Keane named in Ireland squad!!!

eirebhoy

http://www.breakingnews.ie/story.asp?j=6608544&p=66x859x&n=6608632&x=

Roy Keane has been named in the Republic of Ireland squad to play a friendly in Poland next Wednesday.

More on this as we get it.

Villain

oh oh Sir Alex is not going to be a happy camper!!!

phenom

I am happy for him. he really wants to play for his country and now he can do it. but there is bound to be some fans booing.

_blank_

Of course he was named, why wouldn't he be, he said he'd available for all games didn't he.

How big is the squad?

eirebhoy

Given (Newcastle), Colgan (Hibernian), Kenny (Sheff Utd), Maybury (Hearts), Cunningham (Birmingham), Doherty (Tottenham), Harte (Leeds), Carr (Tottenham), O’Brien (Newcastle), Breen (Sunderland), O’Shea (Man Utd), Miller (Celtic), Roy Keane (Man Utd), Reid (Nottm For), Holland (Charlton), Delap (Southampton), McAteer (Sunderland), Kinsella (West Brom), Kilbane (Everton), Duff (Chelsea), Lee (Cardiff), Connolly (West Ham), Robbie Keane (Tottenham), Morrison (Birmingham).

Cunningham will captain.

Originally posted by seansouth
Of course he was named, why wouldn't he be, he said he'd available for all games didn't he.

Yes, but Fergie said he won't be playing in friendlies...

Villain

Originally posted by seansouth
Of course he was named, why wouldn't he be, he said he'd available for all games didn't he.

How big is the squad?

Yes but Ferguson said he believed Keane would only play 5 COMPETITIVE matches a year!!

Villain

McAteer is in the squad too lol

Training should be fun!!:D

_blank_

McAteer too....deadly....I'm setting up camp at the training ground right now!

ella minnow pea

no sign of mcphailure....

Genghis

Keane should travel at least. Part of the trip is surely going to be about reconciliation and re-forming, along with dealing with any doubts / concerns, etc the other players have.

I also think he should play. Get the re-debut out of the way before a home game, let the papers do their thing, tv, etc. Letting people get used to the idea that he is back might help defuse a Lansdowne Road appearance.

And whatever about Fergie and his five competitive games, I am sure that Roy and Brian have discussed and agreed some friendly appearances, if only in the run up to the qualifiers.

I wonder will Fergie select Roy tonight?

LizardKing

The FAI were quick enough to remove roy from the listing of midfielders in the squad link on the website www.fai.ie ... I think he deserves to be put back up now... Also I think Kerr should put Keane and McAteer into the same rooms in Poland .. that would be funny .....

Tellox

Kerr has stated that keane wont captain.
Looks like Cunningham is to retain the armband..

Johnny_the_fox

I would of liked to see a couple more new faces in the squad, but this looks like Brian is aiming for a settle squad.

smemon

not a surprise really, theres no doubt both kerr and keane want to get this first game under the belt and see what kind of reaction it has 1. on the team and 2. on the fans. (although we wont know that til romania at landsdowne)

suddenly that romania game has a bit of a pull to it like the brazil one. being keanes 1st game at home. (if he plays of course).

smemon

Originally posted by Tellox
Kerr has stated that keane wont captain.
Looks like Cunningham is to retain the armband..

thats a disgrace, its an insult to keane and cunningham should offer it to keane. certainly longterm it has to be given to keane. can anyone seriously imagine keane running out onto the pitch anywere bar 1st??? then NOT shaking hands with the opposite captain and standing with the refs?!

thats gonna take some getting used to. so cunningham is a better leader, motivater and player than keane? i thought captains were your most valuable asset. this better not be the case when the wc qualifiers come round.

redspider

Looks like everything is falling into place. Kerr is specifically bringing back
all the "ghosts" for a grand re-conciliation experience. Keeping Cunningham
as Captain is a crucial move by Kerr. The re-conciliation process for both
Roy and the fans can begin and is helped with Brian's careful approach

It looks like Ferguson's allowed this on the basis that as Ireland
aren't in the EC in Portugal, as Man U are playing for scraps in the
league and are out of the CL, with only the FA Cup Final to play for,
Roy will get a good rest from now on and over a very long summer. But
I bet he will "reserve" Roy if he needs him next season when there is
a clash with a Man U match and an IRL friendly.

Now, lets see what happens in the build-up to the match and the
game itself. I hope there aren't any training ground injuries (such
as to Jason's nose!). Keep your head Roy.

yop

I feel it is only fair that he does not get the armband. It was his decision not to return to the squad during the qualifiers so for him to come back and get the armband would not be correct.
It would only demorilise Cunningham by taking it back.

Also I am suprised that there not more young players, the reason I would have liked keane back is to influence the younger players but this is not going to happen.

I cannot really understand why the likes of trigger and kinsella are in the squad. He should be drafting in a few younger players

_blank_

Valid points redspider.

Although I do think that if the reaction to Keane is favourable to Keane in the friendlies, then he may be offered the captaincy for the WCQual games next season.

