Not sure he will win any more caps.

It’s a long shot. 

Don't think he's eligible. His aul lad qualified under the Granny rule if I'm not mistaken.

Sorry throw!

Rory's parents were from Donegal and Meath, so his son should be eligible

Changing underage rules have changed to make it easier. he has played for their 21's.

Liam Delap has only played for England at U15, U16 and U17 levels.

Nowhere near U21 as yet and rightly so as their U21 is stacked with better forwards with more experience.

Either way... Get on it Kenny. 

Agree 

Aguero

Maybe she just told you that. Secretly she was listening to Wolfe Tones and growing potatoes in the back yard 

Maybe 

Worth re-visiting https://www.irishpost.com/sport/rory-delap-carlisle-long-throw-weapon-19520" rel="nofollow - the Rory Delap interview someone shared above from 2014:

We should 100% be knocking his door down. He could be starting for us right now

He either wants to play or he doesn't. Best of luck to him either way. One phone call should sort it. 

It's mad, isn't it? He's played for England at U15, U16 and U17 level and hasn't shown any interest in representing us, yet people think it's just a matter of dangling the carrot of playing with Callum O'Dowda and Daryl Horgan in front of him and he'll immediately declare for us at 17 years old and become the salve to all our problems despite playing a sum total of two matches for City.

It's mind-boggling how I could easily list 20 players who've been in a similar situation and there hasn't once been a player who has went with us if they had a choice to make - yet we are doomed to keep repeating these same pointless conversations again and again despite there being no precedent of a player at high profile club either in or on the periphery of England sides going with us.

Things are bad and will most definitely get worse before they get better. Next season we'll have fewer Premier league players than we do now. Egan, Stevens, oshea and Robinson set for relegation

Our best players Coleman, Doherty and Mccarthy falling out of the first teams for various reasons and that is a trend likely to continue 

Its pretty grimm yet some ireland fans will still expect Kenny to wave a magic corner flag and create a winning team or face the sack...

Like your namesake Hotlips you are zero craic

You Tell Me wrote: I'd say it would go about as well as the time Northern Ireland asked Wayne Rooney if he'd be interested in playing for them.

Traditionally one of the most aggressive sides in Intl football when it comes to courting eligible players and people are acting like it's a possibility that the FAI haven't asked about or are unaware of a) the son of a former ROI international and b) someone playing for one of the biggest teams in the world. It scarcely beggars belief. Aye, we found out about all those lads playing at League 2 and National League level who were capped under Kinger, but Delap slipped through our fingers....

I presume Liam's aware of his Irish heritage based on musicinmouth's post earlier in the thread. He's more than capable of picking up the phone if he's interested.

It's irrelevant in any case as there were reports back in September that the FAI were aware of him and have been aware of him for some time.

If he wants to play for us, he will play for us. At the moment, he demonstrably doesn't, as he is playing for England.

Anyway, if there are straws to be clutched at I'll be inclined to clutch them.

what is your point? maybe he does say no, so what, what do we lose by this. imagine northen ireland had not asked jamal lewis, now they do not have their best young player because they just assume he would say no

If we really want to try, Kenny should be getting on the phone and offering a senior spot now and even try get onto his da and see if he had any pull or influence. Going by twitter Rory is still a big Irish fan and ye would think his opinion would hold some influence on young Liam.

As he hasn't played for England for over a year, if he joins up with them again we can put this thread to the ROW space.

He's English, he hasn't played for us at any level and he obviously hasn't declared for us. It's kind of crazy that he has a thread in this section while Stephen Ireland has a thread in the ROW section.

And yet there are still these Ireland fans out there who imagine these players are  somehow just sitting waiting for a phone call offering their dream call up to the green shirt, just like Bamford apparently is in some minds  

Pretty sure it was mentioned somewhere he turned down an invitation to play with the U18s while still at Derby County.

A good summation of a lot of posters on here TBH.  Whatever you might think about the FAI, finding eligible players at underage level isn't one of them, never mind a high profile son of an ex International playing in one of the best academies in England. 

Ciaran Clark: "I was England Under-18 captain but I didn't think I was going anywhere really with that."

https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2010/1021/272149-clarkc_astonvilla_ireland/" rel="nofollow - https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2010/1021/272149-clarkc_astonvilla_ireland/

There's probably a hint in there somewhere about what confluence of events it would take for someone in Liam Delap's position to end up playing for us.

According to Wikipedia he made his last appearance for England U-20s in a friendly match in March 2008, two-and-a-half years before he declared for Ireland.

And going by comments Clark himself made, he seemed to believe that playing for England was very much a long shot.

Conan wrote: I've explained this precise point to O'Shea before and the fact that Clark was by then in the Under-21 age group which he had been continually overlooked for by England for two years, but he is still going to bury his head in the sand and  persist with the narrative/myth that Clark gave up his destiny as future England captain for the glory of a career with the Republic Ireland ,because it gives comfort to the likes of himself and others like him to believe so.

