Keiren Westwood G Crewe Alexandra b.1984

[Razors left peg]

I have seen quite a few games involving Irish sides, actually, particularly recently as I have started to take an interest in it (as well as reading/posting on here). It's not particularly difficult to get access to live matches and highlights clips if you are genuinely interested. Matches are broadcast on Setanta and occasionally on the internet, neither of which require me to do much more than minimal work to access.

Now obviously I wouldn't claim to be an authority on the league. However, having watched hundreds of Football League games I most certainly know about the English league and it was that comment about the Championship being shocking I was taking issue with. My views on Irish football were simply an opinion and I was clear on that, unlike livehead, who stated his opinion as though it were fact.

As for my argument, attendances and ticket prices (basically, matchday income) are linked to football quality. Certainly, it's not the be-all and end-all, but generally, the more money you draw in on a Saturday afternoon, the better your team is likely to be, especially in the modern era where it's not particularly difficult to sign players from foreign countries, even for clubs lower down the Football League ladder. From what I understand, the Irish leagues (north and south) are roughly comparable with the English League Two/Conference in this area. I'm not necessarily suggesting this automatically disqualifies any Irish side from having a Championship-standard team ever, but it would probably take considerable investment to reach that standard, as at present, all the best players over in Ireland are getting cherry-picked by Championship and SPL clubs.

Well Ive been supporting the League of Ireland for years and am a season ticket holder with Galway United and I have to say that I pretty much agree with your opinion of the Standard! There definately are some players in the league that are of a good enough standard for the Championship but not as many as we would sometimes like to believe,and in my opinion there are none good enough for the National team. Ive seen posts on this forum suggesting that Liam Miller wouldnt make the Cork City team at the moment and that there are better defenders in the League than John O Shea, absolute garbage! As far as Im concerned if a player is good enough to play regularly for the national team unfortunatly at the moment he has to prove himself in England or even Scotland to a certain extent. Of course in the future I would love to see the coaching standards and the league in general improve to the point where that wouldnt be nessesary but I dont really see it happenening at a fast enough pace to suggest that it will be a reality any time soon

[CraftyToePoke]

came by this info the other day

Westwood has sized up the England set up and although not impossible he would recieve a call up to it, as the Peterborough United keeper just has, he has tactically selected Ireland, citing Kielys less than settled club career of late as an oppertunity for him to take the nr2 spot. he already deems himself higher up than our third choice keepers in the pecking order.

he isnt, and doesnt see himself as Irish in any way, its a career driven decision, and it seems he has been told he will play a part in Thursdays game, so we are about to be represented by this guy.

he is being regularly scouted over the last ten weeks by both west brom and watford and carlisle are preparing for the possibility of losing him.

should they do so (and heres the sickner) one of his potential replacements is Conrad Logan, an Irish keeper on loan to stockport from leicester, a real live Irishman!! another one overlooked.

how accurate all this will prove to be, time will tell.

[livehead1]

came by this info the other day

Westwood has sized up the England set up and although not impossible he would recieve a call up to it, as the Peterborough United keeper just has, he has tactically selected Ireland, citing Kielys less than settled club career of late as an oppertunity for him to take the nr2 spot. he already deems himself higher up than our third choice keepers in the pecking order.

he isnt, and doesnt see himself as Irish in any way, its a career driven decision, and it seems he has been told he will play a part in Thursdays game, so we are about to be represented by this guy.

he is being regularly scouted over the last ten weeks by both west brom and watford and carlisle are preparing for the possibility of losing him.

should they do so (and heres the sickner) one of his potential replacements is Conrad Logan, an Irish keeper on loan to stockport from leicester, a real live Irishman!! another one overlooked.

how accurate all this will prove to be, time will tell.

Where's this from? and Logan aint good enough, nowhere near.

[boovidge]

Just came across this, not sure if its been seen on here:

COVENTRY City new-boy Keiren Westwood wants to set the record straight over the controversy that clouded his Republic of Ireland call-up.

http://www.sundaymercury.net/midland...6331-21135286/

[Paddy Garcia]

Just came across this, not sure if its been seen on here:

COVENTRY City new-boy Keiren Westwood wants to set the record straight over the controversy that clouded his Republic of Ireland call-up.

http://www.sundaymercury.net/midland...6331-21135286/

Good - have to change your legend now

[tetsujin1979]

Trapattoni confirms that Westwood will play against Nigeria: http://www.fai.ie/index.php?option=c...k=view&id=4316

[elroy]

Went off injured today, hopefully nothing too serious.

