SOCCER UNDER-21 NEWS:DON GIVENS has admitted Keith Treacy has been returned to international exile for another breach of discipline with the Ireland under-21 squad.
Treacy (21) has been omitted from Givens’s squad for next week’s Uefa Under-21 Championship qualifiers in Georgia and Armenia. The Blackburn winger, on loan at Sheffield United, had been recalled for last month’s double-header against Georgia and Switzerland after a previous indiscretion.
But the young Dubliner failed to impress Givens after an alleged breach of curfew following the opening fixture against the Georgians in Tallaght.
Treacy had been one of the most impressive Ireland players in that fixture but was then dropped to the bench for the following game against Switzerland four days later.
The winger is understood to have been with a small group of players that failed to return to the team hotel at the appointed time.
“The situation has been dealt with in-house and I won’t be commenting on it directly. It’s been dealt with and I’d rather leave it at that,” said Givens.
“I will say that Keith has been left out of the squad as his attitude isn’t right at present. It wasn’t before and it needs to be right if we are to look at him again further down the line.”
Since taking the reins with the Ireland under-21s 10 years ago Givens has always taken a hard-line approach to discipline with his young players.
He has been criticised for the number of disputes he has had with prodigious talents including Stephen Ireland, Anthony Stokes and Andy Reid.
However, the former Manchester United and QPR striker is adamant his no-nonsense attitude is in the best interest of the players themselves.
“I don’t run the squad with an iron fist but I’m trying to instil good professional habits with these young players that will stand them in good stead with their club careers, let alone their international futures,” he said.
“I know what club managers want to work with and that’s professional players who will behave in the right manner.
“It surprises me that people who’ve never even seen the under-21 team play can find it very easy to criticise how I pick the squad. “We played in Tallaght last month and I didn’t see the people who were writing about me this week at that game.
“Obviously people can be busy working ahead of the senior games but there’s little excuse for missing the team play a match in Dublin.”
Defenders Brendan Moloney and Ian Bermingham have had to pull out of next weeks’ fixtures while Kevin Long (Cork City) and Graham Carey (Celtic) have been called in as replacements.
