While I know quite few of you don’t rate Stephen Ireland, I’m sure most will agree that we didn’t see this one coming.
According to the Telegraph, Ireland has been told he “can’t be accomodated” in the 22 man squad and hence has to train with the kids.
I guess that’s a polite way of saying “you’re out” which somewhat begs the question of who has come in as his replacement.
I assume it has to be either or both of Sylla and Dawkins, which I find a bit strange, as Sylla isn’t competition for Ireland and Dawkins is only a loan signing.
The only thing I can think of is that there’s been a major fallout between the player and the manager. I wouldn’t think it’s purely down to performance, as I actually think he’s been not too bad of late.
Then again, what do I know?
I panned Delph yesterday and many of you said I was wrong.
Whatever, I think it shows exactly what will happen come the end of the season and it all points to cost cutting again, doesn’t it?
i say good, i just hope his attitude doesnt affect the youngsters, he’s lazy, disruptive, overated and a sulking child sooner we get rid the better.
signing him in the 1st place was ludicrious! why bring a player to your club who doesnt want to be there? man city must have been pissing themselves when they off loaded him on to us.
aside from that he’s had plenty of chances, houiler, mcleish and lambert have all give him a shot and he’s showed even when he tries he just aint the player he thinks he is.
at man city it was the manager and teams fault, he was treated badly, under houiler it was his fault, mcleish? his fault too and now lambert who has given him more chances than the others has finally given up.
Agree with all of that. Lets not forget there was no manager in charge when he was signed, faulkner thought he was being clever getting him in exchange, yet he got mugged.
When you are in a relegation battle you need fight and desire, 2 qualities that Ireland has not showed one bit since he walked through the door. Good riddance, just hope there is another mug out there who will take him off us.
Lets read the Lambert Luvvies hype. Hmmm.
Ok he’s an overpaid lazy do nothing player who didn’t want to join us anyway. Like Hutton, Warnock and Bent before him he’s no use never was and never will be .
OK?
Now someone name a Villa midfield player who Lambert picks each week who comes close to Irelands talent and experience.
Thought not
Problem isn’t the players its the manager who has difficulties dealing with experienced players who have played under far better managers and coaches.
That’s why he buys inexperienced kids because they are easier to manage
Give the bollocks a rest Malcolm, are you seriously telling me Ireland isn’t the problem?
Do you even watch the sport or do you just like internet forums?
Go away and come back with a better argument for keeping losers like Ireland you complete and utter twit.
“The problem isn’t Ireland it’s the managers” .. codswallop.
Stephen ireland is a cheque collector, all the managers have had problems with him, he also went on loan to newcastle and that failed as well. Nobody has attempted to sign this brilliantly talented player like they have all of our other talented players. Its fair to say he is barely past his mid twenties and he is already on the football scrap heap The man is a joke and should consider retiring he is everything that is wrong with modern football
Lets ask ourselves a question, why do we all think Ireland is a class player?
A good season for Man City 5 years ago when surrounded by world class players like Robinho?
What had Ireland done before then? and what has he done since?
He is useless and only the most desperate of Villa fans cling on to the Ireland of 2008/09.
Get rid now as he isn’t the player we want or need.
He like Barry ‘panto’ Bannan should be given to charity let them deal with the pair of jokers
Yep it’s looking less and less likely that Bazza’s got any future down at VP. Sadly another of our academy product that looks like not making it, although he should get a deal somewhere down the leagues, I suppose/
Barry Bannan is everything i despise in a footballer, little talent, little value, little man.
Malcolm is a troll.
And not even a good one.
He has a taste for goats though.
What talent and experience. Give me an example of when he has ever showrd for us. Yeah, thought not!
He is an overpaid waste of space.
Stephen Ireland is a talented player that undisputed but somehow he allows games 2 fly past him without as much as a care, i av run out off patience for him
~ its such a waste of a talented player 2 play without passion ~ let him train with kids it should be a lesson 2 all the youth team,that skill alone is not enough 2 make it ~ up the villa
Fair play to Lambert. Probably down to the positivity displayed by the new boys at bmh, Ireland the strutting peacock deserves all he gets and personally I wouldn’t let him train with the kids in case his poor attitude be infectious.
