Jason Knight

Brighton also linked to an Argentinian forward, which has obvious implications for Connolly.

longford claret wrote: Talk on UTC forum that Burnley are about to put in a bid for Jason.

How novel would it be if it was a team like Norwich, Brentford, Watford or Leeds putting a bid in?

Always going to be either Burnley or Sheffield United putting a bid in for our best players, and one of those teams is down now.

At one point in time we had players playing for the best teams in England. Then we transitioned to having a sprinkling of players at teams on the periphery of the top 6, like Coleman, Duffy, Gibson, McCarthy and McGeady at Everton. Then we transitioned to having players almost exclusively playing for teams in the bottom half of the table. I fear we're approaching yet another transition where all of our PL players will be based at 2 or 3 clubs for all intents and purposes.

More and more continental European players and managers coming to England and, for whatever reason, they don't tend to use the transfer market to go in for Irish players.

It's great that lads like Sean Dyche and Chris Wilder don't turn their nose up at Irish players but the problems start when a team like Sheffield United goes down. It's getting to the point where if teams like Burnley and Sheffield United went down together, it would be catastrophic from an Irish perspective.

At the same time, it's crazy how many high profile players we have who are either 30 or younger, at what should be their peak, who are at their lowest ebb in terms of attractiveness to PL standard teams.

It's hard to see where McCarthy, Brady, Hourihane and Duffy go from here, but I'm genuinely curious.

Yes it’s a major pity alright managers like Dyche Wilder only sign/play Irish players. Bar average continental managers like Mourinho Klopp Hassenhuttl Farke Bilic Kompany etc no one is buying/using Irish players.  

Also City paying big money for Bazunu and he a 16 year old kid from what I see there was no major British influence in that signing. 

Joking aside I see your point but I wouldn’t overthink it too much. If we are producing quality managers will look to sign them/play them have no fear. Doherty being Irish didn’t stop Mourinho signing Doherty and look at the level of quality in right back positions in England alone there’s more depth in English football in that position then possibly any other. 

I would actually argue our young attackers in particular Connolly Obafemi the chief two are far better off playing Championship football regularly for a few years on loan as opposed to playing sparingly for Brighton/Southampton 15 minutes every 2nd week and not getting a chance to build momentum. 

Connolly is good enough for PL. He would be in the Brighton team most weeks if he start putting away the chances hes getting. And he is getting enough chances in front of goal. And Potter has also given him a decent chance i think also. 

The thing is though, its easier to carry Championship players, or allow them maximise their strengths if they are playing with some of the others that are around them. Take Morrell at Luton Town. A player who isn't hugely experienced in top level football. It makes it easier for him when the lad behind him played over 100 times for Liverpool, his partner plays for Juventus (who also played almost 400 times for Arsenal), and is flanked by lads from Real Madrid (who at one time was comparable to Ronaldo and Messi), and Manchester United. Ditto Scotland where the likes of Robertson, Tierney, McGregor, McTominay, and Gilmour (to a lesser extent) bring an air of confidence, top level experience, and quality to an otherwise average team.

Our problem is the lads that actually play PL (apart from Coleman and to a lesser extent Egan) aren't particularly high quality, and I also think lack in the leadership stakes. As a result, expecting the likes of Hogan or Curtis to be able to do a Morrell is a big ask. Also, when you look at some of the lads who broke out at Euro 2016 you'll see that their most recent transfer was that of Bosman. Or the fact that other lads lost form at a crucial point in their careers and perhaps went on a downward trajectory.

A team can absolutely excel with the Championship players. But there is only so far you'll go at international level with Championship players, if there are no world class players, or natural leaders to assist them.

Totally agree with you. If those players had been able kept up the form they were in in 2016, and not been injured I think we might have squeezed a place at WC 2018, and an extension of that would probably have been Rice travelling with us, and would now be bound to play with us. Equally, Jonathan Walters was a big loss around that time (although he was slightly older at the time. I also wish Brady had moved from Norwich in 2016 rather than having to wait, as I think he would have hit the ground running.

I think MON suffered from some bad luck in terms of injuries to key players, which in turn forced him to batten down the hatches to an extent (that doesnt explain the first half against Austria in Dublin), or approaching Georgia in Tbilisi in the way we did. And those injuries were career altering, at a time when their cache was good.

Its not quite the lost generation which happened in the aftermath of the Kerr era, but there was unfulfilled potential, which is unfortunately impacting us now.