Dave Kitson???

[robbie_B]

From teamalk.com

Kitson aiming for the top


Reading striker Dave Kitson has set his sights on emulating Andy Johnson and earning international recognition - possibly with the Republic of Ireland.

Johnson, like Kitson now, was a top Championship goalscorer last season, and has gone on to score 15 Premiership goals this term.

And Hitchin-born Kitson, who has an Irish grandfather, would like the chance to try his luck in the Premiership.

"Andy Johnson has proved what can be done. He was playing in our league only last year and if Reading go up who knows what could happen?" he told the Reading Evening Post.

"I haven't given playing internationals too much thought, but there's no point aiming low. You have to aim as high as you can and I would love to play at that level one day, but all I'm concentrating on at the moment is getting back playing and helping Reading to promotion.

"I would certainly speak to Ireland if they were interested as my grandfather on my dad's side is Irish," he added. "Had I been fit and scored 25 goals then maybe I would have got a phone call."

[gally]

Apart from the obvious, He's not Irish debate.

Has anyone actually seen this boy in the flesh, and is he any good..

I saw him live earlier this Season. It was apparent that he has a lot of ability and could do very well for us.

[1MickCollins]

Apart from the obvious, He's not Irish debate.

Has anyone actually seen this boy in the flesh, and is he any good..

I saw him live earlier this Season. It was apparent that he has a lot of ability and could do very well for us.

12 goals in 24 appearances but hasn't played in 2005 yet because of injury I think. Don't really know much about him but that is a good strke rate, he is also 25.

This board really is funny, one thread has Davros saying 'good riddance' to Roy Keane and another thread wondering about some English chap called David Kitson playing for Ireland, I do wonder sometimes.

[1MickCollins]

Yeah,but that's because RMK is a selfish arrogant pr*ck who is an embarassment to his country..........no reflection on Dave Kitson or anyone else is Eligible ,under the gnomes of UEFA/FIFA's rules.....

I'd rather have 11 people who want to play for the country,rather than one tw*t,who picks & chooses his games......& who always has & always will.Are we so stupid that some of us worship a 'pr*ck' who's continually taken the p*ss out of his national side?

I also do wonder.....

I think that is a pretty twisted perception of RMK, but this is foot.ie which welcomes everyone to 'talk balls'

[Éanna]

I've seen glimpses of him on Sky and on the Nationwide highlights programme, when he was with Cambridge (I think its the same fella) and he looked handy enough. Only thing is, scoring goals in Division one is one thing, but international is abig step up- morrison is proof of that, as is Connolly.

as for the whole "irishness" debate: IMO, players should nail their colours to the mast from the start, none of this "If i got a phone call I'd talk to them ********." You either want to play for your country or you don't. And at his age, you surely know whether you're Irish/english/whatever

[tricky_colour]

It is not always so easy for a player to 'know' which nationality
they are.

What if you have grandparents who are, English, Irish, Scotish and Welsh?

Or like me with two Irish parents and 4 irish grandparents but born in England?

Or the reverse situation?

For me the biggest indicator of nationality is 'blood' as that determines your
genetic make-up.

However if you trace the blood line back far enough I believe we are all
African (should be a good team).

I am not keen [no pun intended] on the idea that a player should choose
Ireland because he thinks he is not good enough for England though (which
is pretty dumb thinking anyway).

His profile on the Reading site is quite a good read. (listed as English)

http://www.readingfc.premiumtv.co.uk...~11789,00.html

He didn't pay football at all from the ages of 17-20 and he seems to
have a lot of potential, he is also 6'3" and pretty skillful with his feet
too. He has come a long way considering he was only started playing for a pub team at 20.

[1MickCollins]

The one thing on which I think we can agree is,he'll always provoke an opinion.

To be honest I tend to ignore all the off-field remarks and comments by players, just like I ignore what pop singers have to say about human rights etc. Frankly I think Roy Keane, Shay Given et al should shut up.

[Pablo]

Yeah,but that's because RMK is a selfish arrogant pr*ck who is an embarassment to his country..........no reflection on Dave Kitson or anyone else is Eligible ,under the gnomes of UEFA/FIFA's rules.....

I'd rather have 11 people who want to play for the country,rather than one tw*t,who picks & chooses his games......& who always has & always will.Are we so stupid that some of us worship a 'pr*ck' who's continually taken the p*ss out of his national side?

