Stephen Ireland

**Crosby87** · 05/03/2009, 12:02 AM

I wonder if Given will urge him on or if its not polite for him to talk about it. I think Dunne's quit trying.

**tricky_colour** · 05/03/2009, 1:01 AM

He's not bothered and we don't need him.
That's the way I see it.
I think we are doing fine without him, there is no guarantee we would get better results if he returned, we might welll get worse.

**DeLorean** · 05/03/2009, 9:12 AM

Originally Posted by Crosby87

I wonder if Given will urge him on or if its not polite for him to talk about it. I think Dunne's quit trying.

I was wondering this myself. Dunne and Given shouldn't be too worried if it's polite or not the lad needs a kick up the arse or at least be pointed in the right direction. Maybe they don't want him back?

**tetsujin1979** · 05/03/2009, 9:41 AM

Pretty sure I read before that Richard Dunne wants nothing to do with talking to Stephen Ireland to return, maybe around the time he was promoting FIFA 2009?

**jbyrne** · 05/03/2009, 9:50 AM

only saw highlights of last nights game but he was at the ctre of everything city did well. quality player we could do with for sure

**DeLorean** · 05/03/2009, 10:11 AM

Originally Posted by tetsujin1979

Pretty sure I read before that Richard Dunne wants nothing to do with talking to Stephen Ireland to return, maybe around the time he was promoting FIFA 2009?

Interesting. I always thought Dunne would have been more suited to the captaincy than Keane but I would have definitely expected him to give a lash at trying to persude Ireland. Having said that who knows what's gone on behind the scenes, Ireland might be completely inapproachable or something.

**tetsujin1979** · 05/03/2009, 10:16 AM

Actually I might have phrased that badly, it was more along the lines of he had spoken to Stephen about it, but now he was letting him make his own decisions, and Dunne wasn't going to force the issue

**geysir** · 05/03/2009, 3:56 PM

It's not Dunne's job to force the issue anyway.
Dunne looked more than a bit exasperated when talking about SI not being able make a phone call.
With Given now in the City team there should not be a problem with communicating any message straight to the attention of SI.
He can't be 'arsed playing which puts him way way down the list of players who have been capped for Ireland, lower than Paul Butler, he might even be lower down the scale than Vinny Jones.

**tricky_colour** · 05/03/2009, 4:47 PM

He's not coming back - get over it.

**The Legend** · 05/03/2009, 4:54 PM

Lads, this guy has obviously zero interest in playing for his country and probably doesnt even identify with Ireland anymore (in spite of his name).

I would be absolutely shocked if he ever came back.

**Irish_Praha** · 05/03/2009, 5:07 PM

Originally Posted by The Legend

Lads, this guy has obviously zero interest in playing for his country and probably doesnt even identify with Ireland anymore (in spite of his name).

I would be absolutely shocked if he ever came back.

Gawd, this thread could run for the next ten years if he continues to play well and doesn't come out and make a statement ruling himself out forever.
Could be the first thread to reach 10,000 posts

However, if some of the younger lads step up to the plate in near future this thread could become a lot less frequently visited.

**The Fly** · 05/03/2009, 6:05 PM

Originally Posted by The Legend

Lads, this guy has obviously zero interest in playing for his country and probably doesnt even identify with Ireland anymore (in spite of his name).

In fairness, I think that is taking it too far. To say that he may no longer identify with the Irish nation is not right. That would be an analysis devoid of context.

**Stuttgart88** · 05/03/2009, 6:28 PM

Stephen Ireland is a class act, no doubt, but I still can't help thinking he's very much a "final third" player. Unfortunately, what we really need is a "second third" player of equal class.

There's no way Duff, McGeady, Keane, Doyle and Ireland can be accomodated without leaving ourselves physically weak in my opinion. Even Spain for all their elegant tica taca had a superb presence in Senna anchoring the whole thing.

I'm not saying he wouldn't make our first XI, in fact I'm sure he would, I'm merely saying it poses an interesting question on how best to accomodate him.

**ken foree** · 05/03/2009, 6:47 PM

..with s. reid behind him i'd imagine. ahem! but these are two imponderables right now. and we might never see it sadly.

**livehead1** · 05/03/2009, 9:35 PM

Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

Stephen Ireland is a class act, no doubt, but I still can't help thinking he's very much a "final third" player. Unfortunately, what we really need is a "second third" player of equal class.

