Aiden McGeady

[frankbrett]

Apparently McGeady has moved to Holland

http://www.fc-utrecht.nl/teams/vrouwen_fc_utrecht/Denise_van--Luyn

[OwlsFan]

"his annoying accent"

Jesus that's one thing that really annoys me. You're not allowed have a Dublin accent on Irish TV. Make sure you don't hear me so.

He'd never get a job as a presenter on TV3. "The price of hises has dropped. There was croshe at a rindabite and a thysind people are expocted to attend the meeting today".

To be fair though Kerr's voice was montone and he spoke through his nasal passage (as opposed to some who speak through other passageways). Nothing to do with his accent - just his boring delivery I didn't like.

[Spider Baby]

Apparently McGeady has moved to Holland

http://www.fc-utrecht.nl/teams/vrouwen_fc_utrecht/Denise_van--Luyn

Haha, that is quality!

[tetsujin1979]

Hope McGeady does choose to go to Spain. I think he'd flourish there. Glad to hear him say that, shows he has major ambition. Unlike Duffer.

Well he could have stayed at Blackburn and not won 2 Premiership titles.
Or stayed on the bench at Chelsea and not be a regular starter for Newcastle (when fit)

[irishfan86]

Hope McGeady does choose to go to Spain. I think he'd flourish there. Glad to hear him say that, shows he has major ambition. Unlike Duffer.

Totally inaccurate low blow.

On topic, I think McGeady would excel in Spain.

Looking forward to the match tomorrow.

[Drumcondra 69er]

Well he could have stayed at Blackburn and not won 2 Premiership titles.
Or stayed on the bench at Chelsea and not be a regular starter for Newcastle (when fit)

Or fought for his place at Chelsea or gone to Liverpool and played regulalry in the Champions League. Instead he went to a comedy club who could match his Chelsea wages. I'm a big fan of Duffer but he showed a total lack on ambition with that move when there were better offers professionaly on the table.

[jmurphyc]

Or fought for his place at Chelsea or gone to Liverpool and played regulalry in the Champions League. Instead he went to a comedy club who could match his Chelsea wages. I'm a big fan of Duffer but he showed a total lack on ambition with that move when there were better offers professionaly on the table.

Was there an offer from Liverpool? I never heard about that. I thought it was just Newcastle and Tottenham who made offers for him. In my opinion he showed ambition in moving to Chelsea - where it could have gone wrong for him - and then moving on from Chelsea when he did.

[Drumcondra 69er]

Was there an offer from Liverpool? I never heard about that. I thought it was just Newcastle and Tottenham who made offers for him. In my opinion he showed ambition in moving to Chelsea - where it could have gone wrong for him - and then moving on from Chelsea when he did.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/n/newcastle_united/5204958.stm

"Duff said on Monday: "A lot of people - Liverpool fans in Ireland - will ask 'why didn't you sign for them?'

"But I just listened to my heart and it told me to come to Newcastle. That's all it is." "


Listened to his wallet more like.....

No harm to Glen Roeder but I can't imagine too many ambitious players signing for him.

[eirebhoy]

http://www.shieldsgazette.com/sport/SIX-APPEAL.1649915.jp


DAMIEN Duff turned down SIX clubs – including Inter Milan – to sign for Newcastle United.
The Republic of Ireland international was wanted by Inter, Valencia, Tottenham Hotspur, Blackburn Rovers, Everton and Liverpool as well as Newcastle.

Ridiculous to say that he signed for the money though. He signed for Newcastle so he could get back to playing football again and potentially be the star of the team imo.

[youngirish]

If you're looking for a player with no ambition in the Irish setup then there's no better man than John O'Shea. Happy to spend his entire career as a fringe, utility player on the outskirts of the Man U team when he could have developed his talent elsewhere and possibly become the sort of player he can only dream about now.

At least he's getting a decent pay check sitting on the bench and he has a couple of league winners medals I suppose. Waster.

