FORMER IRELAND CAPTAIN Roy Keane spent last night giving out about the Irish approach to success and failure.
“Listen,” Keane said during his post-match analysis on ITV, “the supporters want to see the team doing a lot better and not giving daft goals away like that.
“I’m not too happy with all that nonsense. To praise the supporters for sake of it … Let’s change that attitude towards Irish supporters.
“They want to see the team winning – let’s not kid ourselves, we’re a small country, we’re up against it, but let’s not just go along for the sing-song every now and again.”
Keano clearly isn’t a fan of Rudyard Kipling who says we should meet triumph and disaster with the same response.
So, do you agree with Roy?
Poll Results:
Yes, I'm sick of all this 'brave defeat' nonsense. Good losers. (502)
No, I'm with Rudyard on this. The Irish team did all they could against the best team in the world. (439)
Roy, Rudyard, It's all good. (160)
Keane has a valid point. 30,000 fans will come back to Ireland and most will disappear off the face of soccer land. Party over and great stories. We are not a soccer nation and until these people support the game properly on a national basis – League of Ireland and not Sky Sport on a Sunday – we will never become a soccer nation and compete with the likes of Spain. I would like to know how many of these people will attend a LoI game this year or buy a Premiership jersey instead.
Keane has a valid point.i don’t often agree but the bottom line is we have been an embarrassment in this tournament.it would be great to think we will analysis this and learn but sure it will prob the age old attitude if “years it’s great that we qualified”.also the fans show gr8 support but how many will bother to support a league of Ireland team over going to england week in week out to be a “customer” of their clubs.ironic really ppl calling for players who plied their trade here like hoolahan & Coleman to be in the squad when alot of ppl think our league is so bad.some fine players have and still play here and they don’t magically become gr8 players once they go across the water
The reality is that no Irish fan was happy with the result against Spain. Do you actually think that people who had paid small fortunes to travel to Poland were satisfied with either of the first two games. No one likes losing but its how we react to losses is what defines us as people. Its easy to moan and give out and there sure is enough of that going on at the moment. What our fans did was to turn a sporting tragedy into a triumph. They should be saluted for that as I can guarantee you that it was a nightmare, for an Irish supporter, to be stuck in stands watching that game last night.
He makes a valid point (the same valid point he made in Saipan) but unfortunately we’re nowhere near as good as we were 10 years ago and can’t expect to qualify for tournaments. It is an achievement just to get here, but we are the worst team in the tournament and it was pie in the sky thinking to say we could get out of this group.
WC 2002 was the time to have real expectations, now qualifying is as much of an achievement as getting through the second round was back then.
The Irish take pride in drunks dressed as leprechauns singing and waving plastic hammers at a football match celebrating being the worst team of the tournament. Yet don’t bat an eyelid when they gave away their sovereignty and independence. Sums up the Irish really, clowns
Deeply embarrassing
Same waffle from Paula. On your bike and drop that passport back on your way out. I can smell the bitterness from here
Why waffle?
You are touting that same line on every forum connected with the game that the Irish are embarrassing etc etc etc etc. that we are drunken fools etc etc etc.Negative and stereotypical generalities. The fact of the matter is that those “drunken leprechauns”, who stood by the team when they were needed the most, have done more good for the image of our country then people like you every will in their whole lifetime.
We’re either the jokers or we are there to compete, if you’re there to compete you can only be upset and dismayed at such an embarrassing performance, if you’re there as a joker you can celebrate win lose or draw. The Irish team is inferior to previous Irish teams in terms of talent but they even failed to play to their inferior standards, there were very basic defensive mistakes made that are inexcusable, would be punished by any team and that this group of players are capable of not making. It was an embarrassing performance, Roy was a great player surrounded by others in an English TV studio and live on English television he was probably very embarrassed as anyone who tries to assume the highest standards would be, rather than just saluting the fans the players should take responsibility for their poor performance and Roy was right to point it out.
