You Boys in Green Homepage YBIG Shop
Forum Home Forum Home : International : Republic Of Ireland
  New Posts New Posts RSS Feed - Underage squads: Best Prospects
  FAQ FAQ  Forum Search   Events   Register Register  Login Login


Underage squads: Best Prospects
 Post Reply Post Reply Page  <1 186187188189190 329>
Author
Message
  Topic Search Topic Search  Topic Options Topic Options
Fozz View Drop Down
Liam Brady
Liam Brady
Avatar

Joined: 08 Oct 2019
Location: Dublin
Status: Offline
Points: 2248 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Fozz Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Jan 2021 at 10:14am
Hmmm...compelling points, Canadian.
I'd be very much for bringing in one or two uncapped youths into a squad and getting integration started young, as you say.
Connell was already in a squad (pulled out through injury) so it's not unprecedented for us.

Not much sign of it yet as far as bringing in players who haven't played senior football, bar Troy who we all know about.
Knight, Molumby, Idah etc. were all seniors players when brought in, albeit very young, inexperienced ones.

It's my worry about Kenny that he may be more conservative in these matters than his words have hinted at.
In his defense look at his thread for all the talk about pressure on him so has he really the time to be taking that youth approach?


Edited by Fozz - 20 Jan 2021 at 10:14am
Back to Top
Sponsored Links


Back to Top
Fozz View Drop Down
Liam Brady
Liam Brady
Avatar

Joined: 08 Oct 2019
Location: Dublin
Status: Offline
Points: 2248 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Fozz Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Jan 2021 at 10:23am
Originally posted by mully_85 mully_85 wrote:

is Parrott that much further on in his development, or have more potential than Odudeko? Troy got a senior cap when he was on the bench for Spurs, this kid is making the bench for West Ham, and seems like a great prospect but hasnt featured even for the 21s

whatever way you look at it is very strange, and its pretty uncomfortable to think about but if he was white and born to Irish parents there is no doubt things would be a lot different.

He played for our U17's in March '19 when he was 16, so a year below the limit at least.
Then for the 21's campaign all through that year and next, he was just 16 and 17 and we had a plethora of lads ahead of him for good reasons.  And you can read that thread and I doubt anyone even knew his name then.
It's only now he has popped up as having graduated from the WH youth system to the first team and he's a big blip on the radar so let's see what '21 brings when youth football returns later in the year (21's may even have games in March but who knows...).

EDIT:
Sorry but to add to this, seems he played PL2 ONCE in 19/20 and one FA youth match and the a few U18 appearances.
So his emergence now as a 1st team sub is somewhat surprising.
I'd read nothing into his lack of Ireland underage matches in 2019, and 2020 was a wash.




Edited by Fozz - 20 Jan 2021 at 10:29am
Back to Top
kevin100 View Drop Down
Ray Houghton
Ray Houghton


Joined: 01 Jul 2020
Location: Mallow
Status: Offline
Points: 3359 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote kevin100 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Jan 2021 at 11:41am
Originally posted by IrishCanadian IrishCanadian wrote:

Originally posted by Hotlips_Hoolahan Hotlips_Hoolahan wrote:


I'm curious as to what other ways the situation can be managed aside from simply calling up the players? Call up a player who has never made a senior appearance directly into the senior squad?
Yes. Why not? 

Wales and the north have both done it recently and Wales has easily been stronger than us. Our squad is sh*te, I don’t know why people think we’re above calling up youth players when better sides are doing it. USA does it, Canada does it. Basically every non-top side does it. 

Ethan Ampadu was eligible for us and his bloody dad even played for us. Wales had him in at 16. Wales have secured several very talented dual nationals by getting them in at 16-17 and showing them a setup with a good pathway for them. They offered something the likes of England couldn’t offer. Why are we not doing the same? 

Instead we’ve been handing debuts to 30 year olds and slowly integrating 25 years and calling them young. Our handling of it has been a joke. 

Create an enticing set up that makes young talented players invested in it and wanting to play in it. We need to help them as much as they are helping us. Just doing nothing and saying well if he feels Irish he’ll play for us isn’t how it works. And is exactly why we’ve lost the best talents and our set up is complete sh*t. 


