Richie
Well-Known Member
Here he is saying that the recent rumours are garbage and that he does indeed want to play for the team:
http://www.setantasports.com/en/Spo...ets/sport-space/great-britain-locale/football
I'm convinced that 75% of the reporting on this story (i.e. most of the articles that rely entirely on mystery unnamed sources) is total speculation from newspaper hacks looking to fill column space.. At least the whole mess is finally coming to a head now - he's been named in the squad for May and he's meeting the manager, so either he goes and trains with them and the whole thing is sorted out, or he doesn't and basically pulls out of international football entirely. I reckon we could definately do with him available (top scorer in the last campaign!) but you'd wonder if it's worth it if he's going to continue drawing this amount of attention for off-the-field bullshit.
http://www.setantasports.com/en/Spo...ets/sport-space/great-britain-locale/football
Stephen Ireland has rubbished rumours that he has no intention of ever playing for his country again.
The Manchester City midfielder has not lined out for the Republic of Ireland since his controversial withdrawal from the squad for last September's Euro 2008 qualifier against the Czech Republic.
However, Ireland expressed an interest in returning to the international set-up after hearing of Giovanni Trapattoni’s appointment as manager earlier this year and has now revealed that he will meet with the Italian next week to discuss his prospects of doing so.
”I have never told anybody that I am not going to play for my country and I have an open mind going into my meeting with Mr. Trapattoni,” he is quoted as saying by The Irish Daily Star.
”Obviously, because I am meeting with the new Irish manager I cannot say a lot, but I am looking forward to sitting down with him.
”Personally, I will be happy to resolve the matter as soon as I have met with the manager and we have both discussed our situations.”
I'm convinced that 75% of the reporting on this story (i.e. most of the articles that rely entirely on mystery unnamed sources) is total speculation from newspaper hacks looking to fill column space.. At least the whole mess is finally coming to a head now - he's been named in the squad for May and he's meeting the manager, so either he goes and trains with them and the whole thing is sorted out, or he doesn't and basically pulls out of international football entirely. I reckon we could definately do with him available (top scorer in the last campaign!) but you'd wonder if it's worth it if he's going to continue drawing this amount of attention for off-the-field bullshit.