Peter The Great in Northern Ireland Squad

I see Peter Thompson got a call up to the Northern Ireland Squad.
good to see their local success stories acknowledged but surely some of ours would be even more worthy of inclusion particularly as even moderate LoI talent such as Ward and Byrne have breezed into coca cola sides without any match fitness to score while greats such as Keego et al could still do a job for us

There are a few players that could be in the squad esp at left full however, this time of year is not a good time to call up a LOI player as they are out of season. Summer Football is great for the LOI in my view but not good for the prospects of league of Ireland players playing for their country.

but half a dozen out of season LoI players have already started for Coca Cola and SPL first teams (the LoI players all out of season and with no recent fitness training to speak of)

I don't normally go in for tokenism in international caps but when theres serious talk of Alan Bennet pushing for a first team slot at high flying reading its time to re assess the bar - the old championship = way better than LoI standard no longer applies - the cream of the LoI taelnet should now be treated as championship standard equals IMO

Yeah I would agree with that.

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Originally Posted by wws

but half a dozen out of season LoI players have already started for Coca Cola and SPL first teams (the LoI players all out of season and with no recent fitness training to speak of)

I don't normally go in for tokenism in international caps but when theres serious talk of Alan Bennet pushing for a first team slot at high flying reading its time to re assess the bar - the old championship = way better than LoI standard no longer applies - the cream of the LoI taelnet should now be treated as championship standard equals IMO

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deffo think thats the case but in the last few years there have never been so many irish players move to England at one time. Forde, Byrne, Ward, Bennett, O'Callaghan, etc. Lets just give them 3-4 months to get fit and settle in and then we can make a better judgement about the relative standards of the leagues.

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Originally Posted by livehead1

Lets just give them 3-4 months to get fit and settle in and then we can make a better judgement about the relative standards of the leagues.

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of course then the arguement about them "improving" massively since they went there will be brought up :rolleyes:

if bennett becomes a regular for reading (with the injuries they have it is very possible) then him and richard dunne will be only CB's playing regularly in the EPL and therefore natural that bennett is considered for ireland. will this be picked up by the manager of our national team as an endorsement of the eL or further proof than everything/level accross the water is totally superior to what is on offer here ?? :mad:

also i always felt b.kerr was fairly badly treated by the FAI but it really does reflect badly on him - as someone with an intimate knowledge of the eL - when he didn't include players from the eL espically in positions where we were struggling during his tenure as national team boss.

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Originally Posted by galwayhoop

of course then the arguement about them "improving" massively since they went there will be brought up :rolleyes:

if bennett becomes a regular for reading (with the injuries they have it is very possible) then him and richard dunne will be only CB's playing regularly in the EPL and therefore natural that bennett is considered for ireland. will this be picked up by the manager of our national team as an endorsement of the eL or further proof than everything/level accross the water is totally superior to what is on offer here ?? :mad:

also i always felt b.kerr was fairly badly treated by the FAI but it really does reflect badly on him - as someone with an intimate knowledge of the eL - when he didn't include players from the eL espically in positions where we were struggling during his tenure as national team boss.

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if I may be so bold as to suggest that was due to the weakness of his position as national team boss (the media ran a successful campaign to remove him during the last qualifying series - particularly the irish independent)

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Originally Posted by galwayhoop

if bennett becomes a regular for reading (with the injuries they have it is very possible) then him and richard dunne will be only CB's playing regularly in the EPL and therefore natural that bennett is considered for ireland. will this be picked up by the manager of our national team as an endorsement of the eL or further proof than everything/level accross the water is totally superior to what is on offer here ?? :mad:

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Bennet will take probably take 3-4 weeks before he is match fit. Sonko is out for the season so 2nd central defence place between Bikey/Duberry/Bennet.

To repeat myself IF a former eL player gets a call up in the next couple of months it will be massive blow for the eL. Any half decent player will leave as soon as possible as will realise can never get into ireland playing in Ireland.

I don't agree, if any of the lads who has recently moved to England gets a call up in the next couple of months, I think it will reflect well on the league and poorly on the recent management teams of the senior side. Man even Colin Hawkins is doing well for Coventry, I must admit it's been a bit of an eye opener.