Drawing inspiration from a couple of articles i read recently about Mark Noble hanging up his boots and his relationship to an Ireland call-up, it got me thinking... who are the ones that got away? The multi-eligible players that would have changed us at whatever moment in time that was... there's a long list to choose from, no doubt, but lets hear your top 3 and why... (and drawing inspiration from my exchange with OTOH re Robbie Keane in another thread, rank them- who is the number one that got away?)
1. Trevor Sinclair: dynamic playing off the left or right wing and one of those flair players who also played for the team. Scorer of one of the best goals ive ever seen, that overhead kick from a million yards out in the FA Cup. Would have shored up a problem position for us from the end of Jacks reign right through to the WC02 where he represented England. Wanted to play for us too but rules at the time prevented a switch. Mum was from Sligo.
2. Jack Grealish: this one hurts because of the impact he would be making over the last 3-4 years for us. A game changer. Agonisingly close, this one hurt because he was so close to his Irish family and i thought he was a sure fire thing. His departure didnt bristle as much as the bould Declan's though (*spits*).
3. Martin Keown: one of the rocks that the Arsenal defence was built on and would have hit his peak when perhaps our defence under Jack was beginning to look way too slow. Winners mentality too. Irish mother (Wicklow, i thin) and nordy father (Fermanagh). WTF. *spits*
Theres a whole bunch of others who could make it too depending on how close they were or how closely connected... ive tried to pick those that were fairly well connected and close but feel free to add whoever you want
Harry Kane, has to be up there, especially when he actually played underage for us
Paul Scholes. Imagine having him and Roy Keane running the midfield together.
https://kesslereffect.bandcamp.com/album/kepler - New music. It's not that bad.
Did Kane play underage for us? Wiki doesn't agree.Originally Posted by Razors left peg
I'd lump Steve Bruce in with Martin Keown; Bruce turned us down because of the three-foreigner rule in Europe and the impact it would have on Man United. (Remember them playing their sub keeper in Barcelona and losing 4-0?)
Though in fairness we were never short of centre-backs. An attacking loss like Grealish is a bigger blow. (Scholes I think was never going to play for Ireland, so he doesn't feel like "one who got away")
Hopefully we don't have to revisit this thread in the coming days to add Obafemi to it...
Steven Gerrard is the one if you’re talking anyone eligible.
In terms of proximity, it’s probably Declan Rice. Martin O’Neill just needed to use him against Moldova. Was an easy call up and cap.
Other names that come to mind: Pat Bamford, Wayne Rooney, James Milner, Reece James, Barry Kane, Gary Cahill, Andy Robertson
Future ones may perhaps be: Liam Delap, Louie Barry, Conor Bradley
Gazza!
21 leagues and 25 cups.
I didnt know that Reece James was eligible actually! And your reference to Gary Cahill reminds me of Tim Cahill. Another dynamic player (box to box midfielder and/or striker) that the team would have really benefitted from at the time. Paddy Bamford is a good call.
I also think P-Stu hits the nail on the head... people rightfully tout the likes of Scholes and Kane but they never really felt connected. There was never really a whole lot of dialogue about the possibility (before or after) like with some of the others...
I suppose given Will Keane actually is playing for us, surely Michael has to count!
Played for us at 17s and 19s.
Im pretty sure I seen a picture of him recently in an Ireland jersey from u15s or something, was in the last week or 2.... or I dreamed it!!!
my memory is, there was an article in the athletic - a long piece (maybe towards the end of the 19/20 season). Could be his mother is irish, can’t remember exactly. It also mentioned his sister was playing for Man Utd and was a former youth England player.
Jude Bellingham’s eligible through grandparents. His father is English born but considers himself Irish - i suspect he’ll be another good one.
Ethan Ampadu is another one. His father Kwame was an ireland u21 and Liam Brady has talked about the FAI being slow to try bring Ethan into the fold.
Kalvin Phillips was reportedly ready to accept an irish call up and there was communication through the 19/20 season between the fai and his agent and family when Leeds were in the championship. He’d never been capped at any underage level by England.
Southgate got wind of it and called him up, before he’d made his premier league debut, despite saying the championship wasn’t a good enough level to be in the England squad less than a year earlier when explaining his decision not to pick Jack Grealish.
James Maddison was also ireland eligible, good creative footballer. Would probably be our best player. Was similarly allegedly considering a switch before Southgate called him up
Andy Robertson and John McGinn were eligible too. But I'm not sure how many of these players really did get away. Just because they were maybe eligible doesn't mean they ever had any real interest in playing for us. It's like saying Gavin Bazunu is one that got away for Nigeria, but he isn't really because he's Irish.
The Grealish family, for what it's worth, were clear from the start that he was only with Ireland "at the moment". And Maddison and Phillips clearly used it to engineer England caps to push up their own values in club contract negotiations. I wouldn't be at all surprised if it had turned out neither was eligible when it came down to it.
Southgate believes in closing the gate before the player bolts.
Southgate is constantly capping dual eligible players as soon he can. Some Irish fans look down on the it when we do it, but it's definitely something we should do when possible. They learned their lesson with Zaha. Tomori, Guehi and Maddison all on 1 or 2 caps now. Rumblings they're losing Nketiah now as well, wouldn't be surprised to see him get a call up this month.
Darren Fletcher has an Irish mother and there was talk of Keane influencing him and his declaring for for us before he was capped by Scotland. What an addition he would have been.
Ampadu seems like a pretty glaring failure on behalf of the FAI; no world-beater but just the kind of cultured defensive midfielder we are crying out for.
I agree that Conor Bradley is one we could come to rue missing out on. From a Tyrone Nationalist background and played GAA growing up.
england have the luxury of being able to do so when they are 5 nil up against latvia. we rarely have such a luxury.
caps shouldn't be given out so cheaply anyway
Wales are in the similar position as us and they manage to blood their dual eligible young players very easily and avoid the nonsense. Not saying throw on 15 year olds for 2mins in a play-off match, but there's an acceptable middle ground to accelerate dual national players through the system.
Look at Brennan Johnson. They capped him at 19 in a Nations League game and any debate was instantly killed, even though he's a serious prospect.
i don't think its nonsense. they either want to play for us or they don't. if they want to then they will wait until the cap is fully merited. simple as that with me
Martin Keown and Steve Bruce were ones we were unlucky not to get
Keown didn't think he would play as we had superb players at the time and Bruce played an England B game and was deemed ineligible
I think it's probably a lot more complicated than that. Sometimes it's a lot easier for a younger player to be committed to playing for us and to be happy to be capped. As they get a bit older and hype grows and agents and management teams start getting in their ears, that's when the doubts and the danger of holding out for a more high profile country comes into it. I think both Grealish and Rice were more than happy to play for us and if they had gotten the full caps when the opportunity was there I expect they'd have been happy to take them and wouldn't have any regrets. We waited a bit too long, the agents got to them and they held out for the earnings boost from an England cap.
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