An update from the forum's favourite son...

28064212

Ush1 wrote: »

What benefits has he reaped?

To begin with, he no longer (in his own words) has to deal with his "growing disillusionment with the side". He also didn't have to join his ex-team-mates in getting hammered 4-0 by England and losing at home to Montenegro. I have no doubt Ferguson is much happier that he's retired from internationals. And there's the obvious benefit of not having to travel on international weekends, so he can rest and recover, and no risk of injuries in matches that aren't part of his professional career

flahavaj

Ush1 wrote: »

What benefits has he reaped?

More time to smoke slim cigarettes beside the fire wearing his silken pyjamas and dressing gown, while reading the works of Geoffrey Chaucer in Bulgarian.

Ush1

28064212 wrote: »

To begin with, he no longer (in his own words) has to deal with his "growing disillusionment with the side". He also didn't have to join his ex-team-mates in getting hammered 4-0 by England and losing at home to Montenegro. I have no doubt Ferguson is much happier that he's retired from internationals. And there's the obvious benefit of not having to travel on international weekends, so he can rest and recover, and no risk of injuries in matches that aren't part of his professional career

Okay but his performances for the club have not really benefited. He still doesn't consistently perform.

Fair enough less danger of getting injured but he doesn't seem like the type of player who will be overworking himself on international duty.

I don't think avoiding taking part in a hammering is a benefit. If he was playing maybe they would have done better?

tribesman78

Give me Andy Reid over Stephen Ireland. At least he wants to play for his country but Trap has frozen him out. Ireland turned his back and now that he is not getting game time decides **** it i'll go back to the Irish team for a while. He had his chance and it will take an apology and a good season to even be in consideration to be brought back.

jaykay74

http://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/soccer/ireland-id-rather-shoot-myself-than-live-in-cork-147145.html

He may not play any football these days but he gives great quotes

The midfielder, who has just moved on loan to Newcastle, also hit out Roberto Mancini, Manchester City and Gerard Houllier in the interview, published in So Foot magazine in France today. Ireland revisited the lies he told about his grandmothers having died back in September 2007 and claimed they were "a pretext".

"International teams don’t interest me. As it is, a season lasts more than 60 matches, so to go off for three days for a game against Andorra, I’ve got better things to do," he said.

"When you’re Irish, you know very well that you’re never going to win the World Cup, and even when I was in the youth teams, it used to piss me off to have to go. Everyone came from Dublin and I was the only one from Cork. I had to take the train on my own, pay for a taxi, there was no hotel, no food, and it was run in a very amateurish way.

"Ireland just reaps what it has sown. We’ve built buildings just for the sake of it, and at the end of the day no-one lives inside them. It costs a huge amount of money and no-one can pay it back. But I don’t care about Ireland. I really don’t know whether I will ever go back there one day. I’d rather shoot myself than live in Cork. I prefer Los Angeles."

Ireland also laid into coach Trapattoni, saying: "I have never seen anyone so arrogant. I met him once, he was on the phone every two minutes and he left me hanging around in this office for a quarter of an hour.

"In the end, he said, ‘If you want to come and play, fine, if you don’t, no problem’. He did that in reality just so the media would leave him alone."

Ireland, who met with a journalist from So Foot magazine, then turned his anger on City and the manner in which he was pushed out of the club. "Mancini never liked me, he wanted his own players, and that’s fair enough. But he’s gone too far, he’s got rid of everyone, even the cook left. The family club I spent nine years with does not exist any more. What’s going to happen when Mancini leaves? Will he take the 50 people he brought in with him? And ever since he’s been there, City’s matches have become as boring as hell. The club has lost its soul."

Last summer, Ireland moved to Aston Villa — only because City stopped him talking to Manchester United and Liverpool, he claimed — but one day after he signed, coach Martin O’Neill resigned from his position, leaving Ireland with a coach, Houllier, who had not chosen him.

"After 15 matches on the bench, Houllier told me to stay at home," he explained. "I would train all week and on Friday he would say, ‘It’s not worth coming, you’re not in the team’. That’s even though I was best player in training, that didn’t seem to matter to him. But I have nothing against Houllier, after all, he wasn’t the one who chose me."

Ireland has moved to Newcastle for the rest of the season but his comeback from injury this weekend could be put on hold after Magpies boss Alan Pardew yesterday confirmed Ireland was suffering from a thigh strain.

"We’re a little concerned about him," Pardew said. "You get that when you come back from lay-offs, it’s something we’ll police between now and Saturday."

stovelid

Every time I read him now I immediately see that excellent photoshopped picture (from this forum) of himself and his mot with their dog's head superimposed on them.

