Time for knockers to put a sock in it

[Neil]

from unison.ie >

UNLESS Ireland win the World Cup, Mick McCarthy will always be pilloried by his critics for his handling of the Roy Keane controversy.

It's a no-win situation for McCarthy as he knows, in his heart of hearts, that the strength of togetherness in his squad will only carry the World Cup dream so far.

Indeed, defeat in Ibaraki against the Germany would leave the Irish facing first phase elimination and McCarthy wide open to flak from the pro-Roy brigade led by a self-seeking publicist of the airwaves.

But that would be to miss the point. When push came to shove, Roy Keane didn't want to play for Ireland enough to pick up the 'phone to McCarthy and express the mildest form of contrition.

That's the bottom line in all of this. If Roy Keane truly wanted to be in the World Cup trenches, he would be. But he's not and it's a call he chose to make himself.

more... (http://www.unison.ie/sportsdesk/stories.php3?ca=12&si=767207)

[patsh]

Neil, this piece is written by Phillip Quinn, who, along with Cathal Dervan, has been anti-Roy Keane for a long, long time, so it is hardly unbiased comment.
Tom Humphries piece, I think, is the best piece on the subject so far, in that he favours neither side.
There is blame on all sides in this mess, and you can just as easily say that it also a no win situation for Roy Keane.

McCarthy SHOULD NOT have called that meeting, or more importantly, that press conference straight after.

Roy Keane SHOULD have made the call to Mick McCarthy.

The whole affair SHOULD NEVER have been conducted through the media.

Dunphy has been loudly pushing the RK side of things, but I think it has done more harm than good to Roy Keane. Dunphy's wish for Cameroon and Germany to win is indefensible, and turned people against RK, even though RK has wished the team all the best

But it must be remembered that McCarthy has Dervan and Quinn pushing his side, but nobody seems to care that these two creeps have as much of an agenda as Creepy Dunphy has.

Mick was wrong, Roy was wrong and the FAI was wrong.
What we need is to get the predujiced media out of things and try to get it right.

[James]

well said oddboy
neil i thought we had all agreed to drop the RK matter and concentrate on more important things like cheering ireland on..

[pete]

Originally posted by James
neil i thought we had all agreed to drop the RK matter and concentrate on more important things like cheering ireland on..

Me too. Last saturday was time for the knockers to leave it alone.