Ireland’s trawl: idol to idle
Even allowing for some things getting lost in translation — and, indeed, Ireland has been quick to claim he was misquoted, particularly in relation to his disparaging remarks about Cork and Birmingham — the unmistakable whinge of the self-styled misunderstood martyr comes through loud and clear. Trapattoni, Houllier and Mancini have all got it wrong, he says. Add in Brian Kerr when he was Ireland’s underage boss, and the only possible conclusion is that the lad has been serially unlucky with the managers he has encountered along the way.
Ireland refers to his international career as “ancient history” and, while it’s true that his name has long become a byword for controversy and what might have been, it’s easy to forget that barely four years have passed since he first broke into the senior team and, with his sublime natural talent, convinced many expert observers that the boy who, deliciously, bore his country’s name was set fair to become one of its greatest ever players.