Choose the biggest talents and get them up the age groups. Say Joe Hodge or whoever you deem worthy, England is offering him his age group. So all we do is the same? No, create an actual plan for him, show him the progression we’re offering is better for his career. Show them we care more about them. Give them a reason to feel connected to Ireland. Wales have done it and it’s worked tremendously. 

Someone like Hodge or Kelleher or others, are at top clubs. Clubs that are about 100x better than Ireland. So why do we need to wait for them to play for City and Liverpool before getting them into the senior squad? Wales called up Levitt, the North has called up Galbraith on the back of PL u23s matches. Manchester United is far better than Wales or the North so it’d be stupid to require them to be in the first team. 

If we’ve got a lad killing it in the PL u23s, get them into the senior squad. Get them integrated early. It’ll benefit us in the long run and it’ll benefit the player too. Getting exposure of a senior international cap at a young age and a good performance suddenly has better prospects on their door. Better loan offers or more first team football at a parent club. 
 

Wales are the template yes. Joe Morell is in the team no bother and he playing for Lincoln let’s say. They don’t “wait for them” to prove at a level far higher then international for them to come in. Problem we show no foresight. If Richard Keogh got that bad injury (god help him and delighted he got his compensation as he was treated wrong) would John Egan have even played ahead of him in the last qualifiers? It shouldn’t have taken an injury for Egan to get in on form. 

The best like for like example regarding Wales would be Joe Rodon. He has been playing for Wales now for 12-18 months despite only really breaking into the Swansea team 2-3 years ago. They didn’t wait for him to “prove himself at a higher level or to get a big move” to bring him in and bomb the likes of an Ashley Williams out the reckoning. Williams has been a great Welsh servant but he’s pushing on new blood on the scene thanks and good luck. 

Nathan Collins at Stoke is a similar profile to Rodon and I’d argue even possibly a slightly higher ceiling he’s a ferocious talent. Dara O’Shea at West Brom now too will one of them play ahead of Duffy anytime soon who’s badly out of form? 
Back to Top
IrishCanadian View Drop Down
Kevin Kilbane
Kevin Kilbane


Joined: 29 Jun 2019
Status: Offline
Points: 219 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote IrishCanadian Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Jan 2021 at 11:51am
Originally posted by Fozz Fozz wrote:

Originally posted by mully_85 mully_85 wrote:

is Parrott that much further on in his development, or have more potential than Odudeko? Troy got a senior cap when he was on the bench for Spurs, this kid is making the bench for West Ham, and seems like a great prospect but hasnt featured even for the 21s

whatever way you look at it is very strange, and its pretty uncomfortable to think about but if he was white and born to Irish parents there is no doubt things would be a lot different.

He played for our U17's in March '19 when he was 16, so a year below the limit at least.
Then for the 21's campaign all through that year and next, he was just 16 and 17 and we had a plethora of lads ahead of him for good reasons.  And you can read that thread and I doubt anyone even knew his name then.
It's only now he has popped up as having graduated from the WH youth system to the first team and he's a big blip on the radar so let's see what '21 brings when youth football returns later in the year (21's may even have games in March but who knows...).

EDIT:
Sorry but to add to this, seems he played PL2 ONCE in 19/20 and one FA youth match and the a few U18 appearances.
So his emergence now as a 1st team sub is somewhat surprising.
I'd read nothing into his lack of Ireland underage matches in 2019, and 2020 was a wash.


He played for the u17s when that was his age group. He wasn’t a year below the limit. It was his age group. It was the 2002 group and he’s born on 2002. Being born later in the year doesn’t put him down age groups. At that time u17s was the lowest age he was eligible for while you’re making it sound like he was pushed up an age group. 

There are levels between u17s and u21s. We had u19s qualifiers in that time too. 

His name was making waves when he first declined Manchester United’s deal. He was highly rated in Manchester and had top clubs on the continent chasing him. He only joined West Ham in November and by March had 10 goals in 8 appearances. So it’s really not all that surprising he’s continuing to progress. 

