Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni has named a 24-man squad for the upcoming international
friendly against the Czech Republic in Dublin on February 29th.
Speaking after the squad announcement, the Irish boss said, "This game is the beginning of our Euro
2012 preparations.
"As we face this fixture, it is important for our players to remember the attitude and performance
that brought us qualification.
By Alan Duffy
Queens Park Rangers 3-1 Wigan Athletic Premier League 21 January 2012
After seeing his side produce an impressive performance against Wigan at Loftus Road on Saturday
afternoon, new QPR boss Mark Hughes surely wouldn't have cared what his players were Tweeting
about.
Manchester City finally ended their bad run and also kept their lead at the top of the premier
league after picking up a pretty hard fought victory against Wigan Athletic on Monday.
Bosnian international striker, Edin Dzeko, ended his 11th matches goal drought to bring joy
again for Man City's faithful after Roberto Mancini's side were disappointed in FA Cup and Carling
Cup matches few days ago.
The shock on their faces was there for everyone to see. From Conor Sammon's look of pure
surprise after netting the equalizer against West Ham on the season's final day, to Roberto
Martinez's delirious celebrations after Charles N'Zogbia's stoppage time winner, and the subsequent
final whistle, Wigan somehow seemed to have cheated death during the dramatic climax of last year's
edition of the Barclays Premier League.
Giovanni Trapattoni has included Shane Long in his 26-man Ireland squad to face Estonia in the Euro
2012 play-offs next month.
West Brom ruled Long out for 'up to six weeks' after he was injured by Alan Hutton's two-footed
lunge during the first half of their 2-1 Premier League win at Villa Park.
Trapattoni names crocked Long in Euro 2012 play-off squad
Wigan midfielder James McCarthy and Stoke striker Jon Walters also make the 26-strong group
View the full story here: The Mirror
A news article on 2011-10-28 10:21:51 from: The Mirror
This news item has been reproduced from today's media.
By Alan Duffy
Aston Villa 2-0 Wigan Athletic Premier League 1st October 2011
Fleet-footed attacker Gabriel Agbonlahor must surely be in line for a recall to the England
squad after another superb and speedy performance on Saturday.
Wigan had no answer to the forward's pace, with Agbonlahor scoring one and providing the assist
for the second (converted by Darren Bent).
It's just under five months since Wigan were last at Villa Park and they've proven to be
something of a bogey team for us in our limited history of playing them. This will only be the 7th
time this league fixture has been played, but we're yet to win one. The pattern so far is LDLDLD;
clearly we need to break that pattern one way or another today.
Premier League. Saturday 24th September 2011. DW Stadium. 3pm Kick Off.
Wigan. A team that have been struggling and scrapping around the bottom of the table since their
impressive start to their Premier League life. Wigan. A team that Spurs destroyed 9-1 at White Hart
Lane in 2009.
Noel King has named his Ireland squad for the forthcoming UEFA Under-21 Championships qualifiers
against Hungary and Turkey.
Ireland will host Hungary at the Showgrounds, Sligo, on Thursday, September 1st and then travel to
Manisa on Tuesday, September 6
King has included 15 of the players who featured in a 2-1 friendly victory over Austria at the
Showgrounds earlier this month.
Roberto Martinez has confirmed Wigan have opened contract talks with highly-rated midfielder
James McCarthy.
James McCarthy set to sign new contract at Wigan
Wigan's James McCarthy, 20, will commit his future to the club by signing a five-year contract
this week. The Republic of Ireland midfielder has interested Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool.
View the full story here: The Mail
A news article on 2011-08-16 22:59:24 from: The Mail
This news item has been reproduced from today's media.
Liverpool is preparing a bid for Wigan Athletic midfielder James McCarthy after a lack of progress
in his contract talks with the Latics, according to The Daily Mirror.
As exclusively revealed by Goal.com back in May, the Anfield club is interested in bringing in the
Ireland international to continue their policy of building a squad based on young British talent.
Liverpool prepare bid for Wigan midfielder James McCarthy report
The Republic of Ireland international has seen contact talks at the DW Stadium stall and the
Reds head the list of clubs ready to come in for the talented youngster
View the full story here: Goal
A news article on 2011-07-30 09:16:00 from: Goal
This news item has been reproduced from today's media.
James McCarthy's talks with Wigan break down
Contract talks between James McCarthy and Wigan have broken down alerting Arsenal, Liverpool and
Chelsea. The 20-year-old is rated at £15million by Wigan.
View the full story here: The Mail
A news article on 2011-07-28 21:13:34 from: The Mail
This news item has been reproduced from today's media.
Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea watch £20m James McCarthy THE INSIDER
Simon Jones is Sportsmail's man on the inside of all the major transfer moves. His column offers
an insight into the deals which will be done and those that won't.
View the full story here: The Mail
A news article on 2011-07-25 11:59:45 from: The Mail
This news item has been reproduced from today's media.
By Chris Wright
In no particular order, Pies brings you a run-down of ten of the brightest young buttons on the
Premier League's tweed waistcoat (to coin a phrase) for you to keep your peepers fixated on next
season...
