Eligibility Rules, Okay

[Gather round]

Bitterness towards McLaughlin now

Aye, wishing him every success in his career- and advising him to make a quick break to avoid wasting his own and everyone else's time. How bitter can I get?

It really is like dealing with a small child on here sometimes...

I don't think he will play in the lower divisions, too good for that

Of course you may have an ear to Liverpool's coaches and/ or be expert in young player development generally. But I imagine it's neither. McLaughlin is 19 and hasn't yet played a single professional competitive club game for anybody, even on loan. Be realistic, it's much more likely he won't play regularly for Liverpool and is bound for lower league football.

It's typical of you to revert to personal insults as you have nothing tangible to say

It isn't actually, I only do it sparingly here and elsewhere. In your case in direct response to be being accused of myopia, narrow-mindedness and support for gerrymandering. Not to mention bitterness, intangibility, trolling (ie not defending my point) and condescension. All without any actual evidence. You are impressively verbose though, kudos for that.

[ArdeeBhoy]

Kenny's suggestion is a witless stunt intended purely to wind up NI fans. As I explained, it's the equivalent of suggesting that the South merges with Britain or Germany, or Saskatchewan becomes the 51st State. Even if only to field a joint ice hockey or downhill skiing team.

Jaysus, they must be very easy to wind up...or lacking in common sense to ignore a throwaway remark, most people in Ireland would know it unlikely.

The thing is, we'd rather not have a neo-con politician like Kenny anywhere near our chldren's health services. What other greater good had you in mind?

Whereas the DUP, those raging 'liberals' of course make Enda look 'socialist' by comparison...

I'm not at all narrow-minded. Odd suggestion. I mean at a trivial level, I wouldn't tend to reply on this forum if was?

You're certainly not, er, 'narrow'.
But seem capable of excessive paranoia about spoof comments made by 'foreign' politicians!

Moronic comment. When have I ever stopped Nationalists- wherever they are on the Globe- expressing an opinion?

Not on here, but elsewhere, yes, most definitely! See 'Paranoia' et al.

Has Gerrymandering gone away? Er, no. Electoral boundaries are still distorted to favor the big parties or blocs. In both parts of Ireland.

The Rt.Hon.Gerry Mandered has only appeared in the North, to favour Unionists as pretty much any independent pundit will confirm.

I'd work on the comedy routine if I were you. Glaciers and geological epochs have been known to move faster...

Hmm. At least they have one.

Wrong. The majority of people in don't actually, whether because they're indifferent to football, prefer to support their existing teams or simply don't get off on lame, repetitive p*sstakes.

Actually the majority probably never even knew he said it...

Condescending? I'm merely answering your sneers in kind. Stirring? I'm not at all bitter nor myopic about what Nationalists tend to want (ie generally, a united Oireland right up to the point where they have to start thinking about paying for it.

Hmm, patronising, certainly.

Dealing with the terminally stupid is always tough, but you'll be pleased that I've no plans to disappear

As opposed to the paranoia you consistently reflect?

The kid does seem uninterested in playing for NI u-21, so probably best if he buggers off now. Good luck to him in his future career, even if that means the lower divisions like his brother and no further international games.

Why are the two related?

Igloo computer security alert- Ardee Troll seems to have hacked into your account.

Nice HYPOCRISY. Such a line doesn't exclude the very rotund you know...

[ArdeeBhoy]

It isn't actually, I only do it sparingly here and elsewhere. In your case in direct response to be being accused of myopia, narrow-mindedness and support for gerrymandering. Not to mention bitterness, intangibility, trolling (ie not defending my point) and condescension. All without any actual evidence.

Hmm...not what the contemporaries elsewhere would say. Plenty of past evidence, usually relating to any implicit criticism of the North, serious or otherwise.
Besides the paranoia, really the worst thing is the blatant hypocrisy in terms of rational debate. Especially when you claim to take a higher intellectual plane, when in reality there is none.

[BonnieShels]

Sometimes I miss Ealing Green. Sometimes mind.

Other times I don't.

GR, wind yer neck in.

[Stuttgart88]

Kenny's suggestion is a witless stunt intended purely to wind up NI fans.

I honestly don't think Kenny has any inkling of what would wind up a NI fan, or a ROI fan either for that matter. The fortunes of our football team(s) probably cross his mind very very rarely. Unfortunately, last weekend was one of those rare occasions. As I said before, if he gave a hoot about football - or children's welfare - there are far better things he could be suggesting.

[Gather round]

I honestly don't think Kenny has any inkling of what would wind up a NI fan, or a ROI fan either for that matter

If he was a Castlebar parish councillor shooting it off in the pub, fair enough. But prime ministers do tend to have ranks of special advisers giving them cynical briefings on this sort of thing.

