Hogan has turned down an Ireland call up according to Paul Rowan in The Times: http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ir...rate-j2bzbxjd0
Hogan has turned down an Ireland call up according to Paul Rowan in The Times: http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ir...rate-j2bzbxjd0
Can't read beyond the opening paragraph about the Murphy's. What does he say?
Paul is a pal of mine but I've never known him to write anything positive!
Same here, the article is clipped on the link. Can you post it all please ?
Ireland striker hunt gets desperate
Search for some goalscorers to lift the mood is an age-old problem
The latest Find An Irishman trail went cold at Arbuckles restaurant in the Norfolk town of Downham Market last week. There John Murphy, owner of the eaterie and father of Josh and Jacob, the promising pair of attacking midfielders, poured the iciest bucket of cold water on top of the idea that the twins might be ready to jump from the England ship and immediately calm Ireland’s nerves about the lack of goalscorers in the post-Robbie Keane era.
“It’s a non-story I’m afraid,” Murphy senior said. “I have some distant Irish links going back to my great-grandfather, but I came on the scene when Josh and Jacob were about two years old. They are not my biological kids and I have never adopted them, even though they have taken my name. It’s a nice link and is very flattering for the boys, but they are English through and through and they just need to improve and start playing for England rather than any other country.”
The Ireland squad subsequently announced on Friday caught the mood of quiet desperation. Only four strikers, three of them 33 years old, including Kevin Doyle, back on the scene even though he was surplus to requirements at the European Championships. The stories of those who weren’t in this latest squad screamed the loudest. Scott Hogan, the 24-year-old Brentford striker who has scored 11 goals in his last 12 Championship games has done what Jack Grealish did previously and turned down an opportunity to be included in the senior squad, having also said no to an approach from the Ireland under-21 manager Noel King.
At least in Hogan’s case he is open to the idea of playing for Ireland at some point further down the line, even if his agent is particularly keen on him emulating the feat of Jamie Vardy, who forced his way into the England team not far shy of his 30th birthday. Having watched Hogan at Griffin Park, O’Neill got as far as speaking to the agent, even though the player himself had said previously that had he got a phone call from his boyhood hero Roy Keane, he would find it difficult to say no.
This could be another lengthy and ultimately fruitless saga. One senses that O’Neill dreads the prospect of falling down another hole where he finds himself wheeler-dealing again with agents, wannabe and otherwise; the likes of Kevin Grealish, the father of Jack, who seemed to take some delight in pitting his wits against the Ireland manager. O’Neill is a proud man, not slow to pull rank, so pandering to young footballers does not come naturally to him.
“If they say ‘I am undecided’ and the reason that they give is reasonable, then I would give them the time, but there is a finite amount of time that you would wait for somebody. Whether young Grealish was coerced into doing something, whether his father wanted him to do something, I don’t know. I am not really that bothered any more,” O’Neill said on Friday.
There are other prospects lurking in the undergrowth. Another set of brothers, Ronan and Rory Hale from Belfast, who play for Birmingham City and Aston Villa respectively, look set to commit their long-term future to the Republic of Ireland despite being called into a number of underage Northern Ireland squads, but they are miles off making an impact at senior level.
King — who is also now in charge of scouting for the FAI with Don Givens having taken more of a back seat — is fast becoming the bete noir of the IFA in Belfast as he continues to promote the Republic’s brand north of the border and gains some traction, despite the success of Michael O’Neill’s senior side.
Martin O’Neill seems happy to leave the dirty work to King. He is not a manager renowned for bringing young players through or mapping out a future beyond what is demanded immediately of his employers. Anybody expecting any grand vision to be articulated on Friday to accompany him signing the new contract will have been decidedly disappointed. “If I thought I was going to be here for the next 10 years then of course you would not just monitor someone like Hogan, but also other younger players coming through,” O’Neill said. “These players have still got to prove themselves and have a chance to prove themselves. In the meantime, I can’t take my eye off us trying to qualify for the competition. That’s my job and that’s where I derive the pleasure from.”
O’Neill believes that he has exceeded expectations and was unusually candid in expressing the opinion that himself and Keane represented the best bet in terms of guiding Ireland to the World Cup, even if it is with a squad which increasingly relied on players from below the ranks of the Premier League.
“That has to be a concern, because your choice of player is limited then. What you are facing, for instance, Serbia, you have players playing top-level football. I would like players to be playing first of all, Then the higher they play the better. Then they can step into that and not feel psychologically that they have to make ferocious adjustments in their game. It is a concern for the Irish players themselves, but you deal with it and work accordingly.”
If that means keeping a candle burning on the sill for Scott Hogan, then so be it.
"...having also said no to an approach from the Ireland under-21 manager Noel King." Rowan.
