Andy O'Brien [Archive] - Page 3

geysir

05/02/2008, 9:40 AM

Still no news as to why AOB retired.

Kevin Kilbane referred to it slightly.

'although he seemed less shocked at Andy O'Brien's similar intentions'.
"They're big blows for us. Stephen is only 31 and Andy is only 28 and they've still got a lot of legs left in them. It was a shock to me when Stephen announced his retirement because I speak to him quite a bit and he never mentioned it when we spoke. Andy has his reasons but it's a big blow"

dr_peepee

05/02/2008, 9:53 AM

Curiouser and Curiouser!!!

RivaldoBabb

05/02/2008, 11:32 AM

Good riddence to Andy O'Brien, you can count the good games he had for Ireland with one finger.

Finann retiring on the other hand is a massive blow.

Stuttgart88

05/02/2008, 11:42 AM

I think Andy O'Brien was very underrated for us. One howler (along with Finnan) out in Cyprus but lots of steady games alongside Cunningham. He's playing the best football of his life at the moment and I'd only have confidence in Dunne & O'Shea at CB at the moment, the younger CBs still have a lot to do in my opinion.

Bondvillain

05/02/2008, 11:44 AM

Still no news as to why AOB retired.

Kevin Kilbane referred to it slightly.

Andy has his reasons but it's a big blow"

Theres an opportunity for a nose joke there....

tetsujin1979

05/02/2008, 11:52 AM

Good riddence to Andy O'Brien, you can count the good games he had for Ireland with one finger
That's harsh. When he was in tandem with Kenny Cunningham under Kerr, we only conceded a handful of goals

as_i_say

05/02/2008, 12:37 PM

Surely now of all times with a new manager he would be right back in the running. it doesnt help when you have a useless tool like givens temporarily in charge of the situation. having read that article about playing for england u21s, you would seriously wonder why he would want to play for us.

Anyone remember the look on his face when the final whistle blew when we beat the dutch 1-0. the camera caught him and he just couldnt have cared less by the looks of it.

brine3

05/02/2008, 12:58 PM

He certainly cared at home against Israel when he did Dudu Awat one.

Stop laying into him for being half-English, it's not on.

Morbo

05/02/2008, 1:15 PM

Why can't these players wait until we have a new manager before retiring? Finnan and AOB retiring slightly decreases our chances of landing a decent manager but I guess if they gave a ****e about that they wouldn't be retiring in the first place

Ordinary Fan

05/02/2008, 2:21 PM

Why retire now with a new manager in the offing and McShane found out. Sure the game in Cyprus is best forgotten, but there was plenty of blame to go around.

At 28 he is reaching his peak at CH and should have been in the squad for the next 4 years. There always seems to be a shortage of players somewhere. I never thought that we Ireland would be short of defenders after all that were available in the past.

I have no time for Givens and he must rate as the worst U21 manager in Europe but he is not to blame for O'Brien deciding to retire, Gvens included him in the squad for the previous game.

geysir

05/02/2008, 3:18 PM

'Speaking at today's press conference Givens also revealed that Andy O'Brien, who has announced his retirement from international football, had been in touch with the caretaker boss but was reluctant to rethink his decision for the time being at least.'

tetsujin1979

05/02/2008, 3:25 PM

Curious that there's nothing about it on Bolton's website at all

Bondvillain

07/02/2008, 1:02 PM

Has anything been clarified regarding O Brien's playing career, or this this another example of Givens' anti-midas P.R. touch?

GavinZac

07/02/2008, 2:47 PM

Another one gone, O'Callaghan announced his retirement from international football at today's press conference. With Givens in charge, who'd blame him :(

Armando

07/02/2008, 11:33 PM

I would be amazed if O'Brien never plays for Ireland again.