The image kind of befits the words uttered, I find.

IamtheWalrus

Jordonvito wrote: »

say what....

I do not want to associate myself with someone who thinks this vehicle is cool.

listermint

This lad is so Insane Im surprised he hasnt applied for a surname change.

Maybe it should be taken off him.

stovelid

If only you could somehow siphon out his talent and implant it in a decent, non-insane pro.

cremeegg

could we take away his passport... change his name.. strip him of his 5 caps.. hang him by his balls off dublin castle??

Stephen Ireland we HATE you

tribesman78

I have always said id take him back but after this latest rant he can piss off. He seams to think he is bigger than any team he is in. What has he done in his career.......Nothing. Fair enough the FAI are a bit amateurish and Trap is arrogant but to slate his country and home town is a disgrace. Good luck on your bebut and as they say "Break a leg" or two if possible.

major bill

jonnyfingers wrote: »

I hate all this crap like "he doesn't deserve to play for the team after the disrespect he showed". As an Irish supporter all I care about is winning games and qualifying for major tournaments. To do that we need our best players.

Now if I had my choice between Green and Ireland in midfield I know who I'd pick. Ireland gives us something we're severly lacking, an attack minded midfielder who's good on the ball and can score goals. Yes his attitude can leave a lot to be disired and I might not like him as a person but if he comes into the team and plays well then I'm more than happy.

Good players dont just make good teams. You need players that have good attitudes that conduct themselves well on and off the pitch...thats why barcelona are so good as were the liverpool teams and manchester teams of the 80's and 90's. I dont want a player coming into a team that could potentially upset the whole set-up.

Il have more players like keith fahey anyday over him

Helix

irealnd hits back

Newcastle United's on-loan midfielder Stephen Ireland has moved to put the record straight on quotes attributed to him in Friday's newspapers regarding his parent club, Aston Villa, and his hometown in Ireland.

In an interview with French football magazine So Foot it was suggested that the 24-year-old had made derogatory comments regarding Villa and the cities of Birmingham and Cork.

However, having read the papers on Friday morning, Ireland was upset with the nature of the comments and felt the opinions that he aired during the interview were taken completely out of context.

"I'm upset with what has been printed this morning because I feel like I've been portrayed in the wrong way," Ireland told skysports.com in a statement issued from his agent.

"I was misquoted and things have been blown way out of proportion. That is the reason why I feel like I needed to say something because the quotes are very unfair.

"What I said during the interview has been twisted to sound particularly blunt and a lot of what was written about my hometown of Cork - which me and my family visit regularly - was just plain ridiculous.

"The comments regarding Birmingham were also taken way out of context as I had only been at Villa a few months and didn't even live there so I have no idea what Birmingham is like to live in and everyone I have met from Birmingham has been nice, my girlfriend's father is from Birmingham so why would I say that, it's just crazy.

"I can only apologise if anyone was offended, but the way the interview was written made me sound very harsh, and I am not that kind of person."

Ireland is hoping to make his Newcastle debut against Bolton this weekend after recovering from injury.

IamtheWalrus

Seems he was misquoted.

Weird when that happens. I'd love to read a misquoted transcript and then listen to the interview. How can a journo deliberately misquote someone.

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11677_6794112,00.html

Helix

IamtheWalrus wrote: »

How can a journo deliberately misquote someone.

are you honestly asking that question? are you really that innocent?

major bill

IamtheWalrus wrote: »

Seems he was misquoted.

Weird when that happens. I'd love to read a misquoted transcript and then listen to the interview. How can a journo deliberately misquote someone.

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11677_6794112,00.html

How could they misquote ''id rather shoot myself than live in cork''

Rikand

Glad to see he didn't retract this.

International teams don’t interest me. As it is, a season lasts more than 60 matches, so to go off for three days for a game against Andorra, I’ve got better things to do," he said.

"When you’re Irish, you know very well that you’re never going to win the World Cup, and even when I was in the youth teams, it used to piss me off to have to go.

tallaghtmick

im not defending him here but many boards member slag off ireland(nation) a lot but when stephen ireland does it he gets slated?

major bill

tallaghtmick wrote: »

im not defending him here but many boards member slag off ireland(nation) a lot but when stephen ireland does it he gets slated?

Cos the lad has an obvious gripe with Ireland and to slag it off to an International Paper is serious disrespect. Alot of people on boards would do anything to play for Ireland as would some footballers I know playing in england and LOI.

