Internationally (and domestically) streets ahead! You would have to be very staunch Irish or Scottish to want to play for the country (or in the leagues) over England, if you had the choice as a player!

1 hour ago, Mod said:

Internationally (and domestically) streets ahead! You would have to be very staunch Irish or Scottish to want to play for the country (or in the leagues) over England, if you had the choice as a player!

Yeah I understand the football reasons for sure, although an Irish 'golden generation' would not be that different in quality. And also to an extent the players mentioned have taken the harder route, as they would walk into the Irish side.

11 hours ago, SydneyChelsea said:

That's actually the reason I asked in the first place. Maybe it's a sample size thing here in Australia, but pretty much every single person I know with Irish (or Scottish, for that matter) heritage would rather cut themselves with a rusty blade than declare for England.

They're probably people that were actually Irish or Scottish. Dubious ties from generations before and the name their parents gave them (LOL) aren't what gives people a tie to a Country. All three players mentioned were born and raised in England, not sure why they'd ever want to play for a country they've never lived in unless its their only chance to taste international football.

1 hour ago, Ukraine Bolt said:

Dubious ties

Hardly dubious. For example, Declan Rice did play for Ireland before opting to play for England. You think they are dubious ties, whereas the actual players themselves, the Declans, the Conors, the Liams, etc - see the ties as being quite real and important and i think they have a far greater understanding of this than you do.

22 hours ago, TheCeleryKing said:

The latest is that Chelsea and Man Utd are interested in him and Ipswich could consider offers of £40million for the 22-year-old attacker.

So. IF Ipswich go down - he will be up for sale. Is he worth it?

4 minutes ago, TheCeleryKing said:

Hardly dubious. For example, Declan Rice did play for Ireland before opting to play for England. You think they are dubious ties, whereas the actual players themselves, the Declans, the Conors, the Liams, etc - see the ties as being quite real and important and i think they have a far greater understanding of this than you do.

Declan Rice played for Ireland when he was in the West Ham academy. He wasn't getting a look in above players from the big 6 academies for England. The second he had the chance to play for England, he snatched it up. Why wouldn't he? He's English at the end of the day.

Weird how you claim all the players themselves see it as important, yet none of them chose to play for the country? Evidence would suggest they don't see it as that important. Do you think they chose their own names straight out of the womb because of their die hard loyalty to somewhere overseas they had never visited?

I understand you're clearly very patriotic and proud of your multiple heritages but i can promise you right now that none of them players consider themselves Irish. You're embarrassing yourself trying to convince yourself and anyone else differently. If you ask them, they'll say they're English. Hence why they ahve lived in england their entire lives and chose personally to represent England.

4 minutes ago, Ukraine Bolt said:

Declan Rice played for Ireland

Weird how you claim all the players themselves see it as important

Sigh. This is clearly something that you do not understand. You are quite willfully ignorant on this matter. These players are not denying their obvious Irish heritage. For instance, I would suggest that Conor considers is Irish passport and heritage very important these days as it is how he is able to play his football in Spain.

So, I am not sure why you are denying the obvious here – that these players can have more than one nationality and heritage.  Many people – many footballers – have more than one nationality and heritage. I am not sure why you are finding that so hard to grasp.

For instance, many English players are proud of their Jamaican heritage and yet opted to play for England.

13 minutes ago, Ukraine Bolt said:

I understand you're clearly very patriotic and proud of your multiple heritages but i can promise you right now that none of them players consider themselves Irish.

25 minutes ago, TheCeleryKing said:

Sigh. This is clearly something that you do not understand. You are quite willfully ignorant on this matter. These players are not denying their obvious Irish heritage. For instance, I would suggest that Conor considers is Irish passport and heritage very important these days as it is how he is able to play his football in Spain.

Conor's passport is the same as me using my expired college bus pass to get free buses after i left college.

17 minutes ago, TheCeleryKing said:

So, I am not sure why you are denying the obvious here – that these players can have more than one nationality and heritage.  Many people – many footballers – have more than one nationality and heritage. I am not sure why you are finding that so hard to grasp.

For instance, many English players are proud of their Jamaican heritage and yet opted to play for England.

I grasp it quite well. I just find it funny when people think Irish is their primary heritage and should therefore be playing for Ireland. There seems to be some kind of inferiority complex amongst people like yourself that are devastated by the fact players born in England and lived there their entire lives chose not to play for a country their great Grandad was from. Liam Delap often get brought up, he's what? 1/8 Irish on his dads side? Why on earth would he ever choose to play for them?

23 minutes ago, Ukraine Bolt said:

Conor's passport is the same as me using my expired college bus pass to get free buses after i left college.

I grasp it quite well. I just find it funny when people think Irish is their primary heritage and should therefore be playing for Ireland. There seems to be some kind of inferiority complex amongst people like yourself that are devastated by the fact players born in England and lived there their entire lives chose not to play for a country their great Grandad was from. Liam Delap often get brought up, he's what? 1/8 Irish on his dads side? Why on earth would he ever choose to play for them?

