Alex Bruce (and other general debate)

**youngirish** · 25/05/2007, 9:16 AM

Originally Posted by kingdom hoop

I will. I take your opinion with a healthy, though unhealthy in health terms, ounce of salt.

Eirebhoy in fairness to him is a glass is half full type. He thinks all young Irish players are brilliant. We are the Brazil of the future in his eyes and for that you have to love him. MancIrishWolf is of the same ilk I reckon. While I admire their positivity we have to be honest and admit many young Irish players are just not going to be good enough to make decent Internationals. This is the way of the world. Of all the young Irish players being spouted around at the moment realistically I'd say less than 25% will turn out to be decent International players.

As to the poster above yeah I do go to a few matches (not Liverpool though) but I also have satellite TV and watch most matches on TV bar SPL and League 1 or below so I do see a lot of games. I'm also chief scout for Ajax Amsterdam,Barcelona and Arsenal as mentioned in an earlier post. So there smart ar*e.

**Stuttgart88** · 25/05/2007, 9:25 AM

Originally Posted by youngirish

We are the Brazil of the future in his eyes

Ahem, cough, splutter. Check out this thread title and who started it

http://foot.ie/showthread.php?t=57343&highlight=brazil

**youngirish** · 25/05/2007, 9:28 AM

Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

Ahem, cough, splutter. Check out this thread title and who started it

http://foot.ie/showthread.php?t=57343&highlight=brazil

It was tongue in cheek though. We do have an obscene amount of forwards and you'd expect a few to make the grade (even if it is only 20 -25% of those mentioned).

**Stuttgart88** · 25/05/2007, 9:29 AM

I think already MancIrishWolf has emerged as a poster of value to this site. If only a midfielder or left back would emerge from out of the blue in the same way. Like Crafty up at Leicester it's interesting to hear the views of someone who sees these guys first hand. So what if the glass is half full? Mine is always at least that when it comes to the emerging Irish. Keep it up man.

**eirebhoy** · 25/05/2007, 9:33 AM

Originally Posted by kingdom hoop

I will. I take your opinion with a healthy, though unhealthy in health terms, ounce of salt.

That's fair enough.

What I meant though was the 4 players he mentioned were a bit odd. I wouldn't mind if part of his reasoning was the fact that I rated Richie Partridge so highly.

At least that one's proven badly wrong.

**Four Eyes** · 25/05/2007, 9:48 AM

Originally Posted by youngirish

Just to summarise can we all agree Alex Bruce is pants though?

Agreed

**Manc Irish Wolf** · 25/05/2007, 10:18 AM

Cheers Stuttgart - on a personal note, i'm a big fan of your work also - inspirational stuff.

YoungIrish - I appreciate what you are saying, however to me a glass half full mentality is better than a glass half empty, especially where young talent is concerned. All young kids need a chance to develop and I just find it difficult to be so cynical of players at such a young age. Many players mature at a later age and if we all adopted a similar black and white stance at such an early age, we would never have seen players like Houghton, Aldridge, Ferdinand, Wright and Sheringham grace the highest level. I'm not saying that all these kids are going to make it, however deserve a chance and as long as they are wearing a green shirt and trying wholeheartedly they will get my full support.

**youngirish** · 25/05/2007, 11:31 AM

Originally Posted by Manc Irish Wolf

Cheers Stuttgart - on a personal note, i'm a big fan of your work also - inspirational stuff.

I love yis all. Yous are all great people, each special in their own way.

**geysir** · 25/05/2007, 12:01 PM

Apart from McGeady (the pet) I havent noticed anything other than decent unbiased analysis from Eirebhoy on the "starlets".
It's understood that anything can happen at anytime to negate a footballers progress, self inflicted or other.

**Wolfie** · 25/05/2007, 12:38 PM

A few comedy gold moments on this thread folks - (intended or not!!).

A lot of the banter is aimed at each other as opposed to the usual collective vent towards Stan.

Dare I say it - Is Stan finally gaining a semblance of acceptance?

**eirebhoy** · 25/05/2007, 12:59 PM

Originally Posted by geysir

Apart from McGeady (the pet) I havent noticed anything other than decent unbiased analysis from Eirebhoy on the "starlets".

To be honest my analysis of McGeady is no different to what I say on Celtic forums. I don't think I'm biased at all towards him. Shaun Maloney who recently joined Villa is twice the player.

