Shane Long

Isn't his contract up at the end of the season? It'll be interesting to see what he does next. He would surely get a Championship gig. Or he might fancy something further afield. Hassenhuttl's respect for and public utterances about him and minutes and games he is affording him ahead of expensive signings like Armstrong speak to the fact that he's still making an impact there. Whatever about his contributions on the pitch, you'd have to think that he is demonstrating commitment to Hassenhuttl's style of play and desire for intensity. And that surely rubs off on those around him, young and old.

Wouldn't be surprised to see him retire and possibly go into coaching, or might get a 12 month contract extension. Manager has always talked about the positive influence and experience he brings to the squad.

Don't think we'll see him start to drop down the leagues playing into his late 30s like Whelan and Wes have done lately, and soon to be 40s for Wes.

Linked with Reading and QPR after leaving Southampton upon expiry of his contract.

Back to Reading confirmed.

Scores v Watford in the FA Cup today.

Almost a carbon copy of his goal against Germany
I was in the East stand that night and this is exactly how I remember it

won a penalty to start the comeback, won the initial header really well and then showed pace to get in behind cathcart and draw the foul. looked really good in the highlights. good link up play, winning headers and still has a lot of the old pace. in other words, still faster than idah, parrott and ferguson but less quick than obafemi and ogbene

i know he's gone from the conversation but there'd be worse lads to have round the squad than him

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Originally Posted by elatedscum

won a penalty to start the comeback, won the initial header really well and then showed pace to get in behind cathcart and draw the foul. looked really good in the highlights. good link up play, winning headers and still has a lot of the old pace. in other words, still faster than idah, parrott and ferguson but less quick than obafemi and ogbene

i know he's gone from the conversation but there'd be worse lads to have round the squad than him

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There certainly would be worse than him to have around. I wouldn't be averse to seeing him in a squad as long as he's performing well at club level

Shane Long ~ A Great Bunch Of Lad.

Always seemed like a sound skin.

Some insight into the mind of a premier league footballer....
Shane Long opens up on ‘embarrassing and degrading’ dressing-room moment under Stephen Kenny - Independent.ie

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Originally Posted by Grafter

Some insight into the mind of a premier league footballer....
Shane Long opens up on ‘embarrassing and degrading’ dressing-room moment under Stephen Kenny - Independent.ie

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degrading lol. maybe he'd fancy growing up.

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Originally Posted by Grafter

Some insight into the mind of a premier league footballer....
Shane Long opens up on ‘embarrassing and degrading’ dressing-room moment under Stephen Kenny - Independent.ie

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That's really poor form from Kenny in fairness. It may seem like only a shirt number but it's basically the manager telling Long that his days are numbered in a public fashion instead of talking to him one to one. Long said he was biting his tongue because it was Ireland. I honestly think a good few players are in the same boat. We'll probably see the truth of what was going on behind the scenes emerge after Kenny is gone.

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Originally Posted by BOOMSHAKALAKA

That's really poor form from Kenny in fairness. It may seem like only a shirt number but it's basically the manager telling Long that his days are numbered in a public fashion instead of talking to him one to one. Long said he was biting his tongue because it was Ireland. I honestly think a good few players are in the same boat. We'll probably see the truth of what was going on behind the scenes emerge after Kenny is gone.

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its hardly really poor? he hadnt played for ireland for 2 years. the jersey hadnt been his for a while...

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Originally Posted by Jd2793

its hardly really poor? he hadnt played for ireland for 2 years. the jersey hadnt been his for a while...

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It's really poor man management. We can't be just dismissing players who've scored 17 goals for us and has given everything for Ireland when he was on the field. He was injured for a good bit of those 2 years wasn't he?

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Originally Posted by BOOMSHAKALAKA

It's really poor man management. We can't be just dismissing players who've scored 17 goals for us and has given everything for Ireland when he was on the field. He was injured for a good bit of those 2 years wasn't he?