And there was some talk of the lack of matches previously as I’ve had the conversation with someone well connected to Manchester United’s academy and happens to be Irish too. He even said this back at the time of Mipo’s u17 call up that the Irish set up don’t rate him as highly as the united set up. Similarly said for Deji Sotona, that Ireland don’t rate him. Whether that’s the reason we’ll never really know. There could be loads of reasons from him not being selected to him asking not to be selected. 


Edited by IrishCanadian - 20 Jan 2021 at 11:53am
Back to Top
ChesterCopperpot View Drop Down
Liam Brady
Liam Brady


Joined: 28 Feb 2019
Status: Offline
Points: 1167 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote ChesterCopperpot Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Jan 2021 at 11:59am
There's a couple of games in the next qualifying group that young players can be tested. Qatar twice and to a lesser extend the two competitive games against Luxembourg
Back to Top
t_rAndy View Drop Down
Robbie Keane
Robbie Keane


Joined: 06 Feb 2008
Location: Ireland
Status: Online
Points: 26208 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote t_rAndy Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Jan 2021 at 12:07pm
Originally posted by Scissors Kick Scissors Kick wrote:

Originally posted by kevin100 kevin100 wrote:

How is Odubeko eligible for England?? Born and raised in Ireland to Nigerian parents??

Would it not be hidious to not play for either Ireland or Nigeria? 

As for Evan Ferguson born and raised in Ireland so I doubt we have anything to worry about there.

Lived there since he was 12. 
I think he'll turn down a call up to us. 

He would have grown up in Ireland, playing Schoolboy football with Crumlin and Joey's before getting the chance to move his family to England so he could play football (which is wrong in my opinion that they are basically buying 12 year olds).

You would hope by the time he moved over, he always dreamed of playing in the EPL and for IRELAND like most 12 year olds born and raised here would. 


 




Edited by t_rAndy - 20 Jan 2021 at 12:07pm
Back to Top
t_rAndy View Drop Down
Robbie Keane
Robbie Keane


Joined: 06 Feb 2008
Location: Ireland
Status: Online
Points: 26208 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote t_rAndy Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Jan 2021 at 12:20pm
Originally posted by kevin100 kevin100 wrote:

Zefis parents are moving to Italy with him and Albania’s proximity to Italy would make it a slight cause for concern perhaps.

Would be fascinated to see will he be in our underage squads for the foreseeable future.

Considering he is nearly 16, has led the Irish underage teams for a long time as well as Rovers, to jump to Albania now (who wouldn't have a better chance of qualifying for tournaments than us) would hopefully be not on his mind. Although I am sure his Albanian family there will be trying to influence!
Back to Top
musicinmouth View Drop Down
500 Club la la la
500 Club la la la


Joined: 14 Aug 2008
Location: Cork
Status: Offline
Points: 564 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote musicinmouth Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Jan 2021 at 12:50pm
I love watching Kevin Zefi videos on YouTube. He seems to love waiting until there are 3 players around him and then he applies some magic to get away from them... such an exciting talent. Kenny always talked about fast tracking the most talented players up through the ages, so it will be interesting to see when he gets included... turning 16 next month.
Back to Top
Fozz View Drop Down
Liam Brady
Liam Brady
Avatar

Joined: 08 Oct 2019
Location: Dublin
Status: Offline
Points: 2248 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Fozz Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Jan 2021 at 1:01pm
Originally posted by IrishCanadian IrishCanadian wrote:

He played for the u17s when that was his age group. He wasn’t a year below the limit. It was his age group. It was the 2002 group and he’s born on 2002. Being born later in the year doesn’t put him down age groups. At that time u17s was the lowest age he was eligible for while you’re making it sound like he was pushed up an age group. 


I'm not suggesting that, to be fair, but can see how it was interpreted.

I've no input as to why he wasn't considered for the 19s then but I'm reading it as he simply wasn't deemed good enough.  He was still 16 or just turning 17 then.
You'd want to be a serious talent to play for the 19's as a 16-year old (I believe Joe Hodge did so which says a lot about him and is also encouraging that we will indeed fast-track such prospects through the age-groups).