If this is the club’s attempt to try and force the issue with Ireland, I wonder how much chance it’s got? Eighteen months left on a 55k a week contract, according to the article. I’m sure he’ll find a way of coming to terms with the humiliation of training with the kids on that sort of a deal. Most of us would sit it out, I reckon; he must be set up for life anyway, no matter what happens for him career-wise here on in.
Sure he’ll sit it out, dignity, pride and self worth are old currency and the fuckers got a skin thicker than a Rhinoceros
He is a clueless Mercenary with the brain of a toad, probably hasnt realised he is training with the kids yet…… Thanks Mr Faulkner another fantastic bit of business !!
Yes and a bank roll than would choke a rhino, no doubt. Football has really eaten itself when the likes of Ireland end up being minted. C’est la vie, I suppose.
jesus 18mnths left at 55k a week. if he had anything about him he’d be banging lamberts door down demanding a transfer or a loan offering to play for less money if necessary just to be able to play and prove himself to people.
will he do that? will he f**k!
I wouldn’t mind betting that in this instance, the player will convince himself that he’s the injured party. Being asked to train with the younger players, the poor lamb.
This must be a wake up call to clubs, paying 55k a week to a player for nothing more than turning up at the training ground. Surely there has to be a better system, perhaps paying a lower basic and the rest in bonuses (appearances, goals etc).
They should introduce a blanket performance based pay structure at all clubs, it would stop the tossers like Ireland doing fuck all for near 80k a week.
on that comment davidg i saw some program a while back featuring robbie savage, it involved a bit of fun and piss taking and savage pointed out that at least he was a millionare. now what ever you think of savage he’s hardly what you’d call a great player, he’d be the 1st to admit it, average at best yet he’s made enough money from the game to be able to call himself a millionare, astonishing!
i remember watching some of that ‘being liverpool’ program and seeing spearing(a sporadic 1st team player at best)driving his 100k 4×4 into the driveway of his multi million pound house in the wirral. this is a player in his early 20′s who has really done very little yet he is already set for life!
football money is surely ridiculous when you look at it.
You’re not joking, NM. Did you see the stories in the media before Xmas that Lionel Messi had TURNED DOWN a reported 460k a WEEK when some mad Russian outfit triggered his Barca sell-out clause with an offer of some £200 mill plus?
Ok that was Messi, but even so, the figures that get bandied about are totally insane, and when a non entity of a player like Savage, who’s a 24 carat div to boot, ends up being a millionaire, you can only shake your head and laugh, mate.
Despite him predicting we’d go down (which hasn’t been too far off the mark), I sorta like the dickhead now he’s no longer playing. Compare him to Dennis Wise, (edit) on the field. (Edit) off it. At least Savage knows he’s ridiculous!!!
Some interesting comments.
As per usual, I’m somewhere in the middle with my opinion.
I don’t necessarily see Malcolm’s pov, but somewhat tend to agree with it.
Not because I hate Lambert though; it’s more that Ireland is at least experienced and has proved he can do it.
By the same token, I’m not sure where this “lazy, useless, over-paid” stuff comes from either. All top level footy players are over-paid. It’s just a matter of degree, for me.
Ireland doesn’t strike as the best advised player in the game, but that’s most likely because he has his own mind: something that never goes down well with managers in any profession.
Where I draw the line though is the suggestion that he doesn’t give a toss.
I’ve seen it said about a few of our elder players and now it’s being said about Bannan.
I don’t for one minute think any player with anything about him doesn’t want to give of his best.
Ireland is still mid 20′s, with plenty to still prove yet, after all.
Would he really want to just sit on his arse and take the money?
Maybe, if he was at the end of his career.
But when he hasn’t even peaked yet?
I don’t see it, myself.
Then again, he isn’t going to get the same money anywhere else, is he?
Hence the solution is that we’ll do a deal with him to get him off the books in the summer.
I think it’s Malouda at Chelsea who is in pretty much the same situation, the difference being, it’s a standoff at the end of his career and he’s basically said “Fuck you. I’ll train with the kids, no problem”.
