even connolly played u-21 games.

the exceptions being holland, macken and maybe one or two others. who are you referring to otherwise that would be a plastic paddy?

[Soko]

even if he did declare hed be well behind a list of centre backs.
kenny obrien dunne breen doherty oshea

thenn again i guess we should take what we can get.


John O' Shea will NEVER be an international class centre half. I gave him time but he keeps proving me right as a useless sack of sh!t. Knight is also bettter than Breen and Dunne.

[jbyrne]

dont care how good he may be... he shouldnt be allowed play for us after playing for another country.... particularly when he admits its only because of a lack of opportunity to play for england.

however, i'd strongly suspect that he wouldnt have said what he did on saturday unless he had already tested the water first with the Irish management...... wouldnt be shocked if he's in the next squad

[fosterdollar]

i wonder was it zat night in Paris that influenced his decision??? :o
boom-boom ... i'll get my coat

[fcukzatknight]

zat knight is a ****head big lanky stick about 9ft tall cannot get game for scummy england and trying to get a game for ireland we dont need you, your crap.

[Peadar]

Knight is also bettter than Breen and Dunne.

Not the New & Improved Dunne of this season.
Man City have only leaked 7 goals so far this season.

[zinedineontour]

the way the fella says theres a world cup in 2 years have to decide soon. HOpe he declares for us and then brian kerr never picks him the gloryhunter. Didnt see him coming out with this before the france game

[stickyjoe]

the bulk of our team for many years now has bene irish born or gone thru all the underage teams.

very few have been random additions. even connolly played u-21 games.

the exceptions being holland, macken and maybe one or two others. who are you referring to otherwise that would be a plastic paddy?


paul butler, holland, macken, stpehen reid,morrison, (the mighty)mickey evans,lee carsley, mcateer,aldridge,townsend,lawrensen are examples of non-irish players playing for ireland. and while i do agree taht it the bulk of our squad has been "irish" lately, it was stioll great to see the first 11 being free of plastic paddys

[stickyjoe]

So,what do you think of the Diaspora then.....FIFA are tw*ts,but more entitled to say in the context of international football who's eligible to play than the closed minds on here.Suppose you wouldn't have counted Paul McGrath,or David O'Leary,then?

the only reason fifa changed this rule was to avoid a legal battle with tim cahill beacuse he had played for western samoa under 15s or something like that.

and of course mcgrath adn o`leary are irish just like kilbane, connolly etc :D :D

and as for zak knight......don`t get me started ;)

[Schumi]

So,what do you think of the Diaspora then
I think you've misinterpreted what he meant. A team of Irish born players and foreign born players who have grown up as Irish (e.g. Kilbane) as opposed to the likes of Morrison, Macken and this Knight guy whoever he is.

[green goblin]

...it just a scam to get to a world cup whatever way he sees fit, when he pulls on the jersey?

It does sound a bit like it, doesn't it? And we're not exactly short of defenders right now, either.
What kind of name is 'Zat', anyway?

If he does get in, then I'll certainly hoot and holler if he hoofs the ball away from our net, sure. But I'd prefer to see players, wherever they were born, playing in green because they're proud to wear the green, not because they didn't get into their first choice and it's us or nothing. :(

[dynamo kerry]

paul butler, holland, macken, stpehen reid,morrison, (the mighty)mickey evans,lee carsley, mcateer,aldridge,townsend,lawrensen are examples of non-irish players playing for ireland. and while i do agree taht it the bulk of our squad has been "irish" lately, it was stioll great to see the first 11 being free of plastic paddys

mckey evans? lee carsely? never been regulars.

alrdridge, townesend, houghton? 6 years gone lad.

lawrenson? butler? scraping the barrel a little bit.


as for stephen reid I believe him to be every bit as irish as andy o'brien.

there have been several instances when it was an all-irish 'born' team. I stopped paying attention myself years ago. you're point is baseless and plucking at straws. if you mean lately as 'last 15 years" then maybe. If you're younger than 35 though you're talking sh!te.

paul butler? ffs

[Donal81]

I can't think of a situation comparable to the Irish one in world football although there must be an example somewhere. Ireland's history of emigration led to entire communities all over England growing with a strong sense of Irishness, a sense that was heightened by the fact that they were abroad. At one point, there were over one million Irish-born people in England. I'm not aware of the figures now but it's a huge group. My point is that it's completely understandable for someone to grow up with a strong sense of Irishness although their place of birth, childhood and adulthood is England. I will always welcome someone like Kevin Kilbane - actual footy discussions aside - into an Irish team because he has always wanted to play for us and grew up believing that a part of him was Irish. Mick McCarthy, Shay Brennan and Gary Breen are other examples of this. If someone wants to play for Ireland simply because they're not good enough for England and see us as a last resort and some international status, they can get f*cked, to be quite honest, it degrades the notion of playing for your country.

