Stephen Ireland

[Mayo Red]

It all smacks of a bit of a media driven feeding frenzy in the build up to the most important week in Irish international football for years. Our media at this stage are almost, if not as bad as the English media in the way that they have hounded successive international managers and teams for the sensationalist story and quick buck!

Whatever the truth is, I don't believe that any player at any level is justified in pulling what appears to be a temper tantrum and walking out, just because he didn't get a run in a competitive fixture in front of his friends and family. Selection decisions, especially in competitive matches should be left to the manager and should be for football related reasons only. They should not be about getting a run just because your family are in the stand. Likewise, I think the chances of an Irish born player, especially a still as yet largely unproven player playing for England over Ireland are remote. (We won't mention Kieron Bracken in the rugby however!)

[Kingdom]

Redx fair is fair, some of the sh!te that has been spoken has been stupid no arguments there. But c'mon man to try and argue that a guy should have been picked just because the match is being played on his home turf is a load of cack. Honestly man. Regardless of what age group it was or whether it was a competitive or non-competitive match is irrelevant. I can appreciate you getting wound up but don't lose reason just cause you're annoyed.

[nismo]

there is not one irish boy from Cobh that would represent England in ANY sport.

some of the comments on here are sad and they'll seem to be comin from the jackeen *******s!

[nismo]

Not even close, Man City haven't appeared in the FA Youth Cup Final since 1989 - http://www.thefa.com/TheFACup/TheFAYouthCup/History/Postings/2002/07/15018.htm
If that's the basis for your argument, the rest of the post is suspect at best

who said ANYTHING about the FA cup?

****in idiot :rolleyes:

[Kingdom]

who said ANYTHING about the FA cup?

****in idiot :rolleyes:

I would look at the majority of Tets posts nismo and you'll find that the last thing he is is an idiot.

[nismo]

where's your tongue kingdom?

[Mayo Red]

Sorry, off topic nismo but I like your signature and hope it happens like that!:)

[eirebhoy]

some of you Dubs are jealous that Roy Keane is a Corkman and the greatest player ever from these shores...
The vast majority of Dubs are just happy a player is Irish no matter what county he's from. I couldn't care where Damien Duff, Robbie Keane or Gary Breen is from as long as they're playing for Ireland. The vast majority of Dubs don't treat their country second to anything, of course that includes county. And your last bit is a load of crap, no need to even argue it.

nismo - get to bed ffs.

[Marked Man]

some of you Dubs dont know whats going on outside the City boudaries in that sh*thole you live in...[/QUOTE]



And this from the stately grandeur of the Leeside village?

[RedX]

But c'mon man to try and argue that a guy should have been picked just because the match is being played on his home turf is a load of cack. Honestly man. Regardless of what age group it was or whether it was a competitive or non-competitive match is irrelevant.


Thats a matter of opinion there Kingdom really...there were nearly 4,000 at the game in St Colmans Park and i can guarentee you that they were alll extremely dissapointed that Stephen did not get even a 5minute run...in fairness it does matter that its under 17 and a bit of cop on from the management especially considering the game was well lost by the 80th minute..i think there was a problem before the game that we might not know and that is the real reason the management decided to not give the lad a run..

[tetsujin1979]

who said ANYTHING about the FA cup?

****in idiot
nobody did, for one thing if you'd bothered to click the link I'd posted you'd see it was for the FA Youth Cup.



ye dont have a ****in clue,kerr left him out of the team in cobh beacuse he played for the city reserves when kerr didnt want him too in a semi cup final,kerr had promised him he'd get his game,then after not getting his game twice he got a call from manchester askin him to com play in the reserves cup final match so he left as he was captain of the reserves.
First off, there is no reserve cup final, just the FA Youth Cup final. Man City haven't appeared in the final since 1989, Stephen Ireland would have been about 12 months old at the time, so I doubt he was in the side .
Second, very few semi finals and finals are played in September (when Ireland went back to Manchester) - thanks Eirebhoy for pointing this out.
Thirdly, seeing as how Stephen Ireland was 16 at the time, he probably was in the Academy side, even if he was playing in the reserves (which I doubt) there's no way he captained the side.



now id prefer to play for my club in a cup final then sit on a cold bench watchin a game for my country!!

ps he was approached to play for england after this happened and declined saying he wants to play for ireland at senior level in a few years.
Given you are way off on your opening argument, the rest of your post (above) is highly suspect, to be quite honest, it's on a par with some of the "journalism" we've seen in recent days



I would look at the majority of Tets posts nismo and you'll find that the last thing he is is an idiot.
cheers, mate.

