Mark's Noble Decision

Mark Noble is eligible to play for the Republic of Ireland.

He was born in England.

He has played for England.

He has even captained England.

But his Grandparents are Irish.

According to FIFA, this makes him eligible.

It’s that simple.

If Mark was to play for the Republic of Ireland in their next game against Gibraltar - nobody could have a problem.

Not the English FA.

Not the FA of Ireland.

Neither UEFA nor FIFA.

Nobody could have a problem at all.

Nobody except Mark that is.

After all is said and done, with rulebooks checked and applications processed, there remains only one simple hurdle in the path of the player playing for the birth country of his Grandparents.

Mark Noble does not want to play for the Republic of Ireland.

Or perhaps more pertinently, Mark Noble does not want to play for the Republic of Ireland, yet.

And it’s the use of the word ‘yet’ that has turned this story into a debate.

Dave Kitson was available to represent the Irish national side.

He made it clear from the beginning that he didn’t feel Irish and didn’t feel it would be right to play for Ireland.

He falls into the category of ‘not wanting to play for Ireland’.

So too, do Zat Knight, Anton Ferdinand and Curtis Davis.

All players eligible to play for Ireland.

All players who’d rather have represented their country of birth and were prepared to finish their careers uncapped than represent the birth country of a member of their family.

The difference between all of them and Mark of course, is the little word ‘yet’.

Mark has already told us he would rather play for England.

He has told us this for many years.

And for that he deserved respect.

He was biding his time for an opportunity.

But as the door opened with the retirement of Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard, it subsequently closed with the call-ups of Jack Colback and Fabian Delph.

This was the chance Mark had waited for.

Instead it went to two younger, fresher midfielders.

If Mark wants to play international football, he will most probably now have to switch allegiance.

A topic which is not unfamiliar.

The Republic of Ireland have benefited aplenty in the past.

Most nations have at some stage.

Only last year did a tug of war take place between Spain and Brazil for the services of Diego Costa.

The same Spain and Brazil who were favourites to lift the World Cup.

Diego had the opportunity to play for both and chose Spain.

He turned down the chance to play for Brazil in a World Cup in Brazil.

That’s how much he wanted to play for the Spanish national team.

Winners of the actual tournament Germany, had two Polish born players.

Runners-up Argentina had a Frenchman.

Third place Netherlands had players born in Portugal, Canada and Switzerland.

But for every Miroslav Klose, Lucas Podolski and Gonzalo Higuain - there is a Kevin Prince-Boateng.

Mercenary extraordinaire.

At the age of 27, he has amassed a grand total of fifteen caps for Ghana.

Seven of which came in World Cup tournaments.

Five in World Cup build up games.

And only three other ‘non World Cup related’ appearances.

You get the feeling if he was in Mark’s situation, he might wait until the Euro 2016 campaign starts to show more than just promise.

No show of national pride like in the case of Diego, who turned down the opportunity of playing for his country of birth at a World Cup in his country of birth.

You don’t get much more noble than that.

Not every switch of allegiance is as extreme a case of course.

For every Kevin-Prince, there is a Kevin Kilbane, a Clinton Morrison and a Paul Butler.

The question of Mark’s ability compared to these guys should be asked.

Not his ability on the football pitch mind.

His ability to affect the Irish squad.

Of which he can affect massively.

Just maybe not in a positive way.

Or just maybe not in a positive way, yet...

Good Memories Were Had In Kazakhstan

World Cup qualification begun on Friday for Ireland.

A boost was needed to erase the memories of the European Championships in Poland and Ukraine.

A resounding victory over the lowly ranked Kazakhstan and we could all start to move on from those 3 heavy defeats from the summer.

A resounding victory and we may all start to believe again.

Not only believe in Brazil.

But believe in Giovanni once more.

Cut to the 89th minute in Astana on Friday night and calls for Giovanni’s head could be heard all the way back to Ireland.

What transpired over the next 2 minutes had a big effect on our qualification hopes.

But no doubt, it also had major consequences on the next 2 years of Irish football.

Lost, and we may already have had to give up the chase for qualification.

Worse still - lost, and we may have had to find a new manager.

The pressure Giovanni would have brought upon himself following a 1-0 defeat to Kazakhstan, coupled with the memory of the summer, may have proved too much even for the greatest of Italian managers to survive.

So although appreciative Robbie and Kevin’s double got us 3 points, it’s the ramifications they’ve had on Giovanni that we should be most thankful for.

You see, memory in football these days is shorter than it’s ever been.

Calls for Giovanni’s head, despite 3 points in Astana, is no greater proof of this.

Irish supporters seem to forget, that although the performance in both the Euros and on the astro pitch on Friday night were poor - they were a far cry from where we were before Giovanni’s appointment.

Being placed in a tough group containing the 2 finalists in Euro 2012 has been discussed before.

With our squad of players it was very difficult to see us with Giovanni, or any other manager for that matter, getting out of the group.

As for Kazakhstan, the supporters need to realise this was something of a new beginning.

Missing through retirement or suspension was Shay Given, Damien Duff and Richard Dunne.

That’s 201 caps that would usually have been there.

That’s a lot of memories for the Irish supporters.

Keith Andrews was also suspended meaning James McCarthy was starting his first competitive game.

Our defense had 2 players from the Championship, 1 from the MLS and a reserve goalkeeper.

Add to this an astro pitch, a 6,000 km journey and the fact it was the start of the season, meant a 2-1 victory, no matter how we got it, was actually a terrific result.

A bad performance alright.

But a much better result.

A much better result than the 5-2 drubbing received at the hands of Cyprus.

A result which should live long in the memory.

A result which occurred under the reign of the last manager before Giovanni.

The sort of manager we could expect to attract had the FAI decided to rid our nation of this trophy laden Italian.

It’s one thing ridding us of Giovanni after a few bad results.

It’s another finding a manager to replace him.

With us being in somewhat of a decline, it will be tough to attract a manager as successful as Giovanni again.

Losing players such as Damien and Shay coupled with father time catching up on John, Robbie and Richard means this position is hardly the most attractive of propositions.

Not for a manager as successful as Giovanni anyway.

More like a Brian Kerr, Steve Staunton or caretaker Don Givens.

All of who failed to even make a play-off.

Not once.

In 6 long years.

Giovanni of course got us to within extra time of the World Cup in 2010.

Giovanni of course got us to the European Championships in 2012.

The man that could have been out of a job had Robbie and Kevin not intervened late on in a disappointing performance.

Not a memorable performance.

But a memorable result.

As memory in football is very short alright.

Just short of being a disaster this time...