Should we cap McGeady ASAP?

eirebhoy

If you are a fan of Celtic or Ireland I'm sure you would have heard of Aidan McGeady. If you haven't, he's an 18 year old, born in Glasgow but his grandparents were born in Donegal and he has played for Ireland under 16, 17, 18 and 19's.

He made his debut for Celtic on Sunday and scored. The highlight of the match though was McGeady's trick which many said he copied from Ronaldinho but Celtic's U-19 coach, Willie McStay is adament that McGeady has been doing the trick since he was 10. He can also volley a golf ball over 200 times and he is supposed to be Ireland's most promosing prospect ever. McStay also said that with McGeady's natural talent there is very little you can tach him other than awareness and how to fit into a team structure. Arsenal and ManU are interested in him too.

He said he is happy with the Irish setup and wants to stay with them but I am not entirely convinced. The Scottish assistant manager tried to persuade him to play for them and even asked McGeady's father to try and get him to play for Scotland but failed to do so. Since he lives in Glasgow he's going to have every second person asking him to play for Scotland and I'm worried he'll give in.

If he gets a cap for the Ireland senior team he can't go back so do you think we should get him capped as soon as possible (even the Romania match)?

Villain

Nah I saw the interview he gave after the match and he seemed very sure who he was going to play for.

I think it would be wrong to cap him for the sole purpose for stopping him changing his mind.

eirebhoy

Originally posted by irish1
Nah I saw the interview he gave after the match and he seemed very sure who he was going to play for.

Who's to stop a Scottish version of Roman Abramovich offering him couple of million to change his mind?:)

Villain

Originally posted by eirebhoy
Who's to stop a Scottish version of Roman Abramovich offering him couple of million to change his mind?:)

well if he'd rather let money decide what country he represents, I say let him go.

If he wants to play for us great, I'm delighted, but if not then he shouldn't be forced to.

Big Ears

Well i i voted option one but after reading irish 1's second post I would have voted for 3

Davey Devil

You guys seem to know some stuff about McGeady. Tell my why does he want to play for Ireland so much??

If Duffer had a Scotish granny and decided to play for Scotland(say scotland were a better team than us), I'd be SOOO angry. If he's just playing for Ireland because he thinks we have a better team and we are more likely to Euro's/W.C, I think that's wrong. Don't get me wrong I'm happy he's decided to play for us but I can't help feeling it's for the wrong reasons. The only way I could excuse him for this choice is if his family consider themselves Irish living in Scotland. Is that the case??

ella minnow pea

just cause you were born in a stable it don't make you a horse

eirebhoy

You guys seem to know some stuff about McGeady. Tell my why does he want to play for Ireland so much??

If Duffer had a Scotish granny and decided to play for Scotland(say scotland were a better team than us), I'd be SOOO angry. If he's just playing for Ireland because he thinks we have a better team and we are more likely to Euro's/W.C, I think that's wrong. Don't get me wrong I'm happy he's decided to play for us but I can't help feeling it's for the wrong reasons. The only way I could excuse him for this choice is if his family consider themselves Irish living in Scotland. Is that the case??

I agree that I would be angry if Duff chose another country over Ireland and the Scots have a right to be but it really is just tough luck. As you mentioned, it said in an article that he chose Ireland because they had a better chance of qualifying for a major competition, at the age of 16 unless he could predict the future I doubt that is the truth. It was written in a Scottish article and they were angry with his decision so I wouldn't believe that. He said on Sunday he chose Ireland because they were the first to come in for him when Kerr was in charge of the underage teams and he is happy with Ireland. I also heard that he had trouble with Scottish FA in the past and this is a way of getting back at them but again that was from a Scottish message board.

BTW - good point irish1, maybe we should just let him be.

This is where it says about his troubles with the SFA

thejollyrodger

He can also volley a golf ball over 200 times and he is supposed to be Ireland's most promosing prospect ever

volleying golf balls .. were going to defintely win this 2006 World Cup now:rolleyes:

I voted the last option, if he doesnt want to play or has doubts and is likely to change his mind, better now than 5+ years and have another incident :eek:

It is only speculation, a lot of those celtic supporter have started to belive their own HYPE, how many players have looked great and turned out to be a flop or meidorce...

