Stephen Ireland: Loan to Newcastle confirmed

[Rip Van We Go Again]

Talk about a U turn.

When these pictures were put on here just after he signed, every man and his dog was defending him and some actually said that his house was nicely furnished!

[Legion]

I think his fish tank is the dogs doo-dahs.

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

"What sort of highly overrated, highly overpaid, couldnt give a toss, occasional footballer would live in a house like this?"




"Pardewwwwwwwwww, its overrrrrrrrrr to youuuuuuuuuuu."
 

[Nev]

Talk about a U turn.

When these pictures were put on here just after he signed, every man and his dog was defending him and some actually said that his house was nicely furnished!

A point I made upon the signing of Darren Bent. The "Newcastle Syndrome" of glorifying players before they have kicked a ball in Villa colours.

Due to my cynical nature I would have remained guarded even if we had signed Pele. In the shirt, on the pitch and playing well.

[Chris Smith]

Talk about a U turn.

When these pictures were put on here just after he signed, every man and his dog was defending him and some actually said that his house was nicely furnished!

Not this man or his dog.

[Tom_Mc9?]

Good riddance. He's been rubbish.

[nick harper]

No option to buy apparently so the club haven't completely written him off yet.

[TimTheVillain]

The guy joined Villa without having much say in it.

He joined a Managerless club..... he must have been thinking, 'what the fuck am I doing here ?'

His temporary Manager (MacDonald) changed when Houllier was appointed.

Houllier is now the flavour of the month, but when he joined, he hadn't got a clue had he.

The guy has not exactly had any stability since joining has he.

Good luck at Newcastle I say.

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

The guy has not exactly had any stability since joining has he.

Stability ? You make him sound like a deprived child living in a unstable family environment. He is 24 years old and a multi millionaire.
I suppose its the Villas fault he accidentally thought his grandmother had died too ? Oh sorry he was still at Man City then, theres something else we can have a go at them about.

[Concrete John]

No option to buy apparently so the club haven't completely written him off yet.

That's sensible in my opinion, but not sure it's because we want him back.  If we were to agree a fee now it would be quite low based upon him hardly featuring for us.  So if he's crap Newcastle simply say 'no thanks' in the summer.  If there is no fee agreed negotiations in the summer can start afresh.  Again if he's crap they can still say 'no thanks', but if he does well we'll get more than we would agree to now.

[TimTheVillain]

The guy has not exactly had any stability since joining has he.

Stability ? You make him sound like a deprived child living in a unstable family environment. He is 24 years old and a multi millionaire.
I suppose its the Villas fault he accidentally thought his grandmother had died too ? Oh sorry he was still at Man City then, theres something else we can have a go at them about.

Well, I have no reason to hate the guy.

It's how I see it - the guy hasn't been given much of a chance at VP.

It would be great if he did well at Newcastle and came back to play well for us renewed or that he plays well enough to command a decent transfer fee.

[Rip Van We Go Again]

Talk about a U turn.

When these pictures were put on here just after he signed, every man and his dog was defending him and some actually said that his house was nicely furnished!

Not this man or his dog.

True enough Chris.
You were the first to say he was a bit Tonto.

[supertommykN'iba]

Mat Kendrick on Twitter: "#nufc DON'T have an option to buy Stephen Ireland in loan deal. #avfc want him back in summer for a potential fresh start".

Kind of hope this is the case. It's been said before, yes, but if we could get Ireland on form, we would have one hell of a player on our hands.

[Merv]

This just gets weirder and weirder. I just can't get my head around this Ireland situation at all.

I think the guy's a good footballer, I was pleased when he signed (I think parts of his house aren't too bad, though the daughter's room is horrendous, she must wake every morning with a headache). But he hardly made a roaring start to his Villa career, he seemed very quiet. Showed flashes in odd games, Chelsea particularly. I wonder how things might have panned out had he scored with that early effort against Chelsea, or with that late chance v Blues in the cup. Might have changed everything.

I started to think he wasn't being given a decent chance - Pires being brought on against Spurs on Boxing Day ahead of him, for example - but clearly something strange has been going on. He never seems to be injured until it's commented that he's been out of the squad, then suddenly there's some previously unexplained injury. Like this 'knee' injury. I can only think Houllier is seeing things he really doesn't like, in training, or from the man himself (and I think, with what we've been hearing about Warnock of late, there's plenty of things going on we don't know about). This whole time, we've not heard a peep out of Ireland.

And now, when he's leaving the club, there's this stuff about Villa not wanting to sell, wanting him to make a fresh start in the summer. I'm a bit flummoxed, to be honest.

One upside: it's nice to see Chris Smith can be right about something 

[Ger Regan]

I suppose its the Villas fault he accidentally thought his grandmother had died too ? Oh sorry he was still at Man City then, theres something else we can have a go at them about.

His missus was after having a miscarriage. There's plenty of things to give him stick over, but that episode is not one of them.