If not my abiding memories of O'Briens international career will be that he was twice assaulted by opposition keepers and neither time did we get a peno:D

First Barthez elbowed him in the head at a corner and then the infamous Israeli keeper incident when O'Brien was punched in the head from behind and increduosly the ref sent O'Brien off when he saw the keeper rolling around clutching his face. Perhaps the most farcical thing about the whole lunacy was that he also had to serve a 1 match ban and FIFA thought they were doing us a favour by downgrading it from the usual 3 matches:confused:

.

ruben_sosa

12/02/2008, 4:16 PM

http://www.examiner.ie/irishexaminer/pages/story.aspx-qqqg=sport-qqqm=sport-qqqa=sport-qqqid=54997-qqqx=1.asp

Meanwhile, Delaney confirmed that the FAI have finally received Bolton defender Andy O� Brien�s retirement letter in the post and revealed that its arrival had been delayed because it had been addressed to the Association�s old headquarters in Merrion Square

Armando

12/02/2008, 5:40 PM

backstothewall

12/02/2008, 5:48 PM

He's a footballer, I'm surprised he can write

carloz

12/02/2008, 6:40 PM

Good riddence to Andy O'Brien, you can count the good games he had for Ireland with one finger.

Im sorry, there isnt much that angers me on this forum, but a statement such as this uninformed piece of crap really angers me. He was excellent throughout Kerrs only full campaign where we ony conceded about 5 goals. Dont just the guy just on the Cyprus debacle, that was a **** team performance, not just by him. Kerr has said that Kilbane and O'Brien were the two players who gave the most while he was Irish manager. Im disapointed by it but i dont think anyone say something as stupid as that post i just quoted. Obviously being left out if so many squads after Cyprus really ****ed off the guy but thats still no reason to retire. Morrison hasnt been in a squad since and he played in that Cyprus game ut he hasnt retired. I wish players would show a little bit more love for the jersey

eirebhoy

12/02/2008, 7:05 PM

O'Brien and Cunningham had a fantastic partnership. I used to keep track of these kind of stats. Here's a bit I have in a file:

Cunningham - O’brien:
Clean sheet - 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Conceded - 1

I don't know when I stopped keeping track and they would have played a few times together since then but that is a fantastic record up there. 1 goal conceded in 8 games.

Seperate:

O’Brien:
Clean - 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Conceded - 2 1

Cunningham:
Clean - 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Conceded - 1 1 1 1 1 3 1 1

backstothewall

12/02/2008, 9:17 PM

GavinZac

12/02/2008, 9:41 PM

Kevin Moran has said Trapattoni's first phone call should be to Stephen Ireland. Thats nonsense. His first should be AOB, Steve Finnan should be second and Stephen Ireland third.

We need these players, fit, happy and in their natural positions. But given our lack of defenders the AOB and Finnan are crucial to our chances

Not a hope. That kind of a precedent does not need to be set. If a player wants to represent his country, he should be doing everything in his power to be included. Let them learn their lesson and an example be made for future internationals.

jmurphyc

12/02/2008, 9:44 PM

Not a hope. That kind of a precedent does not need to be set. If a player wants to represent his country, he should be doing everything in his power to be included. Let them learn their lesson and an example be made for future internationals.

But if a player will improve our chances of winning games then the manager should do everything possible to get that player back. I don't like managers having to 'plead' with players to come back, but it is sometimes necessary.

GavinZac

12/02/2008, 9:53 PM

But if a player will improve our chances of winning games then the manager should do everything possible to get that player back. I don't like managers having to 'plead' with players to come back, but it is sometimes necessary.
Why? International football should not be win at all costs - thats what club football is for. International football is about pride and you can be god damn sure that a Samoan international feels twice the pride going out and being slaughtered in every for his country than some rat who can take it or leave it.

backstothewall

12/02/2008, 10:08 PM

I wouldn't be pleading with anyone. but they all have their reasons for retiring. It is the professional thing to do to discuss what those reasons are and see if they can be rectified.

Lee Carsley for example agreed with stan that he doesn't get called up to a friendly squad unless he is going to play, and as he has young family including a son with Down's syndrome I see nothing wrong with that.

Stephen Ireland lost a child, and made a few mistakes in how he handled it, He is only 21 and is possibly feeling embarrassed about how he handled the situation, whilst attempting to grieve for a child he never knew. If he for whatever reason doesn't feel able to make that call it is the coaches job to do what he can to make things easier. Managing a professional football team is about more than telling them to play 442 and keep a high line, its as much about managing people as being a manager in a shop or office.

We don't know why AOB retired, but Kevin Kilbane has eluded there are good reasons. It is up to Trapattoni to find out what these are and what can be done to solve these problems.

I love my country, and I'm sure Steve Finnan, Steven Ireland and Andy O'Brien do too. But if i have to choose between my family and kicking a ball for Ireland there will only ever be one winner. I don't really want the man who would put football above his wife or children in an Irish shirt tbh.

carloz

06/03/2008, 8:25 PM

Captain tonight for Bolton in their UEFA cup match against Sporting Lisbon. Interestingly they are winning 1-0. In cracking form this year and hopefully he will come back to us

Paddy Garcia

06/03/2008, 10:02 PM

Given the appalling abuse he has been subjected to on this site I don't blame him one bit.

Frankly we are lucky we still have the likes of Keane (I'm awaiting the sardonic reply already).

Much like politics it seems that we are ever deserving of the team we get!

NeilMcD

06/03/2008, 10:43 PM

Yeah Andy O Brien retired because a few guys on foot.ie said he had a shocker against Cyprus.

paul_oshea

07/03/2008, 9:26 AM

Neil I thought the same from what paddy said above :D

geysir

07/03/2008, 9:56 AM

Given the appalling abuse he has been subjected to on this site I don't blame him one bit.
We don't know anything about why Andy O'Brien has retired, absolutlety zilch.
Some people are using his retirement to have their dig at Irish management or Irish fans, based on their own speculative idea that Andy is somehow a sensitive soul, easily crushed by criticism.

Paddy Garcia

07/03/2008, 11:13 PM

Yeah Andy O Brien retired because a few guys on foot.ie said he had a shocker against Cyprus.

I obviously don't think he retired cos of this site:confused: He has been criticised about much more then the Cyprus game by the way. Usually (esp Cyprus) by those who don't understand how a midfield is supposed to work.

However, given how may of you think he is a waste of space why on earth do you want him back now. I do think Irish fans get the team and management they deserve & until recently that has been a bit crap.

Keep knocking your best players & don't be surprised if they a) lack confidence; b) play poorly or c) retire. Keane, Kilbane, etc - we are lucky to still have them turning up. 20 years ago we would have supported them to the hilt & the supporters would have helped to build confidence and a team spirit - which usually resulted in a winning performance. I'm sure you know best - a quick proverbial kick in the ribs will keep them in their place.

as_i_say

10/03/2008, 8:58 AM

arguably you cant argue with that argument so i wont agree to disagree.

youngirish

10/03/2008, 9:24 AM

Some of the nonsense stated on here about Andy O'Brien makes me laugh. Ill informed tripe as usual the majority of it which will be proved with time. On his best form Andy O'Brien is a very average defender who will do a job (but little more) against average teams with average strikers. On poor form he can cost us the game. He was responsible for giving away that ridiculous free kick against Germany in the last qualifiers in a very dangerous position while under very little pressure that cost us that game also but as usual the goldfish forget that and keep bringing up the Cyprus game as if that was his only poor performance. If we are relying on the likes of A O'Brien to drag us to the WC in 2010 then we are in trouble before we start.

Most of the heads on here grieving after Andy O'Briens retirement are generally the same heads that were stating that he was rubbish after Cyprus and that McShane was the next Franz Beckenbauer but now after he's had a few decent games with those powers of world football Bolton they've changed their tune. They'll be shouting for JOS to be restored to central midfield for us again after he has a couple of good games for United in that position.

elroy

10/03/2008, 10:09 AM

If a player retires because he's received criticism from the fans or the media then I worry about the state of todays players. IN AOB's case, criticism was deserved for the most part and he has never looked the assured defender for us. I think he was unnecessarily and unprofessionally made a scapegoat after the Cyprus and Stans comments about him were appalling.

I would not be begging the players to come back, i would approach them, question their reasons for retiring and request them to consider returning. At the end of the day I would prefer to have as many players playing top level football available. however, you also want their attitude and commitment to be right. As I've said here before, we didnt see the likes of McCarthy, McGrath, Houghton etc etc retiring early and there is no doubt they gave their all for Ireland right till the end, we need the same kind of attitude from our current crop of players.

as_i_say

10/03/2008, 10:32 AM

sadly elroy things have most definitely changed in that regard. with todays wages playing for ones country (at least if you are a top league player anyway) doesnt have the same appeal it did years ago. a sad indictment of the current state of international ball.

