The right decision. Eventually. He is an English lad with English parents. I've no problem with Granny-rule players but I'd never expect them to feel particularly Irish. If they want to play for us and give their all then that's enough for me. But the lad appears talented and has to back himself in this situation that he will make the team of the country of his birth. That said I'm still a football fan ruled by his heart so I hope he goes on to have a ferociously woeful career.
The dude abides....
Feeling really, really disappointed by this. All the best to him. Whilst I understand his decision, I don't understand why played with the emotions of passionate Irish supporters who would have loved to see him stay with us.
I can only just point to his award for under 21 player of the year and his response to Tony O'Donoghue's questions. I find that insulting, looking back on it so I wish him well but I do so begrudgingly.
Can't disagree with you here, even though I want to wish him well. I'm sure if he ever lines out against us then he'll face plenty of boos.Originally Posted by Bottle of Tonic
I'd love to take the moral high-ground on that one but I can't. The Sterling boos were pathetic. I think that hostility from Ireland in this case support would be some way understandable.
Not that I'd ever abuse him if I met him. I feel disappointed more than angry. "You could have been our hero" would be my sentiment towards him. "You could have been our hero but now your an English one cap wonder" probably carries more impact but I'm not sure if I want that to be the case.
Last edited by Olé Olé; 28/09/2015 at 1:15 PM.
Good luck to the lad but he's about 5th or 6th at least in line for a starting spot and those ahead of him will be in the squad for the next 5-10 years so he's an uphill task, also Barnett definitely held sway there with the ££££. He'll be doing well to get 15-20 caps, most of them as a sub for them but if he's happy with that good luck to him, I'm sure the cut his agent is on of all his commercial deals is even happier.
Now, can we just move on to Nathan Redmond and Dan Crowley?
I would have loved him to have played for us but was obvious last year he wasn't going to.
Lets talk about six baby
One door shuts and another can open... MoN could give Mark Noble a call.
Disappointing for Irish football and supporters, but it's his choice and best of luck to him.
I'd written something a few weeks ago after Sam Wallace reported a decision in favour of England was imminent at the time. It's still applicable, if anyone's interested in having a read: https://danieldcollins.wordpress.com...onal-decision/
To summarise, I don't think we have much right to be getting indignant about this seeing as we've been happy to give him the time he wanted and we're also more than happy to benefit from the system which allows dual national footballers a choice, so we ought to accept it when it goes against us too. We weren't powerless in all of this either. Some would have us believe a helpless football association was being strung along by a 20-year-old, but we could have called an end to it at any time; the reason we didn't was because we ultimately stood to benefit and didn't want to blow our chance of seeing him line out in the green at senior level.
Interestingly, there's been a lot of talk he'll be called into the England squad for their games against Estonia/Lithuania. That will not be possible as it takes 3-6 months for a switch request to be processed by the Players' Status Committee. Unless he made the application some time ago but kept it under wraps, whilst insisting a decision was yet to be made; the FAI would have been aware though, so I don't think that's likely.
Jamie O'Hara is still eligible....One door shuts and another can open... MoN could give Mark Noble a call.
Grealish wouldn't have been available for that game. He got cold feet any time O'Neill raised the idea of bringing him into the senior team. It seems in hindsight that any offer by O'Neill would merely have hastened the decision to take time out to mull over his long-term options.
I read speculation (and it is only that, although does seem plausible) that the reason there was confusion over the US friendly game (if you recall, Kevin Grealish/John Fallon were initially reporting that Grealish would be in the squad although there was no sign of him when the squad was announced), was because Grealish was happy to be selected for friendly games and had made himself available for these games only but Martin O'Neill was not prepared to accept this. The theory goes that O'Neill wanted Jack to make himself available for all games, both friendly and competitive, or none.
which is exactly the correct stance MON should have taken
I wouldn't disagree. I would have no problem whatsoever with such a stance, if true.
Almost the biggest topic ever in World Football Forum - shame. It's almost like seeing a friend's name in an obituary column.
Forget about the performance or entertainment. It's only the result that matters.
