I was watching the wigan v leeds match yesterday, and there was a lad playing for wigan called alan mahon, he scored a cracker, and he's irish, has anyone heard of him before, he seems to be doing well for wigan, and theyre flying at the moment, wonder if he'll be called up for the croatia game
I left my Sarcasm detector at home today, I hope you're being sarcastic?
ehmm well he has been on the scene for a while first with tranmere then blackburn then sporting lisbon and now wigan . i think his best days are behind him plus theres a lot of competition for left wing for him to get by but you never can say never .
eh...no not being sarcastic....why?
You've honestly never heard of Alan Mahon? He's 26 now and has 2 caps. He actually played a CL match against Real Madrid believe it or not.
no never heard of him before, these caps must've been a while back yeah?
i just thought a player doing well for wigan who are flying in the championship
is an option to andy reid who hasnt been doing the best
Been around for years, I think he was one of the new generation that McCarthy blooded in the US Cup in 1996 along with Dave Savage, Alan Moore, etc. Very few of them really went the distance and progressed beyond where they were at that stage. He's been on the fringes of top level football for a long time but has never made the leap. I doubt he's worth calling up although Wigan are having a stonking season so far.
Has he not?Originally Posted by iasc1
Yeah he got capped when he was playing for Tranmere in 2000 against Greece and South Africa. He got injured against South Africa I think. He then moved to Sporting Lisbon.
reid hasnt being doing well in the the ireland matches he's played in
He's been MOTM in most of the matches he's played in for us. Also, he's far far far better than Alan Mahon. Mahon has never made it at the top level despite being around the first division for some time and I honestly don't think he ever will either. Reid has the potential to be a superb player who could easily make it at a higher level and hopefully will in the winter transfer window.
Canada - Assist for Keane goal, Man of the Match.
Brazil - Ran Cafu raggid and Cafu actually got booked for one of his many fouls on him.
Czech Rep - Again one of our best players
Poland - probably our best player but nobody played their best football.
Romania - Good game
Jamaica - As above
Holland - The Dutch panel's man of the match
Bulgaria - Scored and Man of the Match
Cyprus - Scored and Man of the Match
Switzerland - poor game
France - Good game
Faroe's - No worse than anyone else.
fair enough...its the only match i've seen mahon play in, just impressed by the goal he scored, hopefully reid will become the superb player
In fairness eb, Jason Byrne absolutley ran the show for the 30 seconds he was on
Switzerland - poor game
France - Good game
Faroe's - No worse than anyone else.
its the last few competitive games i've been thinking of, friendly performances dont mean much, he was woeful against france, and he was woeful against faroes, alot worse than most
No he wasn't, he was very good and nearly scored.
so did john o'sea
i just think he's been too hit and miss, but hopefully, he'll lose all that weight liam brady has been harpering on about and be more consistent
Mahon: Skillful, tidy player who hasn't fulfilled his early potential. Was at Blackburn for part of last season and failed to make an impact. I reckon he's a very good lower league player but nothing special in a better league. Would love to be proved wrong though. One thing's for sure though, I'd put him ahead of McPhail!
In the "Delap" thread The Jamaican PM listed our top 5 central midfielders and I agree with his assessment.
You also have the likes of Miller, Carsley, Quinn, S. Reid etc. so Mahon is unlikely to figure. Potter is coming through the ranks, maybe Thornton will re-appear. That said, Jonathon Douglas got a call-up against Poland so don't rule anything out.
We've a lot of decent midfield options now. A far cry from 5 years ago when Kinsella won about 40 caps partnering RMK, almost unchallenged, and many of these were as a Div1 player with Charlton.
ah yeah, i wouldnt be saying throw him into the first team proper, give him a run-out, could be a useful back-up, he's older now, and my take the chance to play for ireland a bit better
I'd still like to see Stephen McPhail get a proper go of it. People still rave about him, one of our most skillful players, etc, etc, but I don't think I've ever seen him play a full match. He's meant to be one of the finest passers of a ball in English football but is stuck playing for Barnsley (I think). The beauty to Keane's beast, if you will? In football terms, of course.
From around 98-2000 he was a great player for us (Tranmere), had a great understanding with the strikers and played a huge part in the run to the League Cup final. Back in 2000, it was clear he was too good for an upper-mid table Div 1 side (as we were till around 99-2000) and it was generally thought we'd sell him 2-3 years down the line to decent Premier League team (eg the likes of Spurs, Villa, Charlton or Boro). However his contract was up, and he didnt reknew, a lot of the run of the mill Premier teams were interested in him. What put them off was the fact that his age meant they'd have to pay us compensation even though he was out of contract. Himself and his agent then came up with the brilliant plan of sending him to Sporting Lisbon for a year or so to evade the compensation fee - they alledgedly though of this after talking to Phil Babb who after being loaned to Tranmere from Liverpool was approached by Sproting Lisbon.
Mahon never settled in Portugal, I remember reading he suffered from Ian Rush syndrome (ie found that not too many spoke English and in general it was "like living in a foreign country"- incidently his wonderful agent was rumoured to have sent him on a beginners Spanish course). Either way he had a bit of a 'mare in Lisbon, most of the Premier League Clubs forgot about him and he ended up at Blackburn. I seem to remember him gettin an injury there, he was then at few Div 1 teams like Cardiff (if I remember correctly).
Overall, going on his performances in the late 90s, hes certainly a decent player with a fair bit of ability. Back then he was almost as good as Jason Koumas went on to be for the next year and bit at Tranmere. I dunno what he's been like in the past 3-4 years. I'd guess he'd be a similar player to Andy Reid, not as good perhaps on current form but maybe a bit quicker. He's still fairly young and if he has a decent couple of months with Wigan it might be worth putting him in the squad against the Portuguese in Feb (some irony there if he was to play the Portugese).
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