Extra Time: Ireland shoots off, Fergie shuts up, Kuyt hat-trick adds salt to the wound

As a new week begins, JOE looks back at a few of the footballing issues that will be overheard around water-coolers all over Ireland this morning, including the already infamous Stephen Ireland outburst, Alex Ferguson’s media blackout and the intensifying race for the Premier League crown.

By Tom Moss

The media game can be a tricky one for both footballers and managers alike, and like everything else, some are better at it than others. But whatever your feelings about the media circus, it’s part and parcel of the modern game and therefore it’s something that you need to be able to handle.

Over the weekend, two men with very different approaches to it have come under serious scrutiny, one for saying too much, the other for saying, well, nothing at all.

The whole Stephen Ireland affair was an issue that split the country’s football fans in a way unparalleled since the Keane/McCarthy saga. Some felt that Ireland’s obvious talent was something the Republic couldn’t afford to simply cast aside, and that Trap should do everything in his power to get him back in the green shirt.

On the other side of the coin, there was just as many who felt that he was an upstart, a guy whose arrogance and eccentricity were something that would be detrimental to the overall morale within the squad.

Ireland's claims that the words ‘sounded a lot worse than I meant them to’ suggests that even the deluded midfielder has realised the damage the interview has done to his already volatile relationship with the average Irish football fan.

That issue seems to have been resolved by the man himself in his interview with French magazine So Foot that came out over the past few days. Even for a guy with a string of bizarre interviews under his belt, this one set a new precedent, and despite trying to dig himself out of the hole all weekend with the eagerness of a claustrophobic mole, surely not even his best mates in Cork could forget about this one.

He launched scathing attacks on foreign coaches, former clubs, the Irish international setup and then on Ireland as a country as well as the cities of Birmingham and Cork. His claims that the words ‘sounded a lot worse than I meant them to’ suggests that even the deluded midfielder has realised the damage the interview has done to his already volatile relationship with the average Irish football fan.

All's quiet at Old Trafford

But if saying too much has gotten Ireland into bother, Sir Alex has created an equally disapproving stir with his decision to impose a total media blackout on all staff involved in the club. Ferguson was incensed that comments he made in the aftermath of United’s 2-1 defeat to Chelsea on Tuesday resulted in him being slammed with an FA charge, and his reaction has been to shoot the messenger.

The media who aired his comments are the problem in his eyes, and such is his level of rage, he has even refused to talk to the club’s own TV station, MUTV, much to the annoyance of those United fans who pay £6 per month to get all the exclusive inside scoops and who feel that they have basically been blatantly short-changed.

The blanket media ban imposed by Sir Alex Ferguson smacks of paranoia at Old Trafford

Has Ferguson finally been driven over the edge by the draining pressures of maintaining his outstanding record in club football? Certainly his paranoia about an ‘ABU’ sentiment from within the FA smacks of a delusional dictator on the brink of losing his iron-fisted control, and it seems incredulous that no-one within the club seems to have the level of influence with the Scot to take him aside and warn him off such a radical course of action.

In his silence, we can only assume how he would have reacted to his side’s second defeat in succession yesterday at Anfield. United were strangely subdued for such a traditionally feisty fixture and the 3-1 scoreline didn’t flatter Liverpool, who saw off the league leaders without ever really having to find top gear.

Happy Birthday King Kenny

A Dirk Kuyt hat-trick, his first for the club, was enough to hand Kenny Dalglish the 60th birthday present he wanted the most, with Luis Suarez shining brightly against an untried United back line.

After Jamie Carragher’s shocking tackle on Nani which resulted in a severe gash to the shin of the United star, perhaps Ferguson’s decision to steer clear of the TV cameras might not have been a bad idea, for it would surely have resulted in another blast at a referee who should by all rights have dismissed rather than booked the Liverpool veteran, although the similar lenience afforded to Rafael shortly afterwards would have been seen as neutralising the Carragher decision.

No matter what happens, Ferguson will have to back down in his media stand-off sooner rather than later, but don’t expect him do that quite so quietly.

QUOTE (S) OF THE WEEK: (Extended version.  Thanks Mr. Ireland)

“Live in Cork? I’d rather shoot myself.” – Stephen’s comments about his home town probably won’t be used by Failte Ireland any time soon.

“Birmingham is a crap city.” – Nor will visitbirmingham.com.

“I have more to do to than go off for three days to play Andorra.  And when you’re Irish, you’re well aware that you’ll never win the World Cup.” – His skewed take on the ‘it’s not the winning that matters’ mantra.

“I love Cork.  I’ve Cork tattooed on my back.” – Ireland’s attempts to quell the rebellion amongst the rebels. Too little too late?

“.......” – Alex Ferguson after United’s 3-1 defeat at Anfield.

HERO OF THE DAY: In a climate of almost endless criticism of referees, Steve Kean showed how it should be done despite Mark Clattenburg’s soft penalty decision which cost his struggling Blackburn side a point against Fulham on Saturday.

He voiced his disagreement in a polite and respectable manner, before backing the referee and lamenting the pressures that they are increasingly subjected to by players, managers and the media. There’s plenty of coaches who could follow Kean’s example.

VILLAIN OF THE DAY: It would be just plain wrong to let Stephen Ireland off the hook wouldn’t it?