[jmurphyc]

If you're looking for a player with no ambition in the Irish setup then there's no better man than John O'Shea. Happy to spend his entire career as a fringe, utility player on the outskirts of the Man U team when he could have developed his talent elsewhere and possibly become the sort of player he can only dream about now.

At least he's getting a decent pay check sitting on the bench and he has a couple of league winners medals I suppose. Waster.

Yeah I've thought this for ages. I'm sure most on the forum agree. He really could have been a fantastic talent. I guess he'd argue that Man Utd is a club where he could be part of a team competing for honours each season, but I wouldn't consider myself too pivotal in their success if I was getting 10 minutes at the end of a game when my team is already 3-0 up. He never even gets to play in his best position for them FFS. I still think he's probably good enough for our first eleven, but he really could have been so much better.

[kennedmc]

I seem to recall Duff saying at the time he was fairly indifferent about moving to Chelsea but the money offered to Blackburn was too much to turn down.

[boovidge]

wasn't he holding out for a deal from Man Utd?

[Nipper]

Yeah I've thought this for ages. I'm sure most on the forum agree. He really could have been a fantastic talent. I guess he'd argue that Man Utd is a club where he could be part of a team competing for honours each season, but I wouldn't consider myself too pivotal in their success if I was getting 10 minutes at the end of a game when my team is already 3-0 up. He never even gets to play in his best position for them FFS. I still think he's probably good enough for our first eleven, but he really could have been so much better.

What position is this? I presume you mean centre back. It still remains to be seen if he's any good there.

He's a valuable member of their squad for his versatility. It's a squad game these days, anyone can see that. Especially at a "Big 4" club. Very few would leave Old Trafford voluntarily in fairness. I can't think of anyone off the top of my head who did in the last 20 years...Fergie gets rid of them by hook or by crook - those he wants to stay, stay. You're not going to have the chance to reach a Champions League final with Birmingham, Newcastle, Spurs or Everton.

Check out his appearance stats for this season, btw. A hell of a lot of them were starts too.

http://www.soccerbase.com/players_details.sd?playerid=18121

[Ozymandias]

same could be said about solskjaer..if he left he would never have scored in a champiopns league final.........

[Morbo]

Apparently McGeady has moved to Holland

http://www.fc-utrecht.nl/teams/vrouwen_fc_utrecht/Denise_van--Luyn

Looks like he has bulked up a bit too and I like the spiffy new mullet

[youngirish]

Apparently McGeady has moved to Holland

http://www.fc-utrecht.nl/teams/vrouwen_fc_utrecht/Denise_van--Luyn

Ha ha, class. I won't even ask how you found it.

[boovidge]

same could be said about solskjaer..if he left he would never have scored in a champiopns league final.........

solskjaer got way more of a game than o'shea though and he is/was a fans' favourite

[boovidge]

McGeady tipped to trouble Barca:

Gary Caldwell claims Celtic team-mate Aiden McGeady's current form is on a par with any of Barcelona's superstars

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/c/celtic/7253647.stm

[Nipper]

solskjaer got way more of a game than o'shea though and he is/was a fans' favourite

I don't buy this fan's favourite nonsense. Players actually don't really care what the fans think. With the amount of abuse O'Shea gets off the United fans on messageboards etc, the fact that he's willing to stay and battle through it shows how insignificant fans opinions are.

[jmurphyc]

What position is this? I presume you mean centre back. It still remains to be seen if he's any good there.

He's played well there whenever he's played for Ireland. From what I've seen of him (and I've watched a fair bit of him) he's best as a central defender. It's obvious he isn't a natural full back or defensive midfielder.


He's a valuable member of their squad for his versatility. It's a squad game these days, anyone can see that. Especially at a "Big 4" club. Very few would leave Old Trafford voluntarily in fairness. I can't think of anyone off the top of my head who did in the last 20 years...Fergie gets rid of them by hook or by crook - those he wants to stay, stay. You're not going to have the chance to reach a Champions League final with Birmingham, Newcastle, Spurs or Everton.

