Kiely walks out? strong rumour

[John83]

I think he's blundered by not starting Kiely. Trap surely didn't expect Dean to throw a wobbly but, since he knew for a month Westwood would be unavailable against Bulgaria, it made sense to placate your 2nd choice keeper. Now it's Doyle, Murphy, Henderson or Kenny to get called up as replacement and many fingers crossed that Shay doesn't get injured.

Is Kiely playing football next season? At 38, he's bound to be thinking about retirement.

That this is coming to a head during a qualifier is unfortunate, but it was going to happen sooner or later with Kiely as old as he is and Given growing more prone to injury.

[DmanDmythDledge]

Kiely is not having a huff about not being picked ahead of Given, he's having a huff about not being picked ahead of some GK half of us have never heard of.

This is bad management Westwood is an unknown quantity, Kiely is a good 2nd choice.

International friendlies are about trying out players that wouldn't usually feature. Trap knows what Kiely is capable of and he wanted to see how Westwood would do. Whatever about a half fit Given been picked ahead of him, picking Westwood ahead of Kiely was 100% the correct decision.

[irishfan86]

International friendlies are about trying out players that wouldn't usually feature. Trap knows what Kiely is capable of and he wanted to see how Westwood would do. Whatever about a half fit Given been picked ahead of him, picking Westwood ahead of Kiely was 100% the correct decision.

No way can you say it was the 100% correct decision given that Westwood isn't even available for Sofia!

This makes Trap's decision all the more mind boggling.

[Stuttgart88]

Given the lack of any quality in depth in England's goalkeeping options this may have been a deliberate move to nail Westwood to Ireland. He is among the highest rated young keepers out there.

[ifk101]

Given the lack of any quality in depth in England's goalkeeping options this may have been a deliberate move to nail Westwood to Ireland . He is among the highest rated young keepers out there.

There shouldn't be a need to do this.

Anyways now that it has emerged that Westwood is unavailable for the Bulgaria, Dean Kiely has a right to feel aggrieved.

[Stuttgart88]

Not saying it should be like that, just that it may have been Trap's thinking.

I'd be pretty relaxed if Westwood was available for Sofia. I like Kiely a lot but if you want to take an unemotional view of things, you can say out with the old in with the new. With only Shay available and supposedly getting over a knock there's scope for a bit of nervousness.

UK Times this morning suggests FAI is "trying to track down alternatives" which sounds a bit like my old UCD Superleague team on Saturday mornings.

Not good.

Surely Westwood would have looked at the World Cup Fixture list when determining his wedding date. I know I did!

[paul_oshea]

He probably didn't know

[geysir]

Sounds utterly feckless from Westwood but we won't crucify him for his wedding planning abilities.

I feel a bit easier about him after having seen him. All based on the confident way he gathered up that one ball.

[osarusan]

Playing Westwood for even a few seconds would ensure he can only play for Ireland, right (I am actually not sure about this)? Playing him needn't have been at the expense of Kiely.

Considering it was known that Westwood would be unavailable next week, it was regrettable that the incident developed where Kiely left the squad. Whose fault it is I am not sure though. Did Kiely march out without telling anybody, or did Trap refuse to bend even a little bit when Kiely approached him?

I agree that our long-term future is important, but our next game is bloody crucial, and I would have liked Kiely on the bench for it.

[ifk101]

I'm sure Westwood is a competent back-up goalie but in the context of the forthcoming match against Bulgaria, I think his run-out could have waited until August. Kiely hasn't played a lot this season and given that Trap & Co. knew Kiely would be needed for the game in Bulgaria if anything happened to Shay, he should have been given his game. I have a lot of sympathy for Kiely, he shouldn't have walked out, but I can understand why he did.

[paul_oshea]

This could become a whole lot worse, and possibly even become a deciding factor in weighing up Traps tenure as Irish coach.

Or it could not and everyone forgets all about it and we see westwood in action against australia in august.

A week is a long time in football

[paul_oshea]

Makes one wonder, did westwood only tell Trap that he wouldn't be available after team selection/game....

[ifk101]

Makes one wonder, did westwood only tell Trap that he wouldn't be available after team selection/game....

According to the papers, they knew a month in advance of the Nigeria game.