But if he turns out to be the real mc coy and wants to play for Ireland for all the right reasons then great !

eirebhoy

Originally posted by thejollyrodger
volleying golf balls .. were going to defintely win this 2006 World Cup now:rolleyes:

Jesus, I hate those rolleyes. I got that bit from an article that was posted on this board before:

As a child, Martin O’Neill became obsessed with a story he had heard of Ferenc Puskas keeping a tennis ball up more than 200 times. He spent long, often frustrating hours pursuing this mark before matching it. Soon, Celtic’s manager will unleash a player on Scottish football who can easily eclipse both him and the great Hungarian in this respect. Aiden McGeady, who turns 18 today, can manage 500 or so with a tennis ball but prefers a tougher challenge. In his childhood, not so very long ago, he watched footage of Diego Maradona juggling a golf ball and decided he would have a go. His record with the smaller ball is more than 200.

Volleying a golf ball is not the easiest thing in the word and someone that can do it without too much practice obviously has a special talent. Give it a try.;)

I'm suprised nobody has voted for the second option. Surely there is someone that knows McGeady is a special talent but thinks it would be mad to cap him so soon.

bizmark

Cap him he seems great we need a new forward and he wants to play for us

This is where it says about his troubles with the SFA

Is that a scotish forum ? if so they seem fine with it

eirebhoy

Originally posted by bizmark
Is that a scotish forum ? if so they seem fine with it

Its a Celtic forum so most of the people on would be Scottish. In saying that though, I'm sure the Rangers fans aren't fine with it.:p

tHE vAGGABOND

supposed to be Ireland's most promosing prospect ever

Thats a lot of pressure to put on a young lad with a tiny handfull of first team games, who has not even played under 21 football for Ireland..

As soon as he plays a 'qualifier' for the under 21's or any kind of game for the senior team he is ours as far as I know..

Big Nelly

Where wud he play if put on senior side? midfield is a bit full at the moment!(except today game where I cud prob get a place if I said I played in England:-))


Stick him with the u21's and let him work his way up from there!! cant really throw him in and then leave Miller or Reid out of midfield!! Clinton had to show he wanted to play for Ireland by working away at u21 level first so why cant he? could be a great talent but has only played half a game so far in the first team.....correct me if Im wrong!!! and the Scottish league is hardly EC/WC qualifier level is it now????

Oh yeah Scotland took Fletcher from Ireland after Roy the boy tried to get him to declare for Ireland so sickened!! haha

eirebhoy

Originally posted by neilbrady79
Where wud he play if put on senior side? midfield is a bit full at the moment!(except today game where I cud prob get a place if I said I played in England:-))


Stick him with the u21's and let him work his way up from there!! cant really throw him in and then leave Miller or Reid out of midfield!! Clinton had to show he wanted to play for Ireland by working away at u21 level first so why cant he? could be a great talent but has only played half a game so far in the first team.....correct me if Im wrong!!! and the Scottish league is hardly EC/WC qualifier level is it now????

Oh yeah Scotland took Fletcher from Ireland after Roy the boy tried to get him to declare for Ireland so sickened!! haha

McGeady is a 2nd striker so he could play up front but he is not the ideal partner for Robbie. Who says stick him in a qualifier? All he needs in 30 seconds of a friendly to get a cap.

Big Ears

Fletcher is scottish if he played for us it would have been a case of us stealing him . He would have been a handy player to have right midfield , not a world beater but a good player all the same .

cournioni

Both Wayne Rooney and Kieran Richardson are half Irish too, according to CM 03/04.

Maybe we could get Richardson to play for us aswell.

BaZmO*

Steady on there!!

I think we're unfortunately heading down the English path of over hyping young players to the extent that there is no way they could possibly live up to the expectations!

Just look what the English press done to Owen and Rooney!


B.

dccarm

Lot of people in Scotland unhappy with this. It seems the problem has been that he wasn't able to play schools level football because of his commitment to Celtic (I'm not sure if that's because of the SFA or because of Celtic). Because of this he was not able to be picked for the national school's teams. Packy Bonner brought him over to Ireland and he's been able to play for Irish national youth teams as the same rules don't apply.

I think he should really wait and decide what he wants to do himself and not let either the Irish or Scottish FA's try to force him round by blooding him early just for the sake of preventing the other country have him. Both need to rememebr that he's still a kid with no top level experience.

I do believe though that players should play for the country they feel they most belong to. It reminds me of Stuart McCall who played for England at youth level. He was about to get his first under 21 cap coming on as a substiute and they sent him up behind the goals to warm up. While he was there he looked down at the England shirt and realised what he was about to do, so when they called him back down to come on he pretended not to hear and stayed behind the goals. He refused to play for them again. (Or maybe he told that story to ingratiate himself to the Scottish fans when he turned up with a big English accent on him, but I like to think it's true)

leeroybrown

Ultimately it's his decision and there isn't much point in throwing him on for 2 minutes just to tie him to us. I saw him being interviewed after the Celtic match and he appeared to be quite definite about who he was going to play for.

