Grady McDonnell (2008)

[InglewoodJack]

Is Ireland realistically a better senior team choice than us? We have a better squad, they lose nearly every dual national in their system, they have a number of midfielders in their early 20s playing in pretty solid leagues, so it’s a tough climb up. I understand the idea of playing for them because it’s your heritage, but as a sporting decision for a kid born and raised in Canada, I don’t know if it’s the way to go. 

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

The Republic of Ireland team can no longer use the grandparent rule as effectively as it used to because large scale emigration to the UK hasn't been happening so much in recent decades since entry to the EEC in the 1970s improved things economically there but maybe that's part of the attraction? Do we know he is actually even on the CMNT's radar in selection terms? Maybe he's the next big thing but maybe he's the next Antoine Coupland who AFAIA has never had a CMNT youth team callup despite playing for the Fury in the USL Championship as a 15 year old and later playing in CanPL for Atletico Ottawa as a 16 years old.

[InglewoodJack]

16 minutes ago, Ozzie_the_parrot said:

The Republic of Ireland team can no longer use the grandparent rule as effectively as it used to because large scale emigration to the UK hasn't been happening so much in recent decades since entry to the EEC in the 1970s improved things economically there but maybe that's part of the attraction? Do we know he is actually even on the CMNT's radar in selection terms? Maybe he's the next big thing but maybe he's the next Antoine Coupland who AFAIA has never had a CMNT youth team callup despite playing for the Fury in the USL Championship as a 15 year old and later playing in CanPL for Atletico Ottawa as a 16 years old.

He’s played or been called up to our U15s already IIRC. Also, like half of England’s national team is eligible for ROI’s as well. While Irish immigrants are no longer flocking to North America, a massive portion of British citizens have close Irish ancestry. On the flip side, I am not sure if Ireland has lost any native born Irish players of different ancestry, but as Ireland becomes more and more diverse, some of their own dual nationals may opt to play for other countries as well.

Edited June 14 by InglewoodJack

[Aird25]

6 minutes ago, InglewoodJack said:

He’s played or been called up to our U15s already IIRC. Also, like half of England’s national team is eligible for ROI’s as well. While Irish immigrants are no longer flocking to North America, a massive portion of British citizens have close Irish ancestry. On the flip side, I am not sure if Ireland has lost any native born Irish players of different ancestry, but as Ireland becomes more and more diverse, some of their own dual nationals may opt to play for other countries as well.

They just hate CPL

[SpursFlu]

1 hour ago, MtlMario said:

And what do you think our chances of him switching to us are?

It kind of depends on how good he gets and how good the national teams get. It will come down to opportunities. If Ireland continues to struggle and not make tournaments it benefits Canada but if they can't make tournaments maybe they're an easier team to crack. Don't know. I think playing for Ireland is smart because he's getting opportunities Canada can't provide for a 16 yr old and he's getting good exposure in and around teams in England 

[narduch]

28 minutes ago, InglewoodJack said:

He’s played or been called up to our U15s already IIRC. Also, like half of England’s national team is eligible for ROI’s as well. While Irish immigrants are no longer flocking to North America, a massive portion of British citizens have close Irish ancestry. On the flip side, I am not sure if Ireland has lost any native born Irish players of different ancestry, but as Ireland becomes more and more diverse, some of their own dual nationals may opt to play for other countries as well.

Here me out. Some guys are lost causes and would rather rep their parents homeland.

Trying to litigate each of these situations is basically pointless 

[InglewoodJack]

2 minutes ago, narduch said:

Here me out. Some guys are lost causes and would rather rep their parents homeland.

Trying to litigate each of these situations is basically pointless 

That post was just in response to the idea that Ireland doesn’t have dual nationals anymore for whatever reason. Totally agree with you. Seems like this kid is dedicated to Ireland, and if ever that changes, cool, but last time he was brought up, I think some online “insiders” pretty much said he has no interest in Canada at all. 

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

25 minutes ago, InglewoodJack said:

He’s played or been called up to our U15s already IIRC. Also, like half of England’s national team is eligible for ROI’s as well. While Irish immigrants are no longer flocking to North America, a massive portion of British citizens have close Irish ancestry. On the flip side, I am not sure if Ireland has lost any native born Irish players of different ancestry, but as Ireland becomes more and more diverse, some of their own dual nationals may opt to play for other countries as well.

Not entirely sure what you are trying to say with that. All I am basically pointing out is that the CMNT has a higher FIFA ranking than the RoI team these days so it's far from inconceivable that he is playing for the RoI setup because they are the ones that are more likely to select him.

[InglewoodJack]

Just now, Ozzie_the_parrot said:

Not entirely sure what you are trying to say with that. All I am basically pointing out is that the CMNT has a higher FIFA ranking than the RoI team these days so it's far from inconceivable that he is playing for the RoI setup because they are the ones that are more likely to select him.

You said they can’t use the grandparent rule as effectively anymore- I don’t think that’s true. Many Irish duals on the English team among others. You are correct that he have a better team, though I think realistically, Ireland has more young midfielders in good leagues than we do. By the time this kid gets to NT age, our only current CM who will still be around is probably Kone. Ireland have a bunch of early 20s guys who will be in their prime by the time he’s 20-21 or whenever he’s at that level. Our second best “young” CM is Choiniere, and who knows if a career MLS player at 31 or so will be CANMNT material by then. Lots of room for him to stake a claim. 

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

Just now, InglewoodJack said:

That post was just in response to the idea that Ireland doesn’t have dual nationals anymore for whatever reason...

No, what I wrote was they are not able to do it as effectively as they once did because things are a generation or two further removed now to reach someone actually born there for many UK born players of the talent level they once would have recruited from back when Jack Charlton was their manager. Hence why they are no longer featuring as high in the FIFA rankings as they once did.