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coleman miraculously didnt have any issue with it

BS, do you know what confirmation bias is?

Very poor from Stephen Kenny ~ ~ Little or no respect shown to a player that has 88 caps for Ireland and often played the substitute role when he himself could easily have expected to start many of those games. How difficult would it have been to show Shane Long the same respect as other long term Irish players ? ?

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Originally Posted by seanfhear

Very poor from Stephen Kenny ~ ~ Little or no respect shown to a player that has 88 caps for Ireland and often played the substitute role when he himself could easily have expected to start many of those games. How difficult would it have been to show Shane Long the same respect as other long term Irish players ? ?

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there didnt seem to be any issue with the other players. shane long should grow up and act his age. he's embarrassing himself.

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Originally Posted by seanfhear

Very poor from Stephen Kenny ~ ~ Little or no respect shown to a player that has 88 caps for Ireland and often played the substitute role when he himself could easily have expected to start many of those games. How difficult would it have been to show Shane Long the same respect as other long term Irish players ? ?

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Ah will you stop. That's pure snowflakery.

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Originally Posted by Jd2793

coleman miraculously didnt have any issue with it

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Coleman was handing over number 23 though; not his own jersey number. I guess professional footballers may well see a strong link between squad number and career success

But agree it does sound like mountain out of molehill stuff though. Especially if it's only coming out 2.5 years later

Also surprised that Long hadn't played in the two years before Kenny took over (even allowing that covid accounted for a big chunk of that)

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Originally Posted by pineapple stu

Also surprised that Long hadn't played in the two years before Kenny took over (even allowing that covid accounted for a big chunk of that)

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Does the article say that? I see on wiki he had no caps in 2019, 3 in 2018, so presumably his 2018 appearances were early that year?

But Kenny took over in April 2020, which I think was around same time as COVID started its spread in Europe and restrictions were introduced, so COVID wasn't the cause of his absence.

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Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

Does the article say that? I see on wiki he had no caps in 2019, 3 in 2018, so presumably his 2018 appearances were early that year?

But Kenny took over in April 2020, which I think was around same time as COVID started its spread in Europe and restrictions were introduced, so COVID wasn't the cause of his absence.

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the only matchday squad he made for the euro 2020 quals was the play off in slovakia under kenny from what i can see.

I'm amazed Mick didn't pick him. I've always liked Long and his ability to disrupt. His gripe above is a bit petty but the context was an interview for his wife's podcast. It wasn't exactly Roy Keane and Tom Humphreys or Tommie Gorman.

I can understand him being annoyed - at the very least Kenny could have let Long know he was giving the #9 to Idah. I suppose he is a fitting successor in that neither are frequent goalscorers..

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Originally Posted by Jd2793

coleman miraculously didnt have any issue with it

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Coleman didn't hand over his numbered shirt? Either did Brady. It was only Long. He obviously has huge pride in playing for Ireland. It's not a great way to be told that your days are numbered!

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Originally Posted by zero

I can understand him being annoyed - at the very least Kenny could have let Long know he was giving the #9 to Idah. I suppose he is a fitting successor in that neither are frequent goalscorers..

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That international window he's being a big baby about Idah actually wore the number 9 once, and then number 19 because David McGoldrick was back wearing number 9 once fit. Why isn't he moaning about David McGoldrick, the lad who was wearing it since the start of 2019.

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Originally Posted by JR89

That international window he's being a big baby about Idah actually wore the number 9 once, and then number 19 because David McGoldrick was back wearing number 9 once fit. Why isn't he moaning about David McGoldrick, the lad who was wearing it since the start of 2019.

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He's not complaining about Idah. He's complaining about how he was treated by Kenny. And he has a point.

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Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

Does the article say that? I see on wiki he had no caps in 2019, 3 in 2018, so presumably his 2018 appearances were early that year?

