Saturday, June 16, 2012

You’ll Never Beat the Irish? It’s time to ditch that song

CRITICISM ... Roy Keane
CRITICISM ... Roy Keane
Exclusive
Published: Today at 01:01

ROY KEANE last night defiantly stood by his controversial criticism of the Republic of Ireland's players and fans.


The legend let rip on TV after Giovanni Trapattoni’s team fell to a crushing 4-0 defeat to Spain in Gdansk on Thursday night, ending their Euro 2012 dream.
Keane — who previously slated Manchester United’s “prawn sandwich” brigade for being too quiet — slammed the mentality of the supporters, who he insisted were more interested in a “sing-song”.
And, speaking to the Irish Sun last night, Keane defended his comments and urged fans to end corny chants like You’ll Never Beat the Irish.
He said: “It’s time for that song to be put away because, at the moment, everyone is beating them. I’m sick of this ‘win, lose, we’re on the booze’ mentality. It has to change.
“People seem to have misunderstood me. I’ve no problem with fans singing.
"It’s great that they back the team during and before games but should they really stay on long after the final whistle and be cheering them?
“There’s a danger that gets the players thinking that what has just happened on the pitch is acceptable when it’s not.”
However, fans and pundits queued up to defend the honour of the Boys in Green.
Motormouth pundit Eamon Dunphy blasted ex-pal Keano and said he wouldn’t agree with Irish Sun columnist Roy’s views.
Eamo explained: “I think there are criticisms to be made of Trap.
"I thought to be critical of the Irish people there is very wrong. It’s a game of football, nobody died.
"The supporters there have been a credit to the country, given a great image of Irish people, cheerful in adversity.
“Why not be singing when losing? What’s the alternative? To turn on the players? What else are they to do?
“The supporters appreciate the efforts and endeavours of players. I prefer to call a spade a spade, but there is a time to put the boot in. There’s no point in kicking people when they are down.”
Ireland legend Shay Given, whose dad Seamus is a regular member of the Green Army, said: “Why shouldn’t the fans enjoy themselves?
"They’ve waited a long time to get to this stage. But we certainly haven’t come along for a sing-song.
“We didn’t come here just to have a good time, we came here to try and get out of the group and progress in the competition.
"Unfortunately, we weren’t good enough, but you can’t say we weren’t trying or we didn’t take it seriously.”
Up to 100 supporters cheered sombre-looking players and gaffer yesterday as they boarded the team bus to travel from Sopot to Poznan.
Trapattoni waved to fans as they blasted out his name in a defiant message to his critics.
Dubliner David Murphy said he was “disgusted” by Keane’s remarks, insisting the fans want to win as much as anybody.
David, who’s cheering on the team from a campervan with his four brothers, raged: “The fans are representing our country and are playing in a major European Championship. We want to make the most of it.
"We’re showing the passion the team and the manager are missing. He was a great player but he is contradicting himself.
"He gave out about United fans sitting eating prawn sandwiches, now his countrymen are backing the team to the hilt and he has a problem with that.
“The Polish people all say we are the best fans in the tournament, so that’s all that matters.”
The remarks reignited the notorious Saipan debate when Keane left our World Cup campaign in 2002 after a fallout with then boss Mick McCarthy.
While Keane acknowledged the Green Army was a credit to Ireland, he said both players and supporters had to change their mentality.
David Healy and Bernard Kelly, also from Dublin, angrily reacted to the comments as they packed up their campervan in a Sopot car park for the five-hour road trip to Poznan.
David said: “I had a bit of respect for him but the neck on him to say that. We’ve all spent a lot of money to get here and for him to be sitting in a television studio getting big bucks while saying that.”
Bernard added: “I loved Roy but Saipan tarnished him a bit and now I just don’t think he thinks about what he says.”

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