Stephen Ireland

[tommy_c12000]

Another exquisite finish. He's really rubbing his talent in all our faces!

[carloz]

I seriosly think there is a possiblity of getting him back in the squad of Trap, Brady and co put a little bit more effort in. His comments today again proved to me anyhow that he wont return because of embarressment over what happened with grannygate. Stephen Ireland isn't a bad guy and im sure deep down he does want to play for us. He has to be in the top 5 players of the year in the premiership so far and it actually hurts to see him play so well when we cant see him in an Irish shirt for no good reason

[Maroon 7]

I seriosly think there is a possiblity of getting him back in the squad of Trap, Brady and co put a little bit more effort in. His comments today again proved to me anyhow that he wont return because of embarressment over what happened with grannygate. Stephen Ireland isn't a bad guy and im sure deep down he does want to play for us. He has to be in the top 5 players of the year in the premiership so far and it actually hurts to see him play so well when we cant see him in an Irish shirt for no good reason

It's up to himself. He shouldn't have to be begged.

[carloz]

It's up to himself. He shouldn't have to be begged.

Going by his comments today though, i doubt he thinks he did anything wrong. If its left up to him he might not be coming home any time soon.

[gustavo]

Then so be it

[tricky_colour]

Jesus tap dancing christ not another Daddy Dick thread, seriously Ciaran your obsession with the guy is starting to freak me out, did this really deserve a new thread isn't there already 2 or 3 threads devoted to him?

When you start a new thread it has a title so you can see what is about so you have an idea of whether you want to read it or not, without
actually having to open the thread and read it.

For example, most people won't have wanted to read the crap I have just posted in the thread, however as it is, they don't really have much choice do they?

They don't know it contains nothing about Stephen Ireland untill they get to this full stop --------------->.


Or maybe this one --------------------->.

[tommy_c12000]

I reckon he will ultimately come back to the fold but I'm not sure when. There has been a marked change in him in recent times - along with developing as a footballer he also has appeared to have matured as a human being. In the past there was a definite sense of mentally unstability about him. He was shy, had only given one proper interview in his career and had done a number of childish things in the Irish set-up culminating in the Grannygate debacle. Now he is buzzing with confidence, throwing out interviews to beat the band and appears to be really enjoying his football. His mental instability issues look to be a thing of the past, touch wood. So from my reckoning he is a lot more prepared now for a return to the international fold in comparison to a few months back when he was highly volatile. You never know what changes might take place in the next few months over winter

[Wheels]

Seems to me that he is making some overtures towards the fans... trying to explain 'grannygate', info about his charity work coming out, etc...

He mentioned though that he still gets hate-mail from Ireland delivered at the training-ground. Maybe if that stopped he'd feel that he'd be welcomed back by the fans.

It seems to me that there is a growing number of 'fans' who hate one player or another... that makes no sense to me. They all try. Some have more ability, some have more heart, but none of them travel to the international set-up with the intention of sabotaging the team. One might not rate a certain player (there are certainly a few that I would rather not play) but hating them on a personal level seems a strange jump for me.

If he keeps playing this well, the hate mail might die down... if that happens, I think we could see him announcing his willingness to play early in the new year.

[kingdomkerry]

I seriosly think there is a possiblity of getting him back in the squad of Trap, Brady and co put a little bit more effort in. His comments today again proved to me anyhow that he wont return because of embarressment over what happened with grannygate. Stephen Ireland isn't a bad guy and im sure deep down he does want to play for us. He has to be in the top 5 players of the year in the premiership so far and it actually hurts to see him play so well when we cant see him in an Irish shirt for no good reason

What comments did he make today?

[tricky_colour]

I seriosly think there is a possiblity of getting him back in the squad of Trap, Brady and co put a little bit more effort in. His comments today again proved to me anyhow that he wont return because of embarressment over what happened with grannygate. Stephen Ireland isn't a bad guy and im sure deep down he does want to play for us. He has to be in the top 5 players of the year in the premiership so far and it actually hurts to see him play so well when we cant see him in an Irish shirt for no good reason

He is currently at number 6 in the Actim index, but I think that excludes todays game, it give a time of 11:00 which I assume is 11AM not 11PM.