Yes, it's very frustrating alright. I literally included a quote from Clark explaining why he declared for Ireland and I pointed out the inaccuracy in saying he was an England regular when he declared for us, when the truth is he hadn't played for England in over two years - yet he persists with this insincere and stupid argument.

very intriguing you hone in on this quote which is vague could mean anything , and ignore the very clear and direct quote at the beginning of the article where he says "for myself and my family" in responding to the question about why he wants to play for ireland . why have you chosen to ignore this quote which conspicuouly addresses clarks motivation in a post where you are attempting to describe clarks motivation ? i find this unusual , it seems a sideways approach taken as the real evidence does not support the view you take

Four-Four-Two wrote: this is the first time i have argued with anyone about clark ? the only insecurity i can see is of those who try to twist logic to say guys like clark are mercenary . personal speaking, i actualy do not care if a player has their only identity as irish so long as they give maximum effort for the team , but with a player such as clark it is simple mean spiritedness and spite that would lead to questioning of their motives . this is a clear example of a 20 year old premiership defender - in other words a novice for this position yet still playing at the highest standard - choosing ireland over england despite having previously captained england and their career being on the up . this is a clear example of a player not known to the fai going to them and initiating the process themself . all of this points to their preference , it is not a case of a middle twenties division two player deciding to play for ireland, it is obviously something different. to try and portray clark and those like him of not feeling irish and having only a career motive needs you to suspend your disbelief and throw out all the logic and facts of the case which suggest otherwise . impartiality and prejudice will lead to this though

You used to post as The O'Shea. now that you post everything about irish and eligible footballers in small caps you think everyone will be too stupid to realise you set up a new account after getting banned for trolling. You kept logging in and appearing in the "members online" section  after getting banned and as soon as your new account was created, you stopped logging in under your old one.

He wasn't a "regular" when he declared for Ireland either. He started 16 games the season he declared for us and he started 13 games the season after. I explained this to you under your old account but you refuse to listen - just like you refused to listen when I politely pointed out to you that he wasn't playing for England when he declared for us.

I even threw in the following quote from Clark: "I was England Under-18 captain but I didn't think I was going anywhere really with that."

And of course you manage to somehow contort that into a way that fits your agenda.

Clark being pretty much the only outlier in the last 20 years who you could use to fit your narrative - and it turns out even his reasons for declaring for us are because he (rightly) couldn't foresee a future with England, as outlined in the article I linked.

Ah the irony of using nowt is lost on you isn't it  ?

Nowt is Anglo English and not Hiberno English, which us Irish speak. 

But carry on. 

No its a word they use in the Yorkshire/Lancashire area which Manchester is in. Ok. Now take your irony and shove it up your ho#e.

442, im deactivating the O’Shea account if you are using this one. 

If you two continue in the same vein as prior to your last ban, the next one will come along very quickly.

so you follow this other poster about when they are online , and because i disagree with you you say i am trolling and i am this poster . listen to what you are saying , it is obsessive and i for one want no part in it

Hold on a minute, you tracked O'Shea's online status at a time when you were also banned, noting when they were on regularly or not? Jesus I always thought you were the one talking sense who was unlucky to be banned, but you both seem to as bad as each other in hindsight

Sham gave me a 1 or 2 week ban (I can't remember which) so I kept logging in to see if it had elapsed, and every time I logged in, O'Shea was online. For some reason I couldn't access the site even after my ban had ended (at which point 4-4-2 started posting and O'Shea mysteriously vanished) but I logged in about a fortnight ago and it worked.

I used to post on foot.ie. I can guarantee you 4-4-2 (The O'Shea) never posted there. He would've stood out if he did.

And fine, Sham, I won't engage with him anymore.

You got summink else to say   ?    You've got nowt have you   ?   

Hahaha 

Back to topic lads! 

I would think this belongs in the ROW thread... while sober, this guy will never select ireland

Then we know what we need to do. Get him locked

I'm a lancastrian.  I've never used that word.  I've nowt left to add

Englands top forward line have 2 world class players in every position lads like Grealish and Sterling on the left, Kane and Rashford through the middle, and Sancho and Bellingham on the right with Foden and Mount just behind.

If that is who Southgate picks for the Euros, the likes of Abraham, Calvert-Lewien, Bamford, Hudson-Odoi, Greenwood, Ings, and Maddison wont even get in the squad. He could potentially be a starter for us very soon if he did pick us whereas he could be waiting a long time to be a regular in the England squad. Heres hoping .

Southgate has been very clever and proactive in capping young dual qualified players.  He'll get him on the pitch against San Marino or Andorra. Don't see Liam playing for us barring a severe stalling in his development 

His decision is pretty clear but we continue to try to convince ourselves 

Ciaran Clarke played underage for England and was captain at one stage coupd of easily picked up England caps at that stage in his career.

Delap if he plays with us at all will essentially be a Che Adam’s job I think. Combination of Ireland actually looking like doing something and his career being decent but regular English caps being out the question. 

I wouldn’t be as pretentious about that as some we have had plenty marvellous servants with looser ties to Ireland but plenty are. A few in Scotland a bit put out at the Che Adam’s situation as well. 

They probably like the idea of a national team.

A few Scottish nationalists I know share that view - too many in the tartan army happy to proclaim their Scottishness in football but not so much when it comes to an independence vote.

Don't get me started u numpty. England Scotland Wales have existed as separate associations for more than 100 years. Don't pretend Ireland is completely separate. Second and I've said it on here millions of times. Uk isn't a country   its a kingdom of  countries.  So yes they should be separate 

The state of Northern Ireland isn’t a Country.

Numpty? Bad enough that you hang around on here like a bad smell but don’t think you can start calling the odds

Yes and while I do see the point people are making I think to not want to be milking the granny rule to our advantage is a bit pretentious. You would hope with the crazy pool of talent England are developing or in underage squads that might work in our favour too down the line.

A few players like Robinson or even a bit better like Che Adam’s may declare for us due to this. Important of course that’s used as a supplement to the homegrown talent we are producing and not as a crutch like the last 10-15 years. 

100% agree.

It's no big deal for an English man to play for Scotland or Wales, they don't need a different passport or anything.

An English man doesn't have a different passport but you can't just play for Scotland if you have no connections with Scotland. They still need to have at least a grandparent who's from the country.