Ian Harte

[maffff]

There's an article gone up today on backpagefootball re: Harte. But I can't get it to work in the office..

[Scutterbucketz]

Here it is;


Following a stirring performance for Reading over the weekend which saw Ian Harte provide assists for both of The Royals‘ goals in their 2-1 win over Sunderland, the Louth man has hit out at Republic of Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni.

Having once again been overlooked by the Italian for this week’s international friendly against Poland in Dublin, the Louth native tweeted yesterday:  

To all the people asking if I have retired from international football.no I haven’t trap didn’t even know I was Irish #whataclown
The 35 year-old has gotten some stick in reply from the Twitteratti as well as on other social media.  This is something which I find quite hard to believe.  Yes, Harte doesn’t really have the speed any more to perform as a full-back bombing up and down the flanks at the highest level of international football.  He is though a better option than Trapattoni’s first choice left-back; Stephen Ward.

It’s surely a no brainer?  Having enjoyed something of a renaissance in his club career, Harte is a regular starter with a Premier League side while Ward plays for Championship strugglers Wolves.  Coupled with that the fact that Harte can deliver a pinpoint long ball pass out of defence, which should be optimally suited to Ireland’s hit and rush “style” of play under Trapattoni.

The long ball game the Italian has forced upon this Irish set-up could surely only benefit from a man who canaccurately pass a long ball to a man 40 yards away?  There is also the small matter of Harte’s thunderous left-foot set piece deliveries.  Any foul conceded 30 yards or less from goal sends shivers down the spine of opposition defences when Harte sets his radar with his left foot primed to send a rocket goalward.

Harte deserves to be commended for his outspoken views on Trapattoni.  For too long the 73 year-old has gotten away with doing a shoddy, haphazard and error strewn “job” as Irish soccer manager.  From staying in Milan watching dvd’s of club matches instead of attending them to failing to pick the best players available until there is a public outcry to failing to learn the language after five years in the job, were it not for the size of his contract, the geriatric chancer would have been removed from his overly lucrative post years ago.

This morning’s tweet from the man who has played in a Champions League semi-final wasn’t strictly true; Trapattoni knows now that he is indeed Irish.  Until last year however, the former Juventus manager did not know that Harte was Irish, even though the former Leeds United star has played at a World Cup (which Trapattoni managed at) and is the second leading scorer within the current Irish setup having scored 11 international goals from full back!

Maybe if more people who care about Irish football (as Ian Harte clearly does) spoke out against the Milanese native, he might just have already been issued with his P45 instead of bungling along until the end of this World Cup qualifying campaign which is almost certainly doomed to abject failure.

There are those that argue that Harte is  ”past it”  at international level.  He deserves to be commended and not castigated though for his desire to represent his national team in an era when top flight footballers are only keen to chase the gravy train that is club football and ditch the  ”inconvenience”  that they regard international football at the quickest possible opportunity.  Representing your country should be the ultimate honour for any sportsman.   With an attitude like Ian Harte’s that ethos will continue.

[maffff]

Good article tbf. Thanks.

[Extended-Phenotype]

Has anyone ever played him as a wide midfielder with a quicker fullback behind him?

[BR2]

Is Stephen Kelly in their squad?

[The Real Sandhurst Royal]

br2 wrote: Is Stephen Kelly in their squad?

No, he has stood down to give Trappetoni a chance to look a some younger players.

[Royal Ginger]

br2 wrote: Is Stephen Kelly in their squad?

No, he has stood down to give Trappetoni a chance to look a some younger players.

Not strictly true, he said in the Royal that he's having a rest after 3 close matches.

[Victor Meldrew]

What an arrogant,disrespectful cnut Ian Harte is.
A 35 year old who has taken the odd decent free-kick and has a few caps for one of the minnows of world football calls a man a clown who :-
Played for a top Italian club,Milan
Played for a top national side,Italy
Has won 3 EUFA cups as a manager
Is one of the very few managers to win league titles in 4 different countries.
Has done a fair job managing a country with only some very moderate footballlers

I would suggest Ian that you have a chat with Brian about respect and decency that Brian has spades of and you have none.
As the slowest full-back in the Premier League count yourself lucky that you get a game for Reading let alone an international game at 35 years of age.
Clown?
You're the clown m8.

[West Stand Man]

What an arrogant,disrespectful cnut Ian Harte is.
A 35 year old who has taken the odd decent free-kick and has a few caps for one of the minnows of world football calls a man a clown who :-
Played for a top Italian club,Milan
Played for a top national side,Italy
Has won 3 EUFA cups as a manager
Is one of the very few managers to win league titles in 4 different countries.
Has done a fair job managing a country with only some very moderate footballlers

I would suggest Ian that you have a chat with Brian about respect and decency that Brian has spades of and you have none.
As the slowest full-back in the Premier League count yourself lucky that you get a game for Reading let alone an international game at 35 years of age.
Clown?
You're the clown m8.