Rated 2nd highest midfielder behind Lampard, but ahead of Ronaldo

Could end up world player of the year at this rate!!

Personally I am not bothered whether he plays for Ireland or not, one player does not make a team and never has done, there are numerous examples of that.

Ireland can get to the finals without Ireland, but Ireland can't get to the finals without Ireland, if you see what I mean

Does that make sense!!

[irishfan86]

I think if he came back I'd be inclined to start him in the middle behind Doyle, and push Keane out to the right.

Hope he comes back to give us more options.

[Scram]

Ireland can get to the finals without Ireland, but Ireland can't get to the finals without Ireland, if you see what I mean

Does that make sense!!

NO!



Ireland has been in England long enough to elect to play for England so Ireland could get to the World Cup with England and Ireland could even end up playing for England against Ireland without Ireland, if Ireland make it to the World Cup without Ireland.

Would Ireland without Ireland have much of a chance against England with Ireland? Would Ireland's supporters be able to support Ireland playing for England, surely they would have to support Ireland without Ireland and not support Ireland?

I would of course prefer to see Ireland with Ireland against England without Ireland!

[ofjames]

NO!



Ireland has been in England long enough to elect to play for England so Ireland could get to the World Cup with England and Ireland could even end up playing for England against Ireland without Ireland, if Ireland make it to the World Cup without Ireland.

Would Ireland without Ireland have much of a chance against England with Ireland? Would Ireland's supporters be able to support Ireland playing for England, surely they would have to supoort Ireland without Ireland and not support Ireland?

I would of course prefer to see Ireland with Ireland against England without Ireland!

post of the year

[third policeman]

I also think that he is trying to build bridges. It's actually a lot harder than people imagine for him to announce that he's changed his mind. For one thing there are clearly a lot of fans who still feel antagonistic and bitter towards him, it would also involve him having to explain his change of mind, and that would mean addressing a whole lot of quite sensitive and murky goings on. Resolving this problem requires diplomatic and PR skills that are probably beyond the capability of the FAI, Trap and Ireland himself. I have said this before but there is probably a need for some third party mediation to find a resolution but also map out a PR route that enables Ireland to rejoin the squad without anyone losing face or a further round of recriminations, accusations and media post mortems.

He is the best Irish outfield player in the Premiership by some margin at the moment, and his recent comments do indicate a desire to come in from the cold. If we doint get Ireland back playing for us before the next round of qualifying games then I would regard that as a failure of management.

[eirebhoy]

When he won the player of the year award he said he hoped to be playing for us at some stage in the future. I think we're probably best to leave it until after this qualification period. If we get to the world cup I'm sure he'll be back with us after that. I don't think he'd be foolish enough to declare his availability after qualifying for the world cup unless there's a Henrik Larsson sized petition to get him back.

[Morbo]

If we doint get Ireland back playing for us before the next round of qualifying games then I would regard that as a failure of management.

So regardless of the circumstances you are just going to blame the management. Did the possibility ever occur to you that maybe he just doesn’t care about international football and no amount of persuasion will bring him back?

[third policeman]

So regardless of the circumstances you are just going to blame the management. Did the possibility ever occur to you that maybe he just doesn’t care about international football and no amount of persuasion will bring him back?

If that were the case then he would never have played for Ireland, and its not how I interpret the comments in the latest interview. It's an opinion, but its also supported by a fair degree of evidence. The fact is that none of us know for sure what Ireland thinks and feels, but that sounds like a pretty good reason for establishing some dialogue and finding out. I think our management team have a duty to get the best possible results for Ireland and that means making every effort to get the best players into the squad, even if that means charm, persuasion, diplomacy, flattery etc.

[bwagner]

Lads i would rather talk about Kevin Nolan that this ass

[bellavistaman]

Lads i would rather talk about Kevin Nolan that this ass

easy answer dont go into to this thread, dont read any of the posts, and certainly dont type a comment.

I usually charge €50 for every advice session but ill do this one for free.

[as_i_say]

Yeah anyone notice the big waving Tricolour in the front of crowd when he went running over after scoring?. What goes through his mind when he sees this? Does anything go through his mind? Is there one chimp picking fleas off anothers back, perhaps a tumbleweed?

I dunno.