John Joe Patrick Finn M Reims b.2003

**Razors left peg** · 28/01/2021, 11:27 PM

Originally Posted by ColourfulPeanut

They mention him being eligible for England as well. First I've heard of that. Must be a granny on his late father's side maybe?

Yeah that seems to have taken everyone by surprise. He is a perfect example of why nationality is not always as simple as some people would like to think. Children of immigrants have big choices to make, and as long as they are honest about it there is no issue. It gets messy when someone acts like Grealish or Rice.

I'll be delighted if he choses to play for us and is all in, if he feels more Spanish that is totally understandable, or if he makes a "career" decision to play for England thats ok too as long as he is upfront about it from the beginning.

**Ol� Ol�** · 29/01/2021, 6:27 AM

Originally Posted by ColourfulPeanut

They mention him being eligible for England as well. First I've heard of that. Must be a granny on his late father's side maybe?

Or maybe his father or mother were born there. Ryan Johansson, for example, also qualified for England as his mother was born there before.moving back to Ireland.

Hopefully someone also put a call in with his family in Mayo. Would be great if they could help coax him our direction.

**Deckydee** · 19/03/2021, 10:08 AM

On the �ire Guide FB =>

Reports suggest that 17-year-old striker John Joe Patrick Finn of Getafe has declared for Ireland. Great news and only an injury has kept him out of being named in the Irish U21s.

**Diggs246** · 19/03/2021, 10:11 AM

Amazing news. Can we get further confirmation

**Exgrad** · 19/03/2021, 10:32 AM

Originally Posted by Diggs246

Amazing news. Can we get further confirmation

From the horses mouth, Jim Crawford at this zoom conference this morning, Finn would have been in the u21 squad only he is injured. This could be great news and a credit to Kenny, Crawford and the rest for getting him on board. Obviously a path way has been laid our for him and he's bought into it.

**Diggs246** · 19/03/2021, 11:27 AM

Originally Posted by Exgrad

From the horses mouth, Jim Crawford at this zoom conference this morning, Finn would have been in the u21 squad only he is injured. This could be great news and a credit to Kenny, Crawford and the rest for getting him on board. Obviously a path way has been laid our for him and he's bought into it.

That's great stuff! He would nearly be in the senior squad if he is playing in la Liga ( I always jump the gun tbf)

**Ol� Ol�** · 19/03/2021, 11:56 AM

https://www.the42.ie/la-liga-teenage...86137-Mar2021/

“I’ve been speaking to John-Joe and his mother numerous times and he certainly wants to play for the Republic of Ireland,” Crawford said during a press conference today.
“Unfortunately, he picked up an injury a couple of days ago and is out for 10 or 12 days. That’s a little bit of disappointment for us and John-Joe.
“But the most important thing is that John-Joe gets himself fit and back playing again. We had a lot of conversations over the last number of weeks and they’ve all been positive.
“I’ve no doubt for the next window, if everything is fine, we’ll have John-Joe onboard.”

**Ol� Ol�** · 19/03/2021, 11:56 AM

https://www.the42.ie/la-liga-teenage...86137-Mar2021/

“I’ve been speaking to John-Joe and his mother numerous times and he certainly wants to play for the Republic of Ireland,” Crawford said during a press conference today.
“Unfortunately, he picked up an injury a couple of days ago and is out for 10 or 12 days. That’s a little bit of disappointment for us and John-Joe.
“But the most important thing is that John-Joe gets himself fit and back playing again. We had a lot of conversations over the last number of weeks and they’ve all been positive.
“I’ve no doubt for the next window, if everything is fine, we’ll have John-Joe onboard.”

**Diggs246** · 19/03/2021, 12:02 PM

If your name is John joe it should be illegal to play for any other country

**SkStu** · 19/03/2021, 12:21 PM

Originally Posted by Ol� Ol�

https://www.the42.ie/la-liga-teenage...86137-Mar2021/

“I’ve been speaking to John-Joe and his mother numerous times and he certainly wants to play for the Republic of Ireland,” Crawford said during a press conference today.
“Unfortunately, he picked up an injury a couple of days ago and is out for 10 or 12 days. That’s a little bit of disappointment for us and John-Joe.
“But the most important thing is that John-Joe gets himself fit and back playing again. We had a lot of conversations over the last number of weeks and they’ve all been positive.
“I’ve no doubt for the next window, if everything is fine, we’ll have John-Joe onboard.”

