Clinton Morrison's omission?

[Noelys Guitar]

The world according to Givens. He picks Andy Reid and Shane Long (one injured the other out of the pic with his club side) and not a whimper on this site? But Don is a straight talking guy!

[eirebhoy]

Basically Givens wrote this on a piece of paper.

3 Keepers

2 Left Backs
2 Right Backs
3 Central defenders

2 right midfielders
2 left midfielders
3 central midfielders

4 strikers

He then picked what he felt was our best, disregarding form and injuries. Basically what we do on foot.ie every now and then. tbh I'd probably have included A.Reid too. ;) Just so he's in the mind of the new manager, whether in good form or not.

[Bondvillain]

There were some whimpers, but they were lost in the :
"Steven Ireland should be playing / Stephen ireland is a geebag / Stephen Ireland has issues / Won't somebody think of the children?" measured debates.

Firstly, why in the name of jaysus name just a 21 man squad for a friendly?
Have they hired a smaller bus?
Are match appearance fees paid by collective weight now?
Did the FAI Dell photomatic printer run out of ink before #22 could be printed?

Every squad has withdrawals. Squads for freindlies moreso. In February, most likely even more again.

So it stands to reason that the squad for a Friendly in Feb, managed by an eejit with nothing to offer but guff could see considerable withdrawals.

Secondly, the inclusion of only 4 strikers in this squad is simply Givens trying to prove a point.
The point being " Yeah yeah, banging them in for sport. Sure you're a great man with all your flash bling, and your goalscoring form, arent you? Well, Shag off Clinton, I dont like you. Im playing 90 minutes with at least 2 lads upfront who have NO bling and NO current form. Up yours! Flash git"

The other point he's attempting to prove is that he dislikes the aforementioned Ireland so much that he's including an unfit , injured Andy Reid in his midfield ahead of him, when there are Hermit monks up a mountain in Tibet who know that Reid has damn all chance of making the first round of WC qualifiying games, never mind playing against Brazil.

The man's an eejit. He may be a "straight talking guy", but sadly, most of his talking eminates straight from his hoop.

[bogwarrior]

Even if Andy Reid had contracted a bout of severe acute respiratory syndrome and was in serious danger of infecting the rest of the squad - maybe even the Brazilians aswel - i'd still have the tubby little b*stard in ahead of Ireland!!! Givens is a terrible manager and what he said on thursday shoud not of been said so publicly but the truth is i agree with him!! Unless Ireland shows some willingness to come back to the international fold he shouldn't be in the squad.

As for Big bad Clint! 13 goals in the championship? Fair play to him - but he's been sh*t too many times before for me to go fighting his corner just yet...

[eirebhoy]

Keane-Morrison is arguably still our best partnership, certainly on current form.

[Stuttgart88]

Givens said he recognised Clinton's form but said he offered nothing in the long term and that Long was a better long term option.

Funny, I thought the immediate objective was to qualify.

Very poor decision and one I hope a new manager will put right. By all accounts Clinton is a real personality in a squad lacking personalities.

"Not a whimper on this site?" Come on Noely, there was quite a bit on it in the Squad for Brazil game thread.

[beautifulrock]

Noely, as Stutts said there are plenty of "what the hell" Clinton comments on the Brazil Squad thread. However, I would not bother even trying to second guess Don Givens thought process. Even Frued would have ended up a shivering wreck if he had to try it.

[Wangball]

Funny, I thought the immediate objective was to qualify.

Good Point...Givens was tasked to pick the best squad available to him at this moment in time & in excluding Morrison he's failed to do that, its shouldn't be a surprise though given his U21 squads...the only thing he's done consistently in the U21's is manage to alienate or exclude our better prospects (McCann, Garvan, Stokes)

He's a clown

[livehead1]

A previous poster has commented that Clinton has had too many bad games. He has been one of our best players over the last 3 years, every time he pulls on that shirt he gives 120% and clearly lacks the spirit the deserts some of his more treasured teammates

[Lionel Ritchie]

He's also the closest thing to a "Viduka" (someone who can hold the ball up and give people time to get involved) we have.

I hadn't heard Givens say that about CM offering nothing for the future. Shocking piece of b0ll0x logic.

[John83]

I hadn't heard Givens say that about CM offering nothing for the future. Shocking piece of b0ll0x logic.
Ditto.

Seriously, 21 players for a friendly? Distinctly odd.