I would have Odubeko in the 21's in March for sure and I hope we do have some matches then and he plays.
Back to Top
Hotlips_Hoolahan View Drop Down
Jack Charlton
Jack Charlton
Avatar

Joined: 04 Aug 2020
Status: Offline
Points: 6615 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Hotlips_Hoolahan Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Jan 2021 at 1:31pm
I keep seeing the Welsh national team being held up as an example of the way we should be doing things. Yet for all that, Ethan Ampadu plays for the worst team in the Premier League, David Brooks plays for Bournemouth and Daniel James wouldn't get within an arse's roar of the English setup. Ampadu's father playing for us underage is constantly brought up as if that somehow points to someone who would've been amenable to playing for us, completely discounting the fact he was born in Britain and has a Welsh mother - maybe Wales simply had more of a pull? Northern Ireland's situation, like Wales, is not compatible with ours. They don't have the options we do, which necessitates starting Daniel Ballard long before he is ready, and he has been largely atrocious.

I agree we are slow to integrate players and continue flogging them well past their expiration date but the solution is not to give a senior cap to someone who's 12th choice CM at Celtic just because he made half-a-dozen appearances for an abysmal Bolton team in the Championship who've since freefalled to League 2.

Declan Rice was handed senior Intl caps before promptly turning tail as soon as he was to be capped competitively. Virtually as soon as Jack Grealish started getting games in the PL he first declined a senior Ireland call-up for the USA friendly in December 2014. So the theory that if we call up players for the senior team they will be ours forever more simply doesn't stand up to scrutiny. Rice was capped and still left. Grealish at least had the decorum to decline senior caps knowing that England was his long-term aim.

If some people had their way Connor Ronan and Daniel Crowley would've been guaranteed competitive football for us at the age of 16 or 17 to tie them down and stop them from hopping from one national team to the other. Where are they now? One is in the Swiss second division and the other is playing in League One.

And what if we do integrate Odubeko, Sotona, Okoflex, Connell, Hodge, Smallbone, Coventry and Ferry right now?

Do people realise there is a finite amount of space for players in senior squads? Kenny has an ideal number of 23.

Are we supposed to leave out lads like Jayson Molumby, Adam Idah, Jason Knight and Troy Parrott, who are all getting regular first team football at a high level, in favour of English-born or dual-eligible players playing in youth teams on the off-chance lads like Smallbone or Ferry turn out to be world-beaters?

IrishCanadian has a nice hypothetical, but it's simply not practicable when you place it under any kind of scrutiny.

Then there's the risk that the intense UK focus will result in neglect elsewhere.

"As a consequence of an intense UK focus, players like Seamus Coleman, Alan Browne and Sean Maguire who were based in Ireland were omitted from the U21 starting team in favour of English-born prospects. In the case of Coleman, he did not even make the squad.

None of the English-born players who started ahead of them went on to make a senior appearance."

http://www.balls.ie/football/irish-players-tug-of-war-406280
Back to Top
Left foot View Drop Down
Ray Houghton
Ray Houghton


Joined: 16 Aug 2019
Location: London
Status: Offline
Points: 0 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Left foot Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Jan 2021 at 2:01pm
I guess it would be good to know where the younger dual nationality players allegiances are.

I would go as far as saying players like Grealish had little ambition to play for us and always leaned towards England. Effectively using the irish youth system as a stepping stone.

One of the neville brothers sons plays for the underage setup but if he is deemed anywhere near good enough I would think he'd jump ship straight away.

If a player doesn't want to commit to ireland long term they should not take advantage of the setup.

I wouldn add that this applies to Northern Ireland players using their setup with no thought to play for them long term. So I would say we benefit and fall victim to this at the same time.

Personally I dont think its fair on truly committed players who's careers could benefit greatly playing for the irish underage setup, even if they don't go on to become senior players it could benefit their careers at club level.
Back to Top
Territorial View Drop Down
Jack Charlton
Jack Charlton


Joined: 25 Nov 2014
Status: Offline
Points: 5817 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Territorial Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Jan 2021 at 2:03pm
Originally posted by IrishCanadian IrishCanadian wrote:

the North has called up Galbraith on the back of PL u23s matches. Manchester United is far better than Wales or the North so it’d be stupid to require them to be in the first team.
Er, Galbraith was born and brought up in NI, with there never being any question of his playing for the only other team for whom he qualifies. And while he has numerous under-age caps for us, his only senior cap was in a friendly against Luxembourg, which doesn't tie him.