That really is a fantastic bit of news by all accounts!

**Diggs246** · 19/03/2021, 12:37 PM

The sad thing is we now have to competitively cap him 4 times before we can relax. ( terrible rule )

**Exgrad** · 19/03/2021, 12:38 PM

Originally Posted by Razors left peg

https://twitter.com/noriordan/status...539064834?s=20

Kenny says he has made an approach to him. They did a presentation to him and his mother and are waiting for him to make a decision.

My personal opinion is that this seems to be a proper professional approach that wouldnt have happened with previous managers. We are all aware how little communication previous managers seem to have with prospective players. The ball is in Finns court now and if he choses not to play for us thats fine, but at least we know we went about it the right way.

A lesson in how to engage with a multi qualified young player, and how important to have the senior manager involved (just like England did with Rice and Grealish). There's no doubt previous managers felt it was beneath them, and grudgingly went along with it when media pressure was cranked up. This will be more and more important as time goes on. Add to this the fact Okoflex and Odebeko have been brought back into the fold. I don't know if Kenny will make a success of the Ireland managers job but he's bringing an approach that should be engrained into the set up, in terms of the professionalism and modern approach to situations like this.

**Diggs246** · 19/03/2021, 12:39 PM

Sorry no need to be negative. This is much needed great news

**Ol� Ol�** · 19/03/2021, 12:42 PM

Originally Posted by SkStu

That really is a fantastic bit of news by all accounts!

It is great. He obviously had opportunities with other national sides but given that neither of his parents are Spanish and given the strength of the Spanish underage squads, we always were in with a shout. Jon Walters often speaks about his pride in representing the country of his mother's birth given that she died at a young age - like John Joe's father. It's a great story- And there will be plenty in Mayo that will let you know that if he does make it to the senior squad!

**jbyrne** · 19/03/2021, 12:43 PM

Originally Posted by Exgrad

A lesson in how to engage with a multi qualified young player, and how important to have the senior manager involved (just like England did with Rice and Grealish). There's no doubt previous managers felt it was beneath them, and grudgingly went along with it when media pressure was cranked up. This will be more and more important as time goes on. Add to this the fact Okoflex and Odebeko have been brought back into the fold. I don't know if Kenny will make a success of the Ireland managers job but he's bringing an approach that should be engrained into the set up, in terms of the professionalism and modern approach to situations like this.

declan rice was in a number of our senior squads..... cant get much better engagement than that really.
grealish also played for a number of our underage squads and I am sure there was engagement with senior squad staff at the time as a result. just because it didn't hit the headlines doesnt mean it didnt happen...

**Exgrad** · 19/03/2021, 12:55 PM

Originally Posted by jbyrne

declan rice was in a number of our senior squads..... cant get much better engagement than that really.
grealish also played for a number of our underage squads and I am sure there was engagement with senior squad staff at the time as a result. just because it didn't hit the headlines doesnt mean it didnt happen...

Yeah, the problem was Rice was in the senior squad and the engagement may have been what put him off...as for Grealish, who knows, just that whatever the approach was it didn't work. Thankfully that seems to be in the past now.

**pineapple stu** · 19/03/2021, 1:23 PM

It's probably easier for Finn to commit to a call-up given how far away he is from being tied down to us. There's going to be more testing of waters and people jumping ship in future I think. And the way the rules have evolved makes sense in fairness.

So yeah, this is good news, but until he (a) is a decent player and (b) is tied down to us, I don't think it's a huge development as yet.

**elatedscum** · 19/03/2021, 2:08 PM

It feels very unusual that there are 3 very talented young irish players born in Spain coming through right now (John Joe Patrick Finn, Anselmo Garcia McNulty, Caden McLoughlin).

Can�t imagine there�s been another country outside Britain where we�ve had multiple players. Obviously, right now or recently, there are examples of lads born in Germany, France, USA, Australia, Belgium, Luxembourg but generally just one lad in a generation. Unusual anyway...