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Future of the IFA team?

Lets deal with the facts about the IFA and their senior team.

FACT 1. This team has never [ever] qualified for a European Championships.

FACT 2. This team has not qualified for an international tournament since the mid 1980s and given a generation is 30 years, they have not qualified for the World Cup or Euros in a generation.

FACT 3. The team is now populated with MOSTLY championship level players, not of a standard for international football. Certainly not to achieve anything like qualification.

FACT 4. Players actually registered to play for this association often fail to turn up to important international games as they are "injured", only to feature for their club sides days later. Kyle Lafferty being the most recent and striking example.

FACT 5. Half the population of the region they are meant to represent express no sentiment or fealty with that team. Whereas these same individuals actually do express sentiment and fealty to another supposedly "FOREIGN" team and football association.

FACT 6. Many and increasingly players from the region the IFA "represent" have pledged their loyalty to a supposedly "FOREIGN" association.

FACT 7. The stadium that the IFA team insist they play out of, is not of appropriate standard for international football.

Given all the above, which are irrefutable truths, do this team have any future at all?

If they do have a "future" is this simply to be whipping-boys for the real international football teams who have a chance of qualifying and actually competing in European and World football?

posted on 4/10/11

Spanglers???

Or some other Anti-N.I weirdo who lives in N.I lol................

posted on 4/10/11

FACT 3. The team is now populated with MOSTLY championship level players, not of a standard for international football. Certainly not to achieve anything like qualification.

English Premier League Players...not Championship

Johnny Evans.....Man Utd
Aaron Hughes.....Fulham
Gareth McAuley.....West Brom
Chris Baird.....Fulham
Chris Brunt.....West Brom
Johnny Gorman.....Wolves

Scottish Rangers and Celtic players. probably equivalent to mid/bottom English Premier League ability.

Pat McCourt.....Celtic
Nial McGinn.....Celtic (out on loan)
David Healy.....Rangers
Kyle Lafferty.....Rangers
Steven Davis.....Rangers

posted on 4/10/11

^^^^^^^^^Spanglers look at the article above yours lol............

Thats how to wum lol.............

posted on 4/10/11

FACT 8 The author is a bitter 'wee' keyboard warrior.

posted on 5/10/11

comment by Billy Ray Valentine (Capricorn) (U7617)

posted 18 hours, 16 minutes ago

"FACT 3. The team is now populated with MOSTLY championship level players, not of a standard for international football. Certainly not to achieve anything like qualification.

English Premier League Players...not Championship

Johnny Evans.....Man Utd
Aaron Hughes.....Fulham
Gareth McAuley.....West Brom
Chris Baird.....Fulham
Chris Brunt.....West Brom
Johnny Gorman.....Wolves"

So out of a squad of 24 players you name 6 and call them a premiership side? Laugh. Gorman hasn't even made the sub-bench this season for Wolves. Evans is an intermittent start for ManU as there are better players ahead of him Vidic and Ferdinand, who are first pick when they are fit.

"Scottish Rangers and Celtic players. probably equivalent to mid/bottom English Premier League ability."

Of course they are dear. Celtic and Rangers as their Euro form demonstrates would struggle to get to the top of the Championship in England.

So as the story goes, out a squad of 24 you are probably quoting, being generous, 6 out of 24.

A quarter at the appropriate say "premiership" standard. Of that 24 how many are international standard? One/two?

Who stuffed you last time out, Estonia? World beaters that they are. Sure I can't get odds better than 2 to 1 for an Estonia win at the weekend.

Yesterdays men. A team on the steady and prolonged slide to oblivion. Show me the evidence otherwise?

posted on 5/10/11

Future of C'Ville lol?????

Drove down the C'Ville Road the other day lol...............

What an ugly waste of effort solitude is lol...............

posted on 7/10/11

CINDY:
You dont have to write articles, we all got the point long ago: YOU HATE EVERYTHING TO DO WITH N.IRELAND. Except Cliftonville FC!

BTW, in light of recent surveys etc, feel you're being rather over optimistic with your facts 5-6. When queueing for my ticket recently at IFA H.Q., I noticed a young RC priest behind me in the queue! I waited and observed he took a handfull of tickets.

Years of brainwashing have rendered you incapable of seeing the new reality. You sit there staring blindly into space totally mesmerised by the Galway hooker on the wall with the false words of the Great Leader still ringing triumphantly in your ears. Sad, sad case!

posted on 8/10/11

Shen must be strange being so bitter lol...............

Spanglers being a UK citizen and paying nothing towards Ednas bankrupt state lol............

You would think he would relocate lol...............

posted on 10/10/11

FACT 3. The team is now populated with MOSTLY championship level players, not of a standard for international football. Certainly not to achieve anything like qualification.


I'll refer you to the above FACT and your use of the word team, not squad, and the phrase 'mosrtly champiosnhip players'

I then listed a number of Premiership players, and others who play in Scotland but could perform in the Premier league, if only at the bottom end of it, ie Davis, Laverty etc.

You're response was then to try and pick holes by referring to 'squads' and 'international level'.

If you can't argue properly, don't go moving the goal posts.

posted on 10/10/11

Thing about Spang is he had a bad fight about a year ago. Took a real beating upstairs and down. It really shredded his confidence. Hes never been the same since. Timing, confidence and heart all gone. Hes just going thru the old 5th Street shuffle in the dark. For a while it looked like he was going to turn his back on the game altogether. He seemed to be entering a sort of poetic phase. And you know I have to say, he was doing pretty well with it. It was quite interesting at the time, but he now seems to have given that up as well. Its always the same with these guys -- they know deep down they havent got it anymore, but they miss the ring like a babe misses his Ma and they keep trying to return to it, even though for them its long gone.

Mind you, Im not convinced this new incarnation is actually the real Spangles. Dont think he could have deteriorated so much in such a short time. Ive got a feeling this new guy is just some diehard Spang fan trying to resurrect his old hero and making a bit of a hash of it!

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