Trap has clearly a very cynical view of the Irish team, organised them to play according and with a considerable degree of luck they qualified, they were incapable of competing at this level and it showed but even still they could have avoided basic mistakes in the biggest games. Regardless of other potential players they are only prospects (including McClean) there are no blatant omissions, if any of the omitted players were as good as some make out they would be playing at the very highest level and thus make their absence from the squad the more glaring. Hopefully we will see a few like Roy ( probably not like Roy at all) but at his elite standard of professionalism and talent and if we ever had a team with maybe 4 players at that level then we can compete until then we can’t but it still doesn’t excuse basic defensive mistakes.
Maybe he’s right, wonder how many of those supporters will be singing at Lansdowne Road next June for the Faroe’s game? (especially if things don’t go our way in the first 5 games)
roy judas keane was not right in saipan, he’s not right now and i cant remember him ever being right about anything, he was the first volunteer in fergies club over country scheme and i will forever consider him a traitor to ireland
Keane was right about us giving away soft goals. We may be an inferior side, but some of the basic lapses in concentration that led to goals being conceded should not have happened.
Nobody can blame the fans though, they are the best fans in the world and this is recognised everywhere. They’ve spent a lot of money going to Poland, and if they want to sing, well it’s better than engaging in riots and violence like some fans from other countries. Or walking out early, or booing.
The real problem with Irish football is that we leave the development of our players in the hands of English clubs, rather than control it ourselves. If we expect to be able to compete with the best sides, this needs to change.
i have been saying the same for years!
praising the fans for singing is fine….we need to pick our best players and not worry about this “system”that trapatonni has brought in.
this tournament will be remembered most for one drunken idiot licking some woman’s boob!…..’nuff said
“this tournament will be remembered most for one drunken idiot licking some woman’s boob!”
I have not hear of that! How many others have heard that?
Irish fans pouring their heart out in song and not violence.
I will always remember that…
Keane has a valid point . But the problem is we are not a world power at soccer never have and never will be. There is nothing shameful in celebrating a group of people who in the face of adversity rather than booing or smashing up the place decide to sing. I think it’s brilliant
Yes he is 100% correct, This Irish mentality of ‘Ara begorra sure we tried, who cares’ is pathetic. Drunken Irish fans laughing, celebrating with plastic hammers and singing songs after their team gets destroyed on a world stage is deeply embarrassing. Why would the players, FAI or manager even want to win or care about loosing? Trap must be rolling around laughing, he wins the fans celebrate, he looses the fans celebrate. If the Irish want a drunken party, go to Ibiza, leave the football to real football fans who genuinely feel upset when they loose.
When they loose? Like our defense was loose?
I’m a real football (and sport in general) fan and I am depressed when my team loses, I do however try and enjoy myself no matter what what happens.
TBH it is depressing people like yourself that are embarrassing.
How many football matches do you physically attend a year Dave?
I used to go to around 30ish games a year between playing and attending local underage. (not so much in the last year)
I was also involved with the local club as PRO and some under age coaching,
Does that qualify me for an opinion?
Is this why you were whinging that you couldn’t see the Poll, so you could have a good rant. Methinks your day is unfulfilled without a moan at something. There must be something you could be doing in the kitchen right now!
Roy didn’t give us much to cheer about in saipan, the fans and irish people were never really a major concern of his so i dont really think he has any place in telling us how we should behave or support our team. We got to the Euros and played badly, it doesn’t take a genius to see that but at least the fans promoted us and what were about. The irish have always laughed and had fun when more would have givin up look at our history.
Well said Eoin
Once again, Roy says whats right, but as always seems to be the case, he picks the wrong time to do it. No need to say it straight after the game.