[Fixer82]

If he was a Castlebar parish councillor shooting it off in the pub, fair enough. But prime ministers do tend to have ranks of special advisers giving them cynical briefings on this sort of thing.

I think he prefers to be called Taoiseach :P

[Gather round]

Fine. Dear Taoiseach, kindly do one. Yours etc., GR.

[ArdeeBhoy]

Except no-one cares. But you...

[Stuttgart88]

If he was a Castlebar parish councillor shooting it off in the pub, fair enough. But prime ministers do tend to have ranks of special advisers giving them cynical briefings on this sort of thing.

He said the idea just popped into his head. I'd believe him, despite being a politician, in this instance.

Again, I'm not sure even his ministers or special advisors give a hoot about football either. That's part of the problem.

[BonnieShels]

Given this bizarre furore over Enda's comments I'm just happy he didn't state that he wouldn't "stand idly by [sic]"...

[SwanVsDalton]

Kenny's suggestion is a witless stunt intended purely to wind up NI fans.

Christ on a minnowism bike, that is a statement straight out of the Kookoo Bananapants Tin Hat Construction Manual. Even the most ardent Kenny hater wouldn't say he stays awake at night cooking up schemes just to press the Windsor Park gang's buttons. Oh lordy.

We know NI fans have an inflated sense of self-importance, but claiming they've dragged a country's leader into a petty, irrelevant PR war is a whole other level.

Edit: Just saw this was addressed by Stutts above, had skipped straight here after reading the post. As mentioned above, I can't see how a fluffy charity football match, proposed off-the-cuff, would need a damage assessment from a cabal of political strategists.

[Gather round]

I can't see how a fluffy charity football match, proposed off-the-cuff, would need a damage assessment from a cabal of political strategists

Probably why it got a terse two-line dismissal and one guy commenting on a message board. Who naturally has had no replies from the massed ranks of other readers who ignore non-stories

that is a statement straight out of the Kookoo Bananapants Tin Hat Construction Manual

You're funny. But not in a good way.

[BonnieShels]

Christ on a minnowism bike, that is a statement straight out of the Kookoo Bananapants Tin Hat Construction Manual. Even the most ardent Kenny hater wouldn't say he stays awake at night cooking up schemes just to press the Windsor Park gang's buttons. Oh lordy.

We know NI fans have an inflated sense of self-importance, but claiming they've dragged a country's leader into a petty, irrelevant PR war is a whole other level.

Edit: Just saw this was addressed by Stutts above, had skipped straight here after reading the post. As mentioned above, I can't see how a fluffy charity football match, proposed off-the-cuff, would need a damage assessment from a cabal of political strategists.

This is now my favourite word this week.

Incidentally it's taken over "salient". How apt.

[geysir]

Kenny's words did act to clear the blockages in the sewers for a while, as the usual suspects emerged to man the radar system.

[SwanVsDalton]

Probably why it got a terse two-line dismissal and one guy commenting on a message board. Who naturally has had no replies from the massed ranks of other readers who ignore non-stories

Thanks but I'd rather not talk about non-stories from someone who has dedicated approximately 1,000 posts to an errant brain fart that escaped Enda Kenny's mouth last week.

You're funny. But not in a good way.

[third policeman]

Fine. Dear Taoiseach, kindly do one. Yours etc., GR.

Whereas I generally share your views on Kenny and his inept Parish Council-style posturing, his views on this occasion have been endorsed by none other than former NI captain and World Cup legend Martin O'Neill. It might just be that he has made an uncharacteristically reasonable suggestion that deserves some rational consideration. Of course it might just be a deeply personal and premeditated assault on your increasingly precarious and unwinding sense of identity.

[Gather round]

Thanks but I'd rather not talk about non-stories from someone who has dedicated approximately 1,000 posts to an errant brain fart that escaped Enda Kenny's mouth last week.

I make it 18 actually. But thanks for bothering to count.

Whereas I generally share your views on Kenny and his inept Parish Council-style posturing, his views on this occasion have been endorsed by none other than former NI captain and World Cup legend Martin O'Neill

That's nice. Do you think ex- NI captains or World Cup veterans are immune from talking baloney then?

It might just be that he has made an uncharacteristically reasonable suggestion that deserves some rational consideration. Of course it might just be a deeply personal and premeditated assault on your increasingly precarious and unwinding sense of identity

You go right ahead give it that rational consideration. Once you've finished Pop Psychology for Dummies.

[The Fly]

Do you think ex- NI captains or World Cup veterans are immune from talking baloney then?

You go right ahead give it that rational consideration. Once you've finished Pop Psychology for Dummies.

Have you been to America recently?

[geysir]

Just because he's paranoid, doesn't mean Enda is not out to get him.