Also, about the summer of rest you predict. Isn't there some tournament involving Ireland and Nigeria at St. Mary's in Southampton this summer. I would expect Keane to be involved with this.

tHE vAGGABOND

Also I think Kerr should put Keane and McAteer into the same rooms in Poland

maybe lock the door till one of them emerges victorious, like a WWF steel cage match

_blank_

I don't think there's actually any animosity there between the two players at all, just from memory didn't McAteer say that he had no problems with Keane, and what happened in the game that time was only as a result of McAteer doing his usual wind up jobs on opponents, it just got a bit out of hand.

Or maybe not.

smemon

Originally posted by tHE vAGGABOND
maybe lock the door till one of them emerges victorious, like a WWF steel cage match

exclusively live on sky sports box office for €20. good way of raising funds for the fai.

eirebhoy

Originally posted by seansouth
Also, about the summer of rest you predict. Isn't there some tournament involving Ireland and Nigeria at St. Mary's in Southampton this summer. I would expect Keane to be involved with this.

Ireland will play Nigeria and Jamaica between the end of May and the start of June (in between the Romania and Holland matches). The last friendly is against Holland on June 5th so it shouldn't be a problem. The FAI are also trying to arrange an August friendly with Croatia.

_blank_

Originally posted by eirebhoy
The FAI are also trying to arrange an August friendly with Croatia.

Maybe "Our Roy" won't play in that one then.

Jivin Turkey

From what I remember Keane and McAteer have no beef, Keane couldnt hate mcateer because he is such a loveable idiot. The incident between them was just mcateer winding him up, and keane giving into it. McAteer had an interview with the sunday independant a few weeks later saying that he had no problem with keane, but he nearly got stung by him the following week, when the two were staying in the same hotel without each others knowledge, McAteer was in the lobby and keane came down, he didnt see mcateer and mcateer legged it. Not out of fear for Roy, just cos he didnt want him catching him reading his book!

Tellox

Originally posted by Jivin Turkey
From what I remember Keane and McAteer have no beef, Keane couldnt hate mcateer because he is such a loveable idiot. The incident between them was just mcateer winding him up, and keane giving into it. McAteer had an interview with the sunday independant a few weeks later saying that he had no problem with keane, but he nearly got stung by him the following week, when the two were staying in the same hotel without each others knowledge, McAteer was in the lobby and keane came down, he didnt see mcateer and mcateer legged it. Not out of fear for Roy, just cos he didnt want him catching him reading his book!

One must admit, trigger is a funny character.

redspider

Hi, I'd just like to donate an off-line email discussion I've been having and post it here to the soccer forum as it should be of interest:

xxx said:
> Are you out of your mind!!!

not entirely! ;-)

I guess there are two key points I'm putting forward:

1) Roy was wrong for what he did (=let develop) in Saipan
(the Irish fans deserve an apology, a sentiment backed up by
Liam Brady, Ray Houghton, Mark Lawrenson - not Dunphy,
did you see TV last night and Brady's article in the Tribune?)

2) Roy is not the best player in the world and will not on his return
transform Ireland from a team that beats the Czech R 2-1 to a team
that beats say France 3-0. He is not a Maradona! If he replaces
say Kinsella in midfield, he will add to the team, but the other
players with this whole episode may play in fact slightly worse, and
the net effect for the team might be little to non-existent.

Back to the points that were raised:

I think you'll have to concede on the point that Roy is not a goalscorer
as the evidence is there for all to see. His playing position has always
been as the holding midfielder when the opposition has the ball (Roy
had ambitions of playing at centre-back at one stage and has tried on a
few occasions for Man U), as the central midfielder when going forward,
keeping the passes going and the flow, and making the odd run forward
into the opposing attack zone. The latter he did far more of when he was
younger and had a better "engine" to get up and down the field as they
say, and hence he was in a position to score more goals. He also gets a
chance from set pieces to be in and around the box, such as at corners,
etc and has scored a few goals that way. Roy does not have the ability
to dribble past 5 players and score a goal. Roy has abilities, good abilities,
and like all players, they are good at some things and can be mediocre at
other aspects. Aldo (the goalhanger?) is another story for another day.

> Short range goal against portugal.?

I probably have it on tape somewhere - I'd say it was about 10 to 12
yards out. Dont get me wrong, I think it was an important goal.

> Leading scorer in a campaign containing Holland and Portugal is impressive
> I would have thought.

except that 3 of his 4 goals were against Cyprus in matches that we won 4-0.
So he only scored 1 goal against anything that can be classified as opposition
including Andorra and Estonia. Remember, Dunne got two goals in that campaign.
Ireland do not score many goals.

But the keypoint is that Roy plays for his other skills that he brings. I agree.


> We won one game at the World cup. How is that a good world cup?