[seanfhear]

if clinton morrison was a nice white boy and born in ireland and scoring this amount of goals he would definitely be in the squad
imo he has done well when playing for ireland
perhaps he has unofficially retired because if not i cannot understand how ireland can discard an experianced striker in such good form.
most of our other strikers[bar keane] are young and inexperianced

[Noelys Guitar]

Givens said he recognised Clinton's form but said he offered nothing in the long term and that Long was a better long term option.

Funny, I thought the immediate objective was to qualify.

Very poor decision and one I hope a new manager will put right. By all accounts Clinton is a real personality in a squad lacking personalities.

"Not a whimper on this site?" Come on Noely, there was quite a bit on it in the Squad for Brazil game thread.

Apologies Stuttgart. Did not read all of the other posts. Brian Kerr deserves credit when he was manager for getting the best performances out of Morrison.

[Stuttgart88]

3 Hail Marys Noely and promise to be good.

This is what Givens said (from The Examiner*).

Morrison is the London side’s top scorer with 13 strikes, all of them coming in the Championship.

Not enough for Givens, apparently. “Clinton has been in good form but I went with four forwards and I picked those four. It’s a choice and I don’t know what to say other than that – it’s a personal choice.

“I went with the potential of the younger players as opposed to Clinton. Football is all about opinions and I thought the other two boys are better long-term options.”

* Why is it that the Examiner was the only paper to quote this part of Givens' announcement? In my opinion this was far more interesting than the blatantly obvious and frankly boring saga of Stephen Ireland. The Examiner consistently picks the best bits of these announcements, The Irish Times comments on the national side as if it's something of minor interest.

[tetsujin1979]

Good comparison of the strikers in the squad, and out of the squad here: http://www.chatsoccer.eu/news/content/view/105/1/

[Noelys Guitar]

3 Hail Marys Noely and promise to be good.

This is what Givens said (from The Examiner*).

Morrison is the London side’s top scorer with 13 strikes, all of them coming in the Championship.

Not enough for Givens, apparently. “Clinton has been in good form but I went with four forwards and I picked those four. It’s a choice and I don’t know what to say other than that – it’s a personal choice.

“I went with the potential of the younger players as opposed to Clinton. Football is all about opinions and I thought the other two boys are better long-term options.”

* Why is it that the Examiner was the only paper to quote this part of Givens' announcement? In my opinion this was far more interesting than the blatantly obvious and frankly boring saga of Stephen Ireland. The Examiner consistently picks the best bits of these announcements, The Irish Times comments on the national side as if it's something of minor interest.

The potential comment is classic Stan. Why not go the whole hog Don and drop Carsley again! A confident Morrison will be crucial to our chances of qualifying in the next campaign. Scoring against sides like the Swiss and Israel away in tight games when the pressure is really on proves his worth to our side. I can see him nicking goals in some of our tough away games.

[Stuttgart88]

Our top 3 strikers are unquestionably Robbie, Doyle and Morrison. Picking only 2 is nonsense. Clinton is very good at bringing Robbie into the game. Clinton and Doyle should be given pitch time together.

In fairness to Long he's done well in friendlies and Murphy does have something different but there's still no reason not to choose 5 forwards in a 22 or 23 man squad rather than 4 in a 21 man squad.

Odd, but there you go.

Clinton did have a really bad spell for us in 2003 - mid-2004 but did much better throughout the '06 campaign.

[Soper]

* Why is it that the Examiner was the only paper to quote this part of Givens' announcement? In my opinion this was far more interesting than the blatantly obvious and frankly boring saga of Stephen Ireland. The Examiner consistently picks the best bits of these announcements, The Irish Times comments on the national side as if it's something of minor interest.

It was in the Independent too...the only Irish paper I can get.

[Qwerty]

If I were Givens I wouldn't have called up Morrison either, he's a caretaker manager in for one game, he is basically using the same players than Stan used. The new man can choose his own players.

I hope the new manager picks Morrison, he is in good form and proven at international level. Murphy isn't good enough IMO.

[tetsujin1979]

- The continued ommission of Paddy Kenny by Stan and Givens.
Kenny said he didn't want to play for Ireland until he got some personal stuff sorted out, has there been any change in this?

- Alan Lee being there or there abouts the best player in the championship year after year and being ignored for lesser championship talent.
Bit extreme there, Lee is a decent player, but nowhere near the best Championship player. Of course, this is no excuse for leaving him out


If I were Givens I wouldn't have called up Morrison either, he's a caretaker manager in for one game, he is basically using the same players than Stan used. The new man can choose his own players.