I wouldnt say that the majority of players feel like that but theres definitely a sizable minority who just go through the motions nowadays whilst playing for their country-i mean look at that england team that didnt qualify-what a disgrace.

Drumcondra 69er

13/01/2011, 11:22 PM

Out of interest, Andy O'Brien had a Q & A on his twitter that I've seen transcribed on a Leeds message board. Couple of interesting snippets.....

Q: @AndyOBriens best memory playing for Ireland?
A: @flickybig being part of the 2002 world cup squad

Q: @AndyOBriens what's been the proudest moment in your footballing career so far? smile.gif
A: @Leanne_Cohen being a part of every major competition, prem league,champs league,uefa cup,world cup

Q: @AndyOBriens Who was the best singer in the Ireland set-up in your time?
A: @ballsdotie Andy Reid, class on the guitar aswel!

Q: @AndyOBriens Would you still say you are 'available' for international duty? If Trap called would you decline?
A: @JamesLeeds72 good questions, id definitely consider it!

Q: @AndyOBriens. Dia duit I'm from cavanlol would you ever join the irish senior team agen if trap called ?
A @nialloreilly99 i'd welcome the call if he chose to ring

Q: @AndyOBriens Whats the biggest and proudest game you have played in??
A: @kelstu1487 i'd say biggest the draw against france for ireland at the stade de france in front of 80k

Q: @AndyOBriens as tweeting from Ireland wht do u think of the irish soccer team now and he needs to pick bruce wht do u think gud man
A: @dcleeds thought we were robbed in the play offs, alex is playing very well and surely cant be far of a call

Q: @AndyOBriens are you availible to play for Ireland still? Perhaps yourself and Brucie would work....
A: @Rayber8 you never know

Still worth a place in the squad for me....

theworm2345

13/01/2011, 11:35 PM

Q: @AndyOBriens. Dia duit I'm from cavanlol would you ever join the irish senior team agen if trap called ?
A @nialloreilly99 i'd welcome the call if he chose to ring
Nice to hear, but...

Q: @AndyOBriens Who was the best singer in the Ireland set-up in your time?
A: @ballsdotie Andy Reid, class on the guitar aswel!
Lets hope Trap doesn't read it

TrapAPony

14/01/2011, 1:37 AM

Andy would be a useful option to have IMO. Bring him back.

SkStu

14/01/2011, 1:45 AM

who are we dropping so?

TrapAPony

14/01/2011, 2:14 AM

who are we dropping so?
Drop Paul McShane. Dunne, St. Ledger, Clark and O'Brien wouldn't be bad options with O'Shea well capable of playing there too.

Alf Honn

14/01/2011, 2:15 AM

O'Dea, McShane...

SkStu

14/01/2011, 2:19 AM

Drop Paul McShane. Dunne, St. Ledger, Clark and O'Brien wouldn't be bad options with O'Shea well capable of playing there too.

you had me at McShane.

boovidge

14/01/2011, 5:51 AM

So he's retired from international football but expects Trap to ring him up?

elroy

14/01/2011, 8:26 AM

So he's retired from international football but expects Trap to ring him up?

Was just going to say this, if retired and a few years ago at that and has, to the best of my knowledge, never expressed an interest to return until now. and at that its via twitter. Judging by the response it does appear genuine. Certainly worth a squad place?

SwanVsDalton

14/01/2011, 11:50 AM

I'd rather develop Bruce, O'Dea, Duffy and Clark than call him back.

Stuttgart88

14/01/2011, 1:27 PM

Yes, and in reverse order!

geysir

14/01/2011, 2:27 PM

Bruce is already developed, so you'd be thinking more in the lines of a transformation.

backstothewall

14/01/2011, 5:25 PM

O'Brien is a top quality centre back in my opinion, who hasn't had much luck in the last few years. Unfairly blamed for the Cyprus debacle and a few transfers that didn't work out. Hopefully a promotion back to the premier league with a big club is on the cards. Its where he should be.

If there is any chance he is considering coming back, Trap should be on the phone to see if he can be nudged in the right direction.

Yard of Pace

14/01/2011, 7:28 PM

Just read there that O'Brien doesn't have an agent and his dad gives him a hand negotiating deals. His dad called Ken Bates fat recently. O'Brien may possibly be sounder than I had given him credit for.

seanfhear

14/01/2011, 7:55 PM