1. James McCarthy, 20, Wigan
His classy, mature style has already made him a first-team regular and a crowd favourite at the
DW.
Ireland captain Robbie Keane has been passed fit for the Euro 2012 qualifier against Macedonia in
Skopje on Saturday night.
Keane, who suffered a groin injury during a training session on Thursday, will partner Simon Cox in
attack.
Darren O'Dea starts in defence along with Stephen Kelly, John O'Shea and Kevin Kilbane.
Kenny Dalglish wants Jordan Henderson to be the new, young English face of Liverpool.
Liverpool's £13million offer for Henderson underlines the shift in transfer policy at Anfield
towards buying young and buying British.
Fenway Sports Group were shocked by the Reds' bloated wage bill when they took over last autumn and
the Americans felt the squad was carrying too much dead wood.
Wigan midfielder James McCarthy is edging closer to a move to Liverpool when the summer transfer
window opens for business according to Chairman Dave Whelan.
McCarthy has been in impressive form for the Latics since his £1.2million move from Hamilton
Academical in 2009.
The 20-year-old has been on the radar of Kop boss Kenny Dalglish and Liverpool's director of
football Damien Comolli for the past few months now an a move is looking likely to be on the cards.
Ireland captain Robbie Keane has warned players to commit fully to Irelands cause or not play at
all.
Keane has been bemused by the high number of players who have pulled out from international duty
for the Carling Nations Cup this past week.
Ireland have had plenty of problems with mystery initially surrounding the failure of James
McCarthy, Jon Walters and Marc Wilson to report for duty.
Liverpool is closing in on making James McCarthy their first summer signing after the midfielder
told Wigan Athletic he has his heart set on a move to Anfield, Goal.com can reveal.
Kenny Dalglish is a huge admirer of the 20-year-old and the Reds are believed to be willing to
spend as much as £10 million to land one of the brightest prospects in the Premier League.
Tweet
Below is a summary of tweets from May 22nd, 2011
@: kop_that: Liverpool iron-man Skrtel has not missed a minute this season thanks to his guiding
principle veni, vidi, vici http://bit.ly/jhywY4 #LFC
21 May 11 22:19
@: kop_that: Wilshere and Carroll are OUT of the England U-21 squad http://bit.
Wigan Athletic midfielder James McCarthy is a summer transfer target for Liverpool according to
Setanta Sports.
The highly rated Republic of Ireland international has caught the eye with a number of fine
performances for the Latics since his 2009 move from Scottish side Hamilton Academicals.
Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish is said to be a big fan of the 20-year-old star, who previously
turned down the chance to move to Anfield, and instead opted to cut his Barclays Premier League
teeth with Roberto Martinez's side.
Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish is ready to win the race for Ipswich hot-shot Connor Wickham – and
beat old pal Harry Redknapp to his signature.
Wickham has just signed a new deal at Portman Road, but that will not stop a transfer going through
if Liverpool come up with the asking price of around £10million.
The former FA compliance officer, Graham Bean, claims the FA is guilty of making an example out
of Sir Alex Ferguson because of his and the club's high profile.
Ferguson was fined £30,000 and given a three match ban, on top of his suspended sentence of two
matches, for saying that he wanted a "fair referee" after Martin Atkinson yet again made wrong
decisions in a game between United and Chelsea which changed the result of the game.
It's believed that Liverpool is poised to beat Chelsea to the signing of James McCarthy this
summer.
The Reds tried to sign the midfielder a few years ago but Rafa Benitez's attempts to land the then
16 year old failed as he decided to stay with Hamilton at the time.
McCarthy eventually left the Scottish side to sign for Wigan and has made such an impact in his
short time with the Premier League strugglers that Chelsea are believed to have failed with a £7m
offer in January however they'll return with an improved offer in the summer.
Ireland moved joint top of their Euro 2012 qualifying group with a hard-fought 2-1 win over
Macedonia at the Aviva Stadium.
Aiden McGeady's first international goal put Ireland ahead in the second minute and Robbie Keane
added a second from close range midway through the half.
Macedonia responded just before half-time when Ivan Trichkovski deceived Richard Dunne and slotted
past Keiren Westwood.
Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish wants to beat Chelsea to the signing of Wigan star James McCarthy –
the one who got away from Anfield.
Dalglish is determined to land Glasgow-born Ireland starlet McCarthy as part of a major summer
overhaul.
And the legendary manager thinks that he can persuade McCarthy to pick Merseyside ahead of London
for his next move, which looks increasingly like coming at the end of the season.
Keiren Westwood, Darren O'Dea and Kevin Foley will all make competitive debuts for Ireland in
Saturday's Euro 2012 qualifier against Macedonia.
Coventry keeper Westwood was always going to come in for the injured Shay Given to win his sixth
senior cap, while Wolves defender Foley takes over from John O'Shea at right-back.
By Tony Attwood Consider Mark Clattenburg. He is 35, and one of 16 select group officials that
run EPL games. He is the guy who failed to punish Wayne Rooney for the elbow against Wigan
Athletic's James McCarthy. Then he gave Fulham a penalty against Blackburn Rovers that not
everyone was convinced by.
