Stephen Ireland pulls out of squad

[Tis-smeee]

Have to say, everyone is a bit ott here, the guy has personal problems, he could have said he was injured, but he was honest, and in foot.ie worls honesty obviously doesnt pay, I say fair play to him. Come back when he feels he can do his best, was evryone having this reaction when Paddy Kenny asked not to be selected because of personal problems.

I should imagine alot of you are grown men(or big babies) and you would always want your children to tell the truth, so to slate him for telling the truth is unfair, the guy learned a harsh lesson lieing about his granny at a difficult time in his life and now that he tells the truth he gets slated, get down off the high horses lads

[Irish_Praha]

There's a statement on eleven-a-side from Stan and it eludes to Ireland getting some "treatment" soon, I'm not sure where their source is from though.
http://www.eleven-a-side.com/euro200...p?newsid=29575
Anyway, I assume this is professional help from a psychologist. As I said above, if it emerges that he has some kind of mental illness and it would have been detrimental to his "treatment "to spend so long away from his familiar sourroundings, then I think once he makes the effort to overcome his problem and appologises to the fans, the players and the management he should be given one more chance to come back into the fold. Of course the fella has to show that's what he wants and if he bottles it again then his chances of making another return should not be considered lightly.

[bellavistaman]

The stable enough comment from sven has me quite worried.

This is baffling i have to say.

[jbyrne]

initially i'm not impressed but theres probably something more behind this. we were all very forgiveing of paul mcgraths personal problems when he missed important matches so give the lad the benefit of the doubt for now until we know more

[citizenerased]

lads does anyone know if he actually made the trip to dublin and left or just stayed in manchester, as the squad met up yesterday..seems funny

[back of the net]

lads does anyone know if he actually made the trip to dublin and left or just stayed in manchester, as the squad met up yesterday..seems funny

i believe he is in manchester mate


i think every1 should lay off the guy until we know whats going on

i hope im wrong - but from the managers and sources comments are saying - it looks like the kid has issues - poor guy

hope he sorts whatever it is out soon and we see him back in a green jersey real soon

[Dun Laoire]

Not the end of the world lads. If he doesnt want to play he doesnt want to play. We're bigger than that to be hacking him with abuse. Just shrug it off and move one. Good luck Stephen Ireland it's been nice knowing ya

[DeNiro]

There's more to this I reckon. He only did an interview at the weekend in a paper saying how he wanted to get back, etc. He should have said then that he was getting treatment.

I get the suspicion of a row in the squad with this one. He might have gauged some reaction and thought better of it. Also, he knows that Staunton might get the heave after these games and is bowing out intermittently

[Marked Man]

All this 'he should never play for Ireland again' is a bit OTT. The lad is having a bad time, sure he's still playing for City but that's his job, that's what pays the bills etc. Maybe, just maybe he doesn't want to be away from his partner and kids for a week at this time. When he plays for City he goes home the same day, even if they are away from home chances are that he is home a couple of hours after the game, a week away is a whole different thing. Nobody knows what he is going through right now and if needs time to sort himself out then we as supporters should be able to give him that time, I for one would rather see him miss the remainder of this sorry campaign than not be available for the next one. Paddy Kenny had 'problems' not so long ago and he needed space to resolve his situation, He got it and he seems over his troubles OK he's not been back for us since but I don't see people giving him similar treatment. We have only got to look at the recent Rugby WC and the form of Ronan O'Gara to see what can happen to player when his mind is elswhere! Give the lad a break and he'll come good again for us.

Finally a sensible reaction.

[Colbert Report]

The treatment comment is very troubling. Maybe he has deeper problems than we think. Good luck to him anyway.

[Jerry The Saint]

The treatment comment is very troubling. Maybe he has deeper problems than we think. Good luck to him anyway.

It is worrying to hear but I wouldn't exactly take Staunton's comments as gospel. He said something similar about Paddy Kenny needing to get his head right when, in that case, it was really just an excuse to drop him from the squad.

“It’s just one of those things. We’ve named him in the squad and he doesn’t feel as if he was up for it. We’ve tried everything but, as I say, we have to respect his wishes.

“We tried to get to the bottom of it but it’s going to take time because he’s got issues. I think at this moment he feels safe in the Manchester environment and obviously his treatment is just around the corner, so that’s playing a vital part for him at this moment in time. For him to come away for ten days could be detrimental to himself.”

[onceahoop]

We need to get the full facts before we start jumping up and down. What's obvious is that he's a troubled soul who neds a bit of guidance and professional help to get himself sorted. He's still only a kid and some kids are more mature than others.

[Closed Account 2]

I heard he is suffering from very sever depression, and is still distraught from the loss of his kid. It's probably better he doesn't play in this match.

[shakermaker1982]

The lad sounds depressed and if he is struggling then keeping him away from his home in Manchester for over a week will only make him worse. He hasn't let anybody down. He's young and should be given a bit of time to recover. If he is as bad as Stan is making out then I doubt he'll be playing for Man City over the next few weeks.

[co. down green]

The lad sounds depressed and if he is struggling then keeping him away from his home in Manchester for over a week will only make him worse. He hasn't let anybody down. He's young and should be given a bit of time to recover. If he is as bad as Stan is making out then I doubt he'll be playing for Man City over the next few weeks.

Hopefully the kid gets himself sorted

[Tir Oilean]

Looking at it again if he is suffering depression after the recent loss which he most certainly is he shouldn't be playing with his club either. They'll still be payin him one way or the other.

[jebus]

Love the people that in one sentence criticise the posts that say he is a tosser on the grounds that we don't know him, and in the next make their own 'he's a poor lad with problems' personality calls

Anyway, coming from a non-international football fan I'd be up in arms if a Limerick, or Wednesday supporter pulled the kind of crap he is pulling at the moment and I'd never want them next or near the team ever again

[micls]

I've defended Ireland to the last over the granny incident but am disgusted by this.

If the lad is fit to play for his club, he is fit enough to play for his country.

[SuperDub]

The lad seems to have issues in his life that he needs to sort out and fine he should be given the privacy and space to do that. What worries me is if he comes back to the International stage at some time in the future can he be trusted not to do another disappearing act.

[Patrick Dunne]

I would find it very suprising that anyone who is suffering from severe
depression could play in a high intensity Premiership match in front of 40,000
people.