I suppose if you've played for a country through the underage levels you do begin to build up quite a loyalty to it even if you were born elsewhere.

The Rooster

Clinton Morrisson rarely played with the Irish under 21s. One or two caps at the very most, and I'm about 80% sure he got no caps. My memory is telling me that as soon as he (finally) declared for Ireland, he went straight into the senior squad.

It is my understanding that even if Aidan McG played with Ireland v Poland, he could still go on to play for Scotland. Only competitve games count in this regard, whether they be competitive U19, U21 or senior.

John Fashanu got 3 or 4 senior caps for England, all in friendlies. He was later able to play with Nigeria.

Sposs

Yes unless your capped at senior level you can now change what country you play for,it was a new rule FIFA recently brought in.Theres no rush on the lad see how he progresses and if he's good enough he'll get called up, btw Steven Geard and Paul scholes could have played for Ireland,what a midfield we would have had then

cournioni

Originally posted by Sposs
Yes unless your capped at senior level you can now change what country you play for,it was a new rule FIFA recently brought in.Theres no rush on the lad see how he progresses and if he's good enough he'll get called up, btw Steven Geard and Paul scholes could have played for Ireland,what a midfield we would have had then

Paul Scholes would have played for Ireland, had the rules allowed us.

DRakE

Rooneys only in the English squad due to the amount of money he brings in... to the stadium pieshop

cournioni

haha true, true...

The United fans came up with this song for Rooney...
"He's fat, he's Scouse... He's probably robbed your house, WAYNE ROONEY!"

tHE vAGGABOND

you can play 50 friendlys at all age levels, your not tied to a nation until you play a competitive game..

I think the John Fash thing is different, as he was capped for england before these rules came in, and anyway african countries get away with murder robbing players

Just saw his goal from the weekend on the celtic website, not bad at all. He looks a good little player.

Dead serious here, young top prospects like him who will be about for 10+ years should be in the squad instead of mickey mouse League of ireland players who will never 'make it'. But only after he has played a game or two for the under 21's - get used to the step up in class and a slightly better standard of international football..

thejollyrodger

I think the best thing posted so far is get him invovled in the U-21's in the next few games and he how he fairs!

cournioni

Another example of a player playing for a bigger country over the nation of his birth... Patrick Vieira. He was born in Dakar, Senegal wasn't he?

BaZmO*

Originally posted by PORNAPSTER
Another example of a player playing for a bigger country over the nation of his birth... Patrick Vieira. He was born in Dakar, Senegal wasn't he?

We don't have to go that far to see players playing for a country other than the country that they born in!
Just look at the Irish Squad, they weren't called the English B Team for no reason!

B.

MrJoeSoap

Is anyone else fed up with people having to 'decide' over which country they want to play for? As far as I can see, you should have to play for the country you were born in... end of story. I dont agree with the idea of Ireland trying to 'claim' McGeady, just in case he might turn out to be a good player. Seems very selfish to me. And as for

just cause you were born in a stable it don't make you a horse

Does that imply that being born in Scotland doesnt make him Scotish?

eirebhoy

Originally posted by MrJoeSoap
Is anyone else fed up with people having to 'decide' over which country they want to play for? As far as I can see, you should have to play for the country you were born in... end of story.

McPhail was born in England to two Irish parents, I don't think he would like to be forced to play for England.

Sposs

Originally posted by BaZmO*
We don't have to go that far to see players playing for a country other than the country that they born in!
Just look at the Irish Squad, they weren't called the English B Team for no reason!

B.

English B team,what are you on about, heres the Irish team all born and bred in Ireland.

Given

o shea
cunningham
dunne
harte

andy reid
duff
roy keane
kinsella

robbie keane
gary doherty

BaZmO*

Originally posted by Sposs
English B team,what are you on about, heres the Irish team all born and bred in Ireland.

Given

o shea
cunningham
dunne
harte

andy reid
duff
roy keane
kinsella

robbie keane
gary doherty

Very selective team you got there Sposs.

I'd be fairly sure that you know "exactly" what I was talking about!


B.

Sposs

The team was selective for a reason to prove my point that we no longer rely as

much on english born players swiching over to us,the team i selected just shows

you how we can now field a team of players who were all born and raised in ireland

before going to england,so i resent the remark that you still class ireland as

Englands B team.

Villain

Anyone that classes Ireland as an English B obviously needs to look at our recent squads, there is a lot more Irish born players than english born players, and as people have stated this gos on in a lot of country's.

I don't hear people calling France the Senegal B Team !!

