Roy Keane has left

[WarszaVillan]

Pedant alert - Ryan Giggs couldn't have represented any other country than Wales, given that he was born there to Welsh parents

Didnt he play for England's youth team?

[Chico Hamilton III]

England Schoolboys. Because he went to an English school

[PeterWithesShin]

From Wiki

As a youngster, Giggs captained England Schoolboys, but contrary to popular belief, he was never eligible for the full England team (eligibility at the schoolboy level depends solely upon the location of the school, in Giggs' case Moorside High School in Salford).[113] In October 2009, new rules were introduced for the Home Nations' associations that would have enabled Giggs to represent England had he not already represented Wales in an official competition,[114] but Giggs has always maintained that he would have chosen to play for Wales anyway; he stated in 2002, "I'd rather go through my career without qualifying for a major championship than play for a country where I wasn't born or which my parents didn't have anything to do with".[115]

[Smirker]

Gareth Bale is a better example.

[dave.woodhall]

Pedant alert - Ryan Giggs couldn't have represented any other country than Wales, given that he was born there to Welsh parents

Could he have represented Sierra Leone, via his grandfather?

Nigeria, I think.

[Malandro]

what if your sister-in-law is from a different country, can you play for them?

[Jon Crofts]

If you marry your sister you can play for Small Heath.

[brontebilly]

I was speaking to someone who spoke to Jack Grealish's uncle this morning. As many won't be surprised by, Keane has been trying to pressure Jack into choosing to play for Ireland and it all came to a head with Keane giving abuse to some of Jack's family. Jack doesn't want to select Ireland and then go onto have the sort of career where he would have been an England player and regularly going to tournaments. So he's hedging his bets until he gets an idea of where his career might take him. Nobody will be shocked here that Jack's uncle said what a nasty bloke Keane is either.

Far from a fan of Keane but if that is the kind of nonsense going through the head of Grealish and his entourage when he has achieved the square root of f*ck all as a player then I would truly worry about "our" Jack

What's nonsense about it?

He's an 18 year old to whom a country is desperate to give an international cap in order to commit him to them for life. If he's as inconsequential as you make out, why are Ireland so bothered about capping him when he's so young?

I think it's fair enough that he might think he could be good enough to play for England instead and wants to keep his options open.

Should he just meekly accept playing for Ireland as they were the first ones to show an interest?

The country that he has played all his underage football with to date, you make it sound as if it has only been recently discovered that he has Irish connections. Even if Jack himself had changed his mind, Id have far more respect for him if he let his intentions be known publicly rather than this Stephen Ireland esque will he wont he charade. He is not a kid anymore either so hiding behind his entourage shows a lack of gumption. Grealish is older now than Robbie Keane was when he made his debut for Ireland, playing international football would only improve him. He clearly has talent but lots of players with talent amount to nothing.

As for Ryan Giggs having regrets, I severely doubt it. Maybe exiting tournaments at the group or quarter final stages isnt all its cracked up to be, revenue maximising opportunities notwithstanding.

[usav]

As for Ryan Giggs having regrets, I severely doubt it. Maybe exiting tournaments at the group or quarter final stages isnt all its cracked up to be, revenue maximising opportunities notwithstanding.

Maybe with him we wouldn't have exited.

[peter w]

Pedant alert - Ryan Giggs couldn't have represented any other country than Wales, given that he was born there to Welsh parents

That's not quite correct but him (or any other player in that situation) attempting to play for a 'home nation' would be near impossible.  The issue resides in residency and nationality laws, basically none of the home nations exist as legal nationalities so we're all British but British doesn't exist in a sporting context so they are treated as countries.  Where that becomes a bit messy is that laws around nationality and freedom of movement allow you to become nationalised when you move between countries (so Januzaj could've played for England if he'd chosen to, for example) but because England and Wales are just regions within a single country those rules don't apply.

Take an example of how this could be made really messy a scottish couple live and work in London but want to be with their family in Glasgow for the birth of a their child before returning to London.  under the agreement which means Giggs can only play for Wales that child would only be eligible to play for Scotland despite living all but the first few days of their life in England.  If England selected him but Scotland then appealed that he was actually scottish the end result would put the separate FAs at huge risk of no longer being recognised.  That makes it in the best interests of all involved for there to never be any arguments, so in something like the Giggs case regardless of what the press may have said England were probably never interested because they knew Wales were, if that makes sense.

That's not right in Gigg's case though. He was born in Wales to Welsh parents and only moved to England because his dad was a rugby league player and got transferred to somewhere in England. He represented England Schools but never England as a kid simply because he went to school in England. It was never an England representative match and he never chose Wales - he is Welsh and so only eligible for Wales out of the Home Countries.

[Smirker]

Couldn't disagree with Bronte more.

It's a massive decision for him to make and one that he can only make once. Absolutely nothing wrong with waiting to see how he does in our team and whether he can get into the England side before making his decision.

He is also still playing for the Ireland under 21's and is eligible for about three more years so it's fine to wait for a year or so.

He's just being sensible.

[Fasth56]

The story I read somewhere and sometime ago was that Giggs asked SGT when he was England manager, what his chances of playing for England were. SGT was supposed to have told him that Daley and someone who slips my memory would be in line for England before him. Therefore he chose Wales, maybe complete and utter bollocks but just something I read.

[pauliewalnuts]

The thing about Giggs pledging himself to Wales, I shouldn't have said, he probably didn't as it turns out, but that doesn't change the main point - Giggs was an absolutely top quality player who had no international career because he was playing for Wales.

Grealish, given a chance, will be wondering whether he might turn out to be good enough to play for Ireland or England - and, let's be honest, he's not going to have to be a world beater to manage either of those - and which one he should choose.

He's clearly English, but he also qualifies for Ireland, and I imagine that's important to his family.

I don't see why there should be any reason to accuse him of being a charlie big bollocks for taking his time. What's the rush?

[pauliewalnuts]

Pedant alert - Ryan Giggs couldn't have represented any other country than Wales, given that he was born there to Welsh parents

Don't lots of players qualify for other countries on the basis of their grandparents' nationality?

[Ger Regan]

Whether he chooses Ireland or England, he'll still need to prove himself here first. I think a loan to a championship team could do him good.