“I got called up at Rochdale for the 21s but we had a game on the Friday and my manager didn't want me go so I didn't go. " Hogan.
http://www.getwestlondon.co.uk/sport...-over-11290878
Ha, that was funny, I'm as optimistic as I am decisive, I think.
I'm a bloke,I'm an ocker
And I really love your knockers,I'm a labourer by day,
I **** up all me pay,Watching footy on TV,
Just feed me more VB,Just pour my beer,And get my smokes, And go away
I suppose since my main interest after football is WW2, it is not surprising that Goodwin's Law is not far from my theories. Anyway, what we need is a top centre half to declare for us so that we can have a defence like the Siegfried line and then blitz them at the other end.
Forget about the performance or entertainment. It's only the result that matters.
Ciaran Kilduff has an Irish name. Is he eligible?
Don't think enough is being done recruiting players like Scott Hogan and the like. Sending Noel King me hole... Why doesn't O'Neill or Keane go themselves? We are in dire need of new strikers and Hogan, Bamford, Wickham, Will Keane while not world beaters are as good as what is out there from our point of view. Walters, Doyle & Murphy are all old, Keane just retired and McGoldrick might as well retire seeing that he is injured all the time. Different era I know but Big Jack would meet these lads personally and would never take no for answer. This laissez faire attitude that MON has is never going to work with the modern player. The same manager still hasn't tied Arter to us either but that's for a different discussion...
Last edited by TrapAPony; 01/10/2016 at 5:08 AM.
"We lost because we didn't win"- Ronaldo
Did Martin O'Neill not get short shrift when he tried to establish a meeting with him? Roy Keane has been to watch him several times. Noel King has been told where to go.
What more should be done, roll out a red carpet for him?
He is English, supports England, and has stated that he is undecided as to who he is going to declare for. He has no affinity for Ireland and is young, so we don't have any bargaining chip.
What exactly is the issue? Where lies the confusion?
He has probably seen lads like Kevin Davies and Jamie Vardy get called up late in their careers and lads like Grant Holt come within whiskers of getting called up, and naturally reckons that, at 24, he can be patient in waiting for an England call up.
All this hullabaloo over someone who has played a sum total of 18 Championship games. I don't care how many goals he has scored at that level. It didn't translate for Leon Best at Intl level and it hasn't translated in the Premier League for Patrick Bamford.
If he declares, he declares. If he doesn't, he doesn't. Whatever decision he makes is probably going to come after this campaign so the urgency is lost on me.
Even if he did accept a call up it is no guarantee he would stay with us. Just look at Jack Grealish.
Hearing all this armchair quarterbacking over what should be done to entice Hogan reminds me of this Harry Redknapp anecdote:
AMDY FAYE
More from Always Managing: My Autobiography by Harry Redknapp
Auxerre to Portsmouth, 2003
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/foo...#ixzz4LnFnhKcmAmdy was with Auxerre in France when I saw them against Arsenal the season before. I made Faye their best player by a long way, so was delighted when agent Willie McKay called and said he was available.
We had him training with Portsmouth up in Scotland for a week and he was different class. I tried to hide him away because others were interested. Then I heard he was heading back to France.
My wife Sandra and I were at a barbecue at my son Jamie’s house, but we dashed to Heathrow Airport, dumped the car on a double yellow line outside and ran into Terminal One. I was frantic.
Finding him was a million-to-one shot. ‘What does he look like?’ asked Sandra.
‘He’s a very tall black boy,’ I said.
‘Is that him?’ she asked, pointing to a middle-aged Rastafarian with a woolly hat on his head. She doesn’t know much about football.
Then I found him. ‘Amdy, where are you going?’ I asked him.
‘I go home,’ he said.
‘No, Amdy, you can’t go home,’ I insisted. ‘You have to sign for Portsmouth first. Come with me. You come with me.’
I took him to my house and he heard the dogs barking. ‘Dogs! I no like dogs,’ he said and he froze.
‘They’re not dogs, Amdy,’ I assured him. ‘They’re bulldogs. They’re more vicious than dogs. Half-dog, half-bull. If you try to escape, they bite your b***s off.’
We made sure he knew that the dogs were left downstairs at night. The next day he signed for £1.5million.
Last edited by TheOneWhoKnocks; 01/10/2016 at 1:44 AM.
"Arry's" anecdotes can be unreliable especially if something dodgy may or may not have been going on .
Conor Quigley on the bench for Dundee against Celtic.
He's from Derry.
Mentioned on the Irish FA's website in a list of transfers involving players from Northern Ireland here - http://www.irishfa.com/news/2016/aug...nsfer-round-up - but his twitter (if it's his) would seem to indicate he's a Republic fan - https://twitter.com/conorquigley_
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