Season over for Newcastle United's Stephen Ireland

Hank_Jones

Newcastle United have confirmed midfielder Stephen Ireland will miss the remainder of the Premier League season with an ankle injury.
The 24-year-old has made only two substitute appearances since his January loan move from Aston Villa.
Ireland, a former Republic of Ireland international, arrived at St James' Park with a knee injury that delayed his debut for the club.
He then suffered a thigh injury on his return to training in March.

Since joining Aston Villa as part of the undisclosed deal that saw James Milner move to Manchester City in August,
Ireland has endured a difficult campaign punctuated by loss of form and injury.
His debut for Villa, coincidentally a 6-0 defeat by Newcastle in August,
was one of only 12 outings under then-boss Kevin MacDonald and his successor Gerard Houllier, five of which came as a substitute.
Houllier had initially insisted the Cork-born player would remain at Villa Park after the January transfer window,
but then changed his mind when Ireland requested to leave the Midlands in December.

Newcastle were successful in completing a deal until the end of current campaign during the January transfer window,
despite concerns regarding his fitness.
However injuries continued to plague Ireland, who was also forced to apologise for being photographed at a nightclub the evening before March's 4-0 defeat by Stoke City.
His recent substitute appearances suggested the playmaker could make an impression on Tyneside,
but this latest setback could have ended hopes of a permanent move to Newcastle during the summer.

2 substitute appearances during a 6 month loan, not exactly a good deal for Newcastle.

Future looks fairly uncertain now, especially considering Houllier doesn't fancy him.

doomed

Makes all the fuss about trying to persuade him to play for the internatioinal team a bit ridiculous.

On the plus side he will soon be playing in a league that is named after him. That will be nice tribute.

Jayob10

doomed wrote: »

Makes all the fuss about trying to persuade him to play for the internatioinal team a bit ridiculous.

On the plus side he will soon be playing in a league that is named after him. That will be nice tribute.

Nice post. :rolleyes:

The LOI is above that excuse for player.

matrim

Hank_Jones wrote: »

2 substitute appearances during a 6 month loan, not exactly a good deal for Newcastle.

Future looks fairly uncertain now, especially considering Houllier doesn't fancy him.

Newcastle had him on a pay for play deal as he was injured when they signed him, so it's not going to cost them too much.

antomorro-sei

Serves him right the little runt

Paully D

matrim wrote: »

Newcastle had him on a pay for play deal as he was injured when they signed him, so it's not going to cost them too much.

Is that actually true though? I really couldn't imagine him agreeing to that unless Villa were still paying him a large percentage of his wages.

invinciblePRSTV

Great just great, was hoping Villa could sucker Newcastle into signing him.

Here's to another year of Ireland stinking up the Villa with his teenage girl moodiness.

The_Kew_Tour

What is that saying "the wheel always turns"

TangyZizzle

So where do people see him going come Summer?

Paparazzo

Ok, I now officially believe in karma! It's all going wrong for the small headed one.

The_Kew_Tour

TangyZizzle wrote: »

So where do people see him going come Summer?

Cork or Birmingham I say;)

TangyZizzle

It'd be mental seeing him play in the League. The stick he'd get would be unreal.

nullzero

At this point you could nearly replace "season over" with "career over".

It's hard to think back to how good he was two years ago.
I don't like him as a person but City really screwed him over, he was their best player before Mancini came in.
Why exactly did Mancini not play him?

MisterAnarchy

nullzero wrote: »

Why exactly did Mancini not play him?

Because he isnt English.

YouTookMyName

Season over? Did it ever start?

Hope he never plays again.

OPENROAD

nullzero wrote: »

At this point you could nearly replace "season over" with "career over".

It's hard to think back to how good he was two years ago.
I don't like him as a person but City really screwed him over, he was their best player before Mancini came in.
Why exactly did Mancini not play him?

As far as I remember he had one good season, but was very much hyped up over here.

Having said that I still think he can do a job for a middle to bottom premiership club.

Helix

if hughes gets the villa job in summer id hope ireland stays

Hannibal

all the hype about him and Andy Reid playing for Ireland has thankfully died down recently and now Trapattoni can get on with his job without certain figures in the media questioning his every decision and not picking and bending over to these supposed footballing geniuses

Paparazzo

Does he still think he's the best in training? Reminds me of The Gary Neville diaries when he says that

jonnyfingers

All Ireland needs is a run of good fitness and a strong manager to tell him to cop on. He has enough talent to be an asset to any team in the premiership as long as his mindset is right.

Whether that happens in a big if though.

That_Guy

He played about 25 mins for us in total and was on a pay by play basis so it's not costing us anything really.

If we went to sign him, I'd hope it'd be for peanuts. Frankly I'd be embarrassed if we went and splashed 5 million on him or something.

Woody_FX

The guy is a creep. From the pink alloys on his car to his whole demeanor. There is nothing Irish about him.

population

He has talent but he is a tool even by spoilt brat Premier League standards. Do not think it is career over though. Newcastle will not take up an option on him but if he costs pennies in the summer I think Hughes would have a punt on him.

Gillington

If he's forced to look for another club, if Villa or Newcastle dont want him, then I reckon that could have an even worse effect on him.

Whatever's happened(or hasn't) on the International scene aside,I felt sorry for him at City,great season then used as a makeweight in the Milner deal.Good player but I think the potential has long gone

That_Guy

Woody_FX wrote: »

The guy is a creep. From the pink alloys on his car to his whole demeanor. There is nothing Irish about him.

His birth cert will say differently I'd imagine.

dsmythy

I'm sure there's plenty of Championship sides that would take him. Might be best for him to take the drop back and play well. Either that or one of the sides that will be coming up. Or even Wolves under Mick McCarthy if he's still there.

doomed

One season wonder. Can pass if left unmarked but less useful than a snowman when the other team has the ball. At least a snowman is fat and takes a while to run around.

Le King

How the hell have we gotten to two pages without this: