Thursday 28 May 2009

New Ireland deal

Wonderful news from the club today: Player of the Year Stephen Ireland has signed a new five year contract. He is now contracted until 2014 - longer than anyone else at the club. (Shay Given, Craig Bellamy, Pablo Zabaleta, Micah Richards, Joe Hart and Michael Johnson all have deals expiring in 2013.) Ireland said:
"It was something that I've been worrying about for a few months but now it's done I can enjoy the summer. I never had any doubts about staying. Regardless, I was going to be here, and hopefully for the remainder of my career. I don't see why not. I really want to become a hero here, to hopefully achieve things.

"I'm settled here - I love the club, I love the fans, and I don't see what's going to make me leave this club. These are very exciting times. It's going to be interesting just to see what the line-up will be at the start of next season and how far we can push on. Hopefully we can compete for the title and get back into Europe."

I'll write more about how awesome Stephen Ireland is when I do my end of season awards (sorry to ruin the suspense...), which will be next time I find some spare time from revision.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Both Ireland and Robinho have talked about competing for the title next season. Makes you wonder whether they've got wind of some big moves that the club are planning in the market over the summer.

Talk of the title is VERY ambitious - not really possible in this short space of time. But definitely I think the club, internally, has more ambitious targets than those they're talking about in the public domain - top 4, depending on the signings. Very sensibly, they're not saying that in public, as it would put intense pressure on the players and management.

jackblue said...

Wonderful news from Superman best signing of this window without doubt.

Also it was interesting to read Robinho's comments on his website:

"He is very happy and proud to play in a club that has such wonderful followers."

Tim Kelsall said...

Enough of the premiership - time to focus on the Norrington Table young man

Anonymous said...

Likewise, I'm delighted that SuperSteve has signed up. He did have a disappointing season under Sven and I wouldn't have batted an eyelid had he gone to Sunderland on the strength (weaknesses?) of that season's performances.

But fair play to him, he recognised that he had been below par and knuckled down to getting himself in top condition. A credit to the club for sticking by him and all credit to Jimmy Frizzell for recognising the potential.

Wigan Blue said...

Even under Stuart Pearce, Stevie was showing tantalising glimpses of having excellent ability to read the game. He was compared unfavourably with Michael Johnson, which was a bit unfair as MJ had a fixed role while SI had a roving commission. He's now discovered where he excels, and knows where he has to improve, and of course he did that in spades at the start of the season.

Now, with pass completion figures second only to Elano's, he has the chance to become one of our all-time greats. So this truly is great news...