Florent Malouda
Club
Lyon
Ligue 1 (4): 2003–04, 2004–05, 2005–06, 2006–07
Trophée des champions (3): 2003, 2004, 2005
Chelsea
FA Premier League (1): 2009–10
FA Cup (3): 2009, 2010, 2012
FA Community Shield (2): 2009
UEFA Champions League (1): 2012
Individual
Premier League Player of the Month: March 2010
Chelsea Players’ Player of the Year: 2009–10
Stephen Ireland
Manchester City
Player of the Season (2009)
Aston Villa
Fans Player of the Season (2012)
Malouda and Ireland, never in the same breath there is just no comparison.
Makes no odds Billy. They’re both deemed as surplus to requirements whatever you think of them and are being forced out, imo.
The sad thing is Anon, we have so few we would all really like to keep! It’s fooking depressing considering how joyous it was several years back. Remember Young’s late winner against Everton???
That’s true Jeff.
Whatever any of us think of our up and coming young side, who’d give toss if any of them left, Benteke apart?
That was our peak Jeff. It has all been downhill from there. I actually feel the current approach is right despite our perilous position. I don’t like to see good players leave, but at least if we make money and reinvest it wisely we will see continual, if gradual improvement.
he isnt played in his best position which is a attacking midfielder he has had his handcuffs on for 2 seasons a tragic waste of talent going to waste
He was played in his ‘best position’ and he still didn’t perform.
He didn’t want to join and in truth, never really turned up.
All this about Ireland we all knew at the time he did not want to come to VP as make weight for Milner.Was it not reported at the time that he did not want to leave City and the move was forced upon him or Milner would never have gone to City.So ask yourself this if you were in the same position would you move to a club or company knowing that you did not want play for that club or work for that company in the first place.Somehow i don;t think so.
No excuse for not performing, he didn’t have to move, he could have stayed in the City reserves, there was hardly any other clubs knocking on his door, he’s being payed near 80k a week to kick a ball, the least he can do is put some effort in.
We know you have issues with the club as do most of us but please don’t side with Ireland, the man is a joke.
I agree Guest, the man is a joke, but dont forget who arranged this ridiculous arrangement, the same tosser who has overseen all of our offensive and out of touch transfer negotiations …. Step forward Mr Paul Faulkner he is so much responsible for the shit we are in now…..!
Guest question if you were forced into a job that you did not want would you give 100% somehow i don;t think so no matter how much you are being paid.Am retired now but i would never have done a job that i was not happy doing.
Oh terry my heart bleeds for the poor fella, such pain to have to drag his arse down to BMH in his top of the range Bentley everyday and kick a bag of air about for 80k a week, life’s a bitch.
Billy mate think you missed my point in anyother industry if you are not happy or did not want to work there then you move on.But in football their terms of emplotment are quit different they can get paid weather they put in 100% of effort if they like being where they are or not.So no one can blame him as it was clear he did not want to play for Villa but was forced to come to the club so they could sign the player they wanted.It;s no use blaming the player it;s the system.Me i would like to see football run the same way as anyother industry.
Terry, as i said earlier, he could have stayed and fought for his place at City, nobody held a gun to his head, and for the record, i’d pretty much do anything within reason for 80k a week, in fact i’m willing to be pretty much anybody on here would, within reason of course, so please don’t compare your poxy working life with Stephen Irelands without the slightest hint of irony or self awareness you complete and utter twit.
As i said, i know you have a problem with the club, as do we all, but siding with that mercenary shows you up for the fan you really are.
You must be a nose.
Terry how was or could he be forced? No mate if memory serves me right Man C had to pay him a million or so to subsidize his cut/loss in money, no one held a gun to his head. He came (imo) because he got a 4 year contract on 80k a week and that was the be all and end all.
He obviously never had any desire to wear the Claret and Blue but as a professional sportsman the least he could do is give is all the money being an incentive if nothing else.
To use the analogy of the average Joe earning £26k A YEAR is insulting and quite frankly absurd.
Nar Terry’s right, Ireland did not want Villa, he was pushed,yes he could have stopped in the reserves and still got his dosh, but what life would he have suffered from other player’s his open comments at the time was life was bad and player’s didn’t talk to him or come to that player’s earning more didn’t mix with lower wage player’s, Ireland best away from Villa, he’s one that’s helped s to be where we are, no love for the club or the shirt. piss him off.
Since our youth is so precious these days could it also benefit them?
Let him go P45 the (edit).Dis is de ruyt foot der now dis is de left foot ahh will ya always wondered bout dat der now.lol