[InglewoodJack]

1 minute ago, Ozzie_the_parrot said:

No, what I wrote was they are not able to do it as effectively as they once did because things are a generation or two further removed now to reach someone actually born there for many UK born players of the talent level they once would have recruited from back when Jack Charlton was their manager. Hence why they are no longer featuring as high in the FIFA rankings as they once did.

Harry Kane, Declan Rice, Jude Bellingham, Alistair Johnston, Jack Grealish, Matt O’Reiley among many others could’ve played for Ireland. Grealish and Rice both played in their youth set up as well. If Ireland secured all of their active dual nationals, they’d be one of the strongest sides in Europe. 

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

Last post from me on this tangent to the topic. To use the grandparent rule effectively in FIFA ranking terms there need to be lots of players with an Irish born grandparent who are almost good enough to play for England but know they are unlikely to ever be a major factor in that context or are good enough to play regularly for Scotland but are "Celtic-minded" enough to prefer to play for the RoI despite never having lived there.

There are not as many players who fall into those categories as there used to be because mass emigration to the UK stopped being a thing about 50 years ago. There are still plenty of potential dual nationals for them to recruit but the available talent pool on that isn't as deep as it used to be at the quality level they would need to be a regular last 16 contender at World Cups. That's kind of why they would even be paying attention to lower mainland BC now in a way they likely wouldn't have 20 or 30 years ago.

[JAVIERF]

Ireland is getting David Moyes as manager it seems

[MtlMario]

2 hours ago, InglewoodJack said:

That post was just in response to the idea that Ireland doesn’t have dual nationals anymore for whatever reason. Totally agree with you. Seems like this kid is dedicated to Ireland, and if ever that changes, cool, but last time he was brought up, I think some online “insiders” pretty much said he has no interest in Canada at all. 

If your last sentence is true then I have no interest in him either.

[InglewoodJack]

Just now, MtlMario said:

If your last sentence is true then I have no interest in him either.

Some kid on Reddit who said he knew him said he has zero interest in us. Obviously to be taken with a grain of salt, but you’d have to be a real sicko to create fake Reddit rumours about 15 year old Grady McDonnell’s international team aspirations. 

[Watchmen]

4 minutes ago, InglewoodJack said:

Some kid on Reddit who said he knew him said he has zero interest in us. Obviously to be taken with a grain of salt, but you’d have to be a real sicko to create fake Reddit rumours about 15 year old Grady McDonnell’s international team aspirations. 

I mean...isn't that just Reddit?

[Soro17]

2 hours ago, InglewoodJack said:

Harry Kane, Declan Rice, Jude Bellingham, Alistair Johnston, Jack Grealish, Matt O’Reiley among many others could’ve played for Ireland. Grealish and Rice both played in their youth set up as well. If Ireland secured all of their active dual nationals, they’d be one of the strongest sides in Europe. 

So:

France
Spain
Germany
Croatia
Netherlands
Portugal
Italy
Ireland?

 

[InglewoodJack]

6 minutes ago, Watchmen said:

I mean...isn't that just Reddit?

Sure, a Davies rumour, a David rumour, take it for what it is. A Grady McDonnell rumour? Treat it with a grain of salt, but if it truly is a fake rumour, man… someone is taking time out of their day to lie about a child who is like 17th on the Canadian depth chart and 26th on the Irish, on Reddit, for what? That would be crazy. 

 

2 minutes ago, Soro17 said:

So:

France
Spain
Germany
Croatia
Netherlands
Portugal
Italy
Ireland?

 

Admittedly don’t know their full talent pool, but you have to think of that whole list, they’re better than some of the countries in that list. They’re basically taking the best part of the English team, I’m sure some good players on the Scottish, American, welsh, Australian teams, as well as at the very least our own Alistair Johnston, would apply too. Plus, they do have some players on their own team too. Wouldn’t be surprised if a few Jamaican internationals would be eligible too. 

[Soro17]

3 minutes ago, InglewoodJack said:

Sure, a Davies rumour, a David rumour, take it for what it is. A Grady McDonnell rumour? Treat it with a grain of salt, but if it truly is a fake rumour, man… someone is taking time out of their day to lie about a child who is like 17th on the Canadian depth chart and 26th on the Irish, on Reddit, for what? That would be crazy. 

 

Admittedly don’t know their full talent pool, but you have to think of that whole list, they’re better than some of the countries in that list. They’re basically taking the best part of the English team, I’m sure some good players on the Scottish, American, welsh, Australian teams, as well as at the very least our own Alistair Johnston, would apply too. Plus, they do have some players on their own team too. Wouldn’t be surprised if a few Jamaican internationals would be eligible too. 

Is England good? (taking the piss as someone who can't stand England and the attention they get)

[AnonymousInsider]

I think something to take note of with his allegiances towards both countries is that he was with Ireland U17 for the first round of qualifiers, which did not cap-tie players, but was not with them for the next round, which did cap-tie players. So I still think he’s delaying his decision personally, if he was avoiding being cap-tied by Ireland. Of course he could’ve also just been left off the roster.

[An Observer]

3 hours ago, Soro17 said:

So:

France
Spain
Germany
Croatia
Netherlands
Portugal
Italy
Ireland?

 

On the flip side, a Northern Irish friend of mine was lamenting to me about 6 months ago that they lose a lot of their best young players to the Republic these days. 

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

16 hours ago, JAVIERF said:

Ireland is getting David Moyes as manager it seems

Is that more than just newspaper speculation? After last night's scoreline I suspect if he waits a bit the Scotland job may be vacant soon. Not sure he would want to leave the club side of things yet though. After what he did with West Ham there will probably still be interest in his services in an English Premiership context and that's likely to be a lot more lucrative than a national team gig.