Ireland's Call
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When the awards come out for football’s greatest villains, surely Stephen Ireland will be top of the list.
Personally, I’ve always thought of the lad as a something I probably can’t say here, so let’s just say begins with P and ends with K, five letters long. Turning your nose up at the opportunity to play football for your country is pretty offensive, even to the thickest skinned of fans.
It’s not simply patriotism. I’m all for celebrating what it means to ‘be Irish’ and having a sense of national identity but I don’t fancy getting myself blown up for the privilege. The only thing ‘playing for your country’ and ‘fighting for your country’ have in common is that three of the words in those sentences are the same.
What it is, is that most fans would sell their souls to be in Stephen Ireland’s football boots. He seemingly has it all – buckets of talent, more money than you could dream of spending in a life time, adulation by hoards of fans and the love of a country’s worth at his finger tips – which he chooses to casually flick away.
As Ireland fans it’s the bitter rejection that gets us. Here is a guy who has the opportunity to live out the boyhood dream of a nation of youngsters and instead he shoots us down instead. Not interested, he fancies a bit of club more than country, sorry lads.
It’s a bitter pill to swallow when you’re counting the pennies to make sure you can get a match ticket, meanwhile he swans around like his shit doesn’t smell giving interview after interview about how he doesn’t want to play for us. Or rather answering question after question on his Ireland situation.
But I honestly think that his comments last week were off-the-cuff and taken out of context. Ask yourself this, how many times have you said ‘Can’t wait to get out of this shithole?’ or something to that effect when you think about summer holidays? And can you really blame the guy for wanting to retire to LA rather than Cork, or anywhere else in our beautiful if broken, wet and windy country?
As anyone with any media experience will tell you, many journalists are like glorified gossips. They thrive on misquoting people, taking things out of context and selectively quoting. I even read one journalist tweeting he should have tried denying giving the interview – great piece of advice, no doubt he’d have been the first in line to jump on him for lying again after Grannygate if he did that.
Stephen’s ‘scathing attack’ was a throw away remark and yeah, maybe he should have known better but he likely has more caps for Ireland than he does any qualifications. God knows footballers are rarely the brightest bulbs in the room.
The fact of the matter is Cork comments aside, the guy has a point. The FAI is a long standing joke in many aspects. As you move up the ranks in football like any other industry you expect organisation and professionalism of a certain standard.
In the League of Ireland the lads wash their own gear and get a pretty average wage. Premier League, they simply turn up and earn thousands, that’s life. So at the highest level nationally you’d expect the highest standard. And more to the point, as fans we assume this is the case. Just because he’s had the balls to come out and say what plenty of other players probably think isn’t justifiable enough cause to shoot him down. It’s ignorant.
The fact is Trappattoni does come across as arrogant and just because Andy Reid keeps tight lipped on that matter doesn’t mean he isn’t. Anyone with half a brain cell can tell that having a coach whose first language isn’t your own is difficult. ‘Football’s a universal language’ is an old tired cliché – listen to Trap giving an interview for Christ’s sake!
Stephen Ireland is like another Roy Keane in more ways than one and he is always going to divide opinion. Do I think he will ever come back to play for Ireland? No. Do I care? Not really. Like many things in life I think the best thing as fans we can do is build a bridge and get over it, concentrate on what other talent is out there. A team isn’t built around one player.
Either way it won’t be long before the journalists who keep harping on asking him the same questions will find someone else to try and knock down. Like every other player out there, Stephen Ireland is replaceable in every sense of the word.
Personally, I’ve always thought of the lad as a something I probably can’t say here, so let’s just say begins with P and ends with K, five letters long. Turning your nose up at the opportunity to play football for your country is pretty offensive, even to the thickest skinned of fans.
It’s not simply patriotism. I’m all for celebrating what it means to ‘be Irish’ and having a sense of national identity but I don’t fancy getting myself blown up for the privilege. The only thing ‘playing for your country’ and ‘fighting for your country’ have in common is that three of the words in those sentences are the same.
What it is, is that most fans would sell their souls to be in Stephen Ireland’s football boots. He seemingly has it all – buckets of talent, more money than you could dream of spending in a life time, adulation by hoards of fans and the love of a country’s worth at his finger tips – which he chooses to casually flick away.
As Ireland fans it’s the bitter rejection that gets us. Here is a guy who has the opportunity to live out the boyhood dream of a nation of youngsters and instead he shoots us down instead. Not interested, he fancies a bit of club more than country, sorry lads.
It’s a bitter pill to swallow when you’re counting the pennies to make sure you can get a match ticket, meanwhile he swans around like his shit doesn’t smell giving interview after interview about how he doesn’t want to play for us. Or rather answering question after question on his Ireland situation.
But I honestly think that his comments last week were off-the-cuff and taken out of context. Ask yourself this, how many times have you said ‘Can’t wait to get out of this shithole?’ or something to that effect when you think about summer holidays? And can you really blame the guy for wanting to retire to LA rather than Cork, or anywhere else in our beautiful if broken, wet and windy country?
As anyone with any media experience will tell you, many journalists are like glorified gossips. They thrive on misquoting people, taking things out of context and selectively quoting. I even read one journalist tweeting he should have tried denying giving the interview – great piece of advice, no doubt he’d have been the first in line to jump on him for lying again after Grannygate if he did that.
Stephen’s ‘scathing attack’ was a throw away remark and yeah, maybe he should have known better but he likely has more caps for Ireland than he does any qualifications. God knows footballers are rarely the brightest bulbs in the room.
The fact of the matter is Cork comments aside, the guy has a point. The FAI is a long standing joke in many aspects. As you move up the ranks in football like any other industry you expect organisation and professionalism of a certain standard.
In the League of Ireland the lads wash their own gear and get a pretty average wage. Premier League, they simply turn up and earn thousands, that’s life. So at the highest level nationally you’d expect the highest standard. And more to the point, as fans we assume this is the case. Just because he’s had the balls to come out and say what plenty of other players probably think isn’t justifiable enough cause to shoot him down. It’s ignorant.
The fact is Trappattoni does come across as arrogant and just because Andy Reid keeps tight lipped on that matter doesn’t mean he isn’t. Anyone with half a brain cell can tell that having a coach whose first language isn’t your own is difficult. ‘Football’s a universal language’ is an old tired cliché – listen to Trap giving an interview for Christ’s sake!
Stephen Ireland is like another Roy Keane in more ways than one and he is always going to divide opinion. Do I think he will ever come back to play for Ireland? No. Do I care? Not really. Like many things in life I think the best thing as fans we can do is build a bridge and get over it, concentrate on what other talent is out there. A team isn’t built around one player.
Either way it won’t be long before the journalists who keep harping on asking him the same questions will find someone else to try and knock down. Like every other player out there, Stephen Ireland is replaceable in every sense of the word.
