Originally Posted by Adrianovic
You have completely neglected to mention the fact that if it wasn't for the firm hand of Nottingham Forest and Paul Hart in particular, Andy Reid would be playing at nowhere near the level today and being part of Ireland's plans would be nothing but an unrealistic dream.
When Keith Foy and Andy Reid acted irresponsibley and did what they did to their careers, they had nobody else to blame. Nottingham Forest didn't push them into the drinking culture and being lazy, Foy and Reid did. Its worth remembering that it is in the club's best interests for the players to succeed. When Irish players join Forest at a young age, they aren't there to make up the numbers, Forest want them to succeed and be the best player they can.
In fact, Nottingham Forest have one of the best youth academy's in the country, and each player is well looked after - as they would vouch for.
This demonising of football clubs in England is irrational in my opinion. If all Irish youngsters were left to develop in Ireland, then they would be unable to progress to international level as the quality of football in Ireland is relatively poor. I'm all for developing the clubs in Ireland and I understand that it will be hard to improve without the best players playing there, but I refuse to sacrifice the interests of the players themselves and the Irish national team, for the sake of the Eircom League. There must be better ways.
Ade