I also do wonder.....

no difference between him and Morrison. anyone thinks they can play for us now

[1MickCollins]

no difference between him and Morrison. anyone thinks they can play for us now

Well Morrison did play for us at U-21 level, after trying hard to get an England call-up.

[Closed Account 2]

tbh, im not sure we need him too much. We've got a few pretty decent young strikers (Robbie, Clinton, the new lad Elliott, Maken (still not sure of his quality myself yet) even McGeady could play as a striker). Alan Lee is still quite young too. The thing I would say about Kitson is if he is a target man it could be worth giving him a go. Most of our current strikers are short, quick players. By and large this is fine, I'm all for pretty footie; but when you have such large pools of subs at these international tournaments I always think its a good idea to have the option of putting on a tall lad to try and change the game. We saw Quinny's tallness upset upset the Spanish center backs (Hierro was it?) in 2002, and if we were down vs a team with defenders who were unconvincing in the air it would be a bonus to have a target man on the bench. At the moment for this we've got Lee (saw him hold up the ball well against the Dutch) and at an extreme push the Doc (remember he got 6 last campaign). Ive not seen much of Kitson, but at 6' 3" he could provide an option.

The positions where we really need decent young players to come thru are central defence (cover) and defensive midfield. In the next 3 or so years we'll see Roy Keane, Kav, Breeny and Cunningham go and maybe Holland too. Looking at who was in the squad last time (Portugal at home), we've got Dunne, O'Brien, O'Shea and the Doc as possible central defenders. But I'd still like us to have a decent young player, with pace regularly playing in central defence for his club. Defensive Mid is looking very bare in terms of youth at the moment. I know Kilbane's played a more holding role for us recently, but I think that only works if he has another quality defensive minded player with him. The only recognisable young defensive midfielder last week was Liam Miller. Sadly he doesnt seem to be progressing the way we hoped, which is a big worry as we dont have young players in that position. I know there is talk of the lad at Sheff. Wednesday, but we need someone to come thru in a big way by 2006. The only other options I can think of are playing O'Shea there (not tested and we dont want to force him to play in another new position really) and maybe playing Steven Reid in the center (again completely untested and not his ideal position, and doubts over his ability)... I've even though we could try Ian Harte in defensive mid, but I dont think that's realistic even if it would be good for set plays.

[Colm]

I'd treat him with the same distain that I treat Morrisson and Maken. They either want to play for us in the first place or they don't.

[robbie_B]

To be fair to Kitson,he is only making it public that he does qualify for us. He stopped playing football for a while and as he wasn't born in Ireland or involved in any youth games the FAI wouldn't know if he qualifies to play for us. I think he a decent player, I have seen him play a few times and he always causes problems and gets his fair share of goals. Certainlya better option than Macken!!!

[Zidane]

I think we need to keep our options open. Next year if we make the World Cup we may have a problem with strikers ( out of form or injured). I was all on for giving Macken a try, but at the moment he looks out of sorts.

Recently we have had a few people state that they wanted to play for Ireland for all the wrong reasons i.e. Knight, Whelan, Gallen and Nolan. However this guy is just stating that he can play for Ireland and he would like to play International football.

Keep him on the radar screens.

[Eirambler]

He might be worth a look, but i dont think you can ever really tell whether a striker is good enough of not until he's played Premiership.

Of course if he gets into the Premiership and does well, England might pick him, like say Andy Johnson. So I suppose its better to have a look now while hes willing and available.

[razor]

If he is good enough and is eligible then Kerr will know about him.
Lets leave it to Brian.

[robbie_B]

Reading striker rules out Irish move


February 26, 2005

Reading striker Dave Kitson, who qualifies for Ireland through Uefa’s parentage rule, has ruled out throwing in his lot with Brian Kerr’s Republic of Ireland – because he doesn’t consider himself Irish.

The 13-goal forward had emerged as a possible recruit to Brian Kerr’s squad by dint of his Irish-born grandfather.

However, the former Cambridge United man says he never knew his grandfather, and that making a decision to play for Ireland would go against all his patriotic tendencies.

He said: “I’ve known for a couple of years that I was eligible to play for Ireland through my grandfather ... but I never knew my grandfather and I don’t feel Irish.”

[Éanna]

“I’ve known for a couple of years that I was eligible to play for Ireland through my grandfather ... but I never knew my grandfather and I don’t feel Irish.”

Glad to hear somebody thinks the same way as myself. Fair play to the guy

[robbie_B]

I agree. At least he will not be jumping on the bandwagon of some players who opted for Ireland just to get an international career. Mackne, Morrison etc.