Whitley and Mulryne – no quick return

Bad boys
The boss:
“I wrote a letter to both Phil Mulryne and Jeff Whitley and while the contents of that will remain private between the players and myself, I did say in it that if they want to play international football again it is up to them to come to me. So far they haven’t been in touch with me and I take from that they don’t feel ready to come back yet.”

Hughes out of both matches

Northern Ireland captain Aaron Hughes has been ruled out for three weeks after undergoing a hernia operation and will miss our final World Cup Qualifiers against Wales and Austria.
Sanchez:
“The games would have been difficult with Aaron and they will be more difficult without him for sure. But one person’s disappointment is another person’s opportunity”
The Northern Ireland boss pointed out that Stephen Craigan seized his chance to star against Azerbaijan and England and added that Hughes’ absence would offer an opportunity to other members of the squad.
“I have no doubt that whoever comes in, whether it is Colin Murdock, Michael Duff or someone else, they will do a good job.”
So with Baird suspended for the Wales game, the defence for tomorrow week’s match is looking like: Duff – Murdock – Craigan – Capaldi
Not too strong like, but 3 of those 4 kept out England and at least they all want to play for Norn Iron unlike a certain Sunderland left back! And if they’re beaten, there’s always Maik Taylor behind them anyway so it doesn’t matter!

Ticket shamblés – IFA statement

As I mentioned on the site, the IFA put a limited number of tickets for the Railway Stand on Wednesday morning. However, despite them saying that tickets would be on sale from half nine, they had sold all 240 tickets by ten past nine. Fans who turned up at the advertised time were understandably annoyed at this, so to try and placate them the IFA have released the following:
“Advertising had stated that these tickets would be made available from 9.30am; however, due to the adverse weather conditions and because a large queue had started to build up from 8am, a compassionate decision was taken to invite supporters into the building and to start selling the tickets.
“There were 240 tickets available which exceeded the requests of the people queuing. The IFA sympathises with and understands the disappointment of those who were unable to purchase a ticket but it must be stressed that the queue began building from 8am and even if everyone had been kept waiting outside until 9.30am, there would not have been enough tickets to satisfy demand.
“Individuals were not allowed to purchase more than four tickets. There was one exception to this, where, due to human error, five tickets were inadvertently sold to one person. Reports of someone being seen to receive 10 tickets need to be clarified. This person was a member of staff from Linfield Football Club. Some employees of Linfield have worked at Windsor Park on behalf of the IFA throughout the World Cup campaign and this group has been allowed to purchase 10 tickets per match in recognition of this. These tickets had already been allocated to the Linfield staff and were not from the batch put on sale to the general public and it was unfortunate that they were collected at the same time, as it caused understandable confusion amongst the people queuing for tickets.
Although tickets can normally be purchased by telephone, a decision was taken not to do so on this occasion due to the small number available. The IFA accepts that this should have been clearly stated in the promotion.
Ticketing policy is currently under review and will be restructured in line with the IFA’s continued and committed move towards self improvement and customer focus; as well as implementing a proposed new membership scheme.”

Wales tickets available to buy

http://www.irishfa.com/index/articles.php?id=1689

“THERE WILL BE A LIMITED NUMBER OF TICKETS AVAILABLE IN THE RAILWAY STAND FOR THIS MATCH.
THESE TICKETS WILL GO ON SALE ON WEDNESDAY 28TH SEPTEMBER AT 9.30am”

Not the Railway Stand…

Sproule in fine form for Hibs

A few quotes from a report of Hibs’ 3-1 win at Motherwell on Saturday:
“The scoreline, in fact, flattered the home side as Hibs had numerous second half opportunities and Northern Ireland international Ivan Sproule’s pace terrorised the Motherwell defence all day.
“Certainly, Hibs’ counter attacking style was to be admired and Sproule’s devastating ability to run past players gave the visitors openings that should have been converted. Only Riordan took advantage of one of Sproule’s assists for the third goal, but the signs are there that Hibs, who were drawn away to Dunfermline in the CIS Cup quarter-finals last night, can be a threat on the counter on their European journey.
Brian McLean made his first start for Motherwell since going on a 3-month loan from Rangers. Also on Saturday, Colin Murdock scored in Rotherham’s 4-2 defeat to Southend United and Gareth McAuley scored the opener in Lincoln City’s 2-1 defeat to Torquay.

