He has cousins back in the arse end of Connemara.Quote:
Originally Posted by CraftyToePoke
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He has cousins back in the arse end of Connemara.Quote:
Originally Posted by CraftyToePoke
"I went to Galway a few summers ago." "I had a few pints of Guinness." "It would be an honour to play for the country."
Harry Kane
Sometime in 2018.
Can you stop this rubbish! You bring up Kane as having Irish roots and then ridicule him to let us know, yet again, of your opinion on this issue. Why ridicule him when he hasn't even mentioned playing for us? We know your point of view, get over yourself!Quote:
Originally Posted by TheOneWhoKnocks
How does this unprovoked ridicule of the guy tie in with your springing Zat Knight in the other thread ?Quote:
Originally Posted by TheOneWhoKnocks
Which way are you kicking here TWOK'er ? Or do you even know yourself.
I was just trying to be funny. Obviously, it went down like a lead balloon. Sorry.
I brought up Zat Knight as a joke because someone else brought up Jutkiewicz, who has shown similar ambivalence to declaring for Ireland as Knight. Both scored yesterday for Bolton.
And I am no Zat Knight fan but the guy was a beast a few years ago and people were excited about the possibility of his playing for us, until he made a few ill-advised TOWK-esque comments.
Sorry guys. I know I can rub people the wrong way but this time I was genuinely just trying to be funny.
I'll get my coat.
And donate it to a scarecrow?
Ah don't go, you're great craic!Quote:
Originally Posted by TheOneWhoKnocks
http://thescore.thejournal.ie/jason-...61123-Mar2014/
McAteer thinks we should target Granny rule players. "The talent is out there".
Don't know about that.
I hate when someone like that is wheeled in to spout ill informed nonsense.
Who? A bit harsh on TOWK...
Meanwhile, Davies, doesn’t hold out much hope of being called up for the Republic of Ireland either following Roy Keane’s comments he wasn’t good enough to make Roy Hodgson’s World Cup squad.
“With the Ireland thing, it’s something which has come from afar. It was a possibility but it’s something i’ve not really pursued because, basically, my nan was born in Ireland but she’s English, as such. She grew up in England and had English parents so it’s not really a passionate Irish connection,” he added.
“I don’t know if Keano [Roy Keane] would have me after his comments yesterday and i don’t know if Martin O’Neill would have me.”
Read more at http://talksport.com/football/exclus...XqIQAXDdARu.99
He didn't pass my gut test even before that interview. I hope they don't pursue him.
There's an even deeper issue here over and above issues such as devaluing international football etc. The FAI need to be aware of the BIG's brand value and ability to connect with the public. Playing people like Davies would distance the team from the public. I think most people can tell which granny rulers are genuine enough and which are taking the mickey.
To paraphrase Curtis Davies himself, he didn't pursue the FAI, he wasn't looking to pass any ethnic test, he admitted he has virtually no connection to Ireland nor has he ever expressed a desire to play for Ireland. We are not remotely on his radar. Curtis Davies is a non-issue for us.
On Roy Keane, seeing as he's our assistant manager, is it appropriate for him to passing belittling barbed comments, in public on tv, about the English national team aspirations of a player?
Yeah, key point in it all and something the FAI would do well to be aware of in any trawling for recruits, these fellas need to be able to credibly represent Irish people out there as I see it, and this guy wouldn't come close. And in fairness to him, I don't think he is saying anything different.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stuttgart88
Yep, there's no suggestion Davies is doing anything wrong here at all. I think the "credibly represent Irish people" thing is key.
Wrt Keane's punditry, he'd be useless as a pundit if he couldn't speak his mind, not that that has ever stopped scores of his predecessors from sitting on the fence uttering banalities for a living. Is it appropriate? I'll sit on the fence if I may, in a banal way.
='[/Fair play to davies they are fantastic comments and sum the issue up well. He had no irish family and irish heritage growing up. It was just an accident(boom boom!) that his gran was born in Ireland. Totally different to the vast majority of lads who grow up in england with an irish family background
Forde (Westwood, Given); Coleman (Keogh, McShane) , Dunne (Duffy, Hoban) , O'Shea (Delaney, Clark), O'Brien (Ward, Wilson); McGeady (Brady, Pilkington), McCarthy (Hendrick, Meyler), Gibson (Whelan, Green), Hoolahan (Reid, O'Kane), McClean (Quinn, Treacy); Long (Keane, Stokes)
Bunn (Lonergan); Naughton (Stearman), Chambers (Davies), Gerrard, Flanagan (Tierney); Redmond (Buckley), Noble, O'Hara, Hammill; McGoldrick (Jutkiewicz), Kane
Some of our best options in one list.
The most higher profile Granny Rule players in the other list.
Some (Naughton, Gerrard, Redmond, Flanagan) there are serious doubts over eligibility.
Some have expressed disinterest all the way up to ambivalence about declaring (Bunn, Lonergan, Noble, O'Hara, Jutkiewicz). I must qualify that O'Hara is on record in saying that he is aware and proud of his Irish heritage but identifies as English and doesn't want to take the place of someone who is Irish.
Some (Stearman, Tierney) are nowhere near the required level.
That leaves Redmond, Chambers, Gerrard and a couple of others. I really would love to know where these players McAteer is alluding to are hiding.