The reality is that, and to use that horrible phrase…at the end of the day…this is a game of football. We were all disappointed with our last 2 results, whatever blind optimism we may have had. But what are those who made the trip to Poland supposed to do following defeat – cry into their pints? Start a riot with the opposing fans? No. The patriotic nature of the Irish persists and we sing and laugh in the face of adversity. It’s our in-built mechanism for dealing with bad situations. Bord Failite would have paid good money for the sort of promotion the Irish fans gave to our country last night. Irish fans in Poland – we salute you!
“Patriotic nature of the Irish” lol Your’e having a laugh aren’t you? This is the same Irish people who gave away their sovereignty and independence we are talking about? The Irish are the LEAST patriotic people on the planet, drunks falling around with plastic hammers isn’t patriotism. The whipping boys of the world, simpletons that will get drunk, vomit sing and laugh even when they are walked all over and humiliated, by football teams or politicians.
To be honest, these poll options are terrible. The central problem with Keane’s comments is that he vilified Irish supporters for showing good sportsmanship rather than booing their own team and being abuse to other fans.
I suspect most people think the TEAM played horribly and need to sort themselves out — that we should have played much better both against Croatia and Spain — but that the FANS reaction last night was a great display of what football fans can, and should, be like. But none of the poll options reflect that (showing that either Keane is right about the fans being crap, or Rudyard is right about the team doing their best).
I don’t think Keane vilified the Irish support at all, what he in fact says is that the DESERVE something to sing about.
That the team should be better, play better and give the support something real to sing about.
As Michael Owen said in a tweet – imagine how loud the fans would be if we were winning playing like Spain.
We Should put Roy Keane in the Daíl, Have him as ceann comhairle. I’d say he’d wreck everyones head.
Yes Roy, the fans do want to see more out of their players. We the fans do want them succeed. We also as fans recognize that we are playing arguably the best team ever ( maybe the Brazil of the seventies) put on a pitch. Lets be honest Roy, not many people gave us a chance before that game and it just so happened that it ended that way. I’ve friends who paid alot of money that went half way accross the world to see the boys in green.
It sure as hell looked to me that every player felt touched by the support our fans gave them even after the whistle went. It made me proud. I can bet my last dollar that the players will give it one hell of a go in their last game against Italy. You see Roy that’s what fans are all about. Were there though thick and thin.
We all know where you were when it came to giving a different approach and 100% those few years ago. You walked out. Just like every job you’ve had. So listening to you and your negitive bulls#@t doesn’t do it for me anymore Roy. You have no right to criticize anyone Roy. Go away. You were nowhere to be seen when we needed you and we certainly don’t need you now.
Drunken simpletons celebrating being looser….again.
What’s ‘looser’ ? And you calling people simpletons !
I certainly do not think the Irish are simpletons, we re-civilised Europe after the fall of Rome, and our ancestors had the earliest astronomical calendars etc. And that is the real tragedy, we are producing results far below our potential. We are a brilliant people, in every field, from physics to athletics, and we should easily be just as good as Croatia in soccer, we really should. Something is downing our mentality to reachg for the stars, to feel we can and have the ability to go for gold, like our ancestors did. While other nations and cultures were scrambling in the mud, ours were looking at the heavens plotting star and solar maps here on earth.
Where is the Irish confidence, the knowledge we are as good as anyone else, the pursuit to train, be disciplined when needed and be wild with controlled energy when needs be, we should the perfect balance between the German and Spainish style of play. Why are we not hlding ourselves to higher standards in general in between these tournaments, so that when the tournaments come around, we are setting our sights on wins. Nothing less. We more than any other people have the energy and magic to do it, why are we not.
You aren’t exactly Einstein yourself now Paula are you? I have a funny feeling that you are not even a native English speaker, with all your grammar and spelling errors. I also have a sneaking suspicion you are probably a bloke with lots of pent up anger due to lack of a bit of the other. Either that or you had a couple of nasty knocks to the noggin when you were younger.
Do us all a solid and go and get laid or something.