Warren Feeney

‘Warren Feeney gave Soccer AM his verdict on Northern Ireland beating England in their World Cup Qualifier at Windsor Park.
‘It was easy!’ he told Tim and Helen.
The Luton Town man added that you could tell England were out-of-sorts and he thinks you could tell that some of their big-name players were not happy with the formation.
“It was easy to be fair!” joked Feeney. “It was good, nobody expected it. But we just had a funny feeling after beating Azerbaijan.
“I think everyone expected us to get rolled over and the first 20 minutes were crucial for us really.
“In the end, we played well, but I don’t think England, with all their superstars, where up for it, to be honest.
“You could tell in some of their body language that they were panicked when we scored. I don’t know whether it was the formation, but it looked to me as though some of them weren’t happy playing there.
“As the game went on they got frustrated needing that goal and we felt more relaxed. We grew in confidence and I think it was the right result for us in the end.”
While the entire team did their bit in bringing about the upset, Feeney played special tribute to the Windsor Park crowd, who have stuck with the team through thick and thin.
“To be honest, they have been loud like that for years,” he added.
“I don’t know whether they go to the games thinking we’re going to get beaten, but they just keep on singing and singing.
“They’re really looking forward to the Wales game.”
While his Northern Ireland team are experiencing a high under Lawrie Sanchez, on the domestic front Luton are also flying high in the Championship.
And Feeney says the players really believe that they can win promotion to the Premiership.
“The squad is a bit small, to be honest, but it would be nice to go up again,” he said.
“We are not going to be negative and say we are not going up . We have got to think positive and if we keep together, I don’t see why we can’t.”‘
On the upcoming game against Wales:
“James Quinn and David Healy have done magnificently for us in the last two games and I can understand the boss sticking with them. I’ve just got to be patient and so long as I continue to play regularly for Luton and keep myself in the frame that’s the most important thing.”
“They have a good team too with quality players such as Ryan Giggs, John Hartson and Craig Bellamy, all Premiership players with real class. Under John Toshack they are rediscovering themselves. It will be another huge ask for us but our fans should be in no doubt that we are up for the job.
“It’s another Home Countries clash, maybe not just as high profile as the England game but the Welsh players have seen and read about what we did to the English in Belfast and they certainly will not come to Windsor Park under any illusions, especially after the way we played against them in Cardiff in the 2-2 draw.”
Feeney, enjoying life at Luton where he has scored twice this season and played in every game, senses it will be an epic struggle against a Welsh team which has experienced a string of disappointments throughout the campaign and currently languishing at the foot of the Group Six table behind Azerbaijan, without a win in eight matches.
“Wales will be up for this one and we must be aware of that. However, there is such pride among our players and fans about what we have managed over the past two games and we all want to maintain the surge.”
The passionate fans will again be a key factor: “Just like Cardiff and Old Trafford when our supporters were outnumbered, they sang their hearts out and gave us great encouragement.
“When I went back to Luton after the England result our players couldn’t get over what they had seen on TV and it was the fans they talked about almost as much as what we achieved on the pitch! Some of our lads were saying that it was impossible to believe that there were only around 14,000 in the ground because they made enough noise to make it seem like 44,000!
“We all recognise the very real part our supporters play in every game. They are the best because they keep backing us through thick and thin. And of course they know how to enjoy themselves!
“I hope they will be celebrating again very soon!”

Hughes comeback ’simply not true’

Just over a week after the Belfast Telegraph back page headline of Michael Hughes telling the world that he wanted to make his Norn Iron return – which Lawrie Sanchez later said he’d be keen on – Hughes has told the SL that ‘News of me wanting to come back and play for my country is simply not true’
He went on:
“I enjoyed every moment of playing for Northern Ireland but I made my decision to quit and I will be sticking by it.”
“Obviously I was delighted that the boys beat England, however that has not changed my mind and so I will not be contacting Lawrie Sanchez asking him to recall me”

Wales game 2pm

Both Northern Ireland and England have agreed to change their matches on the 8th of October so the BBC can show both games in full. England (“Can we play you every week?”) play Austria at Old Trafford at 4pm.

Davis brace / Healy poster

Steve Davis scored a brace for Aston Villa the other night in an 8-3 win over Wycombe. Villa were 3-1 down at half time and scored 7 goals in the second half!
And, according to the tele:
‘A poster of Healy’s famous winning goal for Northern Ireland against England is available free of charge in the 14 Nationwide Bank branches all over Northen Ireland. They will be distributed on a first come, first served basis’
Find your nearest

New National Stadium – 12,000 extra seats

From BBC News:
“The new multi-sport stadium which is earmarked for the Maze near Lisburn is to be bigger than originally envisaged. The plan is now for a 42,000-seater facility, 12,000 more than first planned, meaning an increased estimated cost of £85million. It is understood the venue could be modelled on FC Porto’s Dragao Stadium which was used for Euro 2004.
The government has sent a revised business plan to football, rugby and GAA authorities in Northern Ireland. They must all support the new stadium for the project to go ahead. A government source said if the facility was built, it would be suitable for major events like the Uefa Cup football final or Irish rugby internationals. “