Steven Ireland – A good or bad potential target?

toonsy

Stephen Ireland
Newcastle interested in Villa midfielder?
Out-of-favour Aston Villa midfielder, Stephen Ireland, is said to be attracting the interest of Newcastle as they weigh up a loan deal for the 24-year-old.

All the local rags, as well as some national rags, are suggesting that there is definite interest and that a deal could be concluded before the weekend.

Ireland is on huge wages, and when you consider that he hasn’t actually done a lot, apart from be very good in one season, you would have to question whether or not this would be a good move. I mean there is a reason why he has hardly featured and why he has been told he can leave a struggling Villa side surely?

His attitude is questionable, after all, this is a player who lied about the death of his grandmother, several times, just so he could recieve permission to leave the Ireland squad. The rumour was that his girlfriend at the time had a miscarriage and that was the reason he wanted to leave, although there are also rumours suggesting that he didn’t actually have a girlfriend at the time. Hmmmmm.

Ireland is known for flashing his cash aswell and once bought his mrs a Bentley with specially embroidered ‘love heart’ seats. There is just no need, but then again, if you have the money then why not?

I just think that any interest in Ireland would be very risky if it came off. I mean, yes he has had one good season, but really he has done nothing sice that. You could always try and coax that level of performance out of the 24-year-old again, but it would be a massive financial risk.

Of course you could argue that everything is a financial risk, but I personally don’t like what I’ve heard about his attitude, which makes the risk greater when you consider that one of the redeeming qualities of our team at the moment is their fantastic attitude. Could one bad apple spoil the bunch?

Mind you, on the flipside of that, Hatem Ben Arfa is known to be temperamental, and he seems keen to be here. Perhaps a change of scenery could revitalise Ireland? Maybe a second club in six months could be what he needs to get his career back on track?

As you can see, I’m not overly keen on this move, but if it did come off I would give him a chance, much like I give everyone a chance. One thing is pretty certain though, and that is that Ireland would need to patient as, let’s face it, the form of our players, and the lack of form for Ireland, would probably mean that he would be on the bench to start with anyway.

What d’ya reckon?

About toonsy

A lifelong Newcastle fan and current webmaster of this very 'blog who has the sole aim of creating a place by Newcastle United fans, for Newcastle United fans.

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51 thoughts on “Steven Ireland – A good or bad potential target?”

  1. no thanks really. no place in the team for him, would have to completely change our system and style to accomodate him, in what could be a major failure for the team and the club financially

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  2. Even on loan?

    I’m not dead set against it, probably about 20% for 80% against. But he would need to show he is worthy of the shirt and realise, quickly, that nothing is a gimme in this team.

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  3. yeah, like i said on previous thread i think he will be best at a team where they can build around his strengths a bit more. i just dont see the point in changing things around so much at this stage of the season when we have been doing so well.

    if we got him on loan, would you play him infront of guthrie / gosling or even vuckic, and better him at the expense of our youngsters for the sake of 4 months playing time?

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  5. Good point. Probably not. Certainly not if you go by what Beardsley says about Gosling being a real good prospect.

    Mind you, I would play him ahead of Guthrie 😉

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  7. i like guthrie, i think he is like a mini barton. his distribution is good and can dictate the rhythm and tempo of a game when he is on it. he just needs to add consistency to his game thats all.

    gradel looked good vs the **** again last night. i cant help but think tarabt is included somehow in the loan deal for wayne.

    on a separate note toonsy, how do i do the lil picture, avatar thingy ma jig??

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  8. i dont think we can offer him the regular games he would want, as i dont really see where we would fit him. But i do think the Toon would be the type of club that would get the best out of him, as i think he is the type of player that would thrieve on feeling wanted.

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  9. I for one dont want taarabt. I think his attitude and desire to be top dog could prove troublesome, and frankly he is not the out and out winger that people seem to want ahead of Ireland for example. Taarabt is a no 10 and we have benny boy and nolan for that role. I personally want to move to a 4-3-3 fluid system and move away from wing play like man city, as I said on the previous thread.

    Anyhoo – as long as we get a couple of bodies

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  10. raffo i thought u said u wante to play like man city??

    im not the biggest fan of that setup, its similar to liverpool, with 2 DM, 1 x AM or 3 x AM if you have no wingers.

    i think as we have seen to get the best out of AC wing men b ideal for the crossing on to that big noggin of his 😆

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  11. He’s better than guthrie or smith..but we certainly don’t need him.Gosling favours centre mid despite his versatality, and with the possibility of playing arfa in there and vuckic in the future along with certain starters like nolan and tiote then it seems like a completely pointless move. Certainly for a full transfer, can’t see why we’d want him.