There's no way Duff, McGeady, Keane, Doyle and Ireland can be accomodated without leaving ourselves physically weak in my opinion. Even Spain for all their elegant tica taca had a superb presence in Senna anchoring the whole thing.

I'm not saying he wouldn't make our first XI, in fact I'm sure he would, I'm merely saying it poses an interesting question on how best to accomodate him.

If we are talking simply player wise I would happily see Duff or McGeady left out to accomodate Ireland.

**The Fly** · 05/03/2009, 9:38 PM

Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

Stephen Ireland is a class act, no doubt, but I still can't help thinking he's very much a "final third" player. Unfortunately, what we really need is a "second third" player of equal class.

There's no way Duff, McGeady, Keane, Doyle and Ireland can be accomodated without leaving ourselves physically weak in my opinion. Even Spain for all their elegant tica taca had a superb presence in Senna anchoring the whole thing.

I'm not saying he wouldn't make our first XI, in fact I'm sure he would, I'm merely saying it poses an interesting question on how best to accomodate him.

I know what you mean but I do think there has been sufficient improvement in him as an all-round package to suggest that he could operate in a central midfield 2 in the future. A 3 man centre midfield is, I feel, outdated and outmoded. It leaves a team inherently unbalanced and weak imo.

Stephen Ireland has, as I said, certainly improved as a player, crucially in the physical aspect of his game. Obviously I hope he comes back to play for the national team in the future and.......here's a thought........I have wondered that whenever Scholes eventually retires, would Manchester United be cheeky and put in a bid for what is becoming the most obvious ready made replacement. Imagine Ireland and hopefully Gibson in a central midfield 2. Good for MUFC but infinitely more important - effing fantastic for us.
.............Hmmmmmmmmmmm...............(oh yeah! forgot about James McCarthy)...............Hmmmmmmmmmmm

**irishultra** · 05/03/2009, 11:11 PM

stephen ireland is a machine. he would easily get into real madrids midfield no doubt...will be top class player

**tricky_colour** · 05/03/2009, 11:45 PM

He's doing a good job for Italy at the moment.

No chance of him ever returning, get over it - I have.
I would not take him back for this campaign now even if he offered to return as he was eligible to play for Italy and given his past
that makes him untrustworty.
I will say it now he will not play during this campaign, we cannot afford the risk.

**tetsujin1979** · 05/03/2009, 11:52 PM

Originally Posted by The Fly

I have wondered that whenever Scholes eventually retires, would Manchester United be cheeky and put in a bid for what is becoming the most obvious ready made replacement.

Cheeky or not, City have enough money now that they never have to sell any player if they don't want to, it's not like when Chelsea offered enough to wipe out a decent chunk of City's debt in exchange for SWP. And they definitely don't want to sell Stephen Ireland.

**Fizzer** · 06/03/2009, 9:11 AM

I found this quote from the Star from February 08, not sure if anyone posted it at the time (they probably did) but I think it's a good indication of the fact that not even this guy knows what he's going to do.

'Republic of Ireland midfielder Stephen Ireland has confirmed that he wants to play for his country again and will make himself available for selection by new manager Gionvanni Trapattoni.

Ireland has not played for the Republic since his infamous withdrawal from the squad in September when he lied about the death of his two grandmothers.

However, the Manchester City player told The Star: 'I'm available for selection, very much available. We need someone like him (Trapattoni) hopefully to bring it out of us and get us playing.

Ireland revealed that his club manager Sven Goran Eriksson had a major influence on his decision to make himself available to Trapattoni.

'When Sven heard that he was announced, he said it was a great opportunity for me to go back now because he is a very good coach and I will learn a lot.

'This did have an effect on my decision to return. I trust Sven you know. Whatever he says is good advice and he means well.

'I think there is a lot of talent in the squad and we can actually qualify for the big tournaments.'

He's a fantastic player, could be potentially one of the greatest midfielders we'll ever produce, but his utterly childish and immature behaviour should not be accepted once it begins to devalue the Irish shirt. It's a privilege to be called up to play for your country, sure people can have personal issues from time to time and a legitimate reason not to want to play over relatively short periods of time, but this guy is actually taking the mick at this stage. The issue could potentially go on for years because he's so young but I think that the FAI should tell this guy definitively, that now is the time to sh1t or get off the toilet, and if he doesn't make himself available now, ban any future management team from selecting him. One player doesn't make a team, the rest of the squad pulled together in 2002 and did us proud after another baby took his ball and went home, let the lads who want to play, get on with it and stop pandering to the whims of a fella who doesn't appear to give a toss about playing for his country.