Jesus Lorna, that’s some ranting. Get back to the topic at the top of the page will ya. In case you didn’t realize this is the sport section.
I couldn’t agree more with Micheal Quinn’s comment. Lorna you should read his last sentence very carefully and take it in. Cheer up
Trust me, if the Irish fans were booing at the end of the game, Roy would still criticise. I’ll admit I’m not a Roy Keane fan but he has become what he claimed to loathe throughout his playing career…an armchair pundit who will have a pop at anyone for the sake of it. Thus isn’t politics, it’s sport. The claim that all Irish fans are drunken louts, waving inflatable hammers is an insult. I was in Poznan for the Croatia game and the fans behaved impeccably, had the craic as they should be entitled to and yes, got behind the team no matter how bad things got. It seems cheering on your team is inappropriate. Leave the politics out of it Paula. Take it for what it is. We qualified for a really difficult tournament in a group with the last 2 World champions and a really decent Croatia team. Nobody was expecting miracles but we all hoped for the best. Don’t have a go because we supported the lads.
It’s not clear cut on one side or the other. That’s y I voted for the option with no Txt with it lol. He had a valid point but the way he tries to get it across is wrong
Out of love harsh things must be said to give Ireland a kick up the behind.
The welfare state has handicapped us, made us vulnerable, given us a mentality that nothing is our fault, that we deserve praise for nothing or for losing. It makes us work less harder to struggle for victory, it makes us feel we have a right to some sort of respect just for entering the competition and it makes us eternally hopefull that people like us just for being the best sports and losers.
Because we are not a major player in anything in the world, we trip over ourselves to be the major player at giving aid, being the obedient pupil in the classroom, and never fighting anything or anyone except ourselves, that is why we are called the fighting Irish, nothing else, our surrender to the bankers has shown us that we are what the English generalised us as. Children that need to others to govern us. I wish it was not so, but the evidence in the light of us giving away our lovely little islands sovereignty proves otherwise.
I love this people and country, but and deeply saddened by our lack of confidence and pride in ourselves and unwillingness to be responsible for ourselves and our country, get out of the EU and make a proper go of it like Iceland is doing.
Ireland have some pride and change this self-pitying grovelling attitude, you only deserve in life what you fight for and win. There is no charity in nature. Time we helped ourselves and were responsible for ourselves.
The culture of losing. The “it’ll do” culture
Croatia population = 4.2million, they are also world power in basketball. GAA aside, why do they excel and we do not.
We expect we cannot win, we keep standards at a level where it is the “it’ll do” attitude, while other countries realise they get nothing for nothing, they have to try harder to get anything, they have to struggle and fight for every inch, they are tougher, any less from them and they are gone.
In Ireland if you don’t make it, you always have dole, people get places by who they know not on merit, and you always have an excuse. In nature, that atiitude means death. In soccer that attitude means always losing, because we never set the standard that means we expect perfection.
This is what Mr.Keane is trying to get you all to wake up to. Do things beyond right. Our attitude is the same as the county council to fixing roads….ah sure, it’ll do. That is why we will never get beyond a certain level. But we will always make sure we come out with the same bs of, sure aren’t we great, we are the best losers, the best supporters, we can be proud of our supporters. One thing is certain, the world does not give a toss about Ireland or our supporters, the world likes the fact we behave ourselves and are the obedient pupil. We do not step out of line, we pay the debt of criminal bankers and that is all the world thinks of Ireland. A doormat obediant country proud of it’s doormat best behaviour status.
Worst poll ever, you are asking 2 questions.
and only giving option for 1 answer…
Yes… Irish fans are the “Greatest” and it was a moment I will cherish forever.
“Roy you need to be put over Eamon Dunphy’s knee for a spanking”
The same WAS said about the rugby team a decade ago. NOW, even the world champions have to treat Irish teams with respect and even a little fear. Don’t fob us off with platitude, the F.A>I> should EARN the money they get and develop Irish football.