Damien Duff

bucks73

The recent form of Damien Duff is a real boost for us heading towards the World Cup.

Not only is he playing well but is scoring some fine goals also. His goals in Anfield midweek and at the weekend were brilliantly taken and he also picked up Blackburns player of the season.

It will be great to see him terrorising the Germans poor defence in a few weeks.:)

jonno

Just hope GH sees it and snaps him up for liverpools onslaught on the title next year.

pendulum

If Duff can keep the same form, he will be one of the stars of the world cup.
That`ll make Blackburn smile !

Xterminator

Originally posted by jonno
Just hope GH sees it and snaps him up for liverpools onslaught on the title next year.

Hehe... why would he join a team that won nothing this year, when he got a medal with his current club?
I mean Liverpool have never even won the premiership .. but Rovers did!

Seriously tho, liverpool have ruined many a promising career (E.G. Kennedy) and Duff while talented,is not the finished article.

He's better off playing every match for rovers, than being a squad player at the 'Pool.
And given Blackburns progress this season, he may be tempted to see out his current contract at Ewood.

X

Bateman

Indeed, if I were Damien Duff I would stay put. He seems to be enjoying life t Blackburn, I don't see how a move to Liverpool would benefit him as a player. However, the lure of the CL maybe too much to resist of Liverpool make an offer.

PiE

bah would you lot ever stop saying Liverpool "ruin" good players.

mark kennedy was never good. neither was phil babb. jason mcateer should never have been signed. they were all bought by ****e managers to play in a sh!te team (yes Liverpool circa '95 were very sh!te).

The club has almost entirely new staff from those days. Better staff.

If Duff came to Liverpool he'd be handed Smicers No. 7 and would be playing 90% of the games. He'd have better coaching, better facilities, bigger matches, bigger prospects for success and most importantly to any footballer these days; better wages.

s8n

Liverpool do ruin good Irish players.......Man Utd, however do not.

S8N

Bateman

The coaching and money he has received so far seems to have done him no harm at all. I don't really take your point about more money being more important than anything else. Otherwise would Roy Keane not have gone to Italy? And after the Robbie Keane stint at Inter, people will think twice before making really big moves. The only thing Duffer has to gain from going to Lievrpool is the CL participation. He may go for it because of this, but I don't see "better coaching" of "bigger games" as being important reasons for a potential switch.

Jake

Boring boring Liverpool will only stop Duff being creative and I think he should stay put as hes only young and has time on his side.
My big concern is that the likes of Duff and Keane stay fit for the competiton as we dont have quality in abundence and really need our two or three main players to be fit.

woosaysdan

I'd love to see Duff playing in Europe!!! playing for a better team like man utd or liverpool but as pie said liverpool ruins irish players!!! Man utd would suit Duff down to the ground as he can be as creative as he likes and he would have the support of keano there!!!

PiE

Sigh. I did not say Liverpool ruined good players.

Don't try to tell me wages arent a big part of any players decisions when theyre thinking about moving clubs.

Coaching hasnt done him any harm because he's a naturally talented player. That doesnt mean he can't be improved further. He's not perfect y'know.

Boring boring Liverpool. Sure sure. Maybe, just maybe, if you had a little think about it you'd see the reason for Liverpool buying him would be to add a creative spark down the left wing? Good lad.

Hang on a sec, I've just realised you've said that Liverpool ruin good Irish players. How would a club go about destroying the careers of one nationality of players? They'd either ruin all youngsters or none.

Jesus Christy.

Richie Partridge? Michael Foley? These names mean anything to any of you. Two very promising wingers who Liverpool have been nurturing for years now and theyre both almost ready for the Premiership (Partridge is anyway).

Bloody Mark Kennedy, how can you use that bag of muck as proof that Liverpool ruin players. Gimme a break.

Jake

Liverpool are one of the most depressing teams about at the minute and far from Duff adding to the creativity of the team I reckon he'll just be dragged down to their level.
As someone else mentioned I think it might be a good move (if indeed he needs to move at all) for him to try his hand in europe he will learn alot from the european style of coaching if nothing else, I know Robbie Keane didnt make it at Inter but then again hes hardly set Leeds on fire either since his return has he..............

Littletinyman

LOL at the comment about Liverpool 'ruining Irish players'. Phil Babb and Mark Kennedy, I'm afraid to inform you, were/are mediocre at best and nothing any club could do would turn them into brilliant players.