That said, Irish football history is full of players who may never have felt Irish and jumped at the chance of a bit of international glory. For example, Tony Cascarino, Jason MacAteer, John Aldridge. But who would deny that these players gave their all for the cause of Irish international football? Some of these players may have been ropey with distant Irish connections - Cascarino had none - but they certainly contributed in some way. It depends on the character of the player and this guy sounds like a tosser.

[dynamo kerry]

this argument has been done to death before.

there are two main considerations.

1) the recent Irish team has been predominatly irish born or closely connected to ireland for the last 10 or so years with 3 or at the outside 4 exceptions (morrison, carsley and holland being the stand outs as people who played regularly but had no real irish connection prior to declaring)

2) the recent rule change has flushed a few punters out - macken, whelan and now knight. if it hadnt been for this rule change I believe we would never have heard about any of these players and the days of the granny rule would have faded to obsolesence. I reckon these are the last lads who will declare so late into their 20's.


these lads should get as much of a benefit of the doubt as holland et al. if they're good enough and take it seriously a la morrison has then I won't have a problem.

knight maybe could have been a bit more diplomatic(ie lied) and been nicer about it. he could have mentioned a granny in westmeath he's always wanted to make happy by playing for ireland. hokey but nice.

as it is he'll do well to get a game .

[Coltron]

Zat Knight declares Irish intentions


October 18, 2004

Fulham’s beanpole central defender Zat Knight has declared his intention to follow up on the possibility of changing his international allegiance and declaring for Brian Kerr’s Republic of Ireland.

Standing at 6’6”, Knight is one of the tallest outfield players in the Premiership, and has become a regular in Fulham’s side over the past two seasons.

He has already represented England competitively at under-21 level in the past, but under the once-off Uefa rule that has already seen Manchester City’s Jonathan Macken change sides, the 24-year-old has hinted that he will investigate the possibility of declaring for Ireland.

But there is little of real Irish affiliation in the comments of the big defender, whose intention to follow up his green roots is founded in his inability to break into the England set-up.

“Maybe I should be looking at different avenues, what with the World Cup coming up in two years’ time,” said Knight after the Cottagers’ 4-2 weekend defeat to Liverpool. “I’m aware that I can still play for the Republic of Ireland and that is something that I have been seriously considering. I am at an age where I am playing regularly in the Premiership, one of the best leagues in the world.

“I don’t say that I have been overlooked by England, but if I can look down another road and try to get into their team, then maybe I should. As far as England is concerned, I know it’s going to be hard for me to break into the side.”


Taken from Eleven-a-side. What do think of this one lads, personnally I'm not in favour of it buts its such a grey area its hard to know who should play and should be told to f off and its just their tough sh*t their not good enough to play for their own country.

[thecorner]

was over in london last year and took in a game over there

fulham vs birmingham

knight was one of the players at that game that really impressed me and lets face it,cunningham wont be around forever
.

[4tothefloor]

Lads, Andy O'Brien played for England U21s, there was even a picture of him playing in the England jersey against France in the star last week. Clinton Morrison also declared his wish to play for England before choosing us sometime later. Tony Cascarino didn't even have a real link to this country. Look at the Charlton era.....Nobody is complaing about these guys now are they? You certainly can't question their committment or contribution to our cause either. If Knight declares, there'll be a few moaners, but once he starts performing it'll be all rosey in the garden again.

My attitude is i'll support anyone who dons the green and white, as long as he's as committed as the next guy. Those who are rubbing their hands at the potential of McGeady will equally have to accept someone like Knight, as there's no difference in their reasons for declaring, in my eyes.

