It’s not unreasonable to think that their heritage may mean something to them, even a few percent. Nurtured it may grow, abandoned it’ll be gone. It’s absolutely not unreasonable to think Rice could have gone on to be a committed Ireland player.
Yes I do.
The two lads are English and wanted to play for England.
The idea they could have been capped competitively is misleading to say the least.
Both were well aware of the situation.
I agree. I feel Irish but I also feel Argentine at World Cup time.
It’s like talking to a brick wall talking to that fella. Everything is black and white. The whole English born Irish international is very much a spectrum. There’s lads with Irish parents that it would have never crossed their mind to play for anybody other than England like a Harry Kane. Then there’s lads like Kilbane who was courted by England at underage but told them to fuck off as he never considered himself anything other that 100% Irish. Then there’s a whole lot of lads in between who would have conflicting loyalties, esp if they have mixed parentage. There’s also been plenty of opportunism over the years too.
It’s not black and white. There were plenty of IRA active service lads with English accents.
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We will never know. Neither do you any more about it than anyone else, but you clearly don’t understand that identity can be complex and not only entirely one thing or the other.
Exactly.
Sure next thing he’ll be telling us Shane McGowan and James Connolly weren’t Irish. FFS, Jim Connolly was 28 or so before he even set foot in Ireland.
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Trap who’s won League titles in Italy, Germany and Austria and a European Cup was a dinosaur🤣 Obviously he was a bit too cautious in his approach but Christ he was levels above Kenny. Martin O’ Neill won 2 League Cups with Leicester, a treble with Celtic when Rangers were spending big bucks and reached a UEFA Cup Final. Scalped the likes of Juve, Barca and Liverpool. We used to have proper international managers.
Both “dinosaurs” also qualified for major tournaments. Something we will 100% not achieve under Kenny unfortunately.
You had two lads who were asked to play for Ireland and they said no.
There’s no grey area.
They are English.
Yes I do no more more about it.
They aren’t Irish.
If they were Irish they’d be playing for Ireland.
They are English as they come and they’ve absolutely no business playing for Ireland.
He’s English though
Grealish auld fella said on record the only reason he represented Ireland is because Ireland had a larger number of young Irish players at his age group.
He also mentioned how every time he went to Ireland he got very homesick.
It really is a huge pity Martin o Neill didn’t kidnap him and force him out onto the pitch in competitive game.
You don’t understand identity.
James McClean is Northern Irish
It’s nothing to do with identity.
A poster suggested here o Neill should have capped them.
When it was pointed they were called into competitive squads and refused they started waffling on about identity.
Rice and Grealish had no business being capped by Ireland. They were only interested in playing for England and that’s very fair.
To use it as a stick to beat Martin o Neill is a cuntish act.
Kenny retains the Anthony Barry/Vera Pauw 5-4-1 but Doherty & McClean start, with Browne pushing into midfield & Stevens & Molumby dropping out. Not sure why I repeated what’s in the tweet I’m quoting here:
my initial gut feeling of one of those nights has been abolished
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Do Wrexham have any other current internationals in their ranks
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Our two goals in World Cup 90 were from big punts down the field from Packie Bonner.
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