Bateman

Phil Babb hs just won the Portuguese double, so he has proved that he did not turn into a bad player over night, and is capable of much more than he did at Liverpool. But the Portuguese league? I suppose if its not English it has to be ****.

Augmerson

Originally posted by Xterminator


Seriously tho, liverpool have ruined many a promising career (E.G. Kennedy) and Duff while talented,is not the finished article.

He's better off playing every match for rovers, than being a squad player at the 'Pool.
X

Moving to Liverpool ruined Kennedy, he should have stayed with his prior team, and developed himself, instead of jumping in the deep end. Duff should stay with Blackburn, where he is guranteed a first place on the team.

jonno

Originally posted by s8n
Liverpool do ruin good Irish players.......Man Utd, however do not.

S8N

LOL:D

It's actually the opposite. Man Utd have a pathetic record of f**king players over, Sheringham, Solksjaer, Poborsky, Irwin, Bosnich, Cole, Yorke, etc.

Maybe Cole and Yorke have lost form lately but still.
I know you'll come back saying Liverpool messed up Westervelds career there but that's one player. Kennedy never showed much form at the pool.

Oh ya Xterminator, the pool won the Charity Shield this season. It's a fairly useless honour really but they did win something and bet the new last year's champions in the process.

PiE

The Portuguese league is rubbish.

Hairy Homer

Originally posted by s8n
Liverpool do ruin good Irish players.......Man Utd, however do not.

S8N

Now that's just nose thumbing.

It's very difficult for young Irish players to make it over in England. Being uprooted from your home at the tender age of 16 or 17 and dumped over to a strange place is bound to be unsettling. This has led to the clubs adopting the approach that: 'you may be a good player, but there are players just as good as you over here, and it's not as much of a headache to look aftger a local lad who can go home to his family every night as it would be for you.'

Therefore, only the highly promising Irish lads get over at that apprentice stage and many of them don't make the grade. Even Liam Brady says that he nearly gave up at highbury as a kid, going home for weeks on end and vowing never to return.

As evidence of how difficult it is for young Irish players to knuckle down and do it in England have a look at the squads for the World Youth Championship of 1997. This you may remember, was the one in which Ireland came third, losing out to eventual champions Argentina in the semifinal and beating Ghana in the third place play off. Only one of that irish team (the great Duffer) has made it to the World Cup squad. Contrast that with the English team that got eliminated in the Quarter Finals.

How many familiar names are there in the English squad, as compared with the Irish squad? Unless you follow the League of Ireland of course?

The only way we will get promising youngsters to progress through to international standard is to have a thriving local league here. Like they do in many European countries INCLUDING PORTUGAL.

We will never do this as long as the bulk of the interest and enthusiasm of soccer supporters in this country benefits the likes of Leeds, Man United, Liverpool and Arsenal. It is a sad fact of life in this country that many people have been shot for less treasonous acts.

So by all means admire the superior footballing skillls of Liverpool, United, Leeds and Arsenal (the Four LULAs) but don't go around calling one or other of them 'we' and 'us' if you have an accent like Jackie Healy Rae, D'Unbelievables or Dustin the Turkey.

And don't vote for any party in the election that is led by a bloody Man United supporter.

I have spoken.

here's the squads from 1997 (courtesy of www.finalwhistle.com)

IRELAND REP
NO. NAME CLUB DOB
1 Derek O'Connor Huddersfield Town 09-03-78
2 David Worrall Blackburn Rovers 12-01-78
3 Robert Ryan Huddersfield Town 16-05-77
4 Colin Hawkins Coventry City 17-08-77
5 Aidan Lynch University College Dublin 29-08-77
6 Stepehn Murray Huddersfield Town 05-04-78
7 Niall Inman Peterborough United 06-02-78
8 John Burns Nottingham Forest 04-12-77
9 Michael Cummins Middlesbrough 01-06-78
10 Thomas Morgan Blackburn Rovers 30-03-77
11 Damien Duff Blackburn Rovers 02-03-79
12 David Whittle Queens Park Rangers 02-12-78
13 Alan Kirby Aston Villa 08-09-77
14 Neale Fenn Tottenham Hotspur 18-01-77
15 Glen Crowe Wolverhampton Wanderers 25-12-77
16 Paul Whelan Oxford United 04-09-78
17 Desmond Baker Shelbourne 25-08-77
18 Trevor Molloy Athlone Town 14-04-77


