Eirambler
12/04/2005, 4:31 PM
Scotland manager Walter Smith named his future squad today for the match against Austria in the 'Future Cup' which also features Germany Poland and Turkey.
The squad is a combination of fringe players from the senior squad and under 21s.
When you look at potential future Irish internations like Paddy McCarthy and Glen Whelan, they tend to be forgotton about when they exit the under 21's, and can't make the full senior squad. Similarly Kavanagh was a forgotton man for years playing in Division 2 with Cardiff and Stoke, possibly at the peak of his career.
Shouldnt we be looking at getting involved in a competition like this? I cant remember us playing a 'B' game in the last 5 years and if you ask me Don Givens is making a mess of the under 21's so they could probably do with a little guidance from Kerr in his spare time.
It would also give more international experience to players like Miller, Clarke, Maybury, Kenny and McGeady as Kerr seems to prefer to keep as much of his first eleven as possible in the side for friendlies. As well as that it would allow Kerr to assess the best of the under 21's first hand and give them experience at a higher level without them being thrown straight into the first team.
The best Eircom League players could also benefit from this and it would be a good test of where exactly the likes of Byrne, O'Flynn, Kearney etc. for example compare to the likes of Alan Lee and John Macken.
The squad is a combination of fringe players from the senior squad and under 21s.
When you look at potential future Irish internations like Paddy McCarthy and Glen Whelan, they tend to be forgotton about when they exit the under 21's, and can't make the full senior squad. Similarly Kavanagh was a forgotton man for years playing in Division 2 with Cardiff and Stoke, possibly at the peak of his career.
Shouldnt we be looking at getting involved in a competition like this? I cant remember us playing a 'B' game in the last 5 years and if you ask me Don Givens is making a mess of the under 21's so they could probably do with a little guidance from Kerr in his spare time.
It would also give more international experience to players like Miller, Clarke, Maybury, Kenny and McGeady as Kerr seems to prefer to keep as much of his first eleven as possible in the side for friendlies. As well as that it would allow Kerr to assess the best of the under 21's first hand and give them experience at a higher level without them being thrown straight into the first team.
The best Eircom League players could also benefit from this and it would be a good test of where exactly the likes of Byrne, O'Flynn, Kearney etc. for example compare to the likes of Alan Lee and John Macken.