I hope the new manager picks Morrison, he is in good form and proven at international level. Murphy isn't good enough IMO.
So you think Murphy isn't good enough, but you still wouldn't have picked Morrison?

[danonion]

Morrison isn't just a championship trier who gives 120%...he's actually quite talented. I don't think division can be the be-all end-all when it comes to judging a players ability, there are plenty of strikers in the premier league who are not as good as Morrison.

[carloz]

I was very disapointed for the guy, no doubt he deserves to be in the squad. I wasnt so sure of him when he started out with us but he has really grown on me and i must say i am now a big fan of his and he seems a spot on guy. I might be wrong but has he not been selected for a squad since the Cyprus debacle. He started that game so it was another case of making him(along with Kenny and A. O'Brien) scapegoats for a horrendous performance from evryone on the team. It was a terrible way to treat a player who was arguably our best player in the 2006 World Cup qualifiers. Plus he gives us something very different and has a very different style to Doyle and Keane. He would be an excellent option to have on the bench and deserves to be ahead of the likes of Long, Stokes and Murphy who have done little this season and still done little to justify a place in the squad ahead of Clinton. I hope we see Clinton in the squad again soon, we need more players who play with their hearts on their sleeves

[carloz]

[QUOTE=tetsujin1979;863572]Kenny said he didn't want to play for Ireland until he got some personal stuff sorted out, has there been any change in this?
[QUOTE]

Im fairly confident he has made himself available again

[gustavo]

A previous poster has commented that Clinton has had too many bad games. He has been one of our best players over the last 3 years, every time he pulls on that shirt he gives 120% and clearly lacks the spirit the deserts some of his more treasured teammates

I'd agree with you there , I'd have Clinton back in there in a heartbeat , He's proven for us at international level and is on good form , it should be a no-brainer really.

[Qwerty]

So you think Murphy isn't good enough, but you still wouldn't have picked Morrison?

It's a friendly being managed by a caretaker. It's clear to me what Givens is doing so let's drop it, it's a non-issue. Why would he call up Morrison who hasn't been involved since the Cyprus debacle only for the new man not to fancy him. He is just keeping things ticking over.

[Bondvillain]

it's a non-issue. Why would he call up Morrison who hasn't been involved since the Cyprus debacle only for the new man not to fancy him. He is just keeping things ticking over.


You're taking a big leap there.... Who's really to say whether a new manager would not be interested in an eligible player, especially one who knows the set-up, is popular with younger and older squad members alike, has played well with the only other genuine first choice striker in the squad, and is currently in form and scoring freely?

[stojkovic]

He's also the closest thing to a "Viduka" (someone who can hold the ball up and give people time to get involved) we have.

VIDUKA !

The man's a fcuking disgrace.

Ditto Harry Kewell.

They should have stayed on their surfboards.

Imposters.

[Stuttgart88]

It was said above that Clinton is better than some Premiership forwards. Viduka is one. Lovely feet, good with his back to goal and a good finisher but not an athlete, constantly overweight and a total self-obsessed gobshyte to go with it. Some footballers deserve their fortunes, Viduka's wealth galls me.

[eagleforlife]

This is my first post on here but as a Crystal Palace fan I felt I had to comment on this article. I really can't understand for the life of me how Clint has been overlooked for this one. 11 goals in 13 games should be enoughn to get him into the squad but his recent run hasn't just been about goals. He has been putting 110% in week-in-week-out and has been seen a few times in the right back role tackling and winning the ball back for the team. If a team mate tries something that doesn't come off Clint will go over to them and applaud them for trying something that could have led to something good. If a youngster gives away possession he will walk over to them and try to help them keep their head up. He's also great to have around the dressing room. Givens said that Murphy and Long were better for the long term but I thought the immediate objective was to qualify for the World Cup. Plus he still manages to pick 33 year-old Lee Carsley ahead of 20 year-old Owen Garvan. How two players with 3 goals between them this season warrant a place ahead of him in the squad I can't understand on his current form if I was Ireland manager I would have no problems at all with playing him ahead of Kevin Doyle. If anyone deserves to be in the squad it's Clint and he deserves to be treated better by Don Givens. He is the King of Selhurst and rightly so and he deserves to make 50 caps.

It's absolutely criminal that Clint isn't in the squad.

