Ask Harry Arter about Martin O’Neill’s famed man-management and he’ll tell you how O’Neill used to contact him regularly during the season telling him if he was fit, he would be in the 35-man preliminary squad for the European Championships.
But O’Neill tends to go further. On Wednesday, the day Ireland flew out to France for the European Championships, O’Neill called Arter and asked him how his injury was progressing.
Arter is officially on stand-by for the Ireland squad, which may have had something to do with the call, but it was also an insight into O’Neill’s way.
“He was calling me through the season to see how I was which gave me confidence in itself,” Arter said on Thursday. “He always made me feel involved even if I wasn’t there, so I’m really looking forward to next season and hopefully I’ll be involved more.”
Stand-by
Stand-by in this instance has simply meant doing the rehab on the injury he picked up in the last training session before Martin O’Neill named his 23-man squad for France.
O’Neill and Roy Keane are both admirers of the player and if the injury hadn’t come along, he may well have been in the panel, instead he was placed on stand-by, and he explains exactly how a player stands by.
“If someone did get injured, he would call me up if he was in my position. Hand on heart, I wouldn’t wish an injury on anyone even if meant I was called up so hopefully it stays how it is.”
Yet if something did happen this week, Arter could be called into the squad. It’s not strange, he says, it’s just “part and parcel of being a footballer”, where injuries are central to the daily conversation.
5 things you probably don't know about Ireland midfielder Harry Arter https://t.co/2MvfD41ijL
— JOE.ie (@JOEdotie) May 30, 2016
Arter had a scan this week, and his injury is healing well but there was some dispute among those who initially assessed it about the length of time he’d be out, but all agreed that three games in a short period of time would be “high-risk”.
At this stage, Arter is likely to be an observer over the next few weeks, but an observer who has more detailed knowledge of Ireland, an observer who has watched O’Neill and Keane function and understands what they do.
How O’Neill operates
He started for Ireland against Holland and he said you could even seen then how O’Neill operates. “He has a real good way of making you realise what a game means to the country and what it should mean to yourself. Even in the Holland game, motivational-wise he got all the lads up for it, it probably didn’t look like a friendly.”
He says O’Neill and Keane are people who, when they talk, players listen and their agreement with the FAI to stay on until 2018 is good news. “I think we’ll be most successful under those two.”
Arter references Manchester City as an example of what can happen when players know a manager is going.
“Look at the way Manchester City dealt with knowing their manager was leaving, it didn’t help their season really. I wouldn’t say it would have made a complete difference, but that uncertainty sometimes doesn’t have a good effect so luckily for the squad, they’ve got that.”
A career making his way up through the divisions has made Arter more determined to take his chance. “Even if I’m playing against my little brother, I want to win that. I’ve got that desire to make sure I win everything I do and that doesn’t change whether I’m playing club or international football.”
Chat with Keane
When Arter left the Ireland squad last week, he had a long chat with Keane. “It gave me confidence, but he didn’t offer me any guarantees. He told me if I work hard and play well, I’d have a chance of being part of the World Cup qualifying campaign. I would have worked hard even if I hadn’t had that chat. If you don’t have a burning desire to play after talking to Roy Keane, you’re probably best off giving up. It gave me an extra incentive to work hard and that’s what I’ll do.”
Harry Arter leaves the Ireland squad; unlikely to take part in Euro 2016 https://t.co/qSC53SmcwF
— JOE.ie (@JOEdotie) May 31, 2016
Arter’s own eagerness to do well means that a conversation with Keane only adds to that commitment.
He hasn’t followed Keane’s comments closely about the players and his subsequent apology to Aiden McGeady. “To be honest, I don’t know the story that well, but Roy Keane is his own man, he’s got his own beliefs and if he felt he had to apologise, he obviously would. He expects high standards, but if he ever feels he’s gone overboard, he’ll apologise and mean it.”
Given his view of O’Neill and After and the players in the squad, Arter is optimistic about the Euros.
A good start
“A good start is important. Just to get a positive result and get something on the board and get a positive performance. I honestly believe this tournament could be won by anyone. I don’t think you could point to a side and say, ‘They’re definitely going to win it.’ I think the tournament could be there for anyone to take. I’m not saying Ireland are going to win the Euros, but you have to have the mindset that you can win it and then anything can happen.”
If Roy Keane was listening, he would have approved.
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