[Qwerty]

the defence rests.

Yeah like I said lazy-arsed dub :D

[dynamo kerry]

nismo - your credibility is destroyed there not that you'll care

tets. solid work

redx: matter of opinon and I think you'll find there were another 8 guys in that squad who didn't get to play that night - should they all have gotten 5 minutes.
hard cheese on ireland is my vote. if he'd been smart he could have had 10 or 12 more underage caps by now and been seen by his family 3 or 4 times.

as it is I don't take any of this media stuff to heart. although ireland's lack of urgency to deny it and decalre support for the team prior to the big week ahead is disappointing.

chiarraí abu by the way

[Zidane]

Lads,

I am a Dub living away from home. I have been away for a few days and I come back to read an article about Stephen Ireland. It has now just changed to a slagging match between Irish people.

For gods sake, we are playing two games in the next week which will decide if we go to Germany and is all we can do is have a go at each other. Everybody unite behing the team , even if they are born in Dublin, Cork, Wexford or Preston.

I dont believe Ireland will play for England, he may have issues with Kerr, but he should not have problems with Ireland. If picked he is representing Ireland and not Kerr.

So lads, get behind all the players, the country and Kerr and stop this infighting.

Anybody got a spare ticket for next Wednesday!!

[Stuttgart88]

I'm from Dublin & couldn't give a monkeys where in Ireland any Irish player comes from.

This post is now ridiculous. I thought the rules were attack the post, not the poster. Moderator?

[Roverstillidie]

Firstly, on the dub v cork thing, one of the cork posters brought where he was from into it and bad mouthed the dubs, i was merely responding tongue in cheek.
but there appears to be a 'he's from cork so he can do no wrong' here.
look at the facts.
he left an u17 tournament early because kerr wouldnt play him in front of his family. that is unacceptable at any level and is the antithisis of the preperation and professionalism kerr brings to his teams.
he then refused to play u 19 for kerr.
there have been a number of articles in various Irish and British papers in which sources close to him have said he will not play for any Irish side under Kerr. he has not moved to deny the articles. he (or someone is manipulating him) is deliberatley trying to increase the pressure on kerr in a vital week for irish football.
this apparently makes him a hero in cork.
i, and others here, even giving him the benefit of the folly of youth, believe that sort of behaviour should bar him from ever pulling on a green shirt. we dont need this sort of ar.sehole in our team, and imagine how insufferable he will be with a few seasons of premiership ball under his belt?
can anyone from cork look at this as a footballer throwing his toys out of the pram without bringing the phrase 'rebel county' and other such empty crap into it?

[CollegeTillIDie]

This really is a sad and terrible comment about a young lad that could go on to represent our country...i thought a college boy would have more sense about him that to agree with some English tabloid..do you think a Cobh lad would represent England..if you do well wake up please...not a hope in hell..and some of you people on here are criticising posters for complaining about Brian Kerr...and then in another thread you laugh at comments like this..disgraceful!!

It is an honour to represent your country and I don't care what you or anyone else says you don't throw your toys out of the pram if you don't get your way, you represent your country, play the game , complain about it to the papers afterwards. The manager is the manager rightly or wrongly; otherwise the lunatics take over the asylum.
As regards your other comment about someone from Cobh never playing for England... ye still refer to Cobh sneeringly as Queenstown, so what conclusion is one to draw from that?
He allegedly qualifies for the Sassenachs through a grandfather( or is that another pile of tabloid poo?). I am personally eligible to play for 4 countries and never had the ability to even play for the worst of them. Whatever about playing for some of the other countries, even if I was eligible I would never play for England!

