Our Pampered Stars

[razor]

Interesting article by Dave Hannigan in the Echo the other night about pampered premiership stars, found it online.
Focuses on Irish players so I thought it might be better suited here and not General Football.

see here (http://www.irishecho.com/newspaper/story.cfm?id=15867)

Interesting to know who the last paragraph is referring to ?

[gustavo]

i would imagine its none other than jason macateer !

[NeilMcD]

I would bet its the man a certain scouser who liked some good shampoo.

[drinkfeckarse]

Definately McAteer, what an idiot :o

[Eirambler]

Ya, its got to be McAteer.

Hannigan included Liam Lawrence in his Irish players list, did I miss something about this?

[Slash/ED]

Lawrence has said he wants to play for us many times, back when he was still in the third division iirc and definitely since he's signed for Sunderland.

[livehead1]

its mcphail!!! he used 2 get into loadsa sh*t at forest doing stuff like that to players. altho mcateer cud be an option. i wudda sed richie foran but he's neither rich nor a full international but he's worse than the lot!

[eirebhoy]

McAteer played in the league cup final for Bolton against Liverpool in '95 and lost 2-1 so he would have got a runner-up medal. The paragraph says the player has never won a medal so I don't think its McAteer.

[fosterdollar]

Possibly winner's medals were being implied

[Donal81]

That player who burned the notes in front of the begging children....Someone just told me it was Robbie Keane.

[tetsujin1979]

I've heard that one before as well

[Donal81]

I'd heard that story about Robbie, but I honestly think it's just gutter talk. No one could do such a thing . . could they?

Given that I've read it in articles by a number of different journalists - not that it was Robbie Keane but that it happened, the culprit hasn't been named - I would say it definitely did take place. Tom Humphries has mentioned it several times. Not that he's the god of sports journalism or anything but he generally doesn't indulge in gutter talk. I'll assume that Robbie did it a long time ago when he was much younger than he is now and he regrets it hugely today. That's being very kind, I think.

[gspain]

On a tangent here . . . but did anyone notice that recent piece about the richest footballers? Apparently Fowler and Macmanaman have dozens of houses, while Bergkamp is worth an amazing £35m. Crazy.
I'd heard that story about Robbie, but I honestly think it's just gutter talk. No one could do such a thing . . could they?

Robbie fowler owns over 80 houses. He has been buying property since his early Liverpool days apparently.

[dr_peepee]

Hannigan included Liam Lawrence in his Irish players list, did I miss something about this?

That's EXACTLY what was on my mind throughout the whole article.

What about Mark Kennedy for that last paragraph?

[Donal81]

What about Mark Kennedy for that last paragraph? Funny, I thought the exact same until being informed that it was Robbie Keane. Apparently, Dion Fanning wrote it somewhere, if anyone can dig it up.

[Kevin77]

Are you saying that the player referred to in the article is Robbie Keane? The writer says it's a player in the lower divisions.

[finlma]

The last paragraph is about McAteer. People are saying it was Robbie Keane that burned notes in front on begging children and I've heard this a few times.

[Donal81]

Are you saying that the player referred to in the article is Robbie Keane? The writer says it's a player in the lower divisions.

My mistake, sorry. The player in the lower divisions is apparently Jason McAteer.

[Don Vito]

That player who burned the notes in front of the begging children....Someone just told me it was Robbie Keane.

I'd heard a story about that too, but I thought it was some English Internationals. Hope its none of the Irish lads anyway, disgraceful behaviour.

[$Leon$]

i think i heard it was rio ferd but definatly an english player

[Donal81]

It's horrible and whoever did it must have been a twisted little git at the time. Whichever player it was, I've read it enough times to believe that it was an Irish player. Again, I was informed that it was Robbie Keane, apparently that's coming from Dion Fanning. I've read it from different journalists, all decent Irish ones, certainly not those who write in the gutter. It happened and it was an Irish player, I don't think journalists would make this up. Some would but not those that wrote it.

[Closed Account 2]

Well im intrigued, who ever the jibe is about I wonder how Dave Hannigan manages to keep up to speed with all the ins and outs of lower league football (and by that I mean League One and/or League Two) given its coverage is practically nil. Teams in these divisions are on Television (SKY) once a season (excluding cups), so how does he come to such an informed opinion ?

My guess is the jibe is aimed at McAteer, as this article was written just after Tranmere's one (and only) appearance on TV this season - the home match vs. Bristol City (on Monday). Or perhaps it’s like the Man City incident, and Mr. Dave Hannigan is merely describing events that he was not party (no pun) to. If one game (or perhaps even just other peoples hearsay) is sufficient for Mr. Dave Hannigan to judge players, then I'd be inclined to doubt his rave reviews over Richard Dunn, which appear to have been penned after Hannigan (perhaps) watched his attempt keep the Oldham strikeforce at bay last weekend.

[Donal81]

I'm a journo myself and I know how Chinese whispers get round (though obviously I'm not blaming the Chinese for this one! ha ha ha)
I'd just like it not to have been an Irish player.

I feel the exact same. I'm a greasy hack as well and am used to dodgy whisperings doing the rounds. It makes me sick to think of an Irish footballer acting in such a despicable way, however, and I have it from a relatively good source. It's not gospel and of all the overpaid muppets who have swanned through the Irish team, the last person I would have thought to have no empathy for a rough upbringing would be Robbie but that's what I was told.

[Donal81]

True, I hear what you're saying. If it isn't Robbie Keane, I'm convinced that it was definitely an Irish footballer. Too many journos have written about it for it to be a complete fallacy.

[Donal81]

Why was you suggestion shot down?

[Donal81]

Could you give me a link to the thread? That's shocking stuff.

[Donal81]

I'd heard that one about burning notes in front of kids by about 5 English players before Robbie Keane ever kicked a ball for Wolves.

It's apocryphal.

It may well be Conor, I'm not saying it's gospel, it just seems to have been written by decent journalists on a number of occasions. That doesn't make it true, of course.