[4tothefloor]

i`m not a fan of picking these kind of players for our national team :mad: what kind of message does it sound out to other players in the squad(r dunne etc.)and young players if we go and pick english players like this that have no idea of what that jersey means :confused:

btw, on a related topic - something that made me smile last wednesday against the faroes :D . our starting 11 were made up entirely of irish players. kilbane was born in england of irish parents and andy o`brien who i am led to belive is "proper irish" and who qualifies through an irish father. perhaps now we`re finally losing our plastic paddies tag ;)

i wonder when was the last time this happened

If O'Brien is so "proper Irish", why did he play for England U21's before he played for us? You don't seem to have a problem with O'Brien, who is an England U21 international whether you like it or not. Knight is also an England U21. Personally, I don't see the difference. You can't tell me either that Clinton Morrison doesn't give his all for Ireland, and he's now very much a fan favourite. In fact he's the only player, along with Given, who has played well in all of our group games so far. If Knight declares, and is as committed as O'Brien and Morrison, then I don't see what the problem is. Himself and Dunne would be good back up to KC and AOB. Forget about Breen, Doherty and O'Shea as centre-halfs, unless you want to be watching Germany 2006 on the telly.

[thejollyrodger]

well thats because soccer in Ireland wasnt very well developed. This fella Zak is behind a right few defenders in the list so I wouldnt bother calling him up. I would like as much an Irish team as possible. No offense to any english people.


The difference for me is that the likes of Mc Geady looks like he has potential, Zak doesnt.
:)

[eirebhoy]

Lads, Andy O'Brien played for England U21s, there was even a picture of him playing in the England jersey against France in the star last week.
O'Brien said he only played for England because it was the more fasionable thing to do. He rejected the next callup he received by England. I doubt he did it just for football reasons as he was only 19 at the time and was really highly rated playing regular football.

[TheJamaicanP.M.]

Lads, Andy O'Brien played for England U21s, there was even a picture of him playing in the England jersey against France in the star last week. Clinton Morrison also declared his wish to play for England before choosing us sometime later. Tony Cascarino didn't even have a real link to this country. Look at the Charlton era.....Nobody is complaing about these guys now are they? You certainly can't question their committment or contribution to our cause either. If Knight declares, there'll be a few moaners, but once he starts performing it'll be all rosey in the garden again.

My attitude is i'll support anyone who dons the green and white, as long as he's as committed as the next guy. Those who are rubbing their hands at the potential of McGeady will equally have to accept someone like Knight, as there's no difference in their reasons for declaring, in my eyes.

You are way off the point. Knight wants to play for Ireland because he has admitted he is not good enough for England. Therefore, he thinks he is good enough to throw his lot in with the Oiwish. On the other hand, Aiden McGeady is more than good enough for Scotland but has chosen Ireland. Ireland have always been his first choice. There is a big difference between Knight and McGeady.

[Éanna]

THREADS MERGED.

Éanna

[Superhoops]

....Aiden McGeady is more than good enough for Scotland but has chosen Ireland......
Jesus, that was a hard decision! :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

[thejollyrodger]

Give Josh a break. He missed out on Japan WC because of that idiot Mc Carthy and its stunted his football development ! He was in good form then. Give Josh another year or 18 months and then make a decison about him. I would rather Josh at left back than this "Zak" fella. Such a name :rolleyes:

[1MickCollins]

He said no to Ireland once at U21 level he won't be asked again. I don't think Kerr would pick someone who refused a call-up - so you can forget Knight, Best, Nolan. That is how it should be.

[sylvo]

If he want's to go down other road's and look at other avenue's, then maybe he should take Charing Cross road instead of Oxford Street to get to Soho Square. FCUK HIM, as has been said he's not the first person to have a tan u21 cap or distant Irish link's take an interest in declaring for Ireland, but at least all the other's showed a bit of respect and talked about their Granny in Kildare or Athlone, or their grandfather in Limerick or Monaghan, where as this p***k's just said that he's not getting no joy from the Scum so we'll do as an alternative.
He should F**k off back to the tan's and ask them for a game the p***k.