To think of all those Saturday afternoon's I wasted scrolling down the LiveScore app to see if he'd done anything of note for Notts County!
The key to our most successful periods have been a core of players prepared to give 110 per cent every time they play for their country and JG obviously doesn't fit that category. Not just for us but also for England given how much time it took him to make his mind up. Good luck to him but I'm glad its over. The focus on him was a bit insulting for the players we already have in our panel and ultimately a bit deflating now he has chosen England. I hope a lesson is learned and we spend a lot less time trying to persuade others in similar situations if they are not already committed. We have a taste of how the Nordies feel.
Villa managers have form for this..
"Dorigo was initially called up by Australia for the 1986 World Cup qualifying campaign. However Aston Villa manager Tony Barton refused Dorigo permission to travel.[2] Barton felt that playing for Australia would be a waste of time for Dorigo as their opponents were generally weaker opposition from Oceania"
CD said:
we could see him in the travelling party to the US this summer, but even if he doesn't I think he's committed to us.
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
This post is from April 2011. The writing was always on the wall...
whoscored stats,
Grealish 114th, Brady 14th
Villa have lost every PL game Grealish played this season.
Disagree, some players who are born in England but come from an Irish family, consider themselves to be IRISH not English and are proud to wear the green.
As regards JG, the lads wouldn't of accepted him in the squad if they thought he'd been hanging on for England and then used us as his 2nd choice if England hadn't picked him.
When you wear the Green, you have to be 100% committed to both your country and your fellow players, that's one of our strengths.
Proud to be Irish.
Dunphy using the Grealish decision to have a factually-suspect go at Martin and Roy again: http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2015/...ping-grealish/
I'm pretty sure Roy's comment about Kevin Grealish wasn't said in complete seriousness and they seemed to have an OK relationship in spite of it. Both parties spoke of their positive relationship and I recall Roy commenting in an interview that he appreciated Grealish's dilemma, having also personally expressed such to Kevin Grealish.
Martin's comment on upcoming games perhaps being too much for Grealish was before the impressive FA Cup semi-final performance, wasn't it? That was when he entered the English sporting public/media's consciousness, and probably Dunphy's too!
Grealish had asked Martin for time to weigh up his options by August of 2014, as confirmed in this handy timeline of events, so he obviously was never going to be available for the Gibraltar game in the second week of October of 2014. He also pulled out of an under-21 squad that October, which serves to reinforce the reality that he would not have been available.
As for capping him 18 months ago, he was still at Notts County in League One at the time. Did Dunphy even know who Grealish was then? Doubt it. Either way, you can't just cap youngsters willy-nilly in competitive games to tie them because they show a bit of potential. If that was an actual policy and it cost us silly points, you can be sure Dunphy would be pointing the finger at the "incompetence" of the management team.
Is utilising the "granny rule" so extensively really good for Irish football or is it just a means of papering over the massive cracks in our own developmental infrastructure? We shouldn't be ashamed of using it, no - the likes of Algeria use to quite a lot too; nothing wrong with it per se - but stronger nations certainly don't "piggyback" so extensively like we do; it's indicative of a failure at home and has let the FAI off the hook time and time again for far too long. It would be much more preferable for the health of Irish football if we did not have to keep relying on it and getting dragged into desperate long-term will-he-or-won't-he sagas like this Grealish affair.
You can only convince eligible players born outside Ireland to declare if they actually want to. Martin has spoken with numerous players or their representatives, including Harry Kane, Patrick Bamford and Nathan Redmond, as far as I know. Daniel Crowley is another with whom the FAI have been in touch (and it looks like we might be in luck in this instance). Also Cyrus Christie, obviously. Possibly Mark Noble and Curtis Davies too? That's all he can do. What else does Dunphy expect the management to do with eligible players if they're not all that keen because they think they have a genuine future chance with England? Hold a gun to their heads?
Diego Costa qualified for Spain through residency after acquiring Spanish nationality, by the way.
Basically, Dunphy is talking through his arse, as usual.
Last edited by DannyInvincible; 28/09/2015 at 11:33 PM.
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