[tetsujin1979]

injury update on Coventry's website: http://www.ccfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetai...836123,00.html

Coventry manager Chris Coleman said: "Keiren said before the game he wanted to start but he's obviously felt a niggle in his lower back where he's been having a bit of pain so as a precautionary measure we thought it better to take him off rather than aggravate the problem."

[DannyInvincible]

Westwood being linked with a move to Celtic now: http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2010/0812/westwoodk.html

It appears Celtic made a bid that was turned down three weeks ago, but have yet to make any improved bid. Whether one will come remains to be seen.

Coventry manager Aidy Boothroyd has revealed Celtic have not made an improved offer for Keiren Westwood since the npower Championship club flatly rejected what he called a 'derisory' bid three weeks ago.

Rumours are rife in Scotland that Neil Lennon had, or is preparing to, double an initial bid believed to be in the region of £500,000 for the Republic of Ireland international goalkeeper, who is out of contract next summer.

But Boothroyd, discussing Celtic's advances for the first time, insists the Clydesdale Bank Premier League outfit have not been in touch since their first approach was rejected, and implied they would be wasting their time with an offer around the £1million mark.

[boovidge]

Looks like Lennon's doing a Keane and going for anyone who's Irish.

[Sullivinho]

Westwood being linked with a move to Celtic now

No better place for a self-confessed 'good Catholic boy'

Coventry will surely be after a couple of million for him though.

[dr_peepee]

Good Championship keepers generally have an inflated value but Westwood holds alot of aces given he's only a year left on his contract. Coventry won't want to loose him for nothing next year and only a bidding war will drive up the price this summer so I doubt they'll get what they're looking for.

[Noelys Guitar]

Unbeliebable one handed save against Derby to keep Coventry in a 2-1 lead. Watch it later on Skysports. Lots of Irish players playing today in this game.

[irishfan86]

That was a world-class save alright, but he nearly gave a way a goal by teeing up Paul Green with a shanked clearance. He was bailed out by his defender who tracked back to head away.

[SkStu]

a good catholic attitude from Westwood in forgiving and fogetting his problems with CCFC.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/foot...ty/8985561.stm

Coventry City keeper Keiren Westwood will play on for the club after clear-the-air talks with boss Aidy Boothroyd.

The 25-year-old Republic of Ireland player, who is out of contract in the summer, was dropped after a public spat over whether he would sign a new deal.....

[tetsujin1979]

Westwood was linked with Wigan in some recent reports, and their goalkeeper Chris Kirkland has just been taken off with his neck in a brace.
Might force them to make the move for Westwood?

[Charlie Darwin]

Kirkland's been second choice all season - Al Habsi's the main man now but he's still contracted to Bolton.

[AlaskaFox]

Today's Sunday People links him with a move to Aston Villa:
http://www.people.co.uk/sport/footba...2039-22968960/

[Noelys Guitar]

From todays Herald.
Westwood was not fit enough to play against Doncaster Rovers on Tuesday night and Trapattoni can only hope that Westwood can line out against Hull on Saturday.

“Keiren was close to playing against Doncaster but it was one of those situations where he could have done more damage and ended up missing six or seven games,” said Coventry boss Aidy Boothroyd.

“As much as we wanted him to play, I decided that the best thing would be to give him more time to make sure he is fully fit when he does return.”

With Joe Murphy (Scunthorpe United) also sidelined due to injury at the moment, Trapattoni will have to offer a recall to QPR man Paddy Kenny or else call up David Forde (Millwall) or Colin Doyle (Birmingham).

[sean r]

i think the standard is better then league 2 look at europe results. shams vs juve 0-2 0-2 they had a hard time with rovers. Or sporting fungs against that pourtuguese side the euro results were very good or decent at least. how good would a league 2 or blue square side do in europe? lincoln city vs juve no contest there. the league has improved over the years. also the players who went to england like kevin doyle who left the loi and had no trouble fitting in or adjusting to the prem. a lot of the former loi players do well in england and even do well in the top flight with little or no trouble that shows that the loi is a decent standard. no longer are we a "pub league" or even pub teams( well maybe mons lol) our european results shows that we are a decent level. i think the loi is better than people think it is