Harry Arter: 'If Stephen Kenny hadn't made the call I wouldn't be sitting here now'

Harry Arter in Ireland training at The Hive in Barnet, London. After a series of loan moves and injury, Arter is looking to get his career up and running again with Nottingham Forest at club level and with Ireland. Picture: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

Seventeen caps in the five years since his debut is a none-too-subtle nod to the fact that Harry Arter’s Ireland career hasn’t always gone according to plan since making his debut against tomorrow’s opponents at the Aviva Stadium five years ago.

It’s not that there haven’t been high points. There was a man-of-the-match display on his first start, against the Netherlands in May of 2016; a superb performance in the World Cup qualifier win away to Austria later that year; and a crucial role in the 1-0 defeat of Wales in Cardiff in late 2017 which secured a playoff spot at the end of that same campaign.

The years since have been tougher. Leaner. Injuries, not least the thigh problem that cost him a place at Euro 2016, have too often restricted his input and there was the incident two years ago when then Ireland assistant manager Roy Keane accused him of faking an injury and after which the Londoner temporarily withdrew his services.

He doesn’t demur, then, when it’s put to him that his international experience has waxed and waned between peaks and troughs, but Arter senses positive vibes this week, as he prepares for another crack at the country where he was born and in the city where he grew up.

Ireland’s team base in the English capital is the same hotel where he celebrated Fulham’s promotion to the Premier League only a handful of months ago but the sense of a man who feels right at home is down in no small part to the role Stephen Kenny has played.

Arter hadn’t played for Ireland for over a year, since the game away to Gibraltar in what was the first of Mick McCarthy’s second term in charge, by the time Kenny was promoted and organised a Zoom call with the player.

Now here he is, almost starting afresh at 31, an age when so many begin to back away from the international game. “That’s because of Stephen, to be honest. If Stephen hadn’t made the call and we hadn’t spoke I probably wouldn’t be sitting here now.

“It was very much the case that the confidence and belief that I felt he had in me to come back and make a difference, or at least be involved, [made up my mind].

“The older you get, the more you really appreciate someone believing in you. That in itself was something that just made me really excited to come along and work with him and I had watched his U21 teams.

“They played a real good brand of football and one I can hopefully learn from and help in the same breath,” he said.

This isn’t the first time Arter has sang Kenny’s praises.

Now with Nottingham Forest, the midfielder speaks enthusiastically about the manager’s infectious nature, the change in style he is inculcating and the potential of those younger players who have been drafted into the senior squad.

An ankle injury forced him out of the previous international window when Ireland played Slovakia, Wales, and Finland and fitness issues have also frustrated his attempts to hit the ground running at Forest.

Sabri Lamouchi brought him to the City Ground via Bournemouth after that successful loan spell under his brother-in-law Scott Parker at Craven Cottage but poor results forced the Frenchman to vacate one of the English game’s hottest of hot seats early last month.

Far from ideal for a player just in the door. Next man up was another Irish manager.

Chris Hughton has delivered much better results in the month and change since he took over but Arter’s injury issues, allied to the realities of work in a Covid environment, have prevented him from having any meaningful face time with the new gaffer or catching his eye as much as he would have liked on the pitch.

“For me personally, I signed for Forest under the last manager so for me it was a massive change, a new manager coming in so quickly. To be honest, he hasn’t changed too much.

“He’s quite thorough in his work and the team know where they are defensively. I’ve picked up a few niggles in his time which hasn’t helped.

“From a personal point of view, I’m just looking to get back into the team and get my chance really.”

As it is with club, so it is with country.