[EalingGreen]

Difference is that Dean Kiely want's to play for his country but is not picked where as Stephen Ireland would be picked for his country but does not want to play.

Wanting to play for your country is something should go without saying, not be a deciding factor in team selection (imo).
Moreover, it is missing the point, since if you think about it, Kiely is not just saying he wants to play for ROI, but that he also (effectively) wants to pick himself for his country.
In which case, he is implying he knows better what is right for ROI than his manager. Which might be forgiveable when it's a novice manager e.g. like Staunton, but is anyone seriously saying that Kiely knows more about preparing an international team for competition than Trap?

As I see it, Kiely had other options which he might have chosen to deal with Trap's selection policy.
For instance, he might have made it clear that he only wants to be considered if he is the clear No.2 to Given. And if Trap indicated that that this was now in doubt (due to Westwood's emergence), then it was open to Kiely to "semi-retire" from international football i.e. no longer wishes to be considered for selection, but will pull on the gloves again in an emergency.

Alternatively, he could easily have stayed with the squad and seen how it worked out. For example, Given might have sustained an injury, or Westwood have a howler, in which case he would be right back in contention.

Or, on the basis that he only had to travel to London, not Lagos, to sit on the bench, he might have put up with it, then gone to Trap after the game and said that he was retiring from international football, on the basis that he didn't feel he should be 3rd choice behind a relative novice like Westwood.

In any case, agreeing to a call-up, then walking out midway when you don't get your way, is totally unprofessional (imo).

P.S. There is one further possibility which might justify Kiely's fit of pique, namely, if Trap had been less than honest about his intentions for him when calling Kiely up. However, I doubt that is the case, since if Trap is that devious, in knowing that Westwood wasn't available for Sofia, he might easily have left Westwood out entirely at Craven Cottage and called up Kiely as clear No.2, with someone like Doyle just called up for the ride.
Or, he might have mollified Kiely by giving him his way, then when Sofia was out the way, Trap could have replaced Kiely with Westwood as No.2 to Given and let him (Kiely) p1ss off in a huff if he wanted.

[ifk101]

I think you're jumping the gun there EG.

Shay was an injury doubt prior to the game. The squad obviously knew Westwood would miss the Bulgaria game. Somebody put 2 and 2 together and whispered in Kiely's ear that he would be getting his game.

[Jicked]

Very unprofessional of Kiely to walk out in the middle of the double-header, but for me the blame lies with Shay Given. The man is clearly obsessed with winning as many caps as he possibly can, which would be great, if he could do it without jeopardising the overall well-being of the squad. Roy Keane alluded to the fact Given put pressure on the management and FAI to be included in every game he travels for, and this has led to the farcical situation whereby we haven't had any sort of an experienced goalkeeper for years now. It cost us in the last campaign when we suddenly had to chuck in Wayne Henderson (who?) and may cost us again this time. Demanding to be included (we can only presume it was at his insistence that he played) in a friendly, a week before a vital qualifier when he has a knock, is very experienced at international level and with this team, and when Kiely needed game time after not playing a huge amount as well as needing to get back in the groove of playing with Ireland is a ludicrous decision.

[NeilMcD]

A lot of presumptions there about Shay Given with no facts. Shay Given is a legend of a goalkeeper and always comes across as a nice man too. I think speculation about his character and his motives and actions within the squad are not really credible or fair.

[John83]

I'm also disinclined to take character assassinations from Keane at face value.

[EalingGreen]

I think you're jumping the gun there EG.

Shay was an injury doubt prior to the game. The squad obviously knew Westwood would miss the Bulgaria game. Somebody put 2 and 2 together and whispered in Kiely's ear that he would be getting his game.

Unless it was Trap whispered in his ear, then Kiely should know better than to listen to gossip and speculation.

And in any case, walking out mid-trip was still unprofessional and disrespectful (imo).

[geysir]

A lot of presumptions there about Shay Given with no facts. Shay Given is a legend of a goalkeeper and always comes across as a nice man too. I think speculation about his character and his motives and actions within the squad are not really credible or fair.

Not only not credible but uninformed immature speculation.
If Shay wants a half a game to test his sharpness before an important qualifier then so be it.