But Kenny took over in April 2020, which I think was around same time as COVID started its spread in Europe and restrictions were introduced, so COVID wasn't the cause of his absence.

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No, that was Jd2793 said it

Covid cancelled the March 2020 games as well; we were due to play Slovakia that month I think. So no internationals for six months because of covid (Mar-Aug), which is a big chunk. Technically it's not untrue to say that because of covid we didn't play an international between Nov 2019 and Sept 2020, which is ten months.

He played Kenny's first game (Bulgaria away) and the two October Nations League games at the end of the MON era, so yeah, effectively the two year gap between caps (which is true) really comes down to not playing at all in 2019 under Mick. Which, as you say, seems a bit surprising.

I'd guess at least some of that is injury.

I expect it was probably ignorance of tradition on Kenny's behalf. These things happen with a changeover. It's minor enough, but it clearly bothered Long. If he'd a little more maturity, he'd have discussed it calmly with Kenny, and Kenny would probably have apologised, reassured him as to his role, and smoothed things over. Instead, airing it online reflects poorly on Long, in my opinion.

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Originally Posted by zero

I can understand him being annoyed - at the very least Kenny could have let Long know he was giving the #9 to Idah. I suppose he is a fitting successor in that neither are frequent goalscorers..

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17 goals is a decent enough return for us from him.

I was very disappointed to read that story yesterday and he has every right to feel a annoyed by what happened. it shows a complete lack of respect to a player that represented us so well.

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Originally Posted by jbyrne

17 goals is a decent enough return for us from him.

I was very disappointed to read that story yesterday and he has every right to feel a annoyed by what happened. it shows a complete lack of respect to a player that represented us so well.

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hes being a baby. the second hand embarrassment i have for him is unreal. truly pathetic carry on from a grown man.

It's very unnecessary and poor man-management from Kenny.
The idea of senior players welcoming younger players to the squad is great but not to hand over your number.
Players are also superstitious and have a way of getting themselves prepared for matches that you shouldn't interfere with.
Every player in a squad should be made feel very important by the manager, something O'Neill seemed to excel at.
As soon as you start making some players feel unimportant you risk letting a rot in to the squad.

Although I'll pull Long up on one thing:
“When Robbie Keane retired, Robbie Brady was in the squad for a long, long time, he was desperate for No. 10, so then he got the No. 10 and wore that to the Euros.'

No he didn't. Robbie K wore that number to the euros.

'Owning' a squad number can be a thing (CR7 for example), but I didn't really think so at international level, where the squad changes from match to match more or less, rather than staying the same over a seseon.

And there's no guarantee that other players in the squad feel the same about 'their' numbers, or that Kenny intended or was even aware of the way that Long intended it or the slight that he felt.

A bit of fuss over very little.

It sort of reminds me of Kevin Foley and EURO 2012, in that if the manager had a bit more prescience about the sensitivities of certain players and how to handle them, a self-inflicted problem wouldn't have occurred and easy headlines avoided. I wonder could this be a consequence of Kenny's LOI background where shirt numbers maybe aren't as big a deal as they are in many EPL clubs?

Long's allowed to place value in whatever he wants to place value in, and shouldn't be mocked for that. At the same time, Kenny isn't a mind-reader: I'm not sure at which point of his early tenure someone was meant to take him aside and give him a list of players for whom shirt numbers are important, or whether he was meant to tackle this topic a player at a time. If Long was as annoyed as he says he should have handled it right after the event in question, privately, with Kenny, instead he let it stew and become the basis for what might be a very one-sided enmity, now goes public. He comes out ouf it looking a bit worse than Kenny in my eyes at least.

Foley was treated poorly by Trap.
Long was treated poorly here by Kenny.
Whether Kenny meant it or not (I'm sure he didn't), he should know this was a potential problem.

There was a big deal made of Brady getting the no.10 jersey when RK retired.

Also worth noting that early in Kenny's reign, Long came off the bench and set up James Collins brilliantly to score against Serbia in a big game.

