STEPHEN IRELAND: MY ASTON VILLA HORROR
Stephen Ireland claims he was unfairly booted out by Villa manager Gerard Houllier
Friday March 4,2011
By David Barnes
STEPHEN IRELAND has revved up for a possible loan debut for Newcastle tomorrow with a blast at his club Aston Villa and his country.
Ireland, who is rated a 50-50 chance to face Everton at St James’ Park, claims he was unfairly booted out by Villa manager Gerard Houllier.
He even says he had to pay for medical treatment from his own pocket during his spell there and that he was the best player during training despite being told to stay at home on match days.
Ireland said: “After 15 matches on the bench Houllier told me to stay at home. I trained during the week and on Fridays he told me, ‘no point your coming, you are not in the team’.
“Yet I was the best player in training. It was my team that won in every session. One of the few times he played me, we drew 0-0 at Chelsea and I ended up man of the match.
“Apparently that didn’t matter to him. I was stuck with being paid for doing nothing at all. I
was left to myself. I had to pay out of my own pocket for medical treatment. Can you believe that?”
Ireland says he was also unhappy at being singled out over requests to move house from Manchester.
“Houllier asked me to come and live in Birmingham because it was taking me 75 minutes to come to training. But there were 15 players in the same position as me. Some came from London and took more than two hours, but he only asked me to move.
“For a start, Birmingham is a c**p city and I wasn’t going to make the effort, especially as I wasn’t playing. Might as well be in Manchester if I had to stay home on match days.
“I don’t bear Houllier any grudges, it wasn’t him who chose me after all.”
Ireland, who made his remarks to French magazine So Foot, is desperate for action. He last played for Villa against Liverpool in December.
He added: “I just want to play and have a manager who really wants me for once. I have no idea at the moment who I will be playing for next season. My future is unclear.”
He also claims he would rather shoot himself than return to his native Cork.
Ireland, who turned his back on the Republic’s team four years ago, has even suggested the country deserves the economic chaos into which it has plunged.
“Ireland is only reaping what it has sown,” he said. “They have put buildings up just for the sake of it and, in the end, no one lives inside them. That has cost a huge amount of money.
“But I don’t give a damn for Ireland. Live in Cork? Rather shoot myself. I prefer Los Angeles.” And he made crystal clear his determination to never wear his country’s shirt again. “Even at youth level, it p****d me off to go there,” he said. “Everyone came from Dublin. I was the only guy from Cork. I had to take the train on my own, pay for a taxi, there was no hotel, no grub. It was handled so amateurishly.
“National teams don’t interest me. I have more to do than go off for three days to play Andorra. And when you are Irish, you are well aware you’ll never win the World Cup.
“I feel nothing for the team. I absolutely don’t feel guilty when they lose and, when they win, at no time do I think I could have been there.
“Even if Ireland had qualified for the World Cup, I wouldn’t have gone. People call for my return, but I have only played five times for them. The national team and me are ancient history.”
Read more: <a class="postlink" href="http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/232528/Stephen-Ireland-My-Aston-Villa-horrorStephen-Ireland-My-Aston-Villa-horror#ixzz1FcV9hSTb" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/232 ... z1FcV9hSTb</a>
