Steve Bruce's kid wants to play for Ireland

super_furry

Can't say I think much of his motivation though - "I think I'm going to pick the Republic purely because I think they are a better team." The word mercenary springs to mind.

http://www.rte.ie/sport/2006/0130/bruce.html

whiskeyman

Odd how England never approached him.... I wonder if his Dad is still bitter about never getting a full cap.
Ah well, if he's any way decent let him play, although he didn't do himself any favours with that soundbyte...

Raskolnikov

whiskeyman wrote:

Odd how England never approached him

He's not good enough. He's 21 years old and has never made a start in a Premier League game despite Birmingham having lots of injury woes in the back.

fade2black

Jaysus, I remember seeing that lad in the steve's video "captain's log" when he was only a kid...time flies eh.

Agree with above though, don't think much of his motivation however it's better than I wouldn't have gotton my game with England, which probably passed the lips of Houghton, Cascarino, Morrisson etc at some point.

cruiserweight

fade2black wrote:

Jaysus, I remember seeing that lad in the steve's video "captain's log" when he was only a kid...time flies eh.

Agree with above though, don't think much of his motivation however it's better than I wouldn't have gotton my game with England, which probably passed the lips of Houghton, Cascarino, Morrisson etc at some point.

Houghton was Scottish! Don't think Bruce's kid is anywhere near good enough!

smackbunnybaby

he was on loan at wednesday for a lot of last season.
not the most cultured of players, but you cant fault him for lack of effort.
very similar to players who jack charlton used to pick...

Big Nelly

Has he not started the last few games? did ok for Shef Wed last season so could be handy to have him for backup

fade2black

cruiserweight wrote:

Houghton was Scottish! Don't think Bruce's kid is anywhere near good enough!

Yeah I know....you know what I meant though...their birth country...Stop nit-picking! :v:

cruiserweight

fade2black wrote:

Yeah I know....you know what I meant though...their birth country...Stop nit-picking! :v:

Kingp35

He is not good enough to be picked. I wouldnt even have him in the squad. Possibly if we got injuries but other than that he is not good enough

MrJoeSoap

Not deserving of a place in an Ireland squad full-stop, whether or not he is good enough is irrelevant.

Guy:Incognito

I'm surprised that Bruce himself never made the switch when he got a few years into hi scareer and it looked like he wasnt going to get capped by england.

galwaydude

alex bruce will add nothing to the irish setup. I would be more interested in the likes of dave kitson and maybe gary mcsheffrey of coventry city. Anyways we have the likes of ireland,o brien, whelen, mccarthy, doyle, stack coming through.

Good to see shane long getting a few games at reading now.

shepthedog

Why was Bruce Senior never approached by Ireland??

whiskeyman

shepthedog wrote:

Why was Bruce Senior never approached by Ireland??

He got an England B cap against Malta in October 1987 apparently.
I presume this ruled him out.

Cutie18Ireland

Raskolnikov wrote:

He's not good enough. He's 21 years old and has never made a start in a Premier League game despite Birmingham having lots of injury woes in the back.

He's been on loan for the last five months so it would be hard for him to start in the premier league. anyway, don't think he's good enough for Ireland.

dcarroll

galwaydude wrote:

alex bruce will add nothing to the irish setup. I would be more interested in the likes of dave kitson and maybe gary mcsheffrey of coventry city. Anyways we have the likes of ireland,o brien, whelen, mccarthy, doyle, stack coming through.

Good to see shane long getting a few games at reading now.

Anyone see mcSheffrey against Boro' on Saturday, looked like exactly what Ireland have been missing recently - a creative midfielder

MrJoeSoap

dcarroll wrote:

Anyone see mcSheffrey against Boro' on Saturday, looked like exactly what Ireland have been missing recently - a creative midfielder

He is quoted in todays Evening Herald as issuing pretty much a "First come, first served" plea to both Ireland and Scotland. In other words, whichever country comes in first will get him.

Not the type of person I want playing for my country.

Chucky the tree

MrJoeSoap wrote:

He is quoted in todays Evening Herald as issuing pretty much a "First come, first served" plea to both Ireland and Scotland. In other words, whichever country comes in first will get him.

Not the type of person I want playing for my country.

thank god your not manager so! :v:

MrJoeSoap

Chucky the tree wrote:

thank god your not manager so! :v:

Aye, we'd be hopeless. But at least we'd be Irish and passionate about Ireland.

Chucky the tree

MrJoeSoap wrote:

Aye, we'd be hopeless. But at least we'd be Irish and passionate about Ireland.

dunno. Look at the the actually irish players, most of them dont even know the national athenem.

padser

Ya know something that bothers me when we talk about our bright young players. Why do so many of them just never make it to anything like their potential.