The cynic in me summarises the interview as "retiring footballer criticises manager for not addressing problem in person, while not addressing problem in person himself".

Anyone who doesn't think the current Ireland squad captain, who plays for Everton, presenting an Irish newcomer with a jersey with number 23 on it, as not being symbolic...

The human in me could understand how Long would be hurt upon realisation of what was unfolding, but there's a massive part of me a bit surprised by his naivety on a couple of levels:
- given his exposure to pro football (part. in light of the WBA transfer)
- given his age
- that any irish footballer would consider the Irish jersey their own.

On the last point, and I'd be massive on this -with one exception (big Paul) - anyone who considers an Irish jersey their own, or the number, can f'ck right off. You don't own it, you're the custodian. Own that.

The cynic in me says this was calculated knowing the comments were relatable and could be used to promote the wife’s podcast.

I read yesterday in a few places that the #9 jersey had actually been McGoldricks for a year or so before Long returned so I took a look at Long's appearances going back a bit.

2016 - Long owned the #9 for 7 games but so too did David McGoldrick (7 out of 8 games - he had it for the Euros). This was the last year that Long was a regular starter.
2017 - Long "owned" the 9 jersey - mostly on the bench - but so too did Daryl Murphy (Austria - Duffy disallowed game) and then Scott Hogan (Wales McClean) "own it" for a bit. 7 out of 9 games.
2018 - Long seemed to "own" the 9 jersey but was missing from a number of squads or matchdays during that time. 6 out of 9 games (he was missing for 3 but there was no one else wearing 9 in his absence)
2019 - Aiden O'Brien and then McGoldrick for the remainder until the Kenny/Idah conspiracy embarrassed and humiliated him.

I didn't go back any further but, while Long can fairly claim the jersey was his, there were quite a few other times when it was give to someone else whether by MON or MickMack. I wonder how hurt and damaged he was on those occasions? If he had to call his wife and vent?

Bit of a storm in a teacup at the very least.

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Originally Posted by Kingdom

The cynic in me summarises the interview as "retiring footballer criticises manager for not addressing problem in person, while not addressing problem in person himself".

Anyone who doesn't think the current Ireland squad captain, who plays for Everton, presenting an Irish newcomer with a jersey with number 23 on it, as not being symbolic...

The human in me could understand how Long would be hurt upon realisation of what was unfolding, but there's a massive part of me a bit surprised by his naivety on a couple of levels:
- given his exposure to pro football (part. in light of the WBA transfer)
- given his age
- that any irish footballer would consider the Irish jersey their own.

On the last point, and I'd be massive on this -with one exception (big Paul) - anyone who considers an Irish jersey their own, or the number, can f'ck right off. You don't own it, you're the custodian. Own it.

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You don't own it. Own it.

I'm confused Ted.

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Originally Posted by Fixer82

It's very unnecessary and poor man-management from Kenny.
The idea of senior players welcoming younger players to the squad is great but not to hand over your number.
Players are also superstitious and have a way of getting themselves prepared for matches that you shouldn't interfere with.
Every player in a squad should be made feel very important by the manager, something O'Neill seemed to excel at.
As soon as you start making some players feel unimportant you risk letting a rot in to the squad.

Although I'll pull Long up on one thing:
“When Robbie Keane retired, Robbie Brady was in the squad for a long, long time, he was desperate for No. 10, so then he got the No. 10 and wore that to the Euros.'

No he didn't. Robbie K wore that number to the euros.

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You mean the number that was being worn by David McGoldrick, our starting CF or did Long expect him to hand that over to him?

Another thing to pull him up on is bringing Ian Harte and Gary Kelly into it. Individual squad numbers weren't used until the 2014 WC qualifiers and before that it was 1-11 based on the position you played. So neither lad owned the number 2 or 3 jersey and wore different numbers depending where they started or were subs.