QuoteHe's on loan in Belgium with Zulte Waregem, in their second divisionOriginally Posted by Stuttgart88
Largely agree. Stevens was at his best just before Kenny took over. Whatever happened yer man at Cardiff Joel Bagan?
Wonder if McClean's stance will get covered in the next season of the Wrexham documentary. Seems like a story waiting to be told to an American audience.
Keane O'Shea Given Best Smallbone
It did cross my mind that this may have been one of the reasons for signing him
Has said he'll come out of retirement if the next manager wants him to and that the decision to retire was because Kenny was disrespectful towards him after joining Wrexham.
He will not go quietly into the night will he..
You can say that again...He will not go quietly into the night will he..
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/68829125
In fairness to James ~ ~ Kenny didn't really have that many better options ( for that position ) ~ ~ So, why push James out before the campaign was ended ? !
It's not compulsory to, love / even like, the King / Monarchy ~ Is it ? !
Ireland had 3 LB's at least in their u21 squad that were playing at a higher level regularly and more deserving of a call up than McClean. And that's before we even consider players outside the u21s who are also better.
He's playing in league 2 when everyone else in the squad is at the very least a championship player...he can have no complaints.
This is why I think it's a joke he got a send off and after his comments I really wished we hadn't wasted that fixture on such a self entitled player.
Off with your head! / kneecaps! [delete as appropriate]
It's a matter of opinion but I don't think that Kenny treated James McClean that well in the end.
He got treated better than he deserved. Most league 2 players wouldnt be within an asses roar of a call up yet McClean got numerous caps and a send off game, he should be grateful he got what he got in the end.
I am not overly impressed with your ( or Kenny's ) loyalty to a player that always gave his best / always turned up, if at all possible / which was pretty much always / always showed Kenny a lot of respect before Kenny didn't handle the parting of ways well ~ ~ It would not be unusual for a manager to finish a campaign with pretty much the same players that went through a campaign unless some one pretty exceptional turned up / or at least a marked improvement ~ ~ Kenny did not handle the end of James McClean's Ireland playing career well ~ ~ Then, Kenny did Not handle a lot of things well, while he was the Ireland manager ~ ~ This is just another mess-up by Kenny ~ One of very very many.
Big fan of McClean but I always disliked the song in that glorifies his hatred for something (the monarchy) rather than glorifying him for his love for something (his country).
If we had any decent left backs he'd have been gone a lot sooner. International callups aren't an entitlement, the likes of him and Shane Long would do well to remember that.
Keane O'Shea Given Best Smallbone
I thought him not getting an october call up was weird. It was a bit telegraphed in that Kenny justified his selection in September by saying that by only playing two weeks in League 2, that his level wouldn't drop much and there was an implication that he was a doubt for future squads. But we basically just had one left sided player in Manning, as long as you consider Scales a centre-half, which is where he played against Greece. And then the comments Kenny made, which I think were probably then but could have been November. They were basically 'McClean is such a good trainer and so 100% that when you see him in training, you end up picking him', the inference being that it was better not to risk picking him in a squad for fear that he might convince you to play him.
I really don't think there were any viable alternatives. Sure Sean Roughan was playing at a higher level in League 1, but he's nowhere near ready for senior international football. He's just not. Same is true of Tayo and Jay Furlong - nowhere near ready at all. McClean had offers from championship clubs, so that's probably closer to his true level. You had Manning who was still adapting to international football and you had Brady and Stevens who were constantly injured, along with O'Dowda, who's defensively probably too much of a liability. All the 98/99 crop of left backs from the 21s basically hadn't made it to the level required: Trev Clarke, Darragh Leahy, Tyreke Wilson, Tom O'Connor. The 2000/01 crop was basically Joel Bagan who isn't ready (and is playing second division in Belgium) and Andy Lyons who wasn't playing at League 1.
So yeah... I still don't see the alternatives, unless you're gonna move Danny McNamara or Jon Gallagher across to that side, which they can both do. Not entirely sure either are good enough, but they're currently a mile ahead of Bagan, Roughan etc.
What I don't get is he says he decided to retire to go out on his terms given Kenny's treatment of him. That he'll come out of retirement if the next manager wants him to.
Every man and his dog knew Kenny was out the door after November so why retire when it was obvious that Kenny was basically out the door.
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