STEPHEN KENNY, Stephen Bradley and Damien Duff may be rivals for the Premier Division title this season, but the three most high-profile managers in the country put on a united front in defence of the League of Ireland this week.
On the back of Ian Harte’s comments that clubs here were “killing lads’ chances” of moving to England by demanding high transfer fees, the former Republic of Ireland international was derided by Kenny as “an empty vessel.”
There was an added element of personal criticism from Harte aimed towards the ex-Ireland manager, who he stated had “found his level” back in charge of St Patrick’s Athletic.
Speaking after the 1-1 draw with Shamrock Rovers last night, Shelbourne boss Duff made it clear how little focus or attention his old teammate’s words warranted. There is some confusion about Harte’s actual qualifications as he describes himself as an agent on one online profile but is then referred to as a scout on the website of UK-based agency Sports Management International.
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Regardless, Duff’s disdain was clear. “The one thing I would say, and it’s no reflection on Ian, I played with Ian, I walk with a limp now because of Ian because I did always did his running for him, but I don’t like agents. I never have,” he told Off the Ball.
“You can near on count on one hand, maybe, the ones you can trust. So, when I hear an agent [say] ‘oh, I care about my players’. Do ye? You’re making money out of them at the end of the day.
“I care about my players, I’d die for my players, I’m not sure how many agents out there would die for their players. Here, never liked them, never will. It’s probably cost me the next window because no agents want to do business but I have a real dislike for them. End of story.”
Harte singled out the case of former Shamrock Rovers academy player Justin Ferizaj, who he said had interest from Premier League clubs before eventually moving to Italian side Frosinone in 2023.
They were in Serie A at the time – since relegated – and it’s curious that the section of the interview relating to criticism of Rovers and League of Ireland clubs has since been removed from the original interview for the betting blog in question.
The 42 understands Harte was chastised privately over the inaccuracies in what he said and then rowed back on his comments, asking for that element of the article to be taken down as a result of the backlash that came his way.
Nevertheless, he made his point and it was one which Rovers head coach Bradley admitted almost left him lost for words.
“Sometimes something comes out in the media that doesn’t even warrant a response. I don’t know what to say to it. It’s incredible. Maybe the clubs should get together and we all agree, I’ll speak to Damien and see can we agree to let our players go for free, maybe. We’ll all agree to that, try to keep him happy. You are wasting your time responding to that, really.”
Regarding the specific case of Ferizaj and if top level clubs in England made an approach before being priced out, Bradley said: “No. Never ever happened. Incredible. Like I said, every fact in it was completely false.
“I’m not too sure where he got his info. Like I said, some things don’t even warrant a passionate response, because we are passed that, I think, as a league. The fans know it, we know it, you know it, the teams in England know it. We are passed that. That was probably here, I don’t know how long ago, but it’s not anymore.
“It’s really hard to give a measured response, or any type of response, to that article, because it is so wrong. Every fact in it was wrong. I’m not too sure what it was about, other than to try and grab a headline, which it obviously did. But it was madness.
“I think again we have just got to stay focused on what we are doing. What we are doing is really good and the product is getting better and better all the time,” Bradley said.
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“Don’t worry about people’s opinions. Everyone has an opinion. You are allowed an opinion. But you don’t have to listen to it. Especially when it’s like that. If there is some merit in it, some facts that you thought, that’s interesting, you have the conversation.
“But we have got to focus on what we are doing, and what we are doing is really good. We need to make it better, of course, we all know what we can do to make it better, we’ve been crying out for it and we need to keep banging the drum. But we are definitely on the right direction.
“There are also a lot of ex-internationals who are supportive of the league. You can’t forget that. Don’t get sucked into the negative narrative. That’s not what we should be about. We are doing a lot really well. Let’s just stay focused on that. The people who want to support the league, great. The ones that don’t, no problem. They have a right to voice that opinion. Like I said, we don’t have to listen to it or take it seriously. But they are allowed to have an opinion.”