Ryan giggs played for wales knowing full well they would never win the world cup or even qualify.....did he moan??? NO!!!!

tallaghtmick

major bill wrote: »

Cos the lad has an obvious gripe with Ireland and to slag it off to an International Paper is serious disrespect. Alot of people on boards would do anything to play for Ireland as would some footballers I know playing in england and LOI.

Ryan giggs played for wales knowing full well they would never win the world cup or even qualify.....did he moan??? NO!!!!

and say if a reporter from the herald started a thread and asked boardsies for a view on ireland that would be published they wouldnt say anything bad?

Helix

major bill wrote: »

Ryan giggs played for wales knowing full well they would never win the world cup or even qualify.....did he moan??? NO!!!!

did he turn up for most games??? NO!!!!

major bill

Helix wrote: »

did he turn up for most games??? NO!!!!

Still played when it counted and didnt run to the media slagging them off.


@tallaghtmick- supporters are going to give their opinion on a team wheather it be good or bad some of the people the herald interview might not even like football. Stephen Ireland is a player a ''professional'' player at that who gave up the chance to play for his country lying openly to the media why he missed a game and then continues to slag off the nation in which he was born...what sort of message is he sending out to young kids?. Could you imagine the outrage if an English player said that about England.

aidan24326

IamtheWalrus wrote: »

How can a journo deliberately misquote someone.

Journos can and routinely do just make sh1t up. Not all of them, but some.

Anyway at this stage all talk of Stephen Ireland playing for the international team should be banned. He's stated categorically that won't be coming back, and as much as some of us might not like his attitude ultimately he's entitled to make that decision if he wants.

And note the telling comments about his experiences with the Ireland youth teams, the amateurish setup, poor treatment of the players etc Sound familiar?

IamtheWalrus

Helix wrote: »

are you honestly asking that question? are you really that innocent?

I know they do it and why but it is pretty scandalous. Why does anyone agree to an interview if this a possibilty. If Ireland was so blatantly misquoted, then surely the journo won't get to interview many more people..

tallaghtmick

major bill wrote: »

Still played when it counted and didnt run to the media slagging them off.


@tallaghtmick- supporters are going to give their opinion on a team wheather it be good or bad some of the people the herald interview might not even like football. Stephen Ireland is a player a ''professional'' player at that who gave up the chance to play for his country lying openly to the media why he missed a game and then continues to slag off the nation in which he was born...what sort of message is he sending out to young kids?. Could you imagine the outrage if an English player said that about England.

im not talking about teams,just look at the many threads about ireland as a nation and you will boardsies slagging off the country even as far as slagging off our culture and nationality

Helix

IamtheWalrus wrote: »

I know they do it and why but it is pretty scandalous. Why does anyone agree to an interview if this a possibilty. If Ireland was so blatantly misquoted, then surely the journo won't get to interview many more people..

thats really not how it works

Rikand

tallaghtmick wrote: »

im not defending him here but many boards member slag off ireland(nation) a lot but when stephen ireland does it he gets slated?

Because any irish posters on boards here would give their back teeth to get a chance to don the green jersey and represent their country, despite what they say about the team.

Stephen Ireland has the opportunity to do just this every single time ireland play and he does not give a shiet.

major bill

tallaghtmick wrote: »

im not talking about teams,just look at the many threads about ireland as a nation and you will boardsies slagging off the country even as far as slagging off our culture and nationality

But we aint talking to an international paper and aint in the international eye of people I might hate some things about Ireland and Irish people but I was born there and grew up there im not going to slate it to a foreign paper and im sure alot of boardies are the same. The majority on here dont go around slagging off the cities they were born in....whats so wrong about cork that he would want to shoot his head off before living there?? I know alot of threads go up on boards slagging off differant cities and towns in Ireland but people still remember where they come from. Its not just stephen Ireland I have cousins living in Germany that are the same!!

Rikand

Rickylovesuall wrote: »

Because any irish posters on boards here would give their back teeth to get a chance to don the green jersey and represent their country, despite what they say about the team.

Stephen Ireland has the opportunity to do just this every single time ireland play and he does not give a shiet.

Just realised you said nation, not team. disregard.

IamtheWalrus

Helix wrote: »

thats really not how it works

Do tell.