BaZmO*

Originally posted by Sposs
so i resent the remark that you still class ireland as

Englands B team.

I don't class the Irish Team as England's B Team!

All I said was.........

Just look at the Irish Squad, they weren't called the English B Team for no reason!

I personally think we got quite a strong "Irish" born squad at the moment, but we usen't to in the past. It used to be a bit disheartening to hear the captain of the the irish team being interviewed only to be speaking with an English accent.


B.

Pepe LeFrits

Encouraging times with these promising young players coming through. Obviously Ireland will never be a footballing superpower, but it'll be interesting to see the difference the world cups of '90 and '94 will have had on the number and quality of young players coming through over the next few years.

eirebhoy

Originally posted by kaids
Obviously Ireland will never be a footballing superpower

We are probably the best of the smaller nations (ie. less than 5mil) in the world.

Look at the spine of the team: Given - Cunningham - Roy Keane - Robbie Keane. That is equal, if not better, than England's. Owen is no better than Robbie, Given is better than James, Cunningham is no household name but there is little between him and Campbell and Gerrard may just shade Keane ATM. Then add Duff, O'Brien, O'Shea, Finnan (still in with a chance of the Ireland starting lineup) and Miller, all playing for the top 5 premiership teams. A.Reid, Carr and Morrison make the team. The up and coming, Elliot, McGeady, McCarthy, Flood, Kelly and more. Get the spirit that N.Ireland showed last night (if anyone saw it they would agree) and we could beat anyone.:)

Jivin Turkey

Originally posted by BaZmO*

Just look what the English press done to Owen and Rooney!


B. [/B]

Yeah 2 total flops there alright, absolute crap players.

Jivin Turkey

Originally posted by eirebhoy

Look at the spine of the team: Given - Cunningham - Roy Keane - Robbie Keane. That is equal, if not better, than England's. Owen is no better than Robbie, Given is better than James, Cunningham is no household name but there is little between him and Campbell and Gerrard may just shade Keane ATM.

Lets not get carried away, Given is probably one of the best in the premiership, but Owen no better than Keane? Come on. Owens talent is wasted because of liverpools style, he ALWAYS does it for england. Little between cunningham and Campbell? Although I respect cunningham hugely, and think he is great he is not a patch on campbell, or terry, or woodgate, or southgate, or ferdinand. Gerrard is better than Keane, then you also have Paul Scholes, Lampard, and Beckham.

eirebhoy

Originally posted by Jivin Turkey
Lets not get carried away, Given is probably one of the best in the premiership, but Owen no better than Keane? Come on. Owens talent is wasted because of liverpools style, he ALWAYS does it for england. Little between cunningham and Campbell? Although I respect cunningham hugely, and think he is great he is not a patch on campbell, or terry, or woodgate, or southgate, or ferdinand. Gerrard is better than Keane, then you also have Paul Scholes, Lampard, and Beckham.

While Owen has more pace than Keane, Keane has more skill. Owen wouldn't do as much work as Keane, Keane works his arse off and gets a few assists. They are two players that are stronger than one another in different departments. All Owens goals are inside the penalty area and that is where he stays so he is more likely to get more goals. Owen has 14 premiership goals, Keane has 13 but has started 2 more than Owen. Keane has 42 crosses, Owen has 19, Keane has 5 assists, Owen 2. Owen is more the RVN type, Keane is more the Henry so they are hard to judge. Don't give me all the wasted talent crap, if he put in more work the goals would come.

It is hard to judge defenders and there isn't many stats that can prove anything but its the only way. I can't actaully find many stats to judge them on but Campbell has more fouls per tackle than Cunningham. Cunningham has 14 clean sheets, Campbell has 12. Cunnigham has more points than Campbell in the premier league fantasy football.:D

I admitted that at this stage Gerrard is better than Keane, I never mentioned anyone else because the don't need to be mentioned.

I never said that Cunningham was better than Campbell or Keane was better than Owen but there is little between them. You have to see that.

thejollyrodger

et the spirit that N.Ireland showed last night (if anyone saw it they would agree) and we could beat anyone

Come on Kerr, start again and lets get that norn iron spirit! I wish we could be them:rolleyes:

and

Owen is more the RVN type, Keane is more the Henry

Just crapper version (to be brutally honest)!

We despertely need an out and out striker for Ireland

eirebhoy

Originally posted by thejollyrodger
Come on Kerr, start again and lets get that norn iron spirit! I wish we could be them:rolleyes:

I think I'll start a campaign to get rid of those rolleyes. What the hell is that comment meant to mean? Northern Ireland played Serbia last night and they ram their hearts out whenever Serbia had the ball. We have the players to beat most teams so if we showed the determination that N.Ireland showed last night we could beat anyone. I still can't make out your reply above though.

