James McCarthy M free agent b.1990

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Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

The whole thing is a man-management & communications / PR fiasco. Trap, his advisors and the FAI have to share the blame. The Irish press likes nothing more than to undermine the team and its chances. The FAI should be aware of this and give the press no opportunity whatsoever. Instead they seem blissfully ignorant of the sensitivities of this issue and its potential to create instability and they have given the press and the rumour mongers carte blanche to stir things up.

I honestly think that if the FAI was in any way concerned McCarthy could jump ship they would have been cynical enough to have him capped properly by now, notwithstanding Liam Brady's ignorance of the rules in Febraury 2010.

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I agree the FAI/Trap etc could've handled this a little better, but when it comes to the media and rumour mongers you can't clear up every bloody little thing. Is it too much to ask that people use a little common sense over idle speculation? I mean do people really need to be spoon fed this much?

McCarthy has affirmed his commitment a bazillion times. Trap has confirmed he likes the player a bazillion times. But the last few pages have been nothing but 'sky-is-falling-aaargh!!!' hysteria based on nothing but very obvious media spin and total guesswork.

Yes, but the spin is unsettling and so the FAI should equalise before the media scores, to paraphrase Tommy Docherty (or whoever it was).

It has already led to Shay Given being critical of McCarthy's attitude, based on idle speculation. That's not immaterial.

The local Wigan newspaper is reporting McCarthy's withdrawal as due to tiredness not injury.
http://www.wigantoday.net/sport/wiga...oyce_1_3055362 Second last paragraph. And I fully expect to see McCarthy and Keane (can't remember the last time Keane pulled out of an Ireland squad to later play for his club the following Saturday) playing on Saturday for their club sides.

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Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

Yes, but the spin is unsettling and so the FAI should equalise before the media scores, to paraphrase Tommy Docherty (or whoever it was).

It has already led to Shay Given being critical of McCarthy's attitude, based on idle speculation. That's not immaterial.

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Agreed. The situation's been handled badly and, for me, Given's comments were the most eye-raising thing about the whole thing. But it's telling Trap is getting more flak than Shay, even though he merely gave his usual vague, garbled but totally innocuous answer to a stock question.

Problem is the media will always find something to score with and people will queue up to believe it, regardless of veracity. There appears to be a large aspect of Irish support who want to believe McCarthy will defect/is having a feud with Trap despite there being no evidence to support either idea.

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Originally Posted by Noelys Guitar

The local Wigan newspaper is reporting McCarthy's withdrawal as due to tiredness not injury.
http://www.wigantoday.net/sport/wiga...oyce_1_3055362 Second last paragraph. And I fully expect to see McCarthy and Keane (can't remember the last time Keane pulled out of an Ireland squad to later play for his club the following Saturday) playing on Saturday for their club sides.

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Interesting but a single paragraph at the end doesn't necessarily indicate any inside line to the truth. Very likely it's a copy and paste job from the first media reports.

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Originally Posted by Noelys Guitar

And I fully expect to see McCarthy and Keane (can't remember the last time Keane pulled out of an Ireland squad to later play for his club the following Saturday) playing on Saturday for their club sides.

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Tuesday games don't help. Keane played and got injured on Sunday, misses game on Tuesday but is OK for Saturday. No big deal. Maybe he is hacked off at the regime but I don't think him missing a match in these circumstances is telling in any way.

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Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

Tuesday games don't help. Keane played and got injured on Sunday, misses game on Tuesday but is OK for Saturday. No big deal. Maybe he is hacked off at the regime but I don't think him missing a match in these circumstances is telling in any way.

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Here is Trapatonni in his own words on Keane moving clubs.

Trapattoni acknowledged it would be a big move to drop his captain, but he cannot afford to enter important games with a ring-rusty front man.

"I have said it is important to him that he goes and plays," said Trapattoni. "If he stays two months on the bench without a game, we have also (Kevin) Doyle, we have (Shane) Long. Anthony Stokes and Leon Best score goals.

"We have this situation, but I hope he tries a new team. If Robbie does not find a new team, we can try other options after.

"I spoke with him, when he could go to America (he was linked to Canadian-based MLS side, Vancouver Whitecaps), and I said, 'you go.' He said to me also, 'Maybe I go to Birmingham, the first I go to is Aston Villa.'

He compounded that by saying the next day that Keane's situation was different from Given's in that Keane is an outfield player and Given is a goalkeeper. How do those comments help the team? What was gained by publicly stating that Keane could be dropped if he didn't make a move? Why do think Keane reacted the way he did to that innane question from the RTE journo.

Craig bellamy went to the game.injured. :-))

sending out all the right signals according to sky sports

I am not going to worry until James buys a pink Range Rover. Then I am going to go into Pink Range Rover overdrive worry.

In fairness the lad is good enough to be in the qualifer squads if not the team. He should be in the next qualifer squad if fit and if for whatever reason he does not show up then we would have to question whether he is interested in playing international football ( a valid question with todays footballers for whatever reasons) or whether he is interested in playing for Trap ?

paul green keith andrews and glenn whelan all have started for ireland..he is more than good enough to be in the irish team...

James who?

3-0 lads - ole, ole, ole, ole! ole, ole!

Sadlier on RTE last night said that even if Trap calls up McCarthy for the Macedonia game, he won't play him out of spite.
That tells more about Sadlier's mentality than an experienced coach like Trap.
If Trap doesn't start with McCarthy in the next game, it would probably be due to his overly cautious and patient approach.

Gio pleeza shudupadahface! The more you dig the deeper hole.

Trap's press conference today was highlighted on six one news. Commented on James McCarthy should be making his own mind, not listening to his agent. Also mentioned unfortunately that he likes Scotland and likes Ireland and that he should make his own decision. A comment like that will not help anyone.

Say it is all a big misunderstanding and James is part of the squad for Macedonia and Uruguay at the end of March. Is it more of a risk to give McCarthy his first start in a must-win qualifier or to stick with Whelan/Gibson and then give James three on the trot (uruguay/scots/nire) with the outlook of starting away to Macedonia?

So is Geysir wrong then?is James unsure according to trappatoni?

Jesus Trap, shut up for fcuk sake. He is ours, he has gone through alot to declare for us, he is not going to change. Comparing him to S Ireland or O'Hara/Noble is nothing short of ridiculous and insulting to James. James is more of an Irishman than SI will ever be.

Now stop been an ass spouting some half arsed english half italian, confusing everyone and only causing trouble....just call the lad up and put him in our midfield. End of.

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Poison pen Hyland stirring it big time in the print edition of the Herald tonight again, 2 page spread on it.

Media really need to butt out, all it's doing is making the issue bigger then it should be.

Christ, Trap should call him up for Macedonia, cap him in the 85th and end all this madness!!!

To be honest he's good, but not that good, FFS.

Whether you like them or not, it would have been of far more relevance in the WC campaign if Trap. had brought back A.Reid & Ireland into the fold and used them both sparingly, rather than relying on extreme functionality. And even now, as we're still crying out for MIDFIELD CREATIVITY v. better teams, which even the 'genius' of Trap can't outdo....

If McCarthy's our "great white hope", we might as well give up.
Ciaran Clark has potentially far far more of a pivotal role to play for us in the next decade than McCarthy, excellent addition that he could be....