Helix

IamtheWalrus wrote: »

Do tell.

interviews are done to publicise a player. the journo rarely comes into it in a lot of cases, itll be the publication they represent. if its a big publication with high readership then players pr guys arent going to have a problem with the fact that the publication likes to misquote

tallaghtmick

major bill wrote: »

But we aint talking to an international paper and aint in the international eye of people I might hate some things about Ireland and Irish people but I was born there and grew up there im not going to slate it to a foreign paper and im sure alot of boardies are the same. The majority on here dont go around slagging off the cities they were born in....whats so wrong about cork that he would want to shoot his head off before living there?? I know alot of threads go up on boards slagging off differant cities and towns in Ireland but people still remember where they come from. Its not just stephen Ireland I have cousins living in Germany that are the same!!

i agree but certain people on these threads will slag off where they came from

Bodhisopha

What is it about us a nation, why do we always persecute our geniuses?

tallaghtmick

Bodhisopha wrote: »

What is it about us a nation, why do we always persecute our geniuses?

hes hardly a genius

OPENROAD

Rickylovesuall wrote: »

Because any irish posters on boards here would give their back teeth to get a chance to don the green jersey and represent their country, despite what they say about the team.

Stephen Ireland has the opportunity to do just this every single time ireland play and he does not give a shiet.

Maybe some would prefer to represent the country of their grandparents

kippy

Bodhisopha wrote: »

What is it about us a nation, why do we always persecute our geniuses?

Ah now,
the guy hasnt come up with a cure for cancer and his footballing career has hardly gone into the stratosphere in the past couple of years either.
He's gone from club to club, obviously ruffling feathers wherever he goes.

Also, do you know what the word persecute means?

OPENROAD

kippy wrote: »

Ah now,
the guy hasnt come up with a cure for cancer and his footballing career has hardly gone into the stratosphere in the past couple of years either.
He's gone from club to club, obviously ruffling feathers wherever he goes.

Also, do you know what the word persecute means?

Quite an average player, obviously had huge potential but has not lived up to it.

Bodhisopha

kippy wrote: »

Ah now,
the guy hasnt come up with a cure for cancer and his footballing career has hardly gone into the stratosphere in the past couple of years either.
He's gone from club to club, obviously ruffling feathers wherever he goes.

Also, do you know what the word persecute means?

Yes, i do know what it means. Do you want to tell me i'm misusing it?

Bodhisopha

Here's a good post made by "Seaneh" on another thread.

I don't know Stephen personally. I've met him in passing few times and know people who worked with him for several years. Man city signed him as a teenager despite knowing he wouldn't play competitive football at any level for well over a year because of a genetic growth disorder which meant his bones grew too quick for the rest of his body, this left the lad in extreme pain for about 2 years from 15 to 17 years old. On top of that City knew he needed a lot of extra help, part of his training regime, even as a youth, involved about 8 hours a week with a counselor, his home life wasn't exactly amazing. His auld pair are still both under the age of 40, he is 24. He grew up in a poor home, no wonder he doesn't like cork.

In 2007, in Slovakia, he asked to leave the irish camp saying there was a death in his family, his girlfriend had had a late term miscarriage, they were both devastated. The FAI didn't ask him who died, somewhere along the line wires were crossed and the granny thing came up... He never told the FAI his granny died, they just jumped to a conclusion, when it was put to him his granny was still alive after the FAI press release he panicked and said it was his other granny. He was 21, had just lost a child, was mourning with his partner and panicked, on top of that he was the the middle of dealing with other personal issues. The FAI let him hang rather than try protect him, as they should have, the irish media made a villain out of him and the bar stool gob****e public lapped it up... So he decided 'feck that, they can get stuffed'. And I agree with him...

Later. He expressed to the irish setup, specifically Liam Brady, through his teammates at man city, he wanted to come back.

Trapatoni told the media he had talked to him 3 times before he ever bothered to phone the lad. Then when he eventually phoned him he spun him some **** about how they couldn't make it look like the FAI was backing down and stephen would have to make a public appeal to be selected, this despite Ireland being far and away the most on form Irish player in the premiership at the time.
He said he didn't appreciate being used in a PR campaign and if Trapatoni was serious he should just call him up, he'd be available.

Trapatoni and the FAI lied for another few ,months without talking to him again before admitting he wasn't going to come back.



He ****ed up... That much is ture. But the FAI ****ed up even more and Then the FAI and Trapatoni tried to use him.


Why the Feck should he give a **** anymore?

He had enough **** going on without someone using in their media games.

Paparazzo

Bodhisopha wrote: »

Here's a good post made by "Seaneh" on another thread.

Here's another post from another thread:

OhNoYouDidn't wrote: »

I know a man who had professional dealings with him and he described him as 'borderline special needs'

A few players have hinted the same.

