I think it's true of any walk of life; some people's word you can trust and others' word you can't. Footballers are people with human faults too, like anyone else, albeit with a bit more disposable cash in some instances. Anyway, I don't think it's fair on Gibson to compare him with the likes of Noble. For clarity, Gibson never formally switched from one association to another as he had never played for the IFA in a FIFA-recognised competitive fixture. He's always officially been an FAI player, as far as FIFA are concerned. To quantify what he's offered, he has, since 2004, played for Ireland at under-17 level and later captained us at both under-19 and under-21 levels. He has won 21 senior caps since 2007.
There were
rumours he had a falling out with Trap after the Spain game at the Euros when
Trap allegedly poked fun at some excess weight he was supposed to have been carrying in front of the rest of the squad. It seems, there was also
another incident after the Italy game which might have left Gibson feeling upset or insulted, although I don't think we ever found out what its nature was.
He
felt embarrassed and angry after not seeing game-time at the Euros; fearing Trap had a problem with him, he sought clarification from his manager, only to be dismissively told he was "young" before Trap walked off. Whatever about the rights and wrongs of it or who was primarily to blame for the falling out, it appears the working relationship between manager and player broke down completely. I thought Gibson's self-imposed exile was petulant and self-detrimental - the wrong option to take to deal with his problem - but I did sympathise with his sense of grievance.
I don't think he appreciated Trap advising him to leave United at the time either, although he did later acknowledge that joining Everton was beneficial for him and that Trap might have been right on that front after all. That showed a level of maturity at least.
Otherwise, he's been fully committed to playing for Ireland and
even admitted he had "something to prove" when he was re-selected by Noel King after Trap left the managerial post. There's nothing he can do about being injured. I'm sure it's been very frustrating for him to have missed out for so long.
Out of interest, under what circumstances were you called similar? I've not lived over here for as long as edmundo has, but in the four years I've been here, I don't think I've ever heard (in person, at least) an English person use the term "fenian" as an insult. Anti-Irish sentiment isn't all that fashionable in England any more. I did once have a rendition of the notorious 'Billy Boys' sung at me by a disgruntled and clearly mentally-unstable homeless drunk man slouched next to a cash machine begging when I had no change to give him and he didn't take too well to my pronunciation of Derry after he asked me where I was from, but he was from east Belfast originally and was being generally nasty and abusive/racist towards anyone and everyone in the ATM queue who had no spare change for him. Nobody had provoked him, but he was clearly very bitter about the hand that life had dealt him. He erupted into frothy sectarian verse as I departed and assured me that he hadn't wanted any of my "taig money" anyway whilst cartoonishly waving his fist at me.
I've had people do that silly "po-tay-to" pronunciation thing with me from time to time, but, although a bit irritating, it's generally done in the spirit of harmless jest, whilst I recall a passing boorish lad with a bit of drink in him referring to the Irish supporters of Dungiven boxer Paul McCloskey leaving the MEN Arena after his loss to Amir Khan a few years ago as "paddies, but other than those very isolated incidents, I can't say I've experienced any explicit anti-Irish prejudice over here. I can only really imagine a die-hard loyalist, a bitter Rangers fan or a BNP/EDL-type ever using "fenian" in a derogatory fashion in this day and age, unless it is that I've not been hanging around with the wrong sort of people enough...
I also find it hard to believe that Noble would collectively refer to a group of Irish supporters (including men, women and children) as "fenian b*stards", especially when two of his grandparents were "full Irish" themselves.
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