[seanfhear]

i would prefer to have one clinton morrison than twenty stephen irelands in the ireland squad

[carloz]

i would prefer to have one clinton morrison than twenty stephen irelands in the ireland squad

Spot on. Ireland has many qualities but he also has a knack for disapearing in games and not standing up and being counted when it matters. This is something that you wouldnt expect of Morrison, his attitude has always been spot on and you can tell he loves putting on the green jersey

[bellavistaman]

IMO clinton deserves to be ahead of murphy and long, its absolutely ridiculous really. Long doesnt start too often doesnt score, yet is at a higher ranked club, morrisn is playing week in week out and banging in goals for fun, warnock MIGHT have finally sorted clintons little attitude out and have him turn his cockiness off field into confidence on the field. Disgrace, Givens is a muppet through and through.

[RogerMilla]

brilliant so hear all the support for clinto , bottom line is he should be our third choice striker , ready to start when either doyle or keane are not fit, the new manager will not leave him out i'm sure.

[jjppc]

IMO , warnock MIGHT have finally sorted clintons little attitude out and have him turn his cockiness off field into confidence on the field. .


Isn't he out of contract at the end of this season ? Could explain the change in attitude.

[tetsujin1979]

Isn't he out of contract at the end of this season ? Could explain the change in attitude.
Before Warnock took over in October, he wasn't scoring anywhere near as regularly as he is now. He's definitely had some influence on Clinton's improvement.

[macdermesser]

would not have been a popular choice .. but Warnock might not have been a bad Ireland manager. Seems to being doing well at Palace.

[livehead1]

would not have been a popular choice .. but Warnock might not have been a bad Ireland manager. Seems to being doing well at Palace.

No, he promotes a direct in your face style which I don't feel would suit our current crop of players.

[Stuttgart88]

...or Owls Fan

[Ozymandias]

if clinton morrison was a nice white boy and born in ireland and scoring this amount of goals he would definitely be in the squad

Sean fhear thats a shocking comment with no substance..Alan Lee is proof of thatand last year connolly was

[NeilMcD]

Well I did see Don Givens with a white hood over his head but it was an official FAI tracksuit.

[seanfhear]

the difference between clinton morrison and alan lee/connolly is that clinton has previously played quite well for ireland so has already proved that he can do the job

[rovers77]

In fairness I don't remember seeing Morrisson have a complete nightmare for Ireland and he is playing well at the moment.

[co. down green]

In fairness I don't remember seeing Morrisson have a complete nightmare for Ireland and he is playing well at the moment.

Scoring plenty of goals in the Championship and deserves a recall to the senior squad.

[Torn-Ado]

Clinton also has personality. Personality goes a long way.

[Sligo Hornet]

Clinton also has personality. Personality goes a long way.

Is this the way we will pick squads in the future?........through "Auditions":eek:

[Stuttgart88]

You may laugh but from what I hear of the squad dynamic Clinton's personality would be very welcome.

[Ozymandias]

the difference between clinton morrison and alan lee/connolly is that clinton has previously played quite well for ireland so has already proved that he can do the job



Originally Posted by seanfhear View Post
if clinton morrison was a nice white boy and born in ireland and scoring this amount of goals he would definitely be in the squad

Its your above reason I have a problem with ..the slightly racist reason you are refering too

I agree he should be in the squad but I don't think the reason you are stating is why he is not

[TonyD]

Is this the way we will pick squads in the future?........through "Auditions":eek:

Fantastic idea. All future squads to be picked by a Simon/Loius/Sharon Management team. :D (Oops, I may have unwittingly stumbled upon the FAI's cunning secret plan)

[eagleforlife]

Crystal Palace striker Clinton Morrison has revealed his frustration after being snubbed by Republic Of Ireland caretaker boss Don Givens for their showcase friendly with Brazil, writes Simon Fitzjohn.
Morrison, who sits second in the Championship scoring charts with 13 goals this season, had hoped his excellent form may push him back into the reckoning.
But the forward, who has struck nine goals in 34 appearances for the national side, once again found himself out in the cold.
Morrison said: "I'm 100 per cent disappointed not to be involved.
"It's always great to be involved with Ireland and I love going away with the boys.
"It would have been a fantastic game to be involved in.
"But the manager makes a decision and you have to respect that.
"I'm absolutely gutted".

[paul_oshea]

fair play morrisson, at least he gets on with it, not saying i should definitely be in there etc etc, and good to see he enjoys playing for Ireland!!! :)

Always liked the clint!! I think he deserves to be in there alright!