It’s a big year ahead for Irish players looking to impress a new management team. Martin O’Neill has spoken of unearthing a hidden gem while some more established names will be hoping to make a bigger impact than they did with Giovanni Trapattoni. We could also see some new faces in the Irish set-up with a big second half to the season coming up ahead of the beginning of Euro 2016 qualifying in September.
It’s not an April Fools’ joke that Stephen Ireland is seriously considering ending his self-imposed exile from international duty.
Yet the Corkman can’t help but contradict himself every step of the way.
In the final part of our look at the state of the Republic of Ireland squad ahead of Euro 2012, Spud Watch finds a new role for Kevin Kilbane and ponders the unthinkable; Stephen Ireland should phone home.
HE CAN’T help himself. He is a wind-up merchant and after his next outburst we too may clamour for the head of Stephen Ireland. But there is something ugly about football journalists lining up to take a swipe at a troubled young Irish man who has let himself down by shooting his mouth off.
“I’ve never seen anyone so arrogant. I met him once. He was taking calls every two minutes and made me hang around for 15 minutes in his office.”
HOW about this for a starting eleven?
Gomes; Johnson, Squillaci, Stearman, Ilunga; Ireland, Cattermole, J Cole; Balotelli, Torres, Saha.
Stephen Ireland takes his place amongst a line-up of Premier League stars….except they’ve been voted the worst players in the division so far.
A SHORTER than usual Spud Watch this week as I am losing the will to live, because, with Ireland’s economy now playing in the Vauxhall Conference against teams like Darfur and Haiti, it seems like our national team may be heading in the same direction.
WOOOOO wooooooooooo – Happy Halloween Spud Watchers. If, like me, you got the trots watching The Exorcist last night then be warned by the scary nature of this week’s Spud Watch. Actually there’s nothing scary about it, just the usual poor grammar, spelling mistakes and nonsense. I did see five ghosts on Saturday however – Glenn Whelan, Paul Green, Marc Wilson, Darren Gibson and Keith Andrews…wooo woooooo. Enough of this foolishness…..
IRELAND’S quest for victory in Europe no doubt begins with a great deal of goodwill from the worldwide footballing family.
The fall-out from Paris generated a tremendous amount of sympathy towards the Irish team and fans, most notably from the French people.
However, the saying goes that sentiment means nothing in sport and no one will be more aware of that than Giovanni Trapattoni.
THIS time last year Stephen Ireland was the current Man City player of the year and a “priceless asset” to the club. This looked set to continue with a great goal and performance on the opening day against Blackburn.