Lmao
Gotta say this guy has taken the mick out of us as a club
He wasn't wanted where he was but didn't have the bottle to say no to being a make weight in another deal so we end up holding the baby, literally.
I respect him even less than Unsworth
I'm astounded by this.. What has he done that's "taken the mick out of us as a club"?
He hasn't once badmouthed the club, the manager or his colleagues in the press. He has turned up for training when asked to, he has trained with the reserves and youth team when asked to.
He signed for a club in crisis, with a caretaker manager and was nothing but complimentary about the club when he signed. He WANTED to come here. It was a culture shock to him, leaving the club he had been at since the age of 15 but he WANTED to sign for us. He refused to sign for Sunderland and Everton and signed for Villa.
The only thing that he is guilty of is poor performance in the few games he has played for us. There are mitigating factors but people on here have decided that, since he's not James Milner, he's shite and a waste of money. When he signed, everyone knew he was of fragile character. Everyone knew he was a confidence player.
So, why was it so surprising that his performances dipped when his manager castigated him to the media? When his manager told him, to his face, that he was not wanted at the club his performances suffered. Why is that a surprise? He refused to request a transfer, because he wants to stay here and earn his place in the team.
He was told 2 weeks ago the club did not want him to go on loan, that there was a clean slate awaiting him when his knee injury cleared up. After hearing that news, he was elated. Overjoyed. Chuffed to f**k.
Finally, he was able to start the ball rolling on moving permanently to the midlands. His missus, who has been waiting nervously for confirmation of where they would be living for the next 3 years, started making plans to move to the midlands. Now, that's all scrapped and they have to move up here to Newcastle until May.
60k a week is all well and good, but when you're being dicked around and lied to no amount of money makes you feel better about it.
However, in spite of all of this, he has told AVFC that he wants to come back to the club in the summer and try to change his manager's mind about him.
Now, tell me PLEASE, what has he done to take the mick out of AVFC??
Great post and fully agree! Unfortunately, we've lost our most creative and technically astute midfielder and didn't even get the chance to see the best of him.
I'd have given anything to see Ireland line up with our current squad in our current mood. I don't even count prior performances as, like someone else said, our entire starting eleven was shite. Ireland would thrive in our team right now.
Wow. Having just read all that, I suddenly feel really really sorry for the guy and I'm starting to feel really bad about some of the things I've said about him to.
I genuinely hope he now rediscovers some of his old Man City form at Newcastle then comes back and does a good job for us.
I'm happy to admit I've been a bit of a hypocrite where Ireland's concerned. I was absolutely bloody elated when we signed him in the summer, come January I couldn't wait to get rid.
I guess I'm just fickle, Shame on me.