Oh and for the record I was extracting the michael, or to put it in Munsterese , ball hopping, did you not see the symbol at the end of the post?

[Stormin Normin]

The superlatives that are being written about Ireland were being written about Willo Flood and McGeady only a year ago. He's played one decent game and now he's the messiah! FFS will people get a grip.

The story is only getting the attention it is getting because sections of the media have it in for Kerr at the minute. It is a nothing story about an immature pleyer (doesn't matter where the fc*k he's from) throwing a tantrum.

Whether he's good enough to make it in the premiership remains to be seen never mind play at international level.

[CollegeTillIDie]

Stormin Norman

Well said, and besides the fact that Kerr and most of the squad are annoyed with the Printed media here over the Robbie Keane reports before the French game means they are barely speaking to the papers. And they have all this space to fill...............

[Stuttgart88]

At last, a reasonably sensible article on Stephen Ireland.

From RTE's website:

Republic of Ireland U-21 manager Don Givens insists Stephen Ireland's prior fall-out with Brian Kerr will not block his path to playing for his country again.

Cork-born Ireland had a bust-up with current senior boss Kerr at a time when he was coaching at U-17 level three years ago, vowing then never again to play for the Republic if the 52-year-old remained involved.

But it is understood the Manchester City midfield starlet, who produced a Man of the Match performance on his debut in the 2-0 victory over Everton on Sunday, is willing to put the past behind him.

Givens has been monitoring Ireland's displays of late, although his revelatory outing at the weekend came too late for him to be included in the squad for the final two games of the Republic's bitterly disappointing European Championship campaign.

With nothing but pride at stake, Givens ushers in a new era for tomorrow's match with Cyprus in Larnaca and on Tuesday against Switzerland at Tolka Park, with a number of the old guard replaced by several newcomers.

Ireland will have to wait a while longer yet to return to the Republic fold, although Givens said: "Stephen is a player coming into contention for me now.

"Like all good players he is somebody I will be looking at closely. I've already seen him in action, and he is coming into his own.

"I watched him just a few weeks ago in a reserve match and he did okay, yet despite his performance on Sunday, it was too late to bring him in for these matches because the squad had already been picked.

"There is already a lot of competition in midfield at this level anyway - Joey O'Brien, Glenn Whelan, Darren Potter, Gary Dicker, Aiden McGeady and Willo Flood.

"But if he continues to play for Manchester City then I will be looking at him very differently because despite what happened in the past (with Kerr) that is nothing to do with me.

"He will be assessed like all the other players, and although I've not spoken to him yet, if I pick him in a squad, then he is in the squad and he will come into contention just like everybody else."

There is the suggestion if the FAI continue to dally for too much longer over the 19-year-old, England will step in as he has an English grandparent.

Givens poured scorn on the notion, adding: "I don't believe everything I read in the papers.

"I don't really want to get involved in that kind of stuff. I will look at the lad just as I look at everybody and then we will see what happens."

There are potentially five debutants in Given's new-look squad - Dicker and Darren Quigley of UCD, Birmingham City's Marcos Painter, Keith Keane of Luton Town and Karl Bermingham, currently on loan with Burnley from Manchester City.

[Kingdom]

where's your tongue kingdom?

I'll you where my tongue is when you tell me where your head is:)

[eirebhoy]

Hopefully he starts todays televised match, ko 4.00.

[shakermaker1982]

unbelievable, some of the posters and press having a go at Steve because he's from Cork. He won't play for England, he'd rather play for Notts County for the rest of his life than play for them. He has principles and stuck to his guns.....and more importantly didn't kiss ass to get back into the team.

[tetsujin1979]

Just noticed in the article posted from ireland.com that Brian Kerr mentions how everyone wanted Liam Miller called up for the Basle game in 2003, and realised the similarities with people making the same calls for Stephen Ireland for the Swiss game last week. As I posted elsewhere, I think it was all a storm in a teacup concocted by desperate journalists with column inches to fill and no real stories coming out of an unco-operative squad. He played well again this weekend against West Ham and had a fine shot saved by Carroll, so where are the calls for him to be in the next squad, be it in November or February??