Oh and btw, we're Northern Ireland, not "the North", with a simple "NI" being easier to type. HTH.


Edited by Territorial - 20 Jan 2021 at 2:06pm
Back to Top
Territorial View Drop Down
Jack Charlton
Jack Charlton


Joined: 25 Nov 2014
Status: Offline
Points: 5817 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Territorial Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Jan 2021 at 2:43pm
Originally posted by Hotlips_Hoolahan Hotlips_Hoolahan wrote:

I keep seeing the Welsh national team being held up as an example of the way we should be doing things. Yet for all that, Ethan Ampadu plays for the worst team in the Premier League, David Brooks plays for Bournemouth and Daniel James wouldn't get within an arse's roar of the English setup.

Regardless of the merits of those particular players (and I think you are unfair to Ampadu and Brooks), there is another aspect to Wales' recruitment which is much more important.

Under (former) Technical Director Osian Roberts, the FAW set up a very progressive youth development system, which prepared youngsters for professional football generally, and Wales specifically, from a very early age. As part of this, they actively encouraged "Anglo's" who might be conflicted to go along to England training camps etc, to take a look.

They did that safe in the knowledge that many would contrast the treatment they got from the two FA's i.e. only one of a number with England vs individual attention from Wales. While for those who were attracted to England, well at least Wales knew early.

Originally posted by Hotlips_Hoolahan Hotlips_Hoolahan wrote:

Northern Ireland's situation, like Wales, is not compatible with ours. They don't have the options we do, which necessitates starting Daniel Ballard long before he is ready, and he has been largely atrocious.
Like Wales, NI have now introduced a very successful "Club NI" programme, at the instigation of Michael O'Neill and under the direction of Jim Magilton. And all the evidence suggests that treating young players honestly, properly and professionally from the start can be the most influential factor in determining which team a player chooses to represent.

This principle also applies to players brought up outside NI, eg Bailey Peacock-Farrell:

Leeds goalkeeper Bailey Peacock-Farrell has pledged his future to Northern Ireland after being sounded out to switch allegiance to England.

He said: "I've had several chats with the England goalkeeping coaches - one rang me the other week in fact, but I'm loyal to Northern Ireland."

"Northern Ireland got in really early and made me feel wanted," he added.

"At that time when I met Michael [O'Neill] I was a nobody, I was just a young keeper.

"But for him to take that time out of his day to come and chat to me, and tell me about Northern Ireland, the pathway and what we're planning on doing as a country, for me that was special.

"I don't think you'd get that from any other international manager. That togetherness is one of the main things that Michael brings - those family-orientated values.

"It's a great honour to have the opportunity to be involved with the team."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/45427205


As for Ballard, he had a bit of a nightmare against Norway (subbed at H-T), but he only started because we were seriously short of players (eg no Jonny Evans, Shane Ferguson at LB Shocked). So it was no surprise that he was "schooled" by Haaland, who's been doing that to the best the Bundesliga has to offer, never mind a 19 y.o. Blackpool loanee!
Apart from that, Ballard has been pretty good, whilst obviously loving playing for us:
https://www.irishfa.com/news/2020/september/daniel-ballard-ni-debut-definitely-the-proudest-moment-of-my-life

No need for pre-match video's either! Wink
Back to Top
DeclanDaly View Drop Down
Ray Houghton
Ray Houghton
Avatar

Joined: 17 Oct 2013
Location: Boston, USA
Status: Offline
Points: 3254 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote DeclanDaly Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Jan 2021 at 2:48pm
Imagine spending 10 years on football forums posting the exact same nonsense at every opportunity. 
You asked if I'd be anyone from history, fact or fiction, dead or alive:
I said "I'd be Tony Cascarino, circa 1995"
Back to Top
Hotlips_Hoolahan View Drop Down
Jack Charlton
Jack Charlton
Avatar

Joined: 04 Aug 2020
Status: Offline
Points: 6615 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Hotlips_Hoolahan Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Jan 2021 at 2:54pm
Originally posted by DeclanDaly DeclanDaly wrote:

Imagine spending 10 years on football forums posting the exact same nonsense at every opportunity. 


