The most talented boy not in green

THE ODDS are that we will see Stephen Ireland in a pair of Superman underpants again before we see him back in the green shirt.

Ireland, you’ll recall, received an FA warning last season after dropping his shorts to reveal the superhero underwear in celebration of a goal against Sunderland. Earlier this season the Manchester City midfielder revealed that he’d donated the originals to charity but had replaced them with “even better ones”. And he went on: “If I do it again I’ll probably get into trouble but if I score on a really big occasion I don’t think anything will hold me back.”

A warning then to viewers of a nervous disposition: Ireland has already scored eight goals this season, four of them coming in his last three appearances. And tomorrow, Manchester City host Manchester United at Eastlands in a game which, I think we can all agree, qualifies as “a really big occasion.”