I don't think he's a particularly valuable member of the squad. He's only a player who comes in for the last part of the match or who plays in a game that Man Utd should win easily to give other players a rest. I understand that it's difficult to leave such a successful club, especially when he's on a decent wage, but the fact is that he would have become a much better player had he moved on a few years ago, and may have become so good that one of the "big 4" would have signed him later on. I think staying at Man Utd has been detrimental to his development. I don't see how anyone could argue that point. Who knows, maybe he'll have an Indian summer and become an excellent player like Dunne, but the chances of this are unlikely unless he leaves, which I doubt he will.


Check out his appearance stats for this season, btw. A hell of a lot of them were starts too.

http://www.soccerbase.com/players_details.sd?playerid=18121

He's started 6 league games out of 26. I don't think that's a great percentage. He's played 673 minutes out of a possible 2340 in the league. That's less than 30%. No player his age should be happy with playing that little game time. Don't get me wrong, I actually like John O'Shea, but I just think he could have done a lot better for himself by leaving Man Utd. I just think that it's down to laziness and fear of leaving a relatively cushy life behind that has prevented him from leaving.

[EAFC_rdfl]

way of topic but for what its worth, this time last year O'Shea would probably have played on Saturday for United in the cup, the reason he isn't this season is probably Anderson, Nani and to a lesser extent (due to injury) Hargreaves. He would now be 3-4 places further back in the pecking order for a midfield spot, last season he was getting a place in midfield regular enough. also the form of uniteds back four isn't helping him. Maybe he will go at the end of the season as this is the 1st that he's been well outside the first 15

[jmurphyc]

I really hope for our sake and his sake he does leave at the end of the season, but I really don't think it's going to happen. He's comfortable at United. He could get a league winners medal, possibly a champions league one, and I think that these factors are enough for him to stay.

[Nipper]

Jmurph, how do you quote individual sections like that, I've never worked it out?

[paul_oshea]

if mcgeady gets man of the match tonight, ill take my hat off and say that I was being harsh on him, but i reckon tonight we might see very little from him...

[jmurphyc]

Jmurph, how do you quote individual sections like that, I've never worked it out?

You just copy and paste the [Quote...] bits where you want them. A bit long winded, but quite simple once you work it out. Perhaps there's another way of doing it, but that's how I do it anyway.

[EAFC_rdfl]

if mcgeady gets man of the match tonight, ill take my hat off and say that I was being harsh on him, but i reckon tonight we might see very little from him...

Don't think tonight will be about individual performances from Celtic, they need to play well as a team rather than one man trying to do something special and Strachan will know this.
I think there are people on here who will never give him the credit he deserves for what ever reasons

Nipper you can press the quote button against more than one post

[jmurphyc]

if mcgeady gets man of the match tonight, ill take my hat off and say that I was being harsh on him, but i reckon tonight we might see very little from him...

Yeah, I'd say his begrudgers (not saying you're one of them) would have to admit that he's an excellent talent and that he could succeed outside of Scotland. However, it could be a difficult game for him to get into. I'd like to see Celtic go through, if only for McGeady's sake.

[eirebhoy]

I've never seen a Celtic player get to much hype before a game in years than McGeady for this game. Lets hope he lives up to it.

[paul_oshea]

ya, im not a begrudger, it might comes across like that sometimes, but I'm more of a realist. I think of players like cantona ( exception maybe liverpool fa cup final ), never ever did it in the big games ( well moreso in europe )when it was really needed of him, especially in Europe, whereas you look at keane and he did. Even ronaldo, really struggled last year against milan home and away. I think this is what makes a legend, someone who can do it on every and any occassion. It doesn't matter whether or not its a team performance or not tonight ( mcgeady isn't know for is defending so he is certainly not playing on the idea everyone gets stuck in ), if mcgeady is what ppl make out him to be, then tonight he should still be able do this, maybe just not everytime he gets the ball - like against aberdeen for example - but he should still be able to do it. This will really prove his worth and if he does then hats off. If he can do it in the nou camp too, then he really has the potential to be world class.