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  12. strikes me as a big time charlie,which hes not, thought he was the main man at both clubs think he might upset dressing room with that attitude come to think of it villa dressing doesnt seem the best,or do we blame his last managers at bad step at this time imo when we have other needs.
    mind might fit in with ashley like a tale or two

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  13. there is no doubting his quality on his day, but we havent seen him on it for a long time. and as u say ice, big time charlie do we need another? him and ranger could compare bling though 😆

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  14. Raffo – I’m thinking AP is going down the 4-3-3 route too, 😯 I dont think he is too keen on wingers, and prefers a more direct attack styleee with the midfield getting up in support.

    I dont mind this, so long as your defence is tight.
    What I hate seeing is the 2 CB’s pushing up for corners etc, and then we ALWAYS get caught on the break. One or the other but not both. Scares the chit out of me, yet happens time and time again. 👿

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  15. He is just an a******e , wouldnt want him at the club , look what he done with Rep of Ireland , killing off 2 grannys to get out of a game which he would of been given leave under the circumstance but he had to lie and then claim he was been bullied within the squad etc etc etc etc

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  16. Steven Ireland ❓ No thanks. Utterly pointless bringing him to the Toon. There’s a reason he cant get in AV’s team, not just the fact he doesn’t want to be there.
    Was that part of the Milner move??
    Anyhow, we just dont need him.
    Now I would like Krancjar (sp?) but cant ever see that one happening.
    So i got the feeling SWP will be the one. Hmmmm ❗

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  17. johno toon, he made the story up about his granny popping her clogs to avoid the story of his mrs having a miscarriage out of the press etc but it backfired on him.
    cant blame him for that not exactly the sort of thing u shout from the rooftops is it
    he is just a bit thick and went about it in the wrong way

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  21. we seemed to have a line in oversea players thats died a death lately maybe the snide doest what to go that way,just cant grap why he lets rout go without someone coming in ireland doesnt fill that type of roll,have we been let down somewhere,strange that toon have not let rout sign on dotted line yet at q.p.r.?

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  26. No thanks to SWP- just doesn’t fit for me. Kranjcar on the other hand….

    Feel bad for Smith but think it isn’t a negative for the club as it will mean more playing time for Guthrie and Gosling. I hope one of the two can make the back-up DM spot his own.

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  29. Batty – I was laughing at “dont like him ,think hes a bit of a ***** just like big dave”

    😆 😆

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  30. Bruce aint half bitter isn’t he 😆

    Just watching him rip into Villa because Houllier didn’t phone him. WTF??

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  32. Personally I like it for one main reason. It’s a loan.
    I believe it will be a failed loan as I don’t think he can handle the fish bowl in his heed, Nevermind the one on the Tyne. But, we have enough passion in the squad that maybe it could light a fire in the lad. He has shown what he could be and at 24 it’s well worth the risk IMO.
    But I feel ultimately he won’t want to fight for his spot and he will leave at the end of the season. But that’s the beauty of it. If it works we have a steal. If it doesn’t we send him back and thanks for the cover.
    Ps it annoys me how this situation is very similar to the Benny situation yet since most knew Nowt about Benny and he had some class YouTube vids, most were begging for his arrival. But since Ireland’s mishaps are well know here, they automatically shoot the deal down. The passion at the club and the support of the fans looks to have turned Benny’s career around. The same could happen with Ireland given the chance. I have strong doubts but ultimately I feel the risk IS worth the reward in a loan deal with an option to buy.

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  47. No to Ireland. Bring in a pure winger. Or, maybe Ap is going to shock us & move our best crossing from a run, Danny Simpson to wing and drop in the AP praised Perch at RB.

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  48. We are at BARE BONES now…

    Gosling – injury set back
    Tiote – suspended
    Vuckic – injured

    Guthrie isn’t great and certainly not a defensive midfielder, then again he isn’t really an attacking midfielder. Lacks pace and cant distribute forwards….

    Hmmm.

    Best looked lazy against the Mackems and Strolla.. well..

    Not looking good for Saturday against Spurs.

    We need REINFORCEMENTS

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  51. Think a few on here need a reality check. Who do we expect to be signing? Where we are now as a club means that alot of transfers we bring in will be bigger risks, especially if we’re to be buying young unproven players. Ireland is a lower risk option as we know he CAN do it in the PL.

    Ireland was City’s player of the year two years ago and they had some good players then too. He’s had a bit of a bad time with Villa but up until recently Dunne was the same.

    I would definately look at him on loan. He’s only 24 so he fits that criteria. If we got the real Ireland we would have one hell of a player.

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