Mark Kennedy
Jason Mcateer
Richard Sadlier
Keith O Neill
Graham Barrett
Liam Miller
Colin Healy

Arguably
Robbie Keane
John O Shea
Andy Reid
Stephen Reid

Im sure there are many more to be added to this list...maybe even Richie Foran. Why do they not make it so god damn often!

Guy:Incognito

padser wrote:

Ya know something that bothers me when we talk about our bright young players. Why do so many of them just never make it to anything like their potential.

Mark Kennedy
Jason Mcateer
Richard Sadlier
Keith O Neill
Graham Barrett
Liam Miller
Colin Healy

Arguably
Robbie Keane
John O Shea
Andy Reid
Stephen Reid

Im sure there are many more to be added to this list...maybe even Richie Foran. Why do they not make it so god damn often!

IMO McAteer vastly overachieved. He was a good first Div player with Bolton, which was about his level. We go on about the English media hyping their players but we are worse with young players, every on that has a decent game is the next big thing.

Chucky the tree

Liam miller is still very young. He has been brilliant at leeds apperantly. If they get promoted i can see him keeping his place and doing well for them. He just never got a chance at united. Lost his confidence when he only got picked for carling cup/ the odd fa cup match.

Need regualar football to show what he can do. Mark kennedy was the shame, never got his chance and liverpool and faded away. I tohught jason macteer was a good player.

Keith o'neil and colin healy both had bad injuries didnt they? i know colin healy did, broke his leg twice. Thread about him a few weeks ago actually. Being released by sunderland and might go to EL club.

Stehpen Reid is doing very well know. Again i think he suffered badly from injuries at the start.(another leg break was it?) He will be a irish squad regular for a good number of years.

Andy reid hant really done well at spurs, again if he went to another club and good regular football i can see him doing very well.

Dont know how robbie keane can be included?

MrJoeSoap

padser wrote:

Ya know something that bothers me when we talk about our bright young players. Why do so many of them just never make it to anything like their potential.

Mark Kennedy
Jason Mcateer
Richard Sadlier
Keith O Neill
Graham Barrett
Liam Miller
Colin Healy

Jeez, that reads like a who's who of Irish injuries!

eirebhoy

Chucky the tree wrote:

dunno. Look at the the actually irish players, most of them dont even know the national athenem.

Most of them do. I think it was Mick that got a video in to teach all the players the anthem. I think Kilbane learnt it himself as he has only started singing it the past year.

padser

Stekelly wrote:

IMO McAteer vastly overachieved. He was a good first Div player with Bolton, which was about his level. .

in 1995 aged 23 Mcateer signed for liverpool for £4.5. Massive deal at the time. Rave reviews. To say at that time his level would end up as a 'good first division player' people would def say he underachieved.

I def accept the point that a lot of the players have had injuries. Just also making the point that most of our most promising talents dont hit the heights we expect.

I included Robbie Keane because although his record for Ireland is v good if you consider his £13 move to Inter Milan at age 19 it could certainly be argued that for him to be barely (he wasnt at the beginning of the season) holding down a place at Spurs is underachieving??

Also add David Connolly to the above list.

eirebhoy

padser wrote:

I included Robbie Keane because although his record for Ireland is v good if you consider his £13 move to Inter Milan at age 19 it could certainly be argued that for him to be barely (he wasnt at the beginning of the season) holding down a place at Spurs is underachieving??

Well he's not barely holding his place now, he's first choice striker and captain (until King is back). I don't think you can list Keane in the under-achievers list. He's 25 and currently a top striker.

Andy Reid will make a name for himself as a central midfielder, wait and see.

In fairness to S.Reid. He was superb at Millwall but Souness bought him and played him in all kinds of positions (right back plenty of times) and he was also injured a lot. Under Hughes he seems to be doing well in the centre.

damienom

shepthedog wrote:

Why was Bruce Senior never approached by Ireland??

The ROI connection is on the mothers side me thinks

Pigman II

He's having a laugh isn't he? 21 and he still hasn't made a his premiership debut even despite daddy being the gaffer?

Plus he's a defender and that's the one area we're never short in.

WhiteWashMan

MrJoeSoap wrote:

Not deserving of a place in an Ireland squad full-stop, whether or not he is good enough is irrelevant.

*boggle*

MrJoeSoap

WhiteWashMan wrote:

*boggle*

As super_furry pointed out in the original post, he is a mercenary who is in no way Irish and is looking to play international football for a country he has no passion for. There are plenty of young Irish players out there more deserving of a chance, regardless of whether they are of a higher playing ability than Bruce or not (and I sincerely hope they are!).

Zat Knight for example... :rolleyes: