Stephen ireland withdraws from squad

Mr Alan

An away game for City would involve him being away from her for a few days, as well as all day everyday for training.

Does where we finish in the group not factor in how we are seeded for the next WC qualifying campaign?

ntlbell

Exit wrote:

Well if that's the reason, how come he hasn't just come out and said that?

in not so many words, he did.

Daemonic

Mr Alan wrote:

The fact that he has not taken any break from playing for City would suggest that his gf has not needed his constant companionship. Surely if she did he would have taken a short leave from City, no one there would have be-grudged him that. So the sudden need for him to have time away from football coincides nicely with an international break where he may not be too well recieved.

Playing for City would entail at most an overnight seperation and I'm sure City would be alright with him travelling to games on the day of the match in the circumstances. The International week is exactly that, a full week away with the team. Very different situations.

PHB

Yeh, cause we're gona win this game :rolleyes:

Going away for a few days vs. coming home to Ireland for about a week, there's a difference. Also since the last international break City have been away from home once. Oh yeh, and in that game, Ireland played awful. I wonder was something else on his mind.

ntlbell

Mr Alan wrote:

An away game for City would involve him being away from her for a few days, as well as all day everyday for training.

eh? lol how long do you think they spend training every day?

An away game would usually involve him being away for a few hours.

anyway as has been stated all ready which you seem to keep ignoring, and loooking more a a gobsheen each time, CITY PAY HIS WAGES, HIS MORTGAGE HIS FOOD ETC ETC

hello??

Mr Alan

I'm sorry folks that my opinions are annoying ya, but i just dont buy it as a valid excuse a month later is all.

~Rebel~

zabbo: look on the previous page for my many reasons why it probably wasnt a hoax. As well as Nunu's mysterious comment.

PHB: they're not the least important games ever. If we dont get 3rd spot, we're absolutely fked for the WorldCup Qualifiers. The comment on him playing for city is fair though. Just had a look at their fixtures, and since the last international break they've only played ONE away fixture, which was an evening kick off in London, so very easy to get to a from (prob all in one day, flight down in morningand back after the match).

I still think the main reason at this point that he isn't coming however, is that he's not ready for the flak/abuse he'll receive. He doesnt seem to have the strongest mentality (im taking this purely from how he plays on the pitch, not really screaming for the ball, going missing etc) so maybe he feels he'll be too conscious when in the green jersey and not able to perform.

I think its a bad idea (unless his girlfriend really does need him by her side at all times, but it would have been a much better statement if they'd just said that so i dont think so. He didnt say "i feel i need to stay with my family", he said "i dont think i can do myself or country justice"), and will only make it tougher when he does. Better to just get back on the horse and get it over with, as Sven and Stan have both encouraged him to do.

GuanYin

Ermmm, have the people who are suggesting Ireland is lazy and useless forgetting the goals he's scored of late?

Mr Alan

PHB wrote:

Yeh, cause we're gona win this game :rolleyes:

if our finishing position in this group is of relevence to our seeding for the WC qualifiers,We'd have a better chance of winning with him playing, thats for sure. which in turn would make it considerably easier for us to qualify for the next WC. This is a game two minutes ago you said had zero relevence.

I aint ignoring anything btw, City paying his wages is of no relevence imo, if he needed a week of because she had a miscarraige, they would give it to him.

Ya think if he took a weeks leave without pay he all of a sudden wouldnt be able to pay his mortgage? (seriously doubt he has a mortgage) Do you have any idea how much these people earn?

Exit

PHB wrote:

Why the **** would he have to explain himself to you? He told the FAI, that's all he has to do. He has no obligation to tell you anything about his life.

Who said anything about telling me?

There are many people wondering what his reasons are for withdrawing from the squad. If he had said that he doesn't want to leave his girlfriend home for a long time, most people would have just accepted that.

Instead, he said his head isn't in the game. I think it's fair for people to wonder about what exactly that means given that he didn't stop playing football in the time since the last Ireland game.

I don't have strong opinions either way about it. I'm just saying that if he withdrew because of the reasons you gave, then it would have been better for the fella to have given those reasons to the FAI. Then we wouldn't all be questioning it in this thread.

Guy:Incognito

ntlbell wrote:

eh? lol how long do you think they spend training every day?

