IT WAS RAY Houghton’s boyhood dream to play for Scotland. Houghton was born in the country and initially hoped to represent them one day, but the situation became more complex and the former Liverpool and Aston Villa star ultimately went on to earn 73 caps for Ireland.
Houghton qualified to play for Ireland through his Donegal-born father and ultimately agreed to play for the Boys in Green despite his previous hopes of representing Scotland
“I didn’t really like the experience of being with the Scotland under-18s, ” he explained in a 2006 interview with the Scottish Herald. “Guys like myself, who were playing for English clubs, were not treated all that well. The manager knew all the players from the Scottish league, but didn’t seem to know much about those of us playing in England.”
From an Irish perspective, the shoe is now on the other foot to a degree. Despite playing for Ireland at U17, U18 and U21 level, Jack Grealish has now declared for the England senior team.
The outcome looked the most likely one for quite some time. Reports earlier this month indicated that Grealish had picked England over Ireland, while the youngster turned down an Ireland call-up back in May ahead of the games against the Three Lions and Scotland.
In addition, his manager for the Irish U21s, Noel King, always made sure to emphasise that Grealish would not necessarily play for Ireland rather than England at senior level.
Yet Grealish will still inevitably attract criticism for picking England. Speaking to The42 back in May, Alan McLoughlin — who like Grealish was born in England but chose to represent Ireland — said that the situation “doesn’t sit well with me,” adding:
“It’s opportunistic and I doubt he’ll make a huge impression playing for England [if he chooses them]… I think he would be far better served to go and pit his wits against some of the best players in the world, but he’s chosen to step away from it. And he seems to want to chance his arm with England.”
Unsurprisingly, meanwhile, Wayne Rooney was one of several people urging Grealish to choose England, saying:
“I’m a firm believer that the country you are born in is who you should play for.”
Jack Grealish’s agent, Jonathan Barnett, also will likely be happy with the player’s decision to choose England.
Speaking of Gareth Bale’s decision to play for Wales rather than England at international level, Barnett said of his other client: “It has cost him millions and millions of pounds. You can imagine what it would have been like if he were playing for England next summer in the Euros… but he does love playing for Wales.”
From an Irish perspective though, it is natural to wonder whether more could have been done to persuade Grealish to get on board with the Boys in Green at senior level.
Admittedly, some of the comments made by the management team probably didn’t exactly endear Grealish to the idea of playing for Ireland in the long term.
Last November, Roy Keane publicly criticised Grealish’s father. Keane, who also got to knew Grealish during his time as Villa assistant boss, said of the decision:
“I don’t ask Jack anymore.
“Sometimes it’s respect, you don’t want to pester people but, unfortunately, a lot would be coming from Jack’s dad.
“Knowing his dad, we could be waiting a bloody long while.”
While O’Neill ultimately did his utmost to convince Grealish to choose Ireland, there were initial signs of hesitance on the manager’s part. While some critics called for Grealish to be capped imminently by the senior side rather than continuing to turn out for the U21s, O’Neill urged caution.
“The game (against Scotland) is too big, it’s massive,” the Ireland boss said at one point, playing down the idea of choosing Grealish anytime soon.
“I’m not going to change my mind on my stance — well stance is too strong a word — but to throw him into a game like that would be tough. You’re talking about guys eight or nine years older will be nervous going into the Scotland game.
“It’s not that Jack doesn’t lack confidence but he’s a young lad. I’m not so sure I’d be ready for that, ready to put that type of pressure on some young kid just because he made his mind up to play for us. He has to play regularly at Villa, for his own peace of mind as much as anything.”
It was unfortunate timing that these comments came just before Grealish played a starring role in last year’s FA Cup semi-final as Aston Villa upset Liverpool.
Some critics consequently felt that O’Neill was underestimating Grealish, with former Ireland international Eamon Dunphy describing the aforementioned comments as “insulting”.
Would a more opportunistic manager, such as Jack Charlton perhaps, have not had such reservations and capped Grealish at an earlier stage? We will probably never know for sure whether the comments made by Keane, O’Neill et al actually made a difference.
Either way, Grealish has ultimately decided to go with England, and it’s unfair to begrudge him what is a deeply personal choice, with few others having first-hand experience of the type of dilemmas that a dual nationality presents.
But the Grealish saga has also turned people’s focus to a deeper issue in Irish football — why are there so few top-quality young players coming through the system in this country? Why do Ireland have to rely on second-generation players who grew up playing football in England declaring for the national team?
While there are still some promising players at underage level, such as Man City’s Jack Byrne, the depth of talent seems to have lessened considerably over the past decade or so. Even some of the current Irish team’s most technically accomplished footballers, such as James McCarthy and Aiden McGeady, grew up playing their football in Britain.
The lack of young talent coming through has been an issue that the FAI have attempted to address with measures such as the introduction of the U17 league, and it’s vital for the future of Irish football that the results start to become apparent sooner rather than later. Otherwise, Grealish’s decision may start to look even more debilitating than it does already.
