Unknown teenager in the squad

**beautifulrock** · 09/05/2006, 11:30 AM

Quote:
Originally Posted by beautifulrock
If it was the other way aroundand Dixon was called into the English squad we would be saying "hold on he has an Irish mother , he played underage and we still let him slip through the net". Well done Stan, maybe a bit ruthless but fair play.

If he was called into the England squad presumably it was because he wanted to play for England so pursuing him would be pointless

What do you mean by that?

**eirebhoy** · 09/05/2006, 11:53 AM

Originally Posted by beautifulrock

What do you mean by that?

At the end of the day it's up to the player. If he wants to play for England then let him. Judging by his quotes after scoring for the under 17s a couple of months ago, I doubt he'll be changing his mind any time soon.

"it's the best feeling when you put the green jersey on and its even better when you score"
"This was the biggest goal of my career"

**Stuttgart88** · 09/05/2006, 11:56 AM

Here's Staunton's explanation:

"He's a talent with very good ability and also highly thought of. I've been speaking with Se�n (McCaffrey) and Don (Givens) and I want to reward at least one player in each squad who they felt were progressing.

"The under-19s and under-21s have games but Dixon's done well for the under-17s - he is somebody who can play with his back to goal, he's very confident on the ball and he knows where the goal is.

"We'll take him along and show him what we're all about," he added. "If he progresses nicely we'll see the benefit in a couple of years."

and also:

"If they are good, they don't have to play for the U21s first, but I don't want to ruin their development.

Some players react differently when they skip a stage and then come back down. Between myself, Sean and Don we will do what is right for the kids."

So, taking this on face value, it appears that he's happy to get the U21s and U19s involved but as they both have important games for whom Dixon isn't going to figure he felt it'd be worthwhile bringing him along for the experience.

I don't see the problem with this attitude.

I know there are hardened cynics on this board (by their own admission) & I admit my initial reaction was that Staunton's probably just trying to nail him down to Ireland's cause. In fact I still think there's an element of that though I don't think he'd be so cynical as to cap him for 5 minutes.

But any refreshing positives we've seen so far from Staunton have either been a PR exercise (Dixon), a token gesture to the eL (Jason Byrne) or at its most extreme, rewarding so called "pimps" (Pat Devlin and the "B" squad).

Honestly, it's a bit like "The Life of Brian" sometimes: "Apart from making our best underage players welcome, listening to the opinions of the underage managers, talking up the domestic league, specifically stating they'll include domestic players in their plans & appointing a manager to oversee the monitoring of domestic players for the senior manager, selecting domestic players for squads and so on, just what HAS the Irish management done for the domestic game?"

**Paulie** · 09/05/2006, 12:12 PM

Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

But any refreshing positives we've seen so far from Staunton have either been a PR exercise (Dixon), a token gesture to the eL (Jason Byrne) or at its most extreme, rewarding so called "pimps" (Pat Devlin and the "B" squad).

Honestly, it's a bit like "The Life of Brian" sometimes: "Apart from making our best underage players welcome, listening to the opinions of the underage managers, talking up the domestic league, specifically stating they'll include domestic players in their plans & appointing a manager to oversee the monitoring of domestic players for the senior manager, selecting domestic players for squads and so on, just what HAS the Irish management done for the domestic game?"

Well said.

**Paulie** · 09/05/2006, 12:30 PM

Here's an article from The Independent on Dixon.

Schoolboy Dixon in dreamland after call-up
Tuesday May 9th 2006
ADVERTISEMENT

IF YOU'RE good enough, then you're old enough. That was Steve Staunton's message yesterday after the Ireland manager sensationally called up 16-year-old schoolboy Terry Dixon.

The cynics might argue that the teenager's inclusion in next week's training camp is pure opportunism given that he is being put under tremendous pressure to turn his back on Ireland and declare for England.