An away game would usually involve him being away for a few hours.

anyway as has been stated all ready which you seem to keep ignoring, and loooking more a a gobsheen each time, CITY PAY HIS WAGES, HIS MORTGAGE HIS FOOD ETC ETC

hello??

Hello????

If his head's not in the game, why would city want him playing as he'd be underpreforming and be a detriment to the team. As stated above he's been playing fine for them so this is sounding a lot like a cop out because he's not interested in playing for Ireland/scared to face the fans.

event

since this issue, he has played one away game, in London. probably away for a day at the most

if he joins up with ireland, it will probably be a week that he is away from her, so maybe he needs to be close to his family now.

im sorry lads, but put it into your own work situation.

You work in Dublin, and your girlfriend has had a miscarriage. you obviously keep working, as its only for a few hours a day, and you still get to comfort the girlfriend. You had to go away for a day a while ago but was just for a day. this job pays the bills.

Now, the irish section of your company wants you to go away for a week with them to a conference. You dont get paid, and will be away from your girlfriend for a week, maybe more. It doesnt matter how well you do at this conference btw

honestly, what would you do?

~Rebel~

event wrote:

since this issue, he has played one away game, in London. probably away for a day at the most

if he joins up with ireland, it will probably be a week that he is away from her, so maybe he needs to be close to his family now.

im sorry lads, but put it into your own work situation.

You work in Dublin, and your girlfriend has had a miscarriage. you obviously keep working, as its only for a few hours a day, and you still get to comfort the girlfriend. You had to go away for a day a while ago but was just for a day. this job pays the bills.

Now, the irish section of your company wants you to go away for a week with them to a conference. You dont get paid, and will be away from your girlfriend for a week, maybe more. It doesnt matter how well you do at this conference btw

honestly, what would you do?

Except that, again, this isn't his reason for missing the match. If he said this, noone would have a problem. but he didn't. He didn't mention his family. He didnt mention his girlfriend. He said he doesn't think he can perform on the pitch. which to me says that he's not sure he could handle booing from certain quarters when on the ball, or the constant bugging from reporters etc.

eirebhoy

yom 1 wrote:

Dont let him near the team. Only player we have that is worse or lazier than him is JOS.

I won't let you get away with that one. McGeady has been absolutely diabolical for Ireland but that's 100% down to confidence and that's blatantly obvious. Calling him lazy is an insult. He tracks back more than the majority of players of his type. He always tracks back. I agree with the rest of your post though. I certainly wouldn't play him in Croker.

As for Ireland, it appears Kerr was right about him.

MrJoeSoap

The guy has issues, I think that is pretty obvious. Whatever they are, and I don't really want to know, if he thinks he can't commit himself to his country then why can't people accept it?

Would it be better if he said nothing, showed up and played rubbish, got slated and felt even worse about himself (given how much the Irish media and public get on players backs, and rightly so most of the time)?

purple'n'gold

Let me see if I have this right. His girlfriend had a miscarriage so he said his granny had died?

zAbbo

No point forcing someone to play if he doesn't want to, let him get his head right, back on form, and re-join the squad next year.
He's had a tough year, maybe the demoxinil is having some adverse effects on him.

MrJoeSoap

purplengold wrote:

Let me see if I have this right. His girlfriend had a miscarriage so he said his granny had died?

Yes, presumably because he didn't want people to know.

zabbo wrote:

No point forcing someone to play if he doesn't want to, let me get his head right)

How will you be doing this??

raheny red

DesF wrote:

And this bullshít about not believing him about the miscarriage. I've heard some cold hearted things in my time, but that is horrible.

Are you related to him by any chance, jesus?! :rolleyes: Since there has been lies about dead grannies then there could be easily be lies about the miscarriage. It's an unfortunate position for him and the gf to find themselves in but it's gotten so out of hand and ridiculous that they know look like idiots. I've no pity for either of them whatsoever!

MrJoeSoap

raheny red wrote:

I've no pity for either of them whatsoever!

Thats harsh, what has the gf done to deserve no pity?

Mr Alan

purplengold wrote:

Let me see if I have this right. His girlfriend had a miscarriage so he said his granny had died?

Actually he lied about about one grandparent dying....

then he was found out on that......

decided to say his other grandmother died......

found out that was a lie too......

said his girlfriend had a miscarraige.

MrJoeSoap

Mr Alan wrote:

Actually he lied about about one grandparent dying....

then he was found out on that......

decided to say his other grandmother died......

found out that was a lie too......

said his girlfriend had a miscarraige.