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'I’d die for my players, I’m not sure how many agents out there would die for their players'
STEPHEN KENNY, Stephen Bradley and Damien Duff may be rivals for the Premier Division title this season, but the three most high-profile managers in the country put on a united front in defence of the League of Ireland this week.
On the back of Ian Harte’s comments that clubs here were “killing lads’ chances” of moving to England by demanding high transfer fees, the former Republic of Ireland international was derided by Kenny as “an empty vessel.”
There was an added element of personal criticism from Harte aimed towards the ex-Ireland manager, who he stated had “found his level” back in charge of St Patrick’s Athletic.
Speaking after the 1-1 draw with Shamrock Rovers last night, Shelbourne boss Duff made it clear how little focus or attention his old teammate’s words warranted. There is some confusion about Harte’s actual qualifications as he describes himself as an agent on one online profile but is then referred to as a scout on the website of UK-based agency Sports Management International.
Regardless, Duff’s disdain was clear. “The one thing I would say, and it’s no reflection on Ian, I played with Ian, I walk with a limp now because of Ian because I did always did his running for him, but I don’t like agents. I never have,” he told Off the Ball.
“You can near on count on one hand, maybe, the ones you can trust. So, when I hear an agent [say] ‘oh, I care about my players’. Do ye? You’re making money out of them at the end of the day.
“I care about my players, I’d die for my players, I’m not sure how many agents out there would die for their players. Here, never liked them, never will. It’s probably cost me the next window because no agents want to do business but I have a real dislike for them. End of story.”
Harte singled out the case of former Shamrock Rovers academy player Justin Ferizaj, who he said had interest from Premier League clubs before eventually moving to Italian side Frosinone in 2023.
They were in Serie A at the time – since relegated – and it’s curious that the section of the interview relating to criticism of Rovers and League of Ireland clubs has since been removed from the original interview for the betting blog in question.
The 42 understands Harte was chastised privately over the inaccuracies in what he said and then rowed back on his comments, asking for that element of the article to be taken down as a result of the backlash that came his way.
Nevertheless, he made his point and it was one which Rovers head coach Bradley admitted almost left him lost for words.
“Sometimes something comes out in the media that doesn’t even warrant a response. I don’t know what to say to it. It’s incredible. Maybe the clubs should get together and we all agree, I’ll speak to Damien and see can we agree to let our players go for free, maybe. We’ll all agree to that, try to keep him happy. You are wasting your time responding to that, really.”
Regarding the specific case of Ferizaj and if top level clubs in England made an approach before being priced out, Bradley said: “No. Never ever happened. Incredible. Like I said, every fact in it was completely false.
“I’m not too sure where he got his info. Like I said, some things don’t even warrant a passionate response, because we are passed that, I think, as a league. The fans know it, we know it, you know it, the teams in England know it. We are passed that. That was probably here, I don’t know how long ago, but it’s not anymore.
“It’s really hard to give a measured response, or any type of response, to that article, because it is so wrong. Every fact in it was wrong. I’m not too sure what it was about, other than to try and grab a headline, which it obviously did. But it was madness.
“I think again we have just got to stay focused on what we are doing. What we are doing is really good and the product is getting better and better all the time,” Bradley said.
“Don’t worry about people’s opinions. Everyone has an opinion. You are allowed an opinion. But you don’t have to listen to it. Especially when it’s like that. If there is some merit in it, some facts that you thought, that’s interesting, you have the conversation.
“But we have got to focus on what we are doing, and what we are doing is really good. We need to make it better, of course, we all know what we can do to make it better, we’ve been crying out for it and we need to keep banging the drum. But we are definitely on the right direction.
“There are also a lot of ex-internationals who are supportive of the league. You can’t forget that. Don’t get sucked into the negative narrative. That’s not what we should be about. We are doing a lot really well. Let’s just stay focused on that. The people who want to support the league, great. The ones that don’t, no problem. They have a right to voice that opinion. Like I said, we don’t have to listen to it or take it seriously. But they are allowed to have an opinion.”
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Backlash Damien Duff League of Ireland Soccer Stephen Bradley Stephen Kenny