Cunningham’s warning over new Republic recruits
Despite concerns expressed yesterday by ex-Irish captain Kenny Cunningham, FAI chief executive John Delaney confirmed that the Association will happily take advantage of the new guidelines, despite his “surprise” at its ratification at a FIFA Congress last week.
Under the old rules players with dual nationality, who had already played for a country’s national team at youth level, were only allowed to switch loyalties until the age of 21. But a motion last week from Algeria, removing the reference to the age limit, was passed by a FIFA Congress, opening the way for many players to get a second chance in international football.
FIFA boss Sepp Blatter and the UEFA voting bloc found themselves outmanoeuvred by a strong African vote at the Congress in the Bahamas attended by Delaney.
The FAI chief refused to divulge the Irish vote on the basis of confidentiality, but confirmed: “There was a lot of surprise in the room when it emerged that 58% of the Congress had given the change a majority. How we cast our vote is confidential but now that it’s in, we’ll take advantage of it if that is what ‘Trap’ requires.”
Mr Delaney said he understood Kenny Cunningham’s concerns on a possible abuse of the rule, and indicated that the Ireland manager is acutely aware of the dangers of upsetting the chemistry in the squad.
Ireland assistant manager Liam Brady is likely to be keeping a weather eye on available talent early next season in England. Premier League players such as West Ham’s Mark Noble, Kevin Nolan at Newcastle and Tottenham’s Jamie O’Hara have all been mentioned as possible recruits for the Republic.
But, speaking to RTÉ yesterday, Kenny Cunningham sounded a note of caution: “It wouldn’t be something I’d be hugely in favour of; I know there’s been examples of players at a younger age switching allegiance but I think at 19/20 years of age if you make a commitment to a country you should see it through.
“If you have a change of heart in your mid-20s and decide to jump ship, there’s always a suspicion that you’re using that country just to enhance your own football career, that’s something that wouldn’t sit comfortably with me.
“Ireland are close to qualifying for a World Cup without the addition of these players and I’d like to see the manager stick with the players that have got us this far.”
However Irish youth team boss Sean McCaffrey believes that Irish football will struggle to produce another Robbie Keane or Damien Duff unless there is a massive change in mentality in this country.
“It’s 10 years since the likes of Robbie and Damien arrived on the scene and we’ve hardly produced any players of that calibre since,” he insisted.
“The majority of our best players over the last number of years – players like Aiden McGeady, Darron Gibson, James McCarthy, Sean Scannell, Terry Dixon – didn’t come through our schoolboy system.
“At the moment we’re not producing technical players. There’s far too much emphasis in our country’s underage football on winning. It’s a battle every week, not a football match. I watch games up and down the country every weekend and they’re all battles – they’re all about guts and determination, grit and fighting spirit. That’s not enough when you move up in the levels.
“You need technical ability, players who are encouraged to be technically good, players who are good at controlling the ball, shielding the ball, passing, clever players, good decision makers.
“All of these countries are producing good technical players and we’re not. That’s the reality at the moment. We’re not producing enough of them. We produce two or three every year but we need to be producing 100 every year.”
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