**republicofwhite** · 25/05/2007, 1:02 PM

youngirish's brand of pessimissm is now familiar territory... But I'll never agree with such a perjorative outlook on the players we produce. I'd proclaim to be of the same ilk as manc irish wolf, eirebhoy et al. Why not be positive about the players we produce? We are obviously a small nation with small resources, and we will never be world beaters. The game isn't even our national sport. I think it is an incredible achievement for any indigenous Irishman to make it in the Premiership. Therefore its completely unreasonable to expect players with world beating flair to roll off a production line...There's a growing trend of Irish people being really into the Premiership, La Liga and Serie A whilst simultaneously viewing Irish football with disdain just because they think the quality is crap. I just don't get that, there's no patriotism or pride in such a view. Youngirish may subscribe to this theory and claim to be "realistic" by thinking Irish players will never rise above a certain level of mediocrity, but I say we should be proud of what we produce, and rate players by our own standards that we have and know, not by comparing them to benchmark setters such Brazil, Argentina, Spain, France et al. Thats ridiculous. English people or Europeans may not rate Kevin Doyle in comparison with the likes of the top strikers in their respective leagues, but as an Irishman, and by our own Irish standards,I think he's the best thing to happen Irish football in a while. Thats what I call being realistic.

**youngirish** · 25/05/2007, 1:30 PM

Originally Posted by eirebhoy

To be honest my analysis of McGeady is no different to what I say on Celtic forums. I don't think I'm biased at all towards him. Shaun Maloney who recently joined Villa is twice the player.

And in fairness Eirebhoy he's no shining light in the Premiership.

I'm not always negative I think a few of our young players are very good or at least have the potential to be very good - e.g. Garvan, S Quinn, Long, J O'Brien, Ireland, Supple, Colin Doyle, McShane, St Ledger, even Stokes (though why he's hyped up so much compared to the others I still don't know) to name a few. While there's others that I just don't see turning into top players.

**eirebhoy** · 25/05/2007, 1:35 PM

Originally Posted by youngirish

And in fairness Eirebhoy he's no shining light in the Premiership.

Oh mark my words mate.

**Stuttgart88** · 25/05/2007, 1:52 PM

In fairness to youngirish he's clearly just as keen as the rest of us to see the young Irish do well, and he's as well informed as anyone when it comes to who's worth keeping an eye on. My only observation is that everything seems very digital - it's either 1 or 0. There is a middle ground in most cases.

**geysir** · 25/05/2007, 2:47 PM

I'm not always negative

YoungIrish, we hear you.

**paul_oshea** · 25/05/2007, 3:14 PM

Is everyone that contributed ( bar myself and possibly wolfie ) on page 5 of this thread pregnant? If not, you are all very hormonal today, there is a lot of heterosexual homosexual loving going on here.

I find myself between youngirish and eirebhoy, and nothing to do with the last paragraph, but in terms of where I ( cant use that word either ) sit. If I was talking to a person who supports united or liverpool from home i would try and beef up the EL ( even though i know fcuk all about it ), likewise when the EL lads start chatting sh1te I try to bring them down to a realistic level also. So when it comes to young players I try and not be as abjective as others, but at the same time hold out cautious hope, because for so long now we have expected so much from so many, yet so few have produced.

I do have to say though EB is a great source of information and very knowledgeable, but I find he has a certain degree of blind optimism or at least green spectacle glasses. Its certainly a pinch of salt for me

**eirebhoy** · 25/05/2007, 3:23 PM

If the "pinch of salt" comment has to do with my blind optimism then that's fair enough, it's cleared that up.

I also don't think I know anywhere near as much as some on here and wouldn't watch as much English football as a lot. I'd still disagree though that I'm over optimistic when it comes to our players. I just tend to ignore the players that I don't rate.

I do think we've the best set of players since the Charlton era though. 2 players that I probably do talk up too much are Stokes and McShane but I really believe they both could be top class. We'll have to see.

**Billsthoughts** · 25/05/2007, 3:40 PM

Originally Posted by paul_oshea

I find myself between youngirish and eirebhoy,

living the dream....

**paul_oshea** · 25/05/2007, 3:42 PM

yes it was in relation to that and also kingdoms ounce of salt post. Mcshane does look the part but I am still wary of lapses of concentration his part. Stokes bar the goals for falkirk hasnt done a great deal and none of them were against the bigger sides, though I have heard good things from people over here about him that used to go out to barnet to see the young lads play. In general though EB, you have a tendency to say a player has played great or is great for Ireland, when personally I can only see averageness, though I do notice when I am watching a team full of foreigners and one or 2 Irish that I have a tendency to just focus on him ( almost like player cam ) and pick out every single good thing he does. I think that is how you look at some Irish players when playing for Ireland also ( and thats most of what you see

)- the ones that you rate