Focus on tying down the players that are already playing/having played at underage level (Grealish, Carruthers, Mason, Murray) by all means but I don't think they should stretch resources looking for the next Paul Green.
And before getting hung-up on any one player like Redmond, it is worth noting that Sean Morrison was supposedly eligible for Ireland to the point where even Irish teammates at Reading were talking about prospective call-ups and then a couple of months later "Yeah, not eligible. Don't know where that came from".
This is spot on.Quote:
Originally Posted by TheOneWhoKnocks
It's always going to be an issue with someone like him. It's not in his nature to restrain himself from such commentary.Quote:
Originally Posted by geysir
If anyone ever thought he didn't have the capacity to be an eejit, they need to catch themselves on then...
Personally though, will take anyone who's eligible, who'll play for us...
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheOneWhoKnocks
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheOneWhoKnocks
So, re O'Hara, which is it ?
Really amuses me how people feel the need to trawl the site to try and catch me in a lie or a contradiction over something inconsequential as the precise reason a League One player doesn't want to play for Ireland.
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,195...245325,00.html
http://www.joe.ie/football/football-...ish-after-all/
I may have been hard on O'Hara in the first quoted post but my opinion - and just my opinion - he would play for Ireland if he was guaranteed starts but his heart clearly isn't in it and like Davies, his frankness is refreshing.
I didn't trawl much indeed, I just remembered you saying it as I was involved in that discussion at the time. And for a player so inconsequential, it is you, and not I who has now brought him up. Twice.
I am glad you are amused, I'm amused too, almost as much as when you flit between aggressor and victim depending on how discussions develop.
Why no mention of McManaman at Wigan or Bamford, out of interest ?
But are Bamford/McManaman even remotely interested/likely...
Because if on a par with the likes of Kevin Nolan/Mark Noble, is there even much point discussing...
It amuses me how TOWK still doesn't know what "begs the question" really means, especially as he's a master of sophistry :)
I'd imagine someone stuck a microphone to McAteer's mouth and he spouted the generic stock "expert/ex-player opinion" on the "granny rule".Quote:
Originally Posted by TheOneWhoKnocks
Aren't you contradicting yourself again there though? Previously, you'd said O'Hara "identifies as English and doesn't want to take the place of someone who is Irish". He'd be taking the potential place of someone else if he was guaranteed starts, but you say he would play for us under those circumstances? True, he's fairly inconsequential, but both conclusions can't be correct; it's indicative of your habit of jumping to flimsy conclusions seemingly based on whim or flighty preference rather than solid evidence.Quote:
Originally Posted by TheOneWhoKnocks
Eamon (TOWK) Dunphy
Is it really you ? or has Eamon got himself a rival in the popularity stakes
.....
There is little or no value discussing any number of the players on the post I was responding to, in terms of either being interested or being good enough, but in a contribution which saw fit to mention Lonergan, Bunn, Tierny and the likes, I thought it strange to omit two of the better, younger 'possibles', was all AB.Quote:
Originally Posted by ArdeeBhoy
It's a fair point, Crafty.Quote:
Originally Posted by CraftyToePoke
Bamford played once for the U18's when he was at Nottingham Forest. He is now owned by Chelsea, playing for the England U21's and is firing in the goals for Derby. It's pointless talking about him. Maybe he will become relevant to this discussion again when he is in his mid to late twenties and depending on his career trajectory. McManaman is being discussed as a possible for the England WC squad so, again, pointless and irrelevant to the discussion.
But you are right about Lonergan, Bunn and Tierney. They are not very good options but it's hard to flesh out a list of tenable options from the Granny rule pool. I shouldn't have bothered naming Redmond either because he is too young, has too much potential, too tenuous and is too disinterested to be a realistic option either.
And where did you get your information on Redmond? Where has he stated he is disinterested or interested, or are these comments from 'The World according to TOWK.'Quote:
Originally Posted by TheOneWhoKnocks
Mainly the fact that he is playing for England U21's and hasn't once confirmed his alleged eligibility.
so, are there many good Crimean footballers who have played for Ukraine?Quote:
Originally Posted by geysir
Crimea's accession to Russia is even less likely to be recognised by FIFA or UEFA than Kosovo's independence.
Hard to see anything wrong with Davies' comments. He's not attempting to plant seeds in future by ingratiating people and talking about his proud Irish roots or anything. I hope he gets his England cap - he's surely not much worse than their alternatives.
So your comments are opinion rather than facts. Clarke captained the English U20s and now plays for us. I feel you need to justify your opinions more as they could be well off the mark.Quote:
Originally Posted by TheOneWhoKnocks
Redmond is an current England U21 International and hasn't declared his eligibility; that much is true.Quote:
Originally Posted by gastric
There was a gap of two and a half years between Clark's last match at any level for England and his first call up for Ireland. He also - crucially - confirmed his eligibility and interest in playing for the country; and promptly at that. I think he has two Irish parents. I think he is more attached to the country than Redmond is but that is just my instinct.
I'd agree with that. I think Clark's mum is from Leitrim, his dad born in Scotland to a Leitrim family. Something like that anyway.
Not far wrong. Clark's paternal side of the family are from Donegal. :)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Donegal Democrat
'They (Russia) can take part of our land, but they can't take our internationally capped footballers' :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Stuttgart88