Ireland's success is always relative. We have only qualified for 3 WC's,
1990, 1994 and 2002 and we win only a few games. Successes for us
are also draws and getting through to the next stage. For example,
Jack's team drew with Egypt 0-0 in 1990 knowing that was enough to
get through to the next stage when perhaps in a friendly match they
could have gone all out for attack and maybe won 4-2 or something.
Getting out of a group that contains Cameroon and Germany was
an achievement in 2002. The important thing against Saudi was winning.
The match against Spain was not a good performance by us, I have an old
report on it somewhere that I wrote at the time, but a few penalties different
and we would have been through to the highest level we have ever achieved,
also due to penalties, so thats not bad.

> No mention in your report of Keane hitting the post against the Dutch and
> then flying back to defend where Staunton had slipped and let (I think it
> was concecaio cleant through. Cue Keane having sprinted 80 yrds to get back
> taking ball and man out over the sideline keane was up in a flash to give
> Stan a boll*king as he had every right to do having stopped a certain goal.

I mistily remember some incidents. Staunton had a few bloopers at the back
in the Dutch game and to be honest the Dutch deserved to win that day by
3 or more. We were lucky. I have the match on tape. I half remember Keane
giving a rollicking, but what we all know from playing on a football field,
getting a rollicking from one of your-loud mouthed colleagues doesnt mean
that you will play any better or indeed want to play with that player and
the captain - ie: pass to him. These guys/lads are supposedly professionals
but they all have egos (Roy has a big one!) that if they aren't massaged in
the right way they end up pissed-off. Staunton also saved the day several
times in that match as well as far as I remember.

(By the way, if you do have that tape, you will see how Dunphy praises to
the high heavens how well McCarthy has done and his skill as a manager -
it has to be seen to be believed).

I agree that Roy does a great job at covering for his defence, but
as the holding midfielder that is his job after all. He has a lesser
responsibility to be in the attack area, but all midfielders do get
an opportunity to drift in from time to time - such as when McAteer
ghosted into an unmarked strikers position to get the goal.

I guess another key point here is that Roy seldom makes mistakes. I agree
with that but I think you also need to consider the position that he plays
in and the amount of risk he takes in that position. He is great with
his passes but most of them are safe. He seldom gets caught out of
position because he doesnt go very far forward mainly and is the
covering midfielder. As the covering midfielder it is his job to cover for
defenders that get caught out, etc. Roy in a central position in the
play (where goals cant be given away or scored) is in the safest
place in the pitch in terms of making errors.


> that is the least of his game getting goals.

hey, we agree!

> It's a team game but sometimes players llike Keane can win a game on his
> own and he did that plenty of times in that qualifying campaign.

It is a team game, and I think this is where we disagree - Roy Keane did
not win a single game in the qualifying campaign on his *own* ! And another
thing to think about - Roy did not celebrate after Ireland beat the Dutch.
Why was that? Its a team game after all. The answer is that there was
something wrong with Roy!

> He is a nutter though. In football that is usually a benefit...........#

agreed!



xx said:

> What is it about Keane that he brings mad views in people.

definitely "strong" views since all that hullabaloo in Saipan

> It's simple - he one of our best players at the moment so he should play.
It would be that simple if he was say coming back from an injury or a ban.
It was the method of his departure that makes the re-introduction difficult,
and being majorly orchestrated by all. eg: Kerr's positioning and statements
are bordering on the diplomatic level and Ferguson now saying "Roy needs
the games", etc. If it was simple there would be no discussion.


> And this stuff about Kerr taking a massive risk by playing him, Bull**** it's
> a no brainer for Kerr.

The risk is that Kerr will go through all this facilitating, pissing off some
of the players but also giving credence to a prima donna that went too
far, hence his authority at some stage in the future could be reduced
or affected, and all this could happen only for Roy/Man U to say
next year - "Roy is not making himself available". It could all be for
very little, well, apart from Roy getting some hero worship.

> Can you imagine the wrath he would suffered had he not played
> Keane when Keane was available

I think Kerr is doing the right thing and saying the right things. Include him
in the squad, make the conditions the same for everyone, no special
Roy-only treatment. Another key to all this is that in Saipan Roy was
getting the Roy-only and the best treatment. He essentially didnt want
to be there and blew a gasket. He is really sorry for what he did given
his teary interview with Tommy Gorman and regrets what he did and
probably has learned from it given that he was in discussions to get
back in the team as soon as McCarthy had been ousted.

> Half the country would have been after his head.
perhaps, but perhaps the other half would have been applauding him!


In terms of Liam Brady's points, there is some credence in that the FAI
could have banned him, but that would have been over the top I think.
Liam is being a bit too strict in that regard, but Liam is practical and if
Roy's return proves positive he will say so. Dunphy is as usual spouting
sh-eye-te and thinks the sun shines out of Roy's ar$e. Dunphy will defend
Roy to the last. Last night he was again on about the lack of footballs, the
hard pitches, etc. The bust-up was nothing to do with those things really.
This was a breakdown in authority between the team coach/manager
and a prima donna, a day when Roy lacked professionalism.

I'm waiting to hear what Roy and the players say in the lead up to
this Poland match and then to see Roy play for 70 to 90 mins - then
we will know a bit more, as they say .....