Ireland - A Squad Divided.

[EastTerracer]

It has been said above already but there was nothing in this article that could be substantiated. There may be some disharmony within the camp but Daniel McDonnell has obviously not got close enough to see it.

The side-bar on the article lays into Robbie Keane for his "letting down" of the team and the fans. It's about character assassination and hitting easy targets rather than addressing the fundamental issue of the future of Irish football.

McDonnell and others in the Independent group have been responsible for some of the worst "tabloid-style" abuse of the manager and the players in recent months. There is precious little analysis involved and they have completely avoided the issue of John Delaney's responsibility for this whole mess. I think they are worried about losing their press passes!

[stojkovic]

Stutts is yer man to discuss the conspiracies with. He's a believer :)

My favourite is the one where the commie Bulgarians use to have the ladies of the night lined up in a queue outside the ref's hotel room

Michel Hidalgo (French manager) confirmed this when he was at our match in Sofia in 77.

Portugeuse refs were fond of the odd Eastern brazzer and Rolex watch back in the seventies.

[onceahoop]

Yeah, don't think he pulled a muscle though but I don't think there was much in the race, McCarthy won it by a nose!! :)

It's a bit similar to Hand in that his big players (the likes of Brady, Stapleton and O'Leary) didn't perform towards the end of his reign but Hand got us to within a heartbeat of the 82 World Cup and would've been a national hero had it not been for bought referees against Belgium and France (I firmly believe that, it was very common on the continent at the time). It went tits up at the end but can't really be compared to this debacle.

Wasn't the ref struck off later for been found to havr been involved in fixing other matches (not particularly our one)? I think I remember something about it. We were unlucky in that campaign. The "thunder and lightening" game has gone down in history and infamy among those who witnesed it. In the end we lost out on goal difference.

Corruption among officials was endemic in Europe then.

[craig7042]

Interesting article in todays indo....(quoted in full)

Daniel McDonnell has annoyed me for a long time. He's one of those who should take responsibility for the spin that started and continued the abuse of Staunton throughout the campaign.

Theres nothing concrete about any of the above article - its just a cynical personal interpretation to attempt to present himself as someone with perception. Theres no way of verifying or proving any of it. Take his interpretation of Stan and Robbie in press conferences - he's just put a spin on the image for you, and so many people believe these things...

Read through it again and tell me where the facts are? Some players hug X person some dont? Whats so unusual about that? Thats any football team.
This article means nothing except that it makes you feel that the Irish set-up was a mess. Thats the point. Thats what he's trying to do. End of story. So everything pushes this agenda. Every turn of phrase. Its not hard to do you know...

Its just an agenda to make himself look sophisticated and intelligent. A kind of "I told you so" approach.

The aim of it all is to destroy the team so that he can go to the European Championships without Ireland being there and enjoy the sun... Tom Humphries admitted it a few years ago saying that "of course its easier for journalists to cover the competitions if Ireland arent there - a quick report on the other games is very easy."

Anyone agree?

[CollegeTillIDie]

To answer some earlier posts Daniel is the guy from Orielweb and is a fan of the ELOI. Robbie Keane is sh1t for Ireland and in a green jersey couldn't score down Leeson Street with a fist full of 50 Euro notes. Yet he can score for Spurs. What does that tell you? If it was up to me not only would he not be captain , he wouldn't even be in the team. In this Euro campaign he has shot more blanks than an impotent man trying to procreate with his partner.

[Billsthoughts]

Daniel McDonnell has annoyed me for a long time. He's one of those who should take responsibility for the spin that started and continued the abuse of Staunton throughout the campaign.
The aim of it all is to destroy the team so that he can go to the European Championships without Ireland being there and enjoy the sun... Tom Humphries admitted it a few years ago saying that "of course its easier for journalists to cover the competitions if Ireland arent there - a quick report on the other games is very easy."

Anyone agree?

stupidiest thing i have ever read on this site ever. do you really think he is on a one man mission to stop ireland from qualifying for a tournament so he can have an easy time at it if he is picked to go cover it?
on a saner note i think he is a good journalist who is also pretty good on the radio.
media didnt create some witchunt for staunton - he has had some of the worst results/performances of any ireland manager ever. hes the gaffer - the buck stops with him. as for delaney there is a campaign to get him out but hey ...chickens coming home to roost for him...

[Qwerty]

Do you remember some story about journalist John O'Shea, he use to take the píss out of McCarthy's lack of pace and supposedly Hand arranged a sprint race between them causing Mick to supposedly pull a muscle and couldn't play in the team.
There was so much venom printed about Eoin Hand people spat on him in the streets. Now the same shíte is being directed at Stan, the players must be feeling relieved that all the bullits are directed at him.
The decision has been taken, the Stan era is over, it was the worst since the days before Liam Touhy, possibly the worst ever. Leave it at that and move on, Stan did his limited best to win as a manager.

It wasn't McCarthy it was Frank Stapleton that O'Shea kept having a go at. O'Shea was/is a retard, speed is not something you can develop, you either have it or you don't, Stapleton's ability was based on skill and vision and he didn't depend on speed. O'Shea like every other journo tosser isn't worth reading because they don't know anything about the game.

[CollegeTillIDie]

''A house divided against itself cannot stand'' is an old proverb.
The Irish team doesn't play like a united house. QED.....