No, you clearly do not grasp it.

1 hour ago, TheCeleryKing said:

So. IF Ipswich go down - he will be up for sale. Is he worth it?

Liverpool or Chelsea who would you choose?

58 minutes ago, POCH OUT said:

Liverpool or Chelsea who would you choose?

Lets unpack that. . .

Chelsea
Chelsea is in London. Liverpool is . . . .not a place you'd want to live in.
Chelsea has a young squad of young exciting players. Some you may have played with before at yoof level.

Liverpool
Champions League Football
A proper manager.
A good squad of players.
Fairly competent (albeit American) ownership.
Club stability.

Yeah, Chelsea . . .we are a better option than Man United. ☹️

Palmer has the flag of st kitts and Nevis on his boots and is proud of the heritage from his dad’s side but he was always going to represent England. I think being proud of your roots and seeing yourself as being from there is two very different things.

On 23/02/2025 at 23:12, SydneyChelsea said:

That's actually the reason I asked in the first place. Maybe it's a sample size thing here in Australia, but pretty much every single person I know with Irish (or Scottish, for that matter) heritage would rather cut themselves with a rusty blade than declare for England.

As it should be.

On 24/02/2025 at 13:43, TheCeleryKing said:

No, you clearly do not grasp it.

very complex and thought out response to the points raised. Clearly shows you know I'm right, thanks for trying x

On 24/02/2025 at 13:34, TheCeleryKing said:

So. IF Ipswich go down - he will be up for sale. Is he worth it?

No.

We should be aiming higher than Delap.

I like Delap, but if we’ve ignored this January window completely after they’ve “done the groundwork” thereby betting our entire 2nd half of the season with just Jackson, only to sign Delap in the summer, would be incredibly underwhelming.

Im warming to the idea of Delap. Maybe im just slow on the uptake or perhaps getting desperate.

Hes probably never going to be worth a fortune so its unlikely Blue Co will move him on for profit quickly and if we can get a tune out of him might work out ok.

Edited February 26, 20251 yr by OneTommyLangley

On 24/02/2025 at 16:11, TheCeleryKing said:

Lets unpack that. . .

Chelsea
Chelsea is in London. Liverpool is . . . .not a place you'd want to live in.
Chelsea has a young squad of young exciting players. Some you may have played with before at yoof level.

Liverpool
Champions League Football
A proper manager.
A good squad of players.
Fairly competent (albeit American) ownership.
Club stability.

Yeah, Chelsea . . .we are a better option than Man United. ☹️

Money being no object you could live in a nice area of Liverpool, such as Heswall.

In fact, loaded as footballers are you could even commute from Cheshire or some such.

Not sure he's the right profile for us anyway.

49 minutes ago, BordeauxBlue said:

Money being no object you could live in a nice area of Liverpool, such as Heswall.

In fact, loaded as footballers are you could even commute from Cheshire or some such.

Not sure he's the right profile for us anyway.

Bootle is very nice apparently.

10 hours ago, BordeauxBlue said:

Money being no object you could live in a nice area of Liverpool, such as Heswall.

In fact, loaded as footballers are you could even commute from Cheshire or some such.

Not sure he's the right profile for us anyway.

You still have to deal with scousers on a daily basis though innit.

But is he the right profile? That's the real issue. The problem being is we don't seem to know what we are looking for. AND there are not a lot of top quality strikers available. imho he could be right for us - if we are insisting on not buying a player older than 24 or over.

I like the look of Delap, has a bit of young Kane about him. He’s got a long way to go to be a title challenging striker though.

Think we need a few stonewall guaranteed quality players adding to the team rather than more maybes. Key areas of GK, centre back and striker.

1 hour ago, DarkMata said:

I like the look of Delap, has a bit of young Kane about him. He’s got a long way to go to be a title challenging striker though.

Think we need a few stonewall guaranteed quality players adding to the team rather than more maybes. Key areas of GK, centre back and striker.

To be fair, Harry Kane wasn't part of a legitimate title challenge until he was 31.

The Athletic reporting United are keen as they don’t have the means to spend big on a striker.

All the more reason to send Sancho back and inflate their wage bill.

The funny thing is that everywhere else in this world when a club gets relegated their players decrease in value because the club is desperate for money and want to get rid of all the big wages. Not in England though. Watch Ipswich go down and still hold out for a fortune for Delap.

The pool market for strikers is as poor as it has ever been in the history of this sport so there is not a lot to choose from to be fair. Of course we now should not have been worried about a new one as we should have gotten Osimhen last summer. I still think he should be the #1 option, but it all depends on how we finish the season. If we get UCL football then maybe an Osimhen or Gyokeres is on the cards. If not it's either Delap or Lille's David on a free.