ON THE DAY that England lost the Euro 2024 final to Spain, Jack Grealish was at Wimbledon.
His exclusion from Gareth Southgate’s tournament squad had not also led to a dramatic fall from grace at Manchester City.
The 29-year-old didn’t suddenly find himself scratching around with the League Two club.
Instead, Grealish was in the VIP seats at Centre Court in SW16 for the men’s final between Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic.
Sitting beside him was Republic of Ireland forward Callum Robinson.
The pair have been friends since they were 13 years old, coming through Aston Villa’s academy and starting on the path in professional football.
That their relationship has endured close to two decades is testament to its strength.
Both have faced challenges.
To begin with, Robinson looked more likely to emerge through England’s international system, representing his country of birth from U16 to U20 level.
Grealish, of course, was a key figure for Ireland from U17 to U21, before switching allegiance in 2016 when he had a decision to make: become a regular with Ireland under Martin O’Neill or drop into England’s U21s with a pathway to the senior side under Southgate there should hic club career progress as expected.
By 2021, Pep Guardiola brought him from Villa to City for a British record £100 million transfer.
Three years previously, Robinson made his senior debut for the Boys in Green while a Preston North End player. Six years on, he is now the top Irish scorer with nine goals among the current forwards in the squad. At 29, he is also the oldest.
“The years go quick,” he says.
And if the years, or their careers, played out differently than Robinson and Grealish could have been teammates when England come to Dublin for the Nations League clash on Saturday.
“We’ve made a career in the game and he’s gone on to do really really good stuff, and I’ve made a career for myself as well. It’s good, and it does feel probably good between us both that we’re playing at this level against each other in international football. It will be nice,” Robinson says.
“I’ve played for Ireland now since 2018, I know why I wanted to and the reasons why. I’m really looking forward to Saturday, for all the boys as well, the new gaffer coming in, it’s an exciting time, what better feeling that if we can get a result at the Aviva against England?”
Provided they are picked in the starting XI by interim boss Lee Carsley, Declan Rice and Grealish are likely to feel the ire of home supporters for obvious reasons.
“I don’t know what abuse he might get but I think he’ll be expecting it, I’ll be surprised if he doesn’t because I think he gets booed anywhere he goes, even in England, so I think he’ll be getting ready for a bit of abuse,” Robinson said.
“But listen, that’s part of it, that’s part of the game, and I think he’s old enough and being a senior player, that stuff is going to come. I don’t think there will be any change on Saturday, I think he’ll be getting it.”
Robinson missed the four friendly games earlier this year when John O’Shea was in interim charge. A combination of injury and a lack of form meant there was no place for the attacker now at Cardiff City.
For the first time in almost a year – his last appearance was the November 2023 defeat to the Netherlands – he is back in the mix with Ireland.
Stephen Kenny has been replaced by Heimir Hallgrímsson and Robinson reckons the new manager will reap the rewards of his predecessor’s policy of blooding youth.
“He left and that is part of football, it is about results, but for Irish football he has done the hard bit,” Robinson says.
Hallgrímsson had his first training session with the players on Monday and has carried out three team meetings to go through his plans before an on-pitch session yesterday morning. There was also another team meeting in the hotel last night.
“Bringing it back a little more solid defensively and being hard to beat,” Robinson said, when asked the general theme of the week.
“A lot of information has to be crammed in but, to be fair, that is normal with international football… We’re slowly getting to know what he wants from us.
“I don’t think the gaffer now is trying to run away from playing football because that is the way football is going at the moment. Everyone tries to play and we won’t be no different. But as I said earlier about being solid and hard to beat, and sometimes if it means going deeper and being solid defensively, but I still think playing wise we still have the ability,” Robinson said.
“When you’re playing teams like England and the top nations, let’s say, we don’t want to be naive. We want to go with a solid base and hope we can get a result on Saturday. I don’t think it’s far off, he’s just wanting us to be a bit more solid and hard to beat maybe.
“If you are trying to play expansive football you are obviously more spread out across the pitch. Yeah, I wouldn’t say that is the right way or the wrong way. We just have to try to have a blend when you’re playing teams like England and he’s been saying that in the meetings about having a solid base, but that when we get it try and play as well.
“It’s just getting that balance right because these nations like England, if you don’t they have a lot of quality and they can hurt you.”
Given that Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden and Cole Palmer are not available, Grealish will now likely be centre stage for England having spent the summer at Centre Court with Robinson.
