Green Manifesto
There’s never a dull moment where Ireland are concerned. After a brave Euros qualification campaign came the humiliation of the finals themselves. Then the recent last gasp win over mighty Kazakhstan. As the World Cup qualifier campaign gathers pace, three of the lynch-pins of the squad discuss Trapp’s reputation for managerial stubborness, his controversial selection of players from the lower echelons of British soccer and tell us what’s on their iPhone playlists
Stuart Clark, 02 Oct 2012
It’s a sunny Tuesday out in Portmarnock where the Ireland team are holed up before flying out tomorrow to Kazakhstan for the first of their World Cup 2014 qualifiers. Having spent the morning training in nearby Malahide, three of that game’s starting XI – Simon Cox, Sean St. Ledger and Keiren Westwood – are doing a photo-shoot for the Republic’s new Three-sponsored home strip, which, footie fans, makes it into the shops on October 5 ahead of Germany’s visit to the Aviva. Shane Long’s also been roped into modeling duties, but manages to escape before I can wave a tape recorder under his nose.
“It’s a bit like Christmas getting to see the new kit,” Simon Cox enthuses. “I like it – it’s nice and simple with no unnecessary squiggles or stripes.”
He’s lucky he wasn’t playing in the ‘90s when snowstorm-patterned shirts and bollock-hugging shorts were the norm.
“Yeah, and moustaches!” he laughs. “We’re lucky in terms of what we get to wear nowadays.”
Sean St. Ledger is more concerned with fiscal matters.
“What’s the money in Kazakhstan? The tenge? How many of them are there to the pound?”
According to the ever-dependable online Universal Currency Converter, 239.869.
“Why can’t they just have euro?” he rues.
Keiren Westwood meanwhile is feeling a little unloved.
“There’s no new goalie shirt,” he says mournfully. “It does look good though!”
Sartorial matters dealt with, let’s get down to footballing business…
SIMON COX
“Delighted as a fan that we got the win. Personal level #fuming #fuckingjoke #embarrassing.”
That was James McClean’s summation of Ireland’s performance against Kazakhstan. He deleted it a few hours later, but by then the message had gone viral.
While the Sunderland and former Derry City man’s honesty is to be admired – it was a woeful performance against a country 116 positions below them in the FIFA rankings – McLean was in clear breach of Giovanni Trapattoni’s social media rules.
“We’re not allowed to tweet 24 hours before a game or talk about tactics or team shape,” says Simon Cox who’s also mad for the aul’ Twitter, but is rather more guarded in his comments. “As long as you’re sensible and don’t say anything controversial they’re happy. Taking pictures during training is a tricky one because you might inadvertently show someone with ice on their leg or bandaged up. You don’t want to give anything away.”
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