Declan Rice didn’t make the squad for the Moldova qualifier at home, five months after he had made his Premier League debut.
And, listen, he was obviously good enough for the Ireland team in the months building up to his Premier League debut.
If every country waited for players to make it in the richest league in the world before using them, the like of Wales would never have had Ethan Ampadu tear us apart.
That the West Ham talent is set to leave the Irish set-up for England is just another mark on a sheet that’s becoming more and more stained as time wears on.
Martin O’Neill’s tenure in charge of the Republic draws more speculation as months pass and he offers no solutions to what he seems to think is a country devoid of any decent footballers to compete at the lofty standards of Nations League B grade.
Well, on Thursday night’s Football Spin show, Dion Fanning let rip at the management and urged the country that it is time for change.
“They offer nothing as regards to a blueprint or a plan or a future for Irish football,” he said.
“You couldn’t even say that they’re sending Irish football back 10 years because they’re back 40 years.
“And Rice is unfortunately going to be a player who’s going to take a lot of stick because he represented Ireland at senior level and looks like going to England now but, this management team… the result against Denmark has kind of just been accepted as one of those things.
“And O’Neill coming out and saying we’re going to qualify for the European Championships. Why? ‘Because I’m good’. It wasn’t laughed out of town.
“The decay that is taking place in the Irish senior team has to stop. Action has to be taken.”
It didn’t end there.
Fanning continued his desperate plea to put someone at the head of football in the country who might actually want to do something positive with what he has.
“Why have we lost this player? What has happened that has changed this player’s mind?
“Under Martin O’Neill, we’ve reached that point of just desperate bleakness. Ireland would be so much better off with a Stephen Kenny type manager.
“Let’s go down in flames. Let’s go down with a romantic idea of a manager who thinks Irish players can actually play football. Irish players can actually do something. And see what happens.
“It doesn’t mean you’re going to become like Kevin Keegan’s Newcastle or Ossie Ardiles at Spurs and abandon all defensive principles, but do something that is positive and is forward-looking and is taking a forward, positive step instead of this relentless misery that we have at the moment.
“If Declan Rice wants to step out of this miserable existence that is playing for Ireland at the moment, nobody should blame him. And if you abuse Declan Rice, you’re endorsing this miserable existence that is the Irish international team at the moment.”
Listen to the full rant from the start of the show below.
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