Ireland in 'I hate soccer' outburst
Ireland: Bebo website
Wednesday September 19 2007
THE curious case of Stephen Ireland took another twist yesterday with the discovery of a website on which the Manchester City midfield player, who admitted last week to lying that his grandmother had died to excuse himself from international duty, claims not to like the sport that could make him a multi-millionaire.
Ireland had been urged to see a psychologist by Sven-Goran Eriksson, the City manager, who criticised the player's "stupidity" for lying about the reasons for his withdrawal from the Ireland squad before their European Championship qualifying match away to the Czech Republic a week ago.
The deceit was uncovered when both his grandmothers declared themselves alive and well, and the 21-year-old issued a lengthy apology in a statement on Friday, saying that he had lied to be with his girlfriend, Jessica, after she had had a miscarriage.
There is considerable sympathy at City and at the FAI over the player's circumstances, but there is also concern about his behaviour in lying and in failing to return for training in Manchester after the truth emerged.
Eriksson spoke to him at length on Monday, when the player returned to the club, and advised him to speak to a psychologist. This promises to be an interesting exercise to judge from Ireland's home page on the Bebo website, which was circulated on the internet yesterday.
On the website, which allows users to interact with each other and to share photographs as well as their musings on life, Ireland, who calls himself 'Daddy Dick,' says that "football is s***" and asks "why did I get stuck doin [sic] it?".
The tone appears to be more flippant than serious, but, given that he earns close to €20,000 a week and is widely regarded as one of the most promising youngsters in the Premier League, it is a comment that is unlikely to do much for his reputation.
Former England manager Eriksson left Ireland out of his squad for the 1-0 win at home to Aston Villa last Sunday, partly because of fears over his state of mind, but has made it clear that there will be no long-term repercussions for the midfielder over his actions.
Support
Steve Staunton, the Ireland manager, has offered his support but will surely think carefully before deciding whether to include the youngster in his plans for next month's qualifying matches at home to Germany and Cyprus.
At both club and country there is an acute awareness of the need to protect the player, rather than to allow his talent to be undermined by a well-meaning but unpredictable personality and an unstable family background.
"We should not kill him," Eriksson said when asked about the player's conduct.
"It was stupid, a stupid thing to do because always you should tell the truth, but he must not be crucified for the rest of his life, absolutely not.
"I want to speak to him and then it is finished. Life goes on. Stephen Ireland is a fantastic football player.
"He's young and maybe he has some problems now and maybe in the past, but I have to say that I like him very much as a football player and as a person."