[Nipper]

(Can't work out the quotes, and sorry to drag this off topic! This is all I have to say on it.)

I'm not so sure if CB is O'Shea's best position, even for us. When he first burst onto the scene he looked an excellent fullback, coming second to Rooney as Young Player of the Year that year. At the centre, he's always looked capable of a mistake which he might get away with out left or right or in midfield. He also scored more goals in the league than Shevchenko last season!

A jack of all trades if ever there was one, but sometimes that's what's needed when a club is playing 60 games a season. For Ireland, he is practically a guaranteed starter (so far), but if our young players develop he might find himself sidelined and plugging holes for us too. Having a specialised position is more important at International level. Less games, less time together to try different systems...

It's not a fact by any means that he would have developed any better if he went to a different club. I'm sure the coaching he has received at Man Utd is of a pretty high standard. It could have gone pearshaped for him quite easily had he moved to Newcastle or somewhere. He must have the self-belief to think he'll force his way into Fergie's plans or he wouldn't have got as far as he has in the first place. Coming through the ranks at that club is like going through the eye of a needle.

Ok, you pointed out his number of starts this season and they seem lower than I had reckoned, but he has played 222 times for the club, 65 of those from the bench. Not too bad really.

Ferguson sees him play every day and is willing to hand him a four-year deal at 50k a week, he must be doing something right.

For us, he's been a bit of a conundrum, and hopefully Trap will sort this out one way or the other.

[EAFC_rdfl]

Don't think tonight will be about individual performances from Celtic, they need to play well as a team rather than one man trying to do something special and Strachan will know this.
I think there are people on here who will never give him the credit he deserves for what ever reasons

Nipper you can press the quote button against more than one post


ya, im not a begrudger, it might comes across like that sometimes, but I'm more of a realist. It doesn't matter whether or not its a team performance or not tonight ( mcgeady isn't know for is defending so he is certainly not playing on the idea everyone gets stuck in ), if mcgeady is what ppl make out him to be, then tonight he should still be able do this, maybe just not everytime he gets the ball - like against aberdeen for example - but he should still be able to do it. This will really prove his worth and if he does then hats off. If he can do it in the nou camp too, then he really has the potential to be world class.

http://www.celticfc.net/news/stories/news_190208170229.aspx
Celtic manager Strachan must be reading my mind our something ..... emphasising teamwork over individuals!

PS this isnt anything against POS, I accept your opinion and I don't think you're a begrudger, its your right to reserve judgement

[paul_oshea]

EAFC, thats fair enough, he is taking the heat off mcgeady, thats smart management. Take the pressure and focus off mcgeady, the idea for celtic is to play and gel as a team, as individually they are not as good as Barcelona, by playing for eactother and like Ireland under the charlton days, the sum of the parts is better than the individuals. But at the end of the day Mcgeady - no matter what Strachan says to the media - is there for one thing and one thing only, and it is not for his defensive capabilities ( which is what is really meant by teamwork, everyone helping everyone else out, getting behind the ball, tracking back to help out defensively, picking up players etc etc ) its for his attacking ability, when Celtic ( go on the counter ) attack.

[tetsujin1979]

Celtic definitely have a better chance of winning with McGeady starting.


| Home | Away | Total
| Starts Wins % Won Draws % Drawn Losses % Lost | Starts Wins % Won Draws % Drawn Losses % Lost | Starts Wins % Won Draws % Drawn Losses % Lost
Aiden McGeady | 16 12 75 3 18.75 1 6.25 | 13 8 61.54 1 7.69 4 30.77 | 29 20 68.97 4 13.79 5 17.24
Celtic | 18 13 72.22 4 22.22 1 5.56 | 18 10 55.56 2 11.11 6 33.33 | 36 23 63.89 6 16.67 7 19.44
Seeing as how he's started the majority of Celtic's games this season, I didn't think the figures would be that different, but there you go

