The quality of the player is irrelevant.
I said this about a year ago and I'll say it again; have we (ROI) actually "poached" any players that have made any decent contribution to the senior squad yet?
I know most of the players we are talking about are still very young and have plenty of time to prove their worth but there's quite a few of them (Gibson, Wilson) old enough to have made their mark by now.
I mean every second week we hear of a new player crossing over and how he's the next great thing but most of them have been up to now mediocre at best.
When we get a real quality player then I guess they (NI) will have a reason to really complain.
The quality of the player is irrelevant.
End Apartheid Now! One Team in Ireland!
You are probably right but I just don't like the way that each player is being built up to be the best thing since ehm.. Best just because he has defected when the vast majority of them are not very good.
It would be like us saying NI took one of the best young defenders around from us when Bruce decided to play for them.
Lets be honest, Wilson & Gibson would both have played in Tallinn. Not saying much, but theyre better than say Josh Carson!
It wouldn't surprise me if the IFA were helping to push the idea of losing their 'best' players to the ROI to highlight the extent to which they are, in their eyes, being 'wronged'.
In reality, it's hard for a player to have made a 'decent contribution to the senior squad' when they have to make the switch before they play in a competitive senior game.
To be fair, it is a 'mindset' based on 300-odd years of bigotry...
The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist thinks it will change; the realist adjusts the sails.
Decky, that article is over in the Eligibility thread.
The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist thinks it will change; the realist adjusts the sails.
Non-story really as there's nothing new there. I don't think Ferguson is likely to switch. Rumour has it his issue was more with playing under Worthington than continuing with NI. Even so, playing for their under-21s won't tie him just as playing for their senior team in a friendly didn't either, and that didn't stop him mulling over a switch.
Good luck to Shane Ferguson whoever he plays for
Well, that's that sorted then.
"But my heart is with Northern Ireland and always has been. I've represented them since I was a kid and I want to play for them for as long as I can"
'I've got family from the south, but I just thought it was a good decision for me to stay with the country where I was born and raised.'
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/foo...n-Ireland.html
The Englishmen came over in the year 2005
But little did they know that we'd planned a wee surprise
Sir David scored the winner, and Windsor Park went wild
And this is what we sang...
Real cracker of a Joe Kinnear story, this: http://balls.ie/football/sunday-peop...kinnear-story/
Originally Posted by Balls.ie
Bookmarks