EX-REDS BACK KEANO
Irwin speaking on MUTV said:
“With the pace of the game now and all the travelling involved, you can see this kind of thing happening more and more”
“Nevertheless, it is a bit of a shock that we won’t see Roy wearing the green shirt again. He will be terribly missed. After what happened in the summer I’m sure he was desperate to come back. But he has just recovered from a hip operation and also suffered cruciate damage to his knee not that long ago and he has obviously decided to take the advice of his doctor.”
Stapleton chips in:
"It is not just the travelling involved with international football, it's the mental and physical pressure. The expectation of the Irish fans is enormous and Roy's style of play means it is bound to take a lot out of him.
"Ireland's next two qualifying games are a double-header in Georgia and Albania, which are hardly the most hospitable places in the world, and Roy probably feels his career would be better served by not putting himself through it all.
"What happened during the World Cup wasn't very satisfactory but it could be argued that without Roy in the team, Ireland wouldn't have even qualified.
"If he hadn't been in the teams which played Holland and Portugal, Ireland wouldn't have got anything from those games.
"Players like Roy don't come along very often, especially in a country like Ireland, and while there is some promising talent in the squad now, they haven't reached his level yet.
"Not having Roy playing internationals will be a huge benefit for United.
"They will get the type of performance he produced at Blackburn more often because he will always be fresh. It's a sub-conscious thing but when you go away, your performance level tends to drop when you come back because it breaks up your usual training routine.”
Subscribe to the Red Issue magazine on-line:
“With the pace of the game now and all the travelling involved, you can see this kind of thing happening more and more”
“Nevertheless, it is a bit of a shock that we won’t see Roy wearing the green shirt again. He will be terribly missed. After what happened in the summer I’m sure he was desperate to come back. But he has just recovered from a hip operation and also suffered cruciate damage to his knee not that long ago and he has obviously decided to take the advice of his doctor.”
Stapleton chips in:
"It is not just the travelling involved with international football, it's the mental and physical pressure. The expectation of the Irish fans is enormous and Roy's style of play means it is bound to take a lot out of him.
"Ireland's next two qualifying games are a double-header in Georgia and Albania, which are hardly the most hospitable places in the world, and Roy probably feels his career would be better served by not putting himself through it all.
"What happened during the World Cup wasn't very satisfactory but it could be argued that without Roy in the team, Ireland wouldn't have even qualified.
"If he hadn't been in the teams which played Holland and Portugal, Ireland wouldn't have got anything from those games.
"Players like Roy don't come along very often, especially in a country like Ireland, and while there is some promising talent in the squad now, they haven't reached his level yet.
"Not having Roy playing internationals will be a huge benefit for United.
"They will get the type of performance he produced at Blackburn more often because he will always be fresh. It's a sub-conscious thing but when you go away, your performance level tends to drop when you come back because it breaks up your usual training routine.”
Subscribe to the Red Issue magazine on-line:
Telephone Orders:
Phone: 0870 8720200 quoting Product Ref: 1065/631698
Lines open Monday to Friday 09-00 to 17-30 hrs