Bohemains and Ireland U-21 full-back Brian Shelley this afternoon criticised newspaper reports linking him with an imminent move to English Third Division side Carlisle United.
Shelley and Bohs team-mate Trevor Molloy were invited to England by Roddy Collins, their former boss at Dalymount Park and now manager of Carlisle, and the pair watched from the stands as former Shelbourne striker Richie Foran helped the homeside to a 6-1 victory over Leyton Orient.
The Bohs duo were panned in the press for heading over without the knowledge of their current employers, but Shelley today defended the decision to go.
"We did nothing wrong," he said, "it's all been blown out of proportion. Bohs gave me the weekend off and Roddy invited me over to have a look round. My contract with Bohs expires in the summer and they haven't offered me a new one, so I went over just to keep my options open."
"But there was no question of me signing any time soon - all those quotes and stories that were attributed to me must have come from third parties because no one from the press bothered to ring me to hear the true version."
Shelley admitted he was embarrassed that current Bohs manager Stephen Kenny only found out about the trip through the media and said he has already met with Kenny and apologised.
"I apologised to Stephen over the way it was presented in the papers" he said, "and assured him if ever anything is happening he'll be the first to know. I'm still a Bohs player and very happy to be so. I hope I can sit down with the club over the next few weeks to discuss a contract."
Asked of his impressions of Carlisle, Shelley was fairly non-committal, saying simply: "it wasn't bad. They've got a nice ground, and the training facilities are of the same high standard as Bohs."
And the playing standard? "Well, I'd say, there's a few clubs over here who'd survive well over there."