Away from home: It wasn't, to say the least, a great week for the Irish at Wolves, although young Keith Andrews would probably have happily swapped his woes for any of those of his compatriots.
The 22-year-old Dubliner started only his third game of the season against Southampton in the FA Cup the Sunday before last, replacing the suspended Paul Ince in midfield, but was stretchered off after an hour. On Monday an X-ray confirmed that he had suffered a broken fibula and will miss the rest of the season - to add to the sizable chunk of last season he missed with a knee-ligament injury.
Then there was Mark Kennedy, left out of Brian Kerr's Irish squad, and Paul Butler, already a target of abuse this season at Molineux, where they haven't been overly impressed with his form. His own goal against Southampton didn't do much to help his cause, and then he suffered a head injury against Reading on Wednesday, forcing him to miss Saturday's defeat by Portsmouth.
And, just to complete the sorry tale, the club announced last week that it will be releasing Graham Ward and Kenny Coleman (who has spent most of the season on loan at Kidderminster) at the end of the season, having decided not to offer them new contracts. Ward captained the Irish under-20s at the recent tournament in the United Arab Emirates and has featured in Kerr's teams since under-16 level. Denis Irwin must be wondering if it's his turn next for some bad news.
Words of wisdom
Can it only be three weeks since we declared: it will be a sad, sad day for Planet Football's Quotes of the Week section when/if Sunderland decide that Howard Wilkinson isn't, after all, the man to lead them to the promised land? It is.
Grief-stricken is the only way to describe how we felt when Sunderland did the dirty deed last week. Still, we should be grateful for the gems Howard gave us during his brief reign at the Stadium of (would somebody turn on the) Light: "I see bright and exciting times ahead for Sunderland Football Club and its supporters." "Relegations don't do anybody any good." "(Trying to get out of relegation trouble is like) trying to push custard up a hill." "It's not easy to sit here with a temperature and a thumping head and be belle of the ball and play the tambourine." "Kevin Phillips has gone from 'Golden Boot' to 'rubber wellies'." "We did not deserve to lose today - we weren't beaten, we lost." "When I arrived, Tore Andre Flo was like a baby giraffe who'd just popped out on to the veldt, but he's got stronger." "I'm not going to come in here playing the banjo and singing Waltzing Matilda." Come back soon, Howard.
Guessing game
We were, of course, sad to learn last week of Ronaldo's marital difficulties, with rumours abounding that he and his wife, Milene, are soon to divorce.
Whether the revelations of Viviane Brunieri, which we read in the Observer, have anything to do with it we're not sure. Back in January the Brazilian model announced that she was six months pregnant with Ronaldo's child but has now admitted that Rivaldo could be the father. Or Denilson. Or a "high profile Japanese businessman". Or a "well-known Brazilian industrialist".
There's only one word for women like Viviane Brunieri: busy.
Quotes of the week
"This club is very much like an Ireland team - we drink a lot and run around like nutters."
- Jason McAteer, assuring Mick McCarthy that he'll feel at home at Sunderland.
"I am at the same time, comic and dramatic, like Robbie Williams."
- Paolo Di Canio. Good God.
"If they don't win today I will have their balls in my salad."
- Maurizio Zamparini, president of Italian Serie B side Palermo . . . who drew 2-2 with Livorno. Who needs croutons, eh?
"People can say what they want about me not speaking to the telly, but I did speak to them, and to the press and the radio, to tell them that after that particular game I wasn't going to say anything."
- Graham Taylor. Do we not understand that?
"Not only is Kevin Keegan right up there with the Arsene Wengers and Alex Fergusons in terms of Premiership managers but he is also a shrewd businessman."
- It's the way John Wardle (Manchester City acting chairman) tells 'em.
"The period since Christmas has been catastrophic - it has been terrible, terrible, terrible."
- Marcel Desailly, suggesting that Chelsea's recent form hasn't been ideal.
Airing differences
Spare a thought for that section of England's support that insists on loudly booing the national anthems of opposing teams before internationals. As delectably noted by the Sunday Times yesterday, this lot will have a hellish dilemma when England play Liechtenstein later this month.
Why? Because Liechtenstein's anthem, as you might remember from past encounters with the Republic of Ireland, has precisely the same air as God Save the Queen.
Book of the month
The London Evening Standard's Martin Chilton was browsing through the latest batch of football books to hit the market and took a particular shine to Sport, Media, Culture: Global and Local Dimensions, not least because it contains a chapter that goes by the title of: "From Pigs' Bladders to Ferraris: Media Discourses of Masculinity and Morality in Obituaries of Stanley Matthews".
And there were you thinking Harry Potter would stay top of the bestsellers' list forever. Form an orderly queue.
More quotes of the week
"If Mick McCarthy can get a result with that midfield - Proctor, Williams, Thornton and Gray - he is a miracle worker."
- Sky Sports' Chris Kamara before Sunderland's game on Saturday, in which no miracles were witnessed.
"I almost walked away. I thought to myself: 'you've bought a club in the back of beyond, with Nanouk the Eskimo as your nearest neighbour, and it's a shambles - do you really need this?'"
- Irishman John Courtenay, living it up at Carlisle United, where he is chairman.
"I prefer the new Roy. He's calmed down a lot now. He's much easier - maybe he should have the other hip done."
- Referee Paul Durkan on the all-new serene Mr Keane.
"Even if I scored 50 goals for West Ham, they would not want me."
- Ah, they probably would Paolo (Di Canio), they probably would.
"Someone asked me which of the two sides would win today and I said we would have won 1-0. The bloke said: 'Why only 1-0' and I replied: 'Well most of our lads are 58 years of age'."
- Chelsea old-boy Ron Harris on the likely outcome of a match between the club's 1970s and current team.