I don't even read what he says TBH. If Daniel Invincible was active on the forum to refute everything he says word for word, he'd just skulk back to the rock he crawled out from under like he usually does after losing a debate [as was the case on foot.ie]. But as is, he has carte blanche to post his verbal diarrea. As is his right BTW. I just don't see why an avowed Northern Ireland fan has so much interest in posting on the forum of a national team he despises. Creepy and odd behaviour. It'd be like me going on to the Armenia international football team fan forum and posting about the Turkish national team all the time.


Edited by Hotlips_Hoolahan - 20 Jan 2021 at 3:18pm
Back to Top
exgrad View Drop Down
Kevin Kilbane
Kevin Kilbane


Joined: 27 Mar 2019
Status: Offline
Points: 274 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote exgrad Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Jan 2021 at 3:33pm
We should have a Club ROI here as well and maybe the second (third?) choice Burnley goalkeeper and a league 1 defender would come and play for us and say nice things about us.
Back to Top
Hotlips_Hoolahan View Drop Down
Jack Charlton
Jack Charlton
Avatar

Joined: 04 Aug 2020
Status: Offline
Points: 6615 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Hotlips_Hoolahan Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Jan 2021 at 9:55pm
Jaze Kabia's already made his Livingston debut, coming off the bench early in the 2nd half against Celtic tonight.
Back to Top
Nialler View Drop Down
Liam Brady
Liam Brady


Joined: 20 Aug 2019
Status: Offline
Points: 1490 		Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Nialler Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21 Jan 2021 at 1:42am
Originally posted by IrishCanadian IrishCanadian wrote:

Originally posted by Hotlips_Hoolahan Hotlips_Hoolahan wrote:


I'm curious as to what other ways the situation can be managed aside from simply calling up the players? Call up a player who has never made a senior appearance directly into the senior squad?
Yes. Why not? 

Wales and the north have both done it recently and Wales has easily been stronger than us. Our squad is sh*te, I don’t know why people think we’re above calling up youth players when better sides are doing it. USA does it, Canada does it. Basically every non-top side does it. 

Ethan Ampadu was eligible for us and his bloody dad even played for us. Wales had him in at 16. Wales have secured several very talented dual nationals by getting them in at 16-17 and showing them a setup with a good pathway for them. They offered something the likes of England couldn’t offer. Why are we not doing the same? 

Instead we’ve been handing debuts to 30 year olds and slowly integrating 25 years and calling them young. Our handling of it has been a joke. 

Create an enticing set up that makes young talented players invested in it and wanting to play in it. We need to help them as much as they are helping us. Just doing nothing and saying well if he feels Irish he’ll play for us isn’t how it works. And is exactly why we’ve lost the best talents and our set up is complete sh*t. 


Choose the biggest talents and get them up the age groups. Say Joe Hodge or whoever you deem worthy, England is offering him his age group. So all we do is the same? No, create an actual plan for him, show him the progression we’re offering is better for his career. Show them we care more about them. Give them a reason to feel connected to Ireland. Wales have done it and it’s worked tremendously. 

Someone like Hodge or Kelleher or others, are at top clubs. Clubs that are about 100x better than Ireland. So why do we need to wait for them to play for City and Liverpool before getting them into the senior squad? Wales called up Levitt, the North has called up Galbraith on the back of PL u23s matches. Manchester United is far better than Wales or the North so it’d be stupid to require them to be in the first team. 

If we’ve got a lad killing it in the PL u23s, get them into the senior squad. Get them integrated early. It’ll benefit us in the long run and it’ll benefit the player too. Getting exposure of a senior international cap at a young age and a good performance suddenly has better prospects on their door. Better loan offers or more first team football at a parent club. 

Agree with all of this especially the part on Wales and how they handle things
Back to Top
 Post Reply Post Reply Page  <1 186187188189190 329>
  Share Topic   

Forum Jump Forum Permissions View Drop Down

Forum Software by Web Wiz Forums® version 12.00
Copyright ©2001-2018 Web Wiz Ltd.