542 posts in a thread about someone who is a good LOI player, and then some people don't think it's fair to call it a "hype train".
The constant nonsense surrounding Byrne is all a bit crazy, to be honest.
542 posts in seven years is pretty tame really. And he wasn't a LOI player for the majority of them. Can't wait to laugh at you when he wins the Ballon d'Or.
This has been a 7 year campaign?!
Just start him against Slovakia, let him get found out (just like he was abroad), and then everyone can move on to fixating on Obafemi's exclusion.
If he's really as good as people on here think then surely someone in the Championship would be willing to take a punt on him. He's hardly going to cost an arm or a leg so its not a big gamble.
What I will say for him though is that he did look decent playing for Cambuur at a respectable level in Holland a few years ago but they were a terrible team and finished bottom that season.
He also looked good for Oldham but his issues there were less about football and more related to his professionalism.
To sum up I personally think he could do a job at the moment for a middling to poor Championship team and progress from there.
Last edited by youngirish; 01/10/2020 at 12:13 PM.
People seem to be working off the assumption he hasn't had offers from elsewhere.
Some of the posts have been a bit pathetic. My Shane Duffy remark was entirely tongue in cheek.
From part time players, to 400 quid a week, you'd swear some Irish 'football fans' would prefer to see our league as some sort of laughing stock, rather than proud to see a day where a player from it becomes a genuine contender for a spot in our national side.
Let's not get started on the lone Dundalk fan who seems to have some sort of personal problem with Byrne.
Comparing Seani Maguire...who really only had one good season at Cork. He failed at several LOI clubs too.
Richie Towell who did look excellent at Dundalk, but spent the best part of his first year at Brighton injured and played catch up at Rotherham, before taking the easy option at Salford.
People are keen to point out LOI failures but forget our national team captain also came from here, as did several other members of the squad.
Last edited by nigel-harps1954; 01/10/2020 at 10:39 AM.
https://kesslereffect.bandcamp.com/album/kepler - New music. It's not that bad.
The problem with the Oirland best fans in the world (watch us sing to the baby) is that a lot of them are Premier league fans who cant see beyond the Premier league.
Everything else is crap.
They would have similar to varying degrees views about Spanish, Italian , French leagues etc.
Boo the English National Team but then tell you how much they love Man Utd / Liverpool etc.
Rant over
Nobody is pointing out that talent can't come from the LOI. Seamus Coleman was at Everton for 2 years playing and training at a high level before getting his first cap and even then he was younger than what Byrne is now.
Maguire had 1 good season in the LOI? No he didn't. He had 2 phenomenal seasons where at his best he was playing at a higher level than Byrne in my opinion. He scored 38 goals in 51 appearances. Where are these failed LOI stints? He smashed in goals at Waterford at 17, had a nothing loan spell at Sligo, didn't get a chance at Dundalk and left of his own accord before starring at City
Byrne has had what, 1.5 good seasons? They both had failed spells abroad too. How is that not a valid comparison for the relative jump in quality? You're literally twisting the truth to feed your own narrative.
You're making brash assumptions about people's views on the LOI. I love the LOI and was a season ticket holder before I moved away from home and catch as many games as I can nowadays. I've seen enough of it in person to know the pace and quality doesn't match up to the top leagues in England and international football. I've seen plenty of LOI superstars go abroad and be immediately lost in the shuffle. Sorry for the bare truth is that the LOI isn't a high standard at all and there's some very poor players in the league.
I need to be convinced Byrne can actually play at a higher level because every chance he's had so far abroad, he's been sent packing. He is very technically sound and I hope I'm 100% wrong on all this, but I can't see him contributing at a higher level. The game will pass him IMO.
Last edited by ColourfulPeanut; 01/10/2020 at 11:54 AM.
Maybe he's had offers from elsewhere, but he's not going to go. He's found his comfort zone and he's happy to stay in it.
I'm not convinced he should be called up to the international squad, so I have a personal problem with him? Yeah...ok.