BaZmO*

Originally posted by Jivin Turkey
Yeah 2 total flops there alright, absolute crap players.

I never said that they were crap players, on the contrary.
I was just making the point that we shouldn't go down the same road as the English press and start hyping up players before they're even out of their nappies!! I doesn't help with their development, too much pressure too young!

B.

thejollyrodger

I still can't make out your reply above though.

Kerr seems to be doing a good job and when you have decent enough players that can keep the ball and are good footballers you dont need to be running about the pitch making a titantic effort to fight for a 1-1 (FRIENDLY) draw.

I cant see any postivies to take out of the Northern Ireland set up, maybe they can take a few out of ours;)

Waylander

I think Owen is a much better player then Robbie Keane. Don't get me wrong I like Robbie, but Owen is class. Eireboy, I really do believe the reason he is not doing very well at Liverpool is because of Houllier and his tactics. Robbie, while he is a good player, will never win European Player of the Year! Owen was fortunate to win it, but he did win it. By the way I am not a Liverpool fan. As regards Gerrard and Keane, I think there is nothing in it between those two. As for Kenny C, he is a good solid player, but there is a reason that he plays for Burnimgham and Sol Campbell plays for Arsenal. Can you honestly say that if you were a premiership manager and you had these choices to make you would pick Robbie and Kenny ahead of Campbell and Owen. Then ask yourself how many current premiership managers would agree with you.

cournioni

I think if Ireland played England, Ireland would win 9 times out of ten. Owen IS crap, all he has is speed (which has been matched by most defenders nowadays). Robbie has natural talent with the ball at his feet. Owen just runs onto lose balls.

Gerrard is better than Roy Keane at the moment, but not when Keane is fired up to the last. If Keane is really fired up for a game he is the best in the world. But he knows he can't do that for all games.

Beckham is overrated. He has a great pass, but he doesn't have skill like Andy Reid or even Liam Miller with the ball at his feet, and besides Ian Harte is just as good as him with a dead ball.

Two players I don't think Ireland can match are Lampard and Scholes. There is no one in the Ireland team that can play the way they do. Maybe Miller and Reid in the future, but not at the moment.

Here is a list of the two teams and who is greater than less than or equal to...

Given > James, Given is better.

Carr = G. Neville, Gary Neville has been playing great recently, Carr has class though.
O'Shea >= Bridge, Bridge is great going forward, but is not as solid defensively. O' Shea is better than Cole.
Cunningham =< Terry, I think Cunningham can be just as good on his day. But technically Terry is better
O'Brien = Campbell, I honestly think that O'Brien is a great defender. Just as good as any in the Prem.

Duff > Lampard, Lampard won't be as good on the left. Duff is world class without a doubt.
A. Reid < Scholes, Scholes is a world class CM. Reid may get there some day though.
Keane >= Gerrard, Keane can be the best player in the world when he's fired up.
Miller < Beckham, I think Beckham's crosses just shade him in this case. Miller is still better with the ball at his feet though.

Keane > Owen, Owen is overrated. All he has is speed and Andy O'Brien can match that pace. Keane is deadly.
Morrison < Rooney, Fatboy wins this one I'm afraid.

Looks like two equally matched sides.

eirebhoy

Originally posted by Waylander
As for Kenny C, he is a good solid player, but there is a reason that he plays for Burnimgham and Sol Campbell plays for Arsenal.

And that reason is, and it is the only reason I can think of, Cunningham is 32, Sol is 29. Cunningham has only became such a great defender in the last year. There is no doublt that Sol will improve and has a few more years in him. I would prefer Sol in my team but I never said I wouldn't, I said "Cunningham is no household name but there is little between him and Campbell", so that could mean Campbell is better but their is little between them.

Keane - Owen is just a matter of preference. Owen may be playing badly with Houllier's tactics but he could still do better. He doesn't seem to care and if Roy Keane put in as little determination as Owen he wouldn't be known today. He may have the ability but thats no good unless you fight for the ball and don't be waiting for the perfect pass. Just to add, Owen does play a lot better for England but he has played with great players since his debut. He has 24 goals in 54 games, Keane has 19 in 49, so Keane has 5 games to score 5 goals.:) Also, Keane has a lot more influence on a match when he doesn't score. I don't know, ATM I would probably prefer Keane in my team. Its just my opinion on the two players. BTW - Keane is only 23 so I wouldn't count out a European Player of the year award.