[geysir]

The stats are drastically different when starting for Ireland.:D

[paul_oshea]

Celtic definitely have a better chance of winning with McGeady starting.


| Home | Away | Total
| Starts Wins % Won Draws % Drawn Losses % Lost | Starts Wins % Won Draws % Drawn Losses % Lost | Starts Wins % Won Draws % Drawn Losses % Lost
Aiden McGeady | 16 12 75 3 18.75 1 6.25 | 13 8 61.54 1 7.69 4 30.77 | 29 20 68.97 4 13.79 5 17.24
Celtic | 18 13 72.22 4 22.22 1 5.56 | 18 10 55.56 2 11.11 6 33.33 | 36 23 63.89 6 16.67 7 19.44
Seeing as how he's started the majority of Celtic's games this season, I didn't think the figures would be that different, but there you go


Tets maybe im being a bit thick, but what difference does that make?! 1 game is the only difference in wins?!

[eirebhoy]

You need to scroll over to the Total.

[Irish_Praha]

So they have a 5% greater chance of winning if McGeady plays. Sorry to sound dismissive but that hardly counts as a significant difference. Probably well within the margins of error too. Anyway as the table shows Celtic either win or draw over 80% of the time so even if he was a super player he couldn't help improve that by a lot.
As he is a creative player an interesting comparison would be to compare the goals/shots on goal when he starts to when he doesn't start.
Maybe even work out the the average minutes between each shot/goal when he's not on the pitch and when he is on the pitch, might be too much work for an silly football fact though :)

[eirebhoy]

Barca were absolutely phenomenal. Simply the best, most accomplished performance I've ever seen at Celtic park. I doubt Celtic had less of the ball at home in about 20 years. McGeady did well though and he was really the difference in the first half as his runs led to both goals.

[irishfan86]

McGeady had a good first half, playing a part in both goals, but the Celtic team as a whole began to tire early into the second half.

Barca dominated possession in the second half and McGeady hardly had any of the ball, which is hardly his fault.

Simply too much firepower for Celtic to overcome I think.

[NeilMcD]

The argument between Dolan and Townsend is priceless, I actually agree with Dolan on this but his style of arguing is terrible. Basically Dolan was saying that Celtic were far too open and should have played a 4 5 1 and did what Walter Smith did with Rangers V Barca. I think in an open game there was only going to be one winner and that was Barca.


I love the comment when Townsend said we dont need Trappattoni as we have the manager we need here (pointing to Dolan) and talking in sarcastic tones. Dolan replies with well at lest I know how to get a result in Europe

[eirebhoy]

tbh I wouldn't listen to what they said. All you have to do is listen to what they said about Naka. For some strange reason I always watch Naka's every move on the pitch. Tonight he played as a 2nd right back to cover for the inexperienced Caddis. He was always back when Barca had the ball and to be perfectly honest he hardly got forward. Setanta commentators then decide to say Naka isn't doing enough to help Caddis. Townsend and Dolan repeat those comments. Naka would be slung off the pitch if he wasn't working hard enough. As it was I'd bet anyone that he ran more miles than any of the players last night. It really annoys me that someone like Lou Macari was a scout for Ireland when I think half of us are better judges. He's clueless.

Anyway, Celtic were very poor tonight but McGeady looked like a player that deserved to be playing in a better team.

[paul_oshea]

EB, thats two sorta different posts, but i reckon celtic were made look poor rather than nything else. The thing is I reckon under oneill they wouldn't have scored 2 goals at home against barca, but at the same time I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have conceded 3 either.They were lucky to have scored 2 goals t be honest as thats pretty much the only chances they had in the whole game, bar the long range shot parried away.

