Stephen Ireland

Mr HJ said:
Agree - no mention of his 20k fish tank and pink wheeled Range Rover. I lived two doors down from him in Grappenhall years ago and he was a knob - hard for me to take as a City fan. He had a large pond in his front garden and kids from the estate would play footie on a patch of grass next to it - the balls would go over a small fence into the pond and occasionally he would get in a small boat and retrieve them - bizarre to watch- then not give them back to the kids! Odd to say the least but a bit of humility especially after what he'd personally gone through would have helped him and his career. As Pep always says its about being a good human as much as having God given talent.
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hahahaha
 
Mancini and Houllier the two most successful managers he played under didn't rate him or didn't think he was worth the effort! They're hardly both wrong! He looked really good in an average city side!
 
You're right, but I think Coton and Curle would have got in the 2012 and 2014 sides. They would have been shoe in's! Coton was a better keeper than Hart and Curle was better than Lescott!
 
Many forget he won POTS one year. Pre-Sheikh Mansour, they tried to sell him to Sunderland and Hughes blocked it. He had talent but was too thick to apply himself.
 
A pleasure to see Stephen's silky skills again albeit in a friendly. He would have fitted like a glove into a Pep squad, especially with the huge improvements in training methods & facilities and attitude to player welfare since he left. Always some "hard man" wants to hammer him as mentally weak, so what if he is eccentric, seems he was mentally tough enough to care for 2 kids as a teenage single father to the detriment of his career. If he wants to get a new club I hope he gets a chance, if not I hope the future is good for him.
 
samarasra said:
A pleasure to see Stephen's silky skills again albeit in a friendly. He would have fitted like a glove into a Pep squad, especially with the huge improvements in training methods & facilities and attitude to player welfare since he left. Always some "hard man" wants to hammer him as mentally weak, so what if he is eccentric, seems he was mentally tough enough to care for 2 kids as a teenage single father to the detriment of his career. If he wants to get a new club I hope he gets a chance, if not I hope the future is good for him.
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Not a chance mate
 
samarasra said:
And your opinion is based on ?.
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Watching him. He was average at best and lacked heart. If you think he’d start in our midfield and that he is at that level of player we now have then I’m not sure you saw a lot of him.
 
9 Quinn said:
Mancini and Houllier the two most successful managers he played under didn't rate him or didn't think he was worth the effort! They're hardly both wrong! He looked really good in an average city side!
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To be fair, Gerard Houllier was a terrible manager. Mancini isn't exactly infallible either and seems like a tosser.

I doubt Ireland would have made it with us now but I don't think it's due to a lack of ability.
 
Tugay One Cup said:
To be fair, Gerard Houllier was a terrible manager. Mancini isn't exactly infallible either and seems like a tosser.

I doubt Ireland would have made it with us now but I don't think it's due to a lack of ability.
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" Mancini seems like a tosser"? you got to be joking

Roberto Mancini turned up from serial losers and a joke to Champions and ended years of heartache.
 
Keeper! said:
Roberto Mancini turned up from serial losers and a joke to Champions and ended years of heartache.
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I don't think Mancini is a tosser either but having an impressive trophy record doesn't mean he isn't one. He's a person before he's a football manager and it could just be the truth that he's a wanker. We'll never know because we don't know him.

As for the interview, I found it to be really interesting and illuminating. The way Ireland talks about mistakes he's made in the past unfortunately reminded me of the way Barton often speaks about his past transgressions. Now obviously Barton is a walking thug whereas Ireland just seems misguided, but he seems to put the blame at everybody else's feet before questioning his own actions. I'm sure if we were to speak to Mancini and Houiller, who really don't come across well here at all, they'd have their own version of events. By the time Mancini came in Ireland's form had already suffered - he'd started 12 of 18 possible league games before Hughes was sacked but he'd scored just 2 goals in that time, contributing no assists. After Mancini came in Ireland picked up a few injuries, we signed Vieira and Johnson who occupied both of his positions, and then during that following summer we signed James Milner, David Silva, and Yaya Toure. He was never going to get back in once that happened. I don't think anybody is to blame for what happened to Ireland's career after that, maybe Randy Lerner, but I got the feeling from his words that he believes the footballing world owes him something when, frankly, it doesn't. Sometimes players' careers stagnate for a million reasons and one - bad luck, bad decisions, all sorts - but I don't know how he expects to find a new club like this. Imagine if you were a League One manager who fancied taking a punt on him only to see that he's slagged off all the other managers he's played under. You wouldn't dare get in touch with him.
 
A lot of being a successful football is what goes on in your head.

You have to have the skills, sure, but unless you've got the right mental attitude/strength, whatever you like to call it, you won't be a long term success, and certainly not in the modern game which is so demanding in the matter of self-discipline.
I'm sure we can all draw up a long list of people with excellent skills who did not make it because of their character/mental attitude/whatever.

I don't think the likes of Pep can be arsed mithering with people who aren't fully up to the mark. Some "lesser" managers were and are, and sometimes that pays off. But it requires the patience of Job.
 
Keeper! said:
" Mancini seems like a tosser"? you got to be joking

Roberto Mancini turned up from serial losers and a joke to Champions and ended years of heartache.
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Of course he’s a tosser. He’s an arrogant, pig headed bully with no man management skills. He’s been perennially sacked since and now manages Italy.

He failed in Europe consistently and his last match was a humiliating FA Cup Final defeat to the mighty Wigan.
 
peoffrey said:
Of course he’s a tosser. He’s an arrogant, pig headed bully with no man management skills. He’s been perennially sacked since and now manages Italy.

He failed in Europe consistently and his last match was a humiliating FA Cup Final defeat to the mighty Wigan.
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Well he is the TOSSER whom tore than F**ing banner down from old traford and for doing that I will be forever grateful.
 
Keeper! said:
" Mancini seems like a tosser"? you got to be joking

Roberto Mancini turned up from serial losers and a joke to Champions and ended years of heartache.
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Credit to what he achieved and eternally grateful. Sadly he was also tearing City apart, spoke to some employees after he left and they couldn't wait to see the back of him.
 
peoffrey said:
Of course he’s a tosser. He’s an arrogant, pig headed bully with no man management skills. He’s been perennially sacked since and now manages Italy.

He failed in Europe consistently and his last match was a humiliating FA Cup Final defeat to the mighty Wigan.[/QUOTE ]
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Got to admit i loved him and was very disappointed with the lack of support for him in his last year, from everyone especially the city press officer, but looking back on it there was no way we could have gone straight from Zonal to high press and we were already after Pep[/QUOTE]
 
bondsman said:
Watching him. He was average at best and lacked heart. If you think he’d start in our midfield and that he is at that level of player we now have then I’m not sure you saw a lot of him.
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I said, as you highlighted, "He would have fitted like a glove into a Pep squad" not "start in our midfield" as you imply. Followed his career from youths level saw enough to think he had the skill, vision and work ethic that a manager of Pep's quality would value and improve to a higher level. He was player of the year, admittedly not in a 100 point team. A quote from Pep on the role of an individual player: "They don't play alone, it is not tennis,it is not golf. You play with 10 players against one system of the opponents. Many, many things are involved in one player performing well in a team".
We are not a group of Galacticos or world record signings bought to sell shirts, we are a squad of mainly high priced players bought with the capacity for improvement and to fit into a formula. What you saw as an average at best player 11 years ago under Hughes might have been a better than average player under Pep's coaching and system .
Sadly we will never know. He says he didn't feel he was good enough to play with the quality of new players coming, it seems lack of confidence rather than lack of heart was an issue.
 
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