And until we find out otherwise we should probably accept it, if not for his sake then at least for his girlfriends sake.

leninbenjamin

at this rate lads, my own take on it is: who give's a crap? let him sort his own problems out first, be they the ones reported or not, then whenever he wants to come back into the fold then accept him with open arms because we'll need him.

GuanYin

Just for a clarification.


Stephen Ireland's girlfriend is the one who reported that Stephen's grandmother had died, apparently because she felt it was the only way the FAI would put her through to him on the phone.

Ireland presumably carried on this lie, for whatever reason, I imagine his head wasn't in the right place at the time.


IN ANY CASE, there has been alot of personal attacks on the player here, calling him whatnot. What he did may be called into question, but attack on the intelligence, morality or any other personality trait of he or his family will not be tolerated.

Just in case you think I'm kidding, I'll be handing out 2 month bans on this thread for those who ignore this warning.

Guy:Incognito

psi wrote:

Just for a clarification.


Stephen Ireland's girlfriend is the one who reported that Stephen's grandmother had died, apparently because she felt it was the only way the FAI would put her through to him on the phone.

Ireland presumably carried on this lie, for whatever reason, I imagine his head wasn't in the right place at the time.


IN ANY CASE, there has been alot of personal attacks on the player here, calling him whatnot. What he did may be called into question, but attack on the intelligence, morality or any other personality trait of he or his family will not be tolerated.

Just in case you think I'm kidding, I'll be handing out 2 month bans on this thread for those who ignore this warning.

Did she not just say it on the phone to the fai? "reporting" suggests she went to the press straight away in an effort to get through to him. He then went to the fai who went public. Then he lied again on the monday after the game saying it was the other granny. He dug himself in pretty deep with all the lieing.

GuanYin

Stekelly wrote:

Did she not just say it on the phone to the fai? "reporting" suggests she went to the press straight away in an effort to get through to him. He then went to the fai who went public. Then he lied again on the monday after the game saying it was the other granny. He dug himself in pretty deep with all the lieing.

Well I meant reported to the FAI as opposed to the national press.

kinaldo

I stopped reading this on page 2 because I now believe Mr Allen is the ultimate troll no matter what he calls himself.

Mr.Nice Guy

Stephen Ireland has my support and I admire him for admitting he wouldn't be able to perform to the best of his ability.

Hope he sorts out his problems.

Devious

I just hope this doesn't set a precedent for future games, where a player can get out of playing simply by saying that they dont think they could do themselves justice or whatever.

Mr Alan

Wasn't Stephen Ireland in one of the Sunday papers at the weekend all blinged up with pictures of him sitting on the bonnet of his land rover giving an interview? Or was that an old interview, anyone know?
Cheers by the way Kinaldo?!

ntlbell

Mr Alan wrote:

Wasn't Stephen Ireland in one of the Sunday papers at the weekend all blinged up with pictures of him sitting on the bonnet of his land rover giving an interview? Or was that an old interview, anyone know?
Cheers by the way Kinaldo?!

what has it got to do with anything?

ntlbell

Devious wrote:

I just hope this doesn't set a precedent for future games, where a player can get out of playing simply by saying that they dont think they could do themselves justice or whatever.

"get out of playing"

Do you want players playing for Ireland who are only playing because they couldn't "get out of playing" ?

bizzare!

raven136

i dont know the guy or follow city but i feel really sorry for him.Anyoen check out Richard Sadloers cloum in the indo on sunday,excellent piece.
We all would give our right arm to play soccer professionally but he obviously isnt finding things in his private life easy.
Sometimes even in tjis 24 hour news cycle we should just step back and let him,his family and the city management deal with whatever the problems are.

Thats my tuppence worth on it

Xavi6

The lack of sympathy on this thread has amazed me. Stephen Ireland has been consistently good every time he has pulled on the green jersey in what can only be described as an absolute failure of a campaign. He has matured as a player and is currently one of the few Irish midfielders playing a pivotal role in a Premiership club. So what if he needs a break for what are really a couple of meaningless internationals? If we want to have any hope of qualifying for the next World Cup we should not be alienating one of the few quality players we have left.

