Keith Andrews has made a striking admission as to the extent of the breakdown in terms of squad harmony between the Irish players at Euro 2012.
It was clear to see that there was more at play than just being outclassed by the opposition in Ireland's three group games that most Irish fans have been trying their best to forget in the run-up to a tournament that we are approaching with much more cautious optimism than the overwhelming sense of belief that preceded the tournament in Poland and Ukraine, and without wanting to use it as an excuse, Andrews has revealed that the players had suffered from cabin fever due to the arrangements that were made.
[soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/265085791" params="auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true" width="100%" height="450" iframe="true" /]
Speaking to Sky Sports, Andrews claimed that the players couldn't stand the sight of each by the time the tournament was set to kick off, but he suggested that Ireland will learn from the disaster four years previous.
There was a little bit of cabin fever for us by the time we got to Poland.
We just spent too much time together. We were a group that got on well, a close knit bunch, but the time the tournament started, we couldn’t stand the sights of each other.
It is a fine line between how much training you do, getting a bit of time off. You need a bit of a release to see family or friends, or go for a game of golf. Whatever it is just to break it up a little bit.
It was not an excuse for how we performed over there. We had a tough group…Spain and Italy contested the final and they were in our group, so the odds were against us. In terms of the performances, we were not at the race, but you need happy players if you are going to get good performances.
There is a large portion of that squad left from 2012 and they will be telling the management staff of Martin O’Neill and Roy Keane about the difficulties we faced four years ago. You have to learn from previous tournaments and I’m sure Martin and Roy will do that.
Let's hope so!
Down the years you always got the feeling that the Irish squad was always a really close bunch, so for relations to completely break down before a ball was kicked is seriously alarming.
Thankfully, all the signs so far are pointing to positive changes and the correct care being taken regarding the logistics this time around, so factoring that into our expectations, a semi-final appearance should be grand.
Good stuff.