In fairness, the guy usually contradicts himself a few times in each interview. He's clearly not all there. Wonder how he was misquoted? If LA is his dream city to live in he's clearly not all there.

Bodhisopha

Paparazzo wrote: »

Here's another post from another thread:

A few players have hinted the same.

In fairness, the guy usually contradicts himself a few times in each interview. He's clearly not all there. Wonder how he was misquoted? If LA is his dream city to live in he's clearly not all there.

Exactly, the boy clearly has issues and rather than support him he was hung out to dry. Massive shame both on a human and sporting level.

Seaneh

Bodhisopha wrote: »

Exactly, the boy clearly has issues and rather than support him he was hung out to dry. Massive shame both on a human and sporting level.

He's clearly not the most well educated lad in the world. But a lot of football are as thick as two short planks. Especially younger ones.

People like Micah Richards and Needem Onahoua are rare in that they had quite a high every of schooling thanks to their athletic abilities. The later was on the GB schools athletics teams and as such went to really good schools.


Steve on the otherhand turned pro quite young and city didn't have much of an academics program at the time.
Also, afaik his school life in Cobh wasn't exactly normal, lots of time out between matches, family issues and medical stuff.


Nobody's claiming he's the smartest kid in the world and sometimes he doesn't help himself, but the FAI should have protected him in 2007 and they didn't.

tallaghtmick

being irish we know we will never have the greatest of players (paul mcshane:pac:)and stephen ireland was effective for us in the few games he played so we took it hard losing a very creative player,but we have learned the F.A.I needs a massive overhaul its run by money hungry fools ireland isnt the first player to voice his displeasure at the shocking routine international players go through.

gosplan

Arse to this apologist nonsense!!

He played 5 games for the republic. Not because of his granny but because he also refused to play for Brian Kerr who no doubt 'handled him badly' as well at underage.

So either people have handled him badly throughout his career or else he just doesn't want to play for his country ... and it's the latter, he's on record as saying he didn't enjoy it and got nothing from it.

I've no problem with that - it's his life. I can understand that a player, especially one who's trying to work his way into the first team, wants his breaks instead of going to training camps and jetting around Europe. I've no problem with him choosing that because as I said it's his life and his career.

BUT HE SHOULD SHUT UP ABOUT IT!!!!!!

And people here should have more sense than trying to pin this one on Trapp and the FAI.

kippy

Bodhisopha wrote: »

Yes, i do know what it means. Do you want to tell me i'm misusing it?

Yes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution

Bodhisopha

kippy wrote: »

Yes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution

Call me old fashioned but i prefer dictionaries, personally.

per·se·cute

   /ˈpɜrsɪˌkyut/ Show Spelled[pur-si-kyoot] Show IPA
–verb (used with object), -cut·ed, -cut·ing. 1. to pursue with harassing or oppressive treatment, especially because of religion, race, or beliefs; harass persistently.

2. to annoy or trouble persistently.

kippy

Bodhisopha wrote: »

Call me old fashioned but i prefer dictionaries, personally.

There is no way in the world anyone could use this thread as an example of the persecution of the player. None at all.
Stephen Ireland is not being harassed persistently, oppressed persistently or even annoyed persistently and especially not on religion, race or beliefs.

Bodhisopha

kippy wrote: »

There is no way in the world anyone could use this thread as an example of the persecution of the player. None at all.
Stephen Ireland is not being harassed persistently, oppressed persistently or even annoyed persistently and especially not on religion, race or beliefs.

He was ridiculed and victimised over the whole granny thing, refused to play for Ireland - ridiculed and persecuted. He's not the smartest bless him so he hits back with some ill advised comments so you could say he's brought it on himself of late, but the point stands, the man has been persecuted by the Irish public.

Just search any thread on Stephen Ireland on this forum.

kippy

Bodhisopha wrote: »

He was ridiculed and victimised over the whole granny thing, refused to play for Ireland - ridiculed and persecuted. He's not the smartest bless him so he hits back with some ill advised comments so you could say he's brought it on himself of late, but the point stands, the man has been persecuted by the Irish public.

Just search any thread on Stephen Ireland on this forum.

You have absolutely no idea what persecution is...........
Not sure what relevance the photo has either tbh.........

Bodhisopha

kippy wrote: »

You have absolutely no idea what persecution is...........
Not sure what relevance the photo has either tbh.........

I refer you to my post above with the copy and pasted definition of the word "persecute". You seem to have missed it.

Edit: The photo is you and some friends moving the goalposts.