PS, who is he anyway. :confused:

[drummerboy]

Knight name was touted about about 3 years ago, but he decided to play for England. Personally I don't think we need him. Dunne is playing the best football of his career and has started to mature. He was interviewed on the BBC on Saturday and admitted he had things too easy: a regular for Everton at 17, regular for Ireland at 22-3. Hopefully he keeps improving.

[barglee]

John O' Shea will NEVER be an international class centre half. I gave him time but he keeps proving me right as a useless sack of sh!t. Knight is also bettter than Breen and Dunne.

i dont see alex ferguson going out of his way to sign Knight to replace "sack of sh!t" o shea do you?

[green goblin]

i dont see alex ferguson going out of his way to sign Knight to replace "sack of sh!t" o shea do you?

Too right, Barglee. The Directors and shareholders of Manchester United PLC prefer signing competent, proven players, wherever possible, to guarantee good returns on their investment. The amount of money involved, they're interested in the best they can get- and having so much money, they can aford some very good players indeed. Like John O'Shea. O'Shea's playing for Ireland for the forseeable future, it's fair to say. Zat Knight on the other hand, isn't.

[Bowsy]

I can't think of a situation comparable to the Irish one in world football although there must be an example somewhere.

Could be wrong and often am but i believe a lot of the Turkish national team are German born but choose to declare for Turkey.

As regards Knight, always a difficult issue but comes down to one thing for me - do we need him? If he was a quality premiership forward we would be cutting off our nose to spite our face in saying no but he's not. He's a fairly average centre half. No great loss. anyone he thinks he's better than Dunne knows nothing of the all new and improved honey monster.

[Peadar]

The Directors and shareholders of Manchester United PLC prefer signing competent, proven players, wherever possible, to guarantee good returns on their investment. The amount of money involved, they're interested in the best they can get- and having so much money, they can aford some very good players indeed.

Ha ha ha! :D
Is it "Stand Up Comedy Night" in here or something? :D

Veron
Forlan
Djemba Djemba
Kleberson
Bosnich

Need I go on?

[drinkfeckarse]

A lot of the French team were born in Senegal and the Dutch have always had players that were born in Surinam.
Even the Scots recently have taken on board plenty of "Anglo's" so it's more common than you think.

[green goblin]

Ha ha ha! :D
Is it "Stand Up Comedy Night" in here or something? :D

Veron
Forlan
Djemba Djemba
Kleberson
Bosnich

Need I go on?

Ahem.
;) . ;) . ;)
Need I say more?

[Peadar]

A lot of the French team were born in Senegal and the Dutch have always had players that were born in Surinam.


Which is even worse when you think of it because the connection between these countries is slavery.
Surinam, of course, is what the Dutch got in exchange for "New Amsterdam" in a trade with the British because the Dutch couldn't satisfy their requirement for slaves.
For many of the players it was an escape from poverty in their own countries and a chance to get and EU passport.

[Superhoops]

Manchester United ...can aford some very good players indeed. Like John O'Shea......O'Shea's playing for Ireland for the forseeable future....
O'Shea cost nothing and it will be interesting to see if MU really rate him and keep him or offload him in January and 'crystalise their capital gain'.

Unless Kerr can find room for him somewhere else other than LB where he leaves us too exposed, I am not sure he will be playing for the foreseeable future.

[drinkfeckarse]

Which is even worse when you think of it because the connection between these countries is slavery.
Surinam, of course, is what the Dutch got in exchange for "New Amsterdam" in a trade with the British because the Dutch couldn't satisfy their requirement for slaves.
For many of the players it was an escape from poverty in their own countries and a chance to get and EU passport.

Wasn't really aware of the history but I had an idea that it might involve something like that.

Interesting that there's no apparent animosity by the players then towards their "adopted" countries. To me it would be like playing for England even though you're Irish.....you just couldn't do it because of the history. :confused:

[green goblin]

offload him in January and 'crystalise their capital gain'.
.
...And thus increase Machester United PLC's market share of the duvet, calandar, A4 folder and lunchbox non-spill drinks bottle trades. :rolleyes:

No fan of ManYoo myself either, not by a long shot. But I really don't think that O'Shea's the liability some people here are making him out to be. And the fact that Machester United PLC got him for nowt means nothing either. Cloughie got Keano for a steal, and Celtic bought Larson for £2.99 and a book token, and they both scrubbed up alright.