Enigmatic Ireland return on hold
King has seen the Cobh man in action for his club Stoke City twice in the last week, spoke to the player’s agent and exchanged text messages with Ireland himself.
Asked if he would have liked to include him in his panel for the games against Germany and Kazakhstan, King replied: “Well, I went to see him, yes. He is not ready but I would have looked at it, which is what I did. I got on to him, he got back to me, I got back to him, he left me a message, I spoke to the agent and so on. It was good, I have to say. [In the message] he was just expressing the things that he’s said [in public] and his agent said. He’s on the comeback road, he wants to get strong, he wants to get playing in his team as a regular and he wants to come back and play for Ireland at some stage.”
King said he was left with the impression that Ireland — who hasn’t made himself available for selection since the ‘Grannygate’ episode of 2007 — was genuine in his desire to play for his country again.
“I have no reason to think not. Why would he come back leaving a message and also getting the agent to ring me? That’s all positive, it’s good. Just give him a break, I would say, and see how he goes and see how he develops. If things work out, then he could be a good asset for us.”
King has recalled a number of notable players who found themselves on the outside looking in by the time the Giovanni Trapattoni era came to an end. Nottingham Forest’s Andy Reid returns to the senior set-up where he is joined by the recalled Darron Gibson, Anthony Stokes and Kevin Doyle. Gibson’s return had been well-flagged while there had been considerable speculation that Stokes and Doyle would also get the nod. However, Reid’s return, five years after he got on the wrong side of Trapattoni, will be widely regarded as a welcome surprise.
“He’s a footballer, he wants to play for his country and he’s a very good player,” said King. “He seems to be doing very well. He’s trimmed down, is in good condition and I like him as a player. He’s very smart, international smart and it will be good to have him in the group.”
King will be in Celtic Park this evening “to see Stokesy against Barcelona, see how he handles it”. Though Trapattoni appeared to doubt the player’s attitude, his former U21 boss finds Stokes “a good man, a good fella with lots of talent and I think he’s starting to settle and show that talent”.
Opportunity for some means disappointment for others, of course, with Simon Cox, Darren O’Dea, Conor Sammon, Keith Andrews, Andy Keogh and David Meyler missing out.
There will be a change in tactics too under the caretaker.
“I would play a different style to Giovanni,” said King.
“He was very successful, no question about that. He has had a marvellous career and he has been very good for Ireland. Managers differ all the time but it is years since I played 4-4-2 at any level. You can play 4-3-3, 4-2-3-1, you can mix it up. But I don’t get hung up on the system. The key is the players, the players, the players.”
While King tried but failed to make contact with all the players in his squad before yesterday’s announcement, he did make a point of speaking with skipper Robbie Keane.
“He is very respectful to the past regime which I think is right,” said King. “He is respectful to me, he is enthusiastic as you know Robbie is. He is dying to come in, he loves playing for Ireland and scoring goals for Ireland.”
High Performance Director Ruud Dokter and goalkeeping coach Alan Kelly have already been assisting the interim manager but when asked if he would be interested in doing the job full-time, King insisted he can’t afford to look beyond preparing for the two games which bring Ireland’s World Cup qualifying campaign to a close.
“Anyone who could manage a victory or a performance against Germany, you’d have to say that that improves their CV and all that sort of stuff,” he said. “But that’s way away. That’s bloody 10 days which is so far away I couldn’t contemplate talking about it. I’d like the FAI to appoint the best man to bring Ireland to the next tournament, the next Europeans. That’s it. But I can’t talk about anything other than the two games, and it’s the whole package — not just me but the players, squad, staff — that’ll decide how we do.”
D Forde (Millwall), K Westwood (Sunderland), D Randolph (Birmingham City); J O’Brien (West Ham), S St Ledger (Leicester City), M Wilson (Stoke City), S Coleman (Everton), S Kelly (Reading), C Clark (Aston Villa), P McShane (Hull City); D Gibson (Everton), G Whelan (Stoke City), J McCarthy (Everton), P Green (Leeds United), A Reid (Nottingham Forest), A McGeady (Spartak Moscow), A Pilkington (Norwich City), J McClean (Wigan Athletic), S Quinn (Hull City), W Hoolahan (Norwich City); S Long (West Brom), R Keane (LA Galaxy), J Walters (Stoke City) , K Doyle (Wolves), A Stokes (Celtic).
* John O’Shea and Richard Dunne are suspended for the Germany game on October 11 but have been included in the squad to play Kazakhstan on October 15.
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