We've had to listen to this nonsense since the day he came to the LOI. He failed in England, he failed in Scotland, got relegated in Holland in what is a poor league overall in standard compared with the level we're talking about here.
He disappeared in the big LOI games v Dundalk and Bohs last year, and we still had to listen to mass hysteria calling for McCarthy to play him. Now Kenny says he's got into the squad on the back of performances against a Milan team having a kick about and Dundalk reserves. Kenny's bowed to pressure so that the Byrne Ireland campaign won't affect the build up to Slovakia, simple as that.
Players that have performed far better at LOI level (such as Towell, who you mention) have gone to the UK and disappeared off the radar.
Byrne must be delighted with all this attention when he's done very little in the LOI to warrant it. He's a good LOI player, that's it. Why would he come out of that comfort zone when, by past evidence, he'd get found out pretty quickly.
You then decide to bring Seamus Coleman into the conversation. That's just getting silly.
Milan have signed young striker, Petter Hauge, based on his impressive Europa League performance against them for FK Bodo/Glimpt.
I wonder when they'll be putting that bid in for Byrne?
Indeed I wonder why Shamrock haven't received, presumably, any significant offer for the player? Hmm...
https://www.the42.ie/ac-milan-jens-p...19887-Oct2020/
There was good debate on Byrne and use of Matt Doherty on RTE on Tuesday, with Kenny Cunningham and Alan Cawley. Both agreed that Byrne has attributes that no other midfielder we have has - mainly those of a continental style playmaker. We've got lots of huff and puff footballers in midfield, some with more quality than others, but Byrne has different qualities. My own view - a simple value judgment that nobody is compelled to agree with - is that regardless of his UK club experience or there being no public gossip about transfers he is an extremely good player, and I don't think he is "just" a good LOI player. But that's not the point. The point is that he offers something different to anyone else in contention for the squad, and in my opinion has a way of playing that we'd benefit from.
Many of the LOI fans suffer from a large dose of bias that often borders on the ridiculous.
How many players who were playing in their mid 20s in the LOI turned out to be quality International players in recent years? For every Kevin Doyle, who turned out to be a good but unspectacular International player, there are 20 Daryl Horgans, Roy O'Donovans, Alan Bennetts, Karl Sheppards, Graham Burkes, Paddy Maddens and Jason Byrnes, all unable to make the grade at any decent level across the water.
Most League 1 teams would win the LOI if they competed in it and yet you don't hear the same guys asking for Anthony Scully or Sean Roughan to be included in the squad.
I actually agree with most of this tbh.
I think Byrne being considered for the Ireland squad says as much about how weak we are as it does about Byrne's ability.
Still, Byrne has proven himself in European competitions in particular (and on his Ireland debut). As Stutts says too, he offers something a bit different (he could have mentioned set piece ability too, where we're very reliant on Brady), and I think he's worth the inclusion. I don't see him being pivotal, but then you could say that about most playerrs.
I think on the internet it's very easy to get hunched down into two polar opposite trenches (he's ****e/great), and in general the reality is out in no-man's-land somewhere, waiting for both sides to emerge towards with a white flag of balance.
I'm a bloke,I'm an ocker
And I really love your knockers,I'm a labourer by day,
I **** up all me pay,Watching footy on TV,
Just feed me more VB,Just pour my beer,And get my smokes, And go away
He's certainly playing against a fair few part-timers though.
I agree so much with the last paragraph. There are a multitude of arguments for and against Jack. He was released by Oldham. He didn't make it at Kilmarnock, Blackburn or Wigan. He's playing against lesser level players. On the other hand, he's the best player in the league. He executes pieces of world class individual skill. He looked comfortable against AC Milan's players.
The nature of the Byrne debate is divisive and his career so meandering that people will find evidence to support whatever point they want to make or whatever opinion they have.
Personally, I agree that the truth lies in the middle. I think he has traits that could help us immensely based on our lack of penetration against Bulgaria and Finland. I acknowledge that playing him, however, would represent a gamble as there is minimal evidence that he could hold his own. That makes it a little more frustrating for me that he wasn't played against Finland or Bulgaria.
Bookmarks