Roy Keane has launched another scathing attack on Ireland’s European Championship flops ahead of Monday night’s final bow against Italy.
The former Irish captain has demanded that manager Giovanni Trapattoni drop his entire team for the third and meaningless Group C game in Poznan.
Keane, who demanded after the Spanish game that the Irish fans drop their ‘won or lose, we’re on the booze’ mentality, has now turned his ire on the players.
Former team-mates Robbie Keane, Shay Given, Richard Dunne and Damien Duff are amongst the players Keane wants dropped.
Writing in the Irish Sun on Sunday, Keane said: “Their club form is poor and no player has come out of the two games in Poland with any credit. Not one.
“That’s why I think there should be 11 changes for when we play Italy.
“The likes of Robbie, Shay Given, Richard Dunne, Damien Duff and John O’Shea are picked for every game because they have a big reputation. For what? They hadn’t qualified for anything in ten years.
“They love having a dig back at me when I say something but I’ll be ready if they do because players have to be accountable for how the team did.
“I’m sure they have people patting them on the back saying ‘You lost but you did OK.’ But they bloody didn’t.”
Working at the Euros as a TV pundit, Keane claimed the supporters deserve better from the manager and the Irish players.
He added: “At every finals Ireland have played in, there has been a moment to remember.
“Ray Houghton’s winning goals against England in 1988 and Italy in 1994, Packie Bonner’s penalty save from Daniel Timofte in 1990 and Robbie Keane’s late equalisers against Germany and Spain in 2002.
“What will the Ireland supporters have to look back on from this tournament? Sean St Ledger’s goal against Croatia? That is how bad it has been.”
Keane also claimed it is easier for the current bunch of Irish players to talk about pride than play with it.
He said: “I hear Keith Andrews talking about playing for pride against Italy. That should be a given.
“Where was their pride when they started both games so badly and conceded goals almost straight from kick off?
“We’d a 14-game unbeaten run coming into the competition but it didn’t count for much in the end, did it? We need others to come through.
“Maybe we need to lose in the short term to be better in the long run. Even top nations like Germany sometimes write off doing well in a tournament if it means they can develop.
“I’m trying to be constructive here but the manager and the players all have to be accountable. It’s no good just shrugging our shoulders and having a sing-song.”
4 Comments
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.mario | Jun 18, 2012, 03:19 AM EDT
hello from croatia and i just wont to tell.. you are the best and i love ireland more then croatia where are i born..irelan and croatia is my life and just win the italians thans and you are the the best fans ever!!!
sirpeter | Jun 17, 2012, 05:45 PM EDT
allan07.Yeah right lol.Would this be the same Northern Ireland team that came second last in the qualifiers and drew 1-1 with the Faroe Islands who came last.hahaha.What's it like to have countries like Togo,Oman and Uganda ranked as having better football teams than Northern Ireland?lol.Azerbaijan is only ranked ten places behind NI and ye play them soon in the World Cup qualifiers.They have a better team than the Faroe Islands and they play in sandals.3 points for Azerbaijan.Send the Azerbaijan players death threats and bullets like ye did Neill Lennon.Not sure will it work with those guys though.lololol
allan07 | Jun 17, 2012, 12:21 PM EDT
Well done Roy for saying how things are as they really are. Class player for United and true to the facts. The Republic were cr*p and thats putting it mildly. Northern Ireland could have played better. Stick to the GAA sports and stop trying to play so called foreign ones such as football, cricket and rugby.
WoundedKnee | Jun 17, 2012, 12:13 PM EDT
Here's an example of just how spineless the Irish have become--just read it on the "Sunday Times" online. Seems nurses at Dublin's Coombe Hospital, one of the big maternity hospitals in the city, put up Irish flags to cheer on the Irish team. But the management forced them to take down the Irish flags on the grounds that they might 'offend" some of the many foreign women arriving there to give birth! Pity Roy Keane doesn't address that aspect of Irish lack of pride and self-respect.