Mr Alan

I agree that he has been about the best player we've had in this campaign, which is why its even more disheartening for him to be displaying such a poor attitude. The guy is 21 and has already pulled out of three international squads, only 1 of which he had a valid reason for. I do hope he is able to get his head together, because he is an excellent player. Its also worth noting that the Manchester City management team tried to convince him not to pull out of the squad for the Irish match and that these next three games could play a MASSIVE part in whether or not we qualify for the next world cup, so they are not the meaningless games people are trying to make them out as.

BaZmO*

Mr Alan wrote:

The fact that he has not taken any break from playing for City would suggest that his gf has not needed his constant companionship. Surely if she did he would have taken a short leave from City, no one there would have be-grudged him that. So the sudden need for him to have time away from football coincides nicely with an international break where he may not be too well recieved.

He played in the Slovakia game on the 8th Sept then didn't play in the Czech game on the 12th because of the trouble with his girlfriend. The next Man City game was the 16th Sept which he didn't play. The next MC game was away on the 22nd which he played and has played their next 2 games which were at home.

This information is not difficult to obtain.

Mr Alan

Unfortunately Bazmo i dont have access to anything on the net in work other than Boards.ie (thank god:))

I think its interesting that all the papers this morning are not stating the reason as him not meeting up with squad as being because of the miscarraige, in actual fact it appears its more because he is afraid of the reaction he'll get from the media/fans and his team-mates. Sven and Staunton even got Richard Dunne (who he looks up to) to talk to him and try and convince him that he should hook up with the squad.

BaZmO*

Mr Alan wrote:

Unfortunately Bazmo i dont have access to anything on the net in work other than Boards.ie (thank god:))

So you'd rather just make your mind up about someone without actually checking the facts first?

Mr Alan wrote:

I think its interesting that all the papers this morning are not stating the reason as him not meeting up with squad as being because of the miscarraige, in actual fact it appears its more because he is afraid of the reaction he'll get from the media/fans and his team-mates. Sven and Staunton even got Richard Dunne (who he looks up to) to talk to him and try and convince him that he should hook up with the squad.

FFS! Want do you want from this guy? He has said that his head is not right, and by the looks of it he has good reason, so he should be left alone to sort himself out. Constant badgering and questioning won't help the situation.

Xavi6

From the Manchester Evening News site:

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/sport/football/manchester_city/s/1019058_svens_praise_for_ireland

Sven's praise for Ireland
Chris Bailey
9/10/2007

SVEN Goran Eriksson has praised Stephen Ireland for the "incredible" work-rate he displayed in the game against Middlesbrough.

The Blues midfielder has held his place in the City side despite admitting last month that he lied about the death of his two grandmothers in a bid to be released from international duty so he could be with his girlfriend Jessica who had suffered a miscarriage.

However, Ireland has withdrawn from Steve Staunton's squad for the upcoming Euro 2008 qualifiers with Germany and Cyprus.

"I would like to see the statistics from the Middlesbrough game because the work-rate he produced on Sunday was absolutely incredible," declared the Blues manager. "He is a fantastic footballer and has shown that in the last few games."

Ireland was left out of the home game against Villa because Eriksson felt the player wasn't mentally in the correct frame of mind to play.

However, as soon as the manager could bring the youngster back into the fold, Ireland was restored to the righthand side of the City engine room where he has struck up a fruitful partnership with Elano.

"Not to bring him back would, as you say in England, have been to shoot ourselves in the foot," reasoned Eriksson.

"The last few games he has played for us, he has been fantastic. He ran for miles on Sunday against Boro, showed good discipline and was tactically very aware.

"He could have a couple of goals as well. He was very good. Stephen is a good boy and nice young man. He may have had some problems and we have had to try and resolve those as much as possible.

"Stephen will have all the help that he needs and as a footballer he can only get better and better."

He has been playing excellently lately and if not playing for his country keeps him at this level for us I'll be happy.

Mr Alan

I "want" him to want to play for Ireland, to show dedication and a good attitude.

If he is having physcological difficulties; i "want" him to get them sorted and come back and help us qualify for the next world cup.

I "want" him to NOT withdraw from the squad cause he holds a grudge against Brian Kerr as he did before.

and IF he is using physcological difficulties as an excuse to get out of these games, i "want" him to never play for Ireland again.

I really don't think that manchester city, a club with a massive invesetment in him, and massive interest in his well-being, would be trying to get him to play if they were in any doubt about the physcological stability.

Xavi: i agree he has been playing excellent this season.

