Aiden always turns up to play for Ireland. Not all players can say that
WHEN Roy Keane holds a press conference now, he is no longer just Roy Keane, he is the assistant manager of Ireland. And he has the responsibility, to the players and the country, to act like the assistant manager.
He is supposed to be the buffer between manager and players and the go-to-man for any issues that need to be sorted out. He is there to take the heat away from them, not add to the fuel.
Of course I understand that Roy Keane is great copy for newspapers and box office TV. He’s never afraid to speak his mind and he can be entertaining and very funny because he’s so honest and opinionated.
But there is a big difference between offering witty, pithy comments about Cristiano Ronaldo, Louis van Gaal’s reign at United, Pelegrini’s City or Wenger’s Arsenal to a TV audience and talking about your manager’s players, at an FAI press conference.
As Martin O’Neill’s No.2 he has a responsibility beyond delivering good soundbites for the media.
If he’d said it as a teammate in the dressing room, fair enough. At least you know he’d be alongside you on the pitch taking the hits. As the No.2, he has to think about the players in the Ireland squad, particularly so close to a major championship.
Can you imagine, for example, how he would have reacted if Maurice Setters, Ian Evans or Noel King had given a press conference when he was still playing and they threw a couple of low blows about Roy, or any other player for that matter?
From the time I spent playing with him for Ireland, I know that if any of the assistant managers had made the sort of comments he made about Aiden McGeady this week, he would have been absolutely raging.
And he would have told every player his feelings, gone to see the manager and his assistant and told them exactly what he thought too. And there’s no doubt the press would have found out. I can’t see anyone in this squad banging on Keane’s door demanding to see him.
Clearly he has an important role to play for Martin O’Neill, doing the odd press conference will deflect attention away from the manager and the team. And because it’s Roy, and there is undoubtedly an obsession with everything he says and how he says it, he has to be careful.
His comments in Cork have actually put the team under more pressure as we prepare for the Euro 2016 finals.
Having been in a dressing room, I know there are always repercussions when a manager comes out and is critical of individuals or a team performance publicly.
But you never, if ever, see the assistant manager having a go at players. As he says himself, he may try to make the odd sarcastic remark about players, but I can’t remember Martin criticising an individual at any time as a manager.
Assessing Aiden’s contribution, bearing in mind he was fighting for a starting place against Sweden, Keane (left) said: ‘He’ll need to play better than he did to force his way in… I think he can do a lot better but maybe that’s the story of Aiden’s career.’
McGeady has faced criticism from Ireland supporters over the years, so you could argue it is a lazy and clichéd assessment. It’s just harsh.
It was only a throw-away remark, but because it came from Roy it definitely carries more weight. Inevitably, he has tried to laugh it off and claimed he was only joking but you are talking about someone’s career and a player who has given his heart and soul to Ireland. It was needless and it was not funny.
Aiden didn’t play very well against Belarus, but he was not alone. This is a lad who has always stood up to be counted, and always made himself available for his country.
He turned his back on playing for the country of his birth, and for years got relentless stick playing in away grounds for Celtic.
But he continued to turn up to play for Ireland. Not all players can say that. I know from playing behind Aiden many times for Ireland that he is his own biggest critic. By his own admission, he hasn’t always played well, but he is never satisfied with his performance, even when he does.
And I have seen him get hacked and whacked by opposition full-backs. But he keeps getting up and getting on with it. Having a go at someone who has constantly shown so much desire to play for his country is not on. Perhaps Keane saw it as an opportunity to give Aiden and a few other players a kick up the backside but he could have done that inside the dressing room.
What the awful display against Belarus did show is the difference when we don’t have Wes Hoolahan, Glenn Whelan, Jon Walters and Shane Long.
Losing Harry Arter is a huge blow. I believe he would have started against Sweden and we would have looked stronger and had a better balanced midfield with Hoolahan at the tip of the diamond.
As for the Sweden starting line-up, there is an interesting decision to be made over who will partner John O’Shea in central defence.
Ciaran Clark was one of the few to leave Turner’s Cross with credit but may well lose out to Shane Duffy.
The fitness of McCarthy and Walters is important because we will need them if we are to field our strongest side against the Swedes.