Mcgeady did ok. His ball into robson or whatever his name is was behind his head, but he did well to get around it and loop it over the keeper. I really didnt notice him too much, and I think that when a team is under the cosh they look for players that can take the ball upfield and hold onto it and relieve the pressure, I dont think he did that ( again back to slovakia ), whether thats because he wasn't getting the ball from others or wasn't doing enough to get the ball I'm not sure.

Celtic tried to play an open game, a game that they are simply not good enough to play against a team like Barcelona. Credit to strachan for trying to get them to play a game like that but I dont think they are good enough individually to play that sorta game.

[eirebhoy]

Dunphy: "McGeady benefiting from Strachan's coaching" - I think Dunphu's reading too many of my posts. ;)

Ronnie Whelan changed his tune about McGeady on RTE tonight because he was on a station that was positive about McGeady. It just shows how much rubbish he spouts.

[Billsthoughts]

Barca were absolutely phenomenal. Simply the best, most accomplished performance I've ever seen at Celtic park. I doubt Celtic had less of the ball at home in about 20 years. McGeady did well though and he was really the difference in the first half as his runs led to both goals.

when a team brngs on eto for ronaldhinio ya know your in for a tough nite. fair play to celtic. always worth a look in Europe.

[eirebhoy]

EB, thats two sorta different posts, but i reckon celtic were made look poor rather than nything else.
Well the defence is always rubbish but you'd expect the midfielders to be able to find a teammate. McGeady was the only one that wasn't losing possession last night.

[bohsRap]

Ronnie Whelan changed his tune about McGeady on RTE tonight because he was on a station that was positive about McGeady. It just shows how much rubbish he spouts.

In fairness he did say he was critical of him in the past because his final ball wasn't good and he never looked up. Not too far off the mark.

[BaZmO*]

Dunphy: "McGeady benefiting from Strachan's coaching" - I think Dunphu's reading too many of my posts. ;)
Haha. Was thinking the same when he said that. :D

[therock67]

tbh I wouldn't listen to what they said. All you have to do is listen to what they said about Naka. For some strange reason I always watch Naka's every move on the pitch. Tonight he played as a 2nd right back to cover for the inexperienced Caddis. He was always back when Barca had the ball and to be perfectly honest he hardly got forward. Setanta commentators then decide to say Naka isn't doing enough to help Caddis. Townsend and Dolan repeat those comments. Naka would be slung off the pitch if he wasn't working hard enough. As it was I'd bet anyone that he ran more miles than any of the players last night. It really annoys me that someone like Lou Macari was a scout for Ireland when I think half of us are better judges. He's clueless.

Anyway, Celtic were very poor tonight but McGeady looked like a player that deserved to be playing in a better team.

Don't agree with you on that EB. Was at the game last night and I didn't think Naka did much work at all - in contrast to his usual efforts when he puts in a serious shift.

Abidal overlapped outside Ronaldinho at least three times in the first half with Naka a few yards behind. Maybe he was just outpaced but to me he didn't seem to be really putting in his usual hard work. I was very disappointed with him.

Aiden and Boruc both looked good enough to play for Barca, which is about as high a compliment as you can give them because Barca were really top drawer. McGeady got the ball in a couple of yards of space 4 times in the first half and he beat Puyol twice on the outside and twice on the inside. Second half he was on the other wing for a while but it didn't matter. We just didn't get any sort of possession that allowed us to bring him into the game. Even when he did get it on the left hand side he fashioned a reasonable cross but as a team we'd long given up by then.

[paul_oshea]

Aiden and Boruc both looked good enough to play for Barca, which is about as high a compliment as you can give them because Barca were really top drawer. McGeady got the ball in a couple of yards of space 4 times in the first half and he beat Puyol twice on the outside and twice on the inside. Second half he was on the other wing for a while but it didn't matter. We just didn't get any sort of possession that allowed us to bring him into the game. Even when he did get it on the left hand side he fashioned a reasonable cross but as a team we'd long given up by then.

I'm not sure if I am thinking of the same times here, but mcgeady didn't actually beat him on the inside, he came inside, diagonal across to get those balls in. still he did get the cross in though.