Stephen Ireland pulls out of Ireland squad as he says he says he cant do himself or his country justice! Well good ridance, players with an attitude like that dont deserve another chance, hopefully he never gets called up again! He owed his country big time after what happened in the Czech Republic and he goes and does this..........bye bye Stephen Ireland.
Thats very disappointing, this was an ideal opportunity to put the whole episode behind him. Now its going to hang over his head for another while and if Stan is still around for the next campaign it won't do his international career any good at all.
He sure did. With McShane and Hunt already out we needed all our remaining players to pull together and put on a mightly performance to get anything out of this game. This sorry saga has just blown all that out of the water big time. The Germans must be laughing, they'll be the first side to qualify if they win, and that now seems an almost dead cert.
I think he might be afraid that his appearance on the pitch might draw a bad reaction from the crowd and have a bad effect on the rest of the team.. saying that tho I don’t think he’d have to worry to much on the last few displays
Give the man a break!!! He is obviously going through an emotional period at the moment. I know that he certainly brought all on himself due to the lie after the Slovakia match but we all make stupid decisions from time to time particularly under distress. I know that Shankly says football is more important than life or death and it is easy to say that at times but deep down we all know it is b*llox; family comes first and Ireland obviously thought that too
ireland has been below average for ireland, he's popped up and scored the odd goal but done shag all else brian kerr was right in leaving him out of the squad, nevermind all the confusion last month over his girlfriend and that, this episode should prove to everyone that the lad shouldnt get another call up
Fair enough he has a lot of family stuff but hes fine to play for his club he should be fine to play for his country. I agree, this is his chance to make up for the Czech game and this is only making matters worse. How will he come back to the team after this?
I say, give him a chance, at the moment the irish midfield aint the greatest and we need all the young players to pull together. I think most of the crowd understand the situation and it would be bad form to boo or jeer him
After a good nights sleep I'm after changing my attitude a bit on this story. The thought has occured to me that the lad is only 20 years old, and his girlfriend had a miscarraige no more than 5 weeks ago. A few stories are out too that the lad is currently receiving treatment, and only feels "safe" in Manchester where is therapist is on standby. Time to give the lad a break I think, if his head really is as messed up as I think it is, then we should lay off him and let him sort it out. This qualifying campaign is over anyway, let him come back when there is something to play for and he's ready.
in fairness the lad is abit of a bungalow, but sure its not as if we have a plethora of quality midfielders that we dont need him, but he needs to get his head right.
The whole Steven Ireland fiasco is dissapointing. But I'd imagine it is much worse for the Lad himself. Hopefully you or your partner never has been involved in a situation where there has been a misscarraige.If not you are in no position to judge the young Lad.You don't know his demeanor or his personal situation!!!Man City and Stan to be fair to him seem to be supporting him and it is known that he is recieving counselling or physicatric help. As for Kerr dropping him. There was a falling out some years ago when Ireland underage were playing a friendly in his hometown of Cobh. Apparently Kerr informed Ireland he would play some part in this match and then didn't. That happened at underage and should not have mattered in the selection of the senior squad. Scored the odd goal and did shag all else ???? The odd goal as in the first goal in the 2-2 draw with the slovaks away and the winner against Wales at home and the last min winner against san marino away and another odd goal against cyprus away thats 4 goals in 5 game not too bad. The lad is having a difficult time without people getting on his back, give him the time he needs .
Exactly he's fine to play for his club or is he afraid to play away matches outside of manchester ? I think we're giving far too much credit to him. He didn't have the guts to tell the truth twice before ("personal reasons" would've sufficed) and now doesn't have the guts to face the fans and team mates and put the whole incident to bed. He seems to be very juvenile in his attitude and needs to grow up. I'm not sure if he's naive or just egotistical but either way I seriously doubt his character. I don't think Sven would've been pushing him if he thought there was a valid reason for him not to play, usually club managers would be the exact opposite. I don't think the crowd will actually cut him much slack after this. Honesty and commitment are values that most people value very highly and he's shown neither. Stan has to handle him with kid gloves to try to keep him but the fans live in the real world where every crisis doesn't become a big drama. I'm sure he'll grace us with his skills against Brazil though.
Fair to him i'd say, if he is not in the right frame of mind it could have been a deterrent to the team as a whole. Like the events happened in his personal life are tragic enough. Better off he did what he did.
I agree with that. I don't have much sympathy for the guy to be honest. He's got a career that millions of kids crave for but never get the chance. What happened over in Czech/Slovakia just beggars belief and there is no excuse for the story he spun. I know people are saying he's young, but the lie he went along with and actually made worse by changing Grandmothers is something you wouldn't expect from a 12 year old, but this guy is 20 ffs.
very hard to pass comment on this because if the lad is suffering from some issues in his head and recieving councelling who are we to say whats right and wrong ?? there is obvioulsy something not right in the fellas personal life or in his head I seen a good mate go through some menthal health issues obviousy alot worse than whatever is wrong with ireland and im telling you now i would not wish it on any one
I would go along with that and I totally understand that mental health problems are often an invisible illness and my sympathies go to those unfortunate enough to suffer from them, however Stpehen Ireland is playing (and playing well) for City right now. Surely if his head was that messed up, his club form would be suffering ? In my opinion, it is now simply the case that he couldn't face the rest of the squad, and the likely slagging he was going to get, after his "performance" in Czech/Slovakia. I'm just not sure I can believe anything the guy is coming out with right now.