ENGLAND
NO. NAME CLUB DOB
1 David Lucas Preston 23-11-77
2 Matthew Upson Arsenal 18-04-79
3 Jason Crowe Arsenal 30-09-78
4 Ronald Wallwork Manchester United 10-09-77
5 John Curtis Manchester United 03-09-78
6 Marlon Broomes Blackburn Rovers 28-11-77
7 Jody Morris Chelsea 22-12-78
8 James Carragher Liverpool 28-01-78
9 Ritchie Humphreys Sheffield Wednesday 30-11-77
10 Danil Murphy Crewe Alexandra 18-03-77
11 Clint Easton Watford 01-10-77
12 Kieron Dyer Ipswich Town 29-12-78
13 Mark Tyler Peterborough United 02-04-77
14 Jonathan Macken Leeds United 17-11-77
15 Paul Shepherd Leeds United 17-11-77
16 Jason Euell Wimbledon 06-02-77
17 Mark Jackson Leeds United 30-09-77
18 Michael Owen Liverpool 14-12-79

Bateman

I think the FAI's failure to use monies gained in 2 World Cups and a European Championship to invest in a School of Excellence here, like what they have in England, is at the root of this. We will never reach the elite unless money is put into ensuring that our players don't have to leave here at 16 or 17 without an education. Its almost a form of child abuse that they come home having been told they are not good enough, and they can't even get a job. Bohs are in partnership with Blanchardstown IT to try to give hope to some players who come home in this state. Tehy don't realise that they can potentially make a couple of grand a week playing here, they just feel useless. Maybe the FAI willl change, and show a willingness to implement their sick joke of a motto "We care about irish football".

irelandforever

totally agree with everything hairy homer said. we have to keep our good young players untill at least the age of 21 or 22, that way irish clubs could get some decent money for them

Augmerson

Originally posted by Hairy Homer




So by all means admire the superior footballing skillls of Liverpool, United, Leeds and Arsenal (the Four LULAs) but don't go around calling one or other of them 'we' and 'us' if you have an accent like Jackie Healy Rae, D'Unbelievables or Dustin the Turkey.

And don't vote for any party in the election that is led by a bloody Man United supporter.

It's Saturday nite, and among the usual Drunken banter, a friend is making some lovely racist remarks against English people. He then spilt Budweiser on his Liverpool top, but that will wash out. At the end of the night, he started moaning about his Job in the morning. He works for Tesco's. I could go on like this...I wont.

Homer, I have been of the same opinion for some time, although it's not exactly like yours. I support Irish soccer, not just Ireland's national side. I wonder how many people could name the Man Unted first team? Loads I suppose. Can you name Shelbournes first team? thought so. Next time so arse of a politician scabbing for your vote comes round, why dont you ask him Shelbournes first team? and what he would do about the current deplorable situation in Irish soccer.

Jake

Originally posted by Bateman
I think the FAI's failure to use monies gained in 2 World Cups and a European Championship to invest in a School of Excellence here, like what they have in England, is at the root of this. We will never reach the elite unless money is put into ensuring that our players don't have to leave here at 16 or 17 without an education.

I agree with whats been said here, but to be honest I cant see that the young players england are producing are of a higher technical stadard than irish players!

Sure Dyer and Gerrard are gonna be great but when ye think that the population of England is the guts of 60 million yev gotta imagen that one or two exceptional players will be developed.

If the FAI ever do get serious about youth development it would suite them much better to go and see how the likes of the French and Portugeus do it.

nasty_crash

the reason english players are more technically gifted is because of all the facilities that they have in england!! schools of excellence and all!! jesus we could have some majestic players if we had the facilties!!

candidates for election will just laugh at you if you bring this up!! i asked a local candidate what does he propose to do with soccer and facilities etc.!! he just laughed at me..... and said are you not concerned bout any other issues!! how bout crime!!!!

Bateman

The FA school of excellence also trained Michael Owen, did it not? Anyway, its more than just Dyer and Gerrard, many are earning decent money in Division 1.

The way they do it in France and Portugal is probably the ideal way, pioneered I think by Ajax, whereby all the leagues at all levels are synchronised to the extent that the same training structures and methods are used on a child from 6 to 26. Its a tradition that we have to adopt, we are producing excellent players, but they are too raw, many people are still blinded my the success of Jack Charltons football. McCarthy has proved, for all his failings, that you don't need brilliant lpayers to play football. Although that might be a little generous to McCarthy.