_blank_

Mr Alan wrote:

Unfortunately Bazmo i dont have access to anything on the net in work other than Boards.ie

Any chance we could get something done about that?

Xavi6

DesF wrote:

Any chance we could get something done about that?

Do you mean get boards.ie blocked as well as everything else?!

Mr Alan

DesF wrote:

Any chance we could get something done about that?

Desmond, thats not nice

_blank_

Now, you see, you always think people are picking on you.

What I meant to say, and I'm sorry if it was a bit ambiguous, I swear, was that it would be nice if you could access other stuff on the net, and if there was anything, we, as a friendly community, could do to help.

Xavi6

DesF wrote:

Now, you see, you always think people are picking on you.

What I meant to say, and I'm sorry if it was a bit ambiguous, I swear, was that it would be nice if you could access other stuff on the net, and if there was anything, we, as a friendly community, could do to help.

Liar! You meant the other

Mr Alan

DesF wrote:

Now, you see, you always think people are picking on you.

What I meant to say, and I'm sorry if it was a bit ambiguous, I swear, was that it would be nice if you could access other stuff on the net, and if there was anything, we, as a friendly community, could do to help.

wat can i say des, i apologise-guess all the negativity aimed at me around here is finally getting to me

Devious

ntlbell wrote:

"get out of playing"

Do you want players playing for Ireland who are only playing because they couldn't "get out of playing" ?

bizzare!

Wrong choice of words maybe. Im just saying that, in certain circumstances, a player might decide he doesn't want to play in a particular international (e.g. not wanting to travel, wanting to go out on the pi$$ etc which aren't valid reasons for not wanting to play) and this could give them an easy excuse.

Xavi6

http://www.football365.com/story/0,17033,8652_2802067,00.html

IRELAND `TEASED ABOUT HAIR TRANSPLANTS`

Stephen 'Daddy Dick' Ireland is reportedly set to quit international football because his Irish team-mates teased him about apparent hair transplants.

The Irish Mail on Sunday reports that two unnamed team-mates pinned him to the floor on the night before Ireland's game in Slovakia last month, and tried to see if the sudden appearance of a fringe was down to artificial means.

What is in no doubt is that last season Ireland had a rapidly receding hairline, while in recent times he appears to be sporting a fringe.

Indeed, the Daily Telegraph claims 'it was not clear to the casual observer that he was there (at Ireland training) at all until coach Kevin MacDonald praised him loudly for a good piece of footwork.'

The FAI deny the incident took place.

It has been strongly denied that it was Andy Reid who sat on him while the check was made

BaZmO*

While I'd take anything that F365 says with a huge pinch of salt I'd be very surprised if he didn't get a sh1tload of stick when he arrived at the training camp with his new syrup.

It must be poxy going bald at 21 but getting implants is just looking for trouble.

Xavi6

BaZmO* wrote: »

While I'd take anything that F365 says with a huge pinch of salt I'd be very surprised if he didn't get a sh1tload of stick when he arrived at the training camp with his new syrup.

It must be poxy going bald at 21 but getting implants is just looking for trouble.

True but the UK Times has the story too....

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/euro_2008/article2659431.ece

International prospects of Stephen Ireland get a touch hairy
Russell Kempson Dublin

Fears were growing last night that Stephen Ireland, the troubled Manchester City midfield player, will give up international football at the tender age of 21.

The player is already on temporary “leave”, having withdrawn from Ireland’s squad for the European Championship qualifying matches at home to Germany and Cyprus, after missing the previous international week amid sensational developments in which he misled his club and the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) about the reason behind his unavailability.

He claimed that a grandmother had died before finally admitting that he had withdrawn from the squad because his girlfriend had suffered a miscarriage. Although still playing for City, he is receiving counselling for his problems and his club have enlisted specialist help from the United States.

Newspaper reports in Dublin at the weekend claimed that the reason that Ireland put his international career on hold was that he had been mocked by his Ireland colleagues over an alleged hair transplant or his wearing of a hairpiece.

This taunting, it was said, degenerated into two teammates pinning him to the floor and attempting to remove the “evidence”. It is understood that Ireland’s distress at the reports could shatter his recovery. “If this goes on, there’s now a great fear that Stephen will retire from Ireland for good,” a source said. Another source told The Times that it was “more basic ribbing but he took it really badly”. The FAI denied that any bullying took place.

Hairpiece involved too!

Hair-iffic treatment of a team mate though!!