However, the reality is that the London-born 16-year-old is a red-hot prospect who is also coveted by England. And, if Sven Goran Eriksson can take 17-year-old Theo Walcott from Arsenal's reserves to the World Cup finals, then surely Steve Staunton can select a Spurs academy player in a 29-man training panel without being branded an opportunist.

If Dixon was to be capped on May 24 against Chile he would, at 16 years and 129 days, become the youngest footballer to play for Ireland in a senior international, beating Jimmy Holmes' 35-year-old record by a massive 436 days. That, however, is heading into the realms of fantasy football and Staunton has shown he is nothing if not a down to earth pragmatist.

He doesn't do fairytales and no one will play for his Ireland team unless they are good enough.

But he's seen and heard enough about Dixon to realise that he is a tremendous prospect and inviting him to rub shoulders with the likes of Robbie Keane, Damien Duff, Shay Given and John O'Shea will surely do the teenager the world of good. After that, the ball will be at Dixon's feet.

Dixon, an academy player at Tottenham who has yet to play a reserve game for Spurs, caught Staunton's eye in March when he came off the bench to score a dramatic injury-time equaliser for Ireland against Israel in a European U-17 Championship qualifier in Dublin.

Special talent

"I just felt he has got a special talent and, if he progresses nicely, we will see the benefit in a couple of years," said Staunton.

"He is a young lad with great potential and, while he has got a lot to learn, he can already play with his back to goal. He is very confident on the ball and he knows where the goal is. There's not too many of them around."

"I am stunned really," said Dixon, who does not turn 17 until next January. "Sean McCaffrey had said to me that there was going to be a 30-man squad named for a training camp and that I might be in it, but for it to actually happen - I'm over the moon."

Dixon qualifies to play for Ireland through his mother, Marion, who was born in Co Cavan and although he has lived all his life in London, the striker was keen to don the green jersey when U-16 manager Vincent Butler approached him to play after seeing him play for Tottenham Hotspur's youth team. It didn't take long for Dixon to make an impression, scoring a 30-yard piledriver on his debut against Sweden and his size and strength, not to mention his ability, prompted Sean McCaffrey to draft him into the U-17s a year early, where he has scored three goals in five internationals this term.

Staunton has established strong links with both McCaffrey and U21 boss Don Givens since taking over as Ireland boss and is well aware of the tug-o-war that has been going on over Dixon for the past few months between McCaffrey and England youth team boss Kenny Swain.

Allegiance

However, having watched the teenager celebrate his goal against Israel, the Ireland manager is in no doubt as to where the boy's allegiances lie and his desire to establishing a stronger link between the senior set-up and Ireland's under-age squads has now been brought to fruition.

"Terry is good enough to play for us and he wants to play for us and that's fine by me. At the end of the day, he can still change over before he is 21 but we saw his reaction after he scored for us," said the Irish boss.

Yesterday's news, though, has brought the links between the set-ups to a whole new level and McCaffrey was delighted to see the player called up.

"Terry has done brilliantly for us this season," said McCaffrey. "He has a terrific football brain and he has a great first touch. He can go past people and is a really good finisher."

Staunton is well aware that it's a long road to making it as a professional footballer, with plenty of pot-holes to be navigated by young players between the ages of 16 and 21.

When the Irish boss was a teenager he and a another young player, Mark Kelly, were invited to train with the Ireland squad before their departure to the 1988 European Championship finals.

Both made their debuts the following September but, while Staunton went on to play in three World Cup finals and win 102 caps, Kelly's career was dogged by injury and he played only four times for Ireland.

Keane and Duff by-passed the U21 team and Staunton is ready to fast-track more young players like Dixon into the senior squad when the opportunity arises.

"If they are good, they don't have to play for the U21s first, but I don't want to ruin their development.

"Some players react differently when they skip a stage and then come back down. Between myself, Sean and Don we will do what is right for the kids."

**The Legend** · 09/05/2006, 5:01 PM

ha.. "ruin their development" by having to be managed by Givens

**lopez** · 09/05/2006, 10:03 PM

Originally Posted by gustavo

If he was called into the England squad presumably it was because he wanted to play for England so pursuing him would be pointless.

Well he's been called into the Irish squad, so what's your problem?

**pete** · 10/05/2006, 9:32 AM

What next a 14 year old gets 2 minutes of international football to stop him decalring for another country?

**beautifulrock** · 10/05/2006, 10:44 AM

Sorry Pete but that is not this case, have a quick read of the indo today. I said it yesterday and I will say it again today after getting even more background that Stan has done very well here. It may not work out but if it does he deserves a clap on the back. Dixon's mammy is irish and we all know that Irish mammy's always get their way especially the North London ones : )

**Stuttgart88** · 10/05/2006, 10:45 AM

Reading today's Indo it seems Dixon's dad is chuffed to bits about his son playing for Ireland so maybe the assumed context of his dad wanting him to play for England is off the mark.

**tetsujin1979** · 10/05/2006, 12:30 PM

Seemed to me his dad was chuffed that he was playing football at all, after the serious injury he had. Whatever about him wanting him to play for England or not I didn't expect him to say something like "I really wish he had the 3 lions on his chest" in the indo!!

**livehead1** · 10/05/2006, 2:23 PM

i've just been on msn and had a brain wave....one of my mates from uni trains with spurs reserves when hes home, and he was on msn so i thought i would ask him about terry dixon. Here is the full conversation:

God Bless You Bobby Sands says:
gav your a spurs man
God Bless You Bobby Sands says:
tell me about terry dixon???
God Bless You Bobby Sands says:
who the feck is he
theo walcot was 11 when sven became england manager says:
mate massive surprise - i used to take him to spurs when he was younger
God Bless You Bobby Sands says:
is he has good as people are saying? there saying hes possibly the next wonderkid and has been called up to stop him choosing england later in life
theo walcot was 11 when sven became england manager says:
well when he was younger - 14 he was the best in the the country
God Bless You Bobby Sands says:
so is it possible that he could go on to be the next big star? i mean he hasnt even played for the reserves yet, when i saw his name on the squad list i was shocked but i've spoken to some people who saw him play for spurs under 18 and they said hes pure class
theo walcot was 11 when sven became england manager says:
bit rooney like mate - busserly
God Bless You Bobby Sands says:
potential to be as good?
theo walcot was 11 when sven became england manager says:
doubt it mate but you never no
God Bless You Bobby Sands says:
also, one last thing, does he consider himself irish or english?? or wat was he back then
theo walcot was 11 when sven became england manager says:
not aure really - ginger kid - looks irish
God Bless You Bobby Sands says:
lol o must b irish then!!!!
God Bless You Bobby Sands says:
just wondering why hes been called up

**as_i_say** · 10/05/2006, 2:26 PM

thats cleared that up!

**livehead1** · 10/05/2006, 2:28 PM

interesting to hear that he was "the best in the country at 14" must be a terrific talent.

**livehead1** · 10/05/2006, 2:29 PM

i wonder will terry himself come on here and give us a few words!! if i was a 16 year old just been called up to the irish squad, the first thing i would do when i got home was google me name and see what other people reckon.

**Paddy Ramone** · 10/05/2006, 2:46 PM

Originally Posted by lopez

Well he's been called into the Irish squad, so what's your problem?

You've got a chip on your shoulder about plastic paddys.

**lopez** · 10/05/2006, 9:55 PM

Originally Posted by Paddy Ramone

You've got a chip on your shoulder about plastic paddys.

I've got two: One on each shoulder.

**Cowboy** · 10/05/2006, 11:30 PM

Originally Posted by lopez

I've got two: One on each shoulder.

A well balanced individual, mi amigo

**NeilMcD** · 11/05/2006, 9:29 AM

I care cause I want ireland to do as well as it can. So you asked the question who cares and I put my hand up and say I care. Any other people care out there.