Notwithstanding the "what Kenny probably meant" explanation, it was still a deeply ambiguous and potentially self-defeating statement. If that's what he meant, he could have expanded and made the point a little bit more legible. But if that is what he meant, it's a fair point. Ronan is a bit of an enigma. He's generally impressed at the levels at which he's played which is weirdly eclectic (Championship, SPL, Slovakia, Swiss 2nd tier) and yet has never has a chance to prove he can perform at PL level. This is not a dissimilar career journey to Hoolahan. I guess PL managers(and our then international manager) looking at Wessi may have made a similar judgement - "technically gifted, but too small and lightweight for the physical demands of the highest level" - but they were kind of proved wrong in the end. We simply don't know whether he's good enough to play at PL or international level, but Kenny had a way to find out by picking him. It seems ludicrous to implicitly challenge his club to give him game time when he wasn't willing to that himself. But that's Kenny.
Bookmarks