I read in a weekend newspaper that Colin Healy is fit and ready for pre-season training. I hope it comes good for him. I was impressed by him when I seen him play for Ireland, allthough i won't place too much faith in that as i was just as impressed by Alan Quinn against Holland....
I was impressed by Alan Quinn too!
Great news about Healy.
Healy looked a really good prospect a couple of seasons ago. When he was in the team he looked a far better player than the likes of Holland, Kinsella and Carsely. Hopefully he will deliver on his potential.
I dont know how he dint start at Celtic but thats long gone lets just hope he recovers fuly and wins his place back and plays regularly.Who took his place?
Central midfield was Jeff Whitley (who's gone now). Also Whitelock?
I think the reason he didn't get his game at Celtic was because of some off-field related stuff. He & Bobby Petta were given de facto season long bans by O'Neill. Apparently he had some unsavoury "friends". Does anyone remember how well Healy did at left-back in the 2001 Scottish League Cup Final?
Something similar seems to have happened to Stephen Pearson (or maybe he's just been dropped).
His injury seems similar to Larsson & Cisse's, though the fact that it broke a second time is a worry. Fingers crossed.
He wasn't good enough to win a place in the Celtic team. He was there during the time of a younger Lambert and Lennon. He usually got a run out in the League Cup though. Think I remember him scoring against Hearts. He never looked that great at Celtic. Seemed to have a good engine and desire but looked a bit aimless and out of sorts. I hope he comes back to fulfill some of his potential as he did come highly rated as a young lad over from Cork and seemed to play better for Ireland than he did at Celtic.
Weren't he & Petta left out of absolutely everything for the best part of a year? Petta had impressed the previous season & neither even made the bench for Cup games. That's my recollection anyway. Not making the first team is one thing, but not making any squad at all suggested something was up. I heard several rumours explaining the situation.Originally Posted by Poor Student
I'd heard some rumours about him and Boby Petta alright, but nothing concrete.
He got into the Ireland team on the back of some fantastic perfomances for Coventry while out on loan, got MOTM in his first game if i remember correctly.
I did have high hopes for him, but he did have a tendancy to disappear during the game as well. All will be revealed in the new season.
Won't Miller from Ipswich replace Whitley??
Wasn't the situation at Celtic that Martin O'Neill had actually told him that he was in his plans but that he wasn't going to change a winning team? That's what I remember. A good player but one that could have used the last two years to work on areas he was lacking in, awareness, marking, things like that. His injuries were a real shame so hopefully he can get back into things.
Petta had a great first season and a half or so under O'Neill. He played great in Amsterdam against Ajax in a 3rd qualifier in 2001. He was even called into the Dutch squad but got bad injuries forcing him to widthdraw from the squad. He spent a long time injured and Alan Thompson secured the left wing berth. O'Neill then brought in Guppy which pushed Petta even further down the list and the emergence of Ross Wallace and signing of Pearson just sent him into obscurity. He seemed to lose confidence and form. Stories in the Daily Record seemed to indicate he had a massive porn addiction and his relationship (possibly marriage?) collapsed over it.
Petta has just been released by Darlington.
I thought you were off the drink Ronnie?
"No, I drink to help me mind my own business....can I get you one? (c) Ronnie Drew
I remember something like that but never ever ever ever believe anything out of that rag.
Petta, while outstanding in his first season flopped badly from there on in. He simply ran out of chances. His confidence was shot by the time he left but who knows what this was down to. Perhaps the fact that he realised he was sh!te maybe
I do know that after a while if Celtic fans seen his name on the team sheet there would be moans n groans. He seemed to forget that he was a winger and was supposed to take people onand every time he got the ball he either passed it back to the full back or gave it away.
Pearson so I've been told had a run in with O'Neill last season due to his nightlife. "Apparently" he was out on the p!ss 2 nights before a match at the start of the season and was caught out. After receiving a stern warning from O'Neill he then proceeded to make the same mistake 2 weeks later proving that despite all his talent, he had sawdust between his ears.
I hope he sorts himself out anyway whatever the true reason was because he was/is a great talent. Hopefully Strachan is prepared to give him a go.
It's going to be tough for him to get back to where he was but there are plenty of examples that he can follow, Lance Armstrong for one - the greatest athlete of all time? Hopefully he will have had time to mature and get a better perspective on life over the past 2 years that will help him, most footballers are remain teenagers. I hope he does well.
The roumers and speculation regarding what happened at Celtic aside. I'm a bit sceptical (Allthough hopeful) about his prospects.
At his age he's lost two of the most important years of his development.
Also considering the set up at Sunderland there's no real wealth of midfield experience for him to call on as reference. I hope they sign someone like say Flitcroft and let him act as his legs for a while and try learn from his game.
Essentially he's a player starting his career as it never really got going in the first place. He's like a young fawn released into the wild....
Henrik Larsson came back a better player from his leg break. He said he learned so much in the half year watching from the sidelines in spite of how annoying it was. Hopefully Healy has been studying the game in his lengthy absence as there were many mental aspects of his game like awareness and positioning that needed improvement.
True. And Keane said the same thing about when he was out long term. The thing is though that Larson and Keane were fully developed top class players in their own right when they got injured, so they had that as a foundation to add to their year of annalysis and reflection on the sideline. But Healy's career up to his injury was stop start at best.
Just checked google there and Healy is actually 25. Seems like half his career has been wasted. Still think the lad has bags of potential though, he certainly has a better chance of making an impact at international level than Miller.
centre midfield is dean whitehead and carl robinson ... might struggle to get either of them ousted cause both had a great season last year especially deano. ..and with tommy miller signing will be tough for those two spots ... healy is quality though and him coming back will be like a new signing ...
Well if there's any positive, at least it's not the same injury as before...
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