You are Coco and I claim my £5.

[Rax]

What an arrogant,disrespectful cnut Ian Harte is.
A 35 year old who has taken the odd decent free-kick and has a few caps for one of the minnows of world football calls a man a clown who :-
Played for a top Italian club,Milan
Played for a top national side,Italy
Has won 3 EUFA cups as a manager
Is one of the very few managers to win league titles in 4 different countries.
Has done a fair job managing a country with only some very moderate footballlers

I would suggest Ian that you have a chat with Brian about respect and decency that Brian has spades of and you have none.
As the slowest full-back in the Premier League count yourself lucky that you get a game for Reading let alone an international game at 35 years of age.
Clown?
You're the clown m8.

No bites today, Victor?

NICE ROD!!!

[CayeneMatt]

Tbf, the article in places echos some of the noises McD was making before Christmas when Harte was recalled.

He said he wanted leaders, experience, commitment etc. In came Pearce and Harte and back came a better defensive record. Regardless of the circumstances surrounding Shorey's dip in form (virus or alcohol), theres no doubt that Harte's professionalism has helped our fightback and he should be recognised for that.

Whether that constitutes an international recall is a different matter......

[Victor Meldrew]

Presumably that great team player Ian Harte offered his sincere congratulations to those that he wanted to be team mates with on their win last night achieved incredibly without him being there.

[andrew1957]

On a different note Harte looked a spent force at the start of the 2011/12 season and again at the start of this season.

However, both years he has got himself incredibly fit and has ended up playing a huge part in our season. You have to hand it to him for determination and his quality does show through.

And I don't care too much what his views are about the RoI manager.

[peterroyal76]

What an arrogant,disrespectful cnut Ian Harte is.
A 35 year old who has taken the odd decent free-kick and has a few caps for one of the minnows of world football calls a man a clown who :-
Played for a top Italian club,Milan
Played for a top national side,Italy
Has won 3 EUFA cups as a manager
Is one of the very few managers to win league titles in 4 different countries.
Has done a fair job managing a country with only some very moderate footballlers

I would suggest Ian that you have a chat with Brian about respect and decency that Brian has spades of and you have none.
As the slowest full-back in the Premier League count yourself lucky that you get a game for Reading let alone an international game at 35 years of age.
Clown?
You're the clown m8.

Just because Trapatoni used to be a good player (40 yars ago?) and because he USED to be a decent manager, Harte is wrong?
He hasn't taken Ireland forward has he? Harte has never been blessed with pace, but he is better than Ward.

It appears you may be the clown!

[AthleticoSpizz]

Reminiscent of Toshack not playing Oster.

Oster (Prem League) was getting overlooked in favour of Div 1&2 players iirc.

[Mike Hunt]

What an arrogant,disrespectful cnut Ian Harte is.
A 35 year old who has taken the odd decent free-kick and has a few caps for one of the minnows of world football calls a man a clown who :-
Played for a top Italian club,Milan
Played for a top national side,Italy
Has won 3 EUFA cups as a manager
Is one of the very few managers to win league titles in 4 different countries.
Has done a fair job managing a country with only some very moderate footballlers

I would suggest Ian that you have a chat with Brian about respect and decency that Brian has spades of and you have none.
As the slowest full-back in the Premier League count yourself lucky that you get a game for Reading let alone an international game at 35 years of age.
Clown?
You're the clown m8.

Just because Trapatoni used to be a good player (40 yars ago?) and because he USED to be a decent manager, Harte is wrong?
He hasn't taken Ireland forward has he? Harte has never been blessed with pace, but he is better than Ward.

It appears you may be the clown!

There's one.

[Royal With Cheese]

Paul Gascgoine was a bloody good footballer too.

[maffff]

..both years he has got himself incredibly fit and has ended up playing a huge part in our season. You have to hand it to him for determination and his quality does show through.

...and based on that I'm warming to the idea of him being with us another season, regardless of division. I think he'll be here next year.

[Royal Ginger]

Agreed, he's been up to the challenge lately and I actually think both Ian and the Pog have found a bit of pace in the last couple of games. I suspect there's some very good coaching going on behind the scenes.

[Royal Biscuitman]

Reminiscent of Toshack not playing Oster.

Oster (Prem League) was getting overlooked in favour of Div 1&2 players iirc.

Although to be fair, Reading FC have signed quality players from the lower leagues so I wouldn't hold that against a player.