Stephen Ireland

Steve is a jack-in-the-box playmaker, who is always on the look-out for the next defence-splitting pass, he bristles with youthful brio on the pitch. He is never happier than when a ball is at his feet. Brought into the team by Kevin Keegan, the former blues chief spoke in glowing terms about the youngster and rewarded him with a trip to Middlesbrough before Christmas 2004.

Off the field Stephen could often be seen as more introverted, almost as if he was wrestling to come to terms with the progress he made. At the start of his City career mingling with household names such as Steve McManaman, David James and Robbie Fowler took some getting used to. He got a couple of faulty starts including a pink wheeled drive and the nickname "Daddy Dick" on his bebo-page. Even when he was drafted into the Irish national team he found it difficult to adapt. On the field it was all glory for the young man. 4 goals in 6 games was hefty especially since they all came in EC qualifying games. Off the field it seemed to be a different matter. The infamous story about him constructing the "death" of no less than two grandmothers (still alive and kicking mind you) to get out of a gathering with the Irish national team in September 2007 did nothing good to his reputation as soon as the media got a sniff of what had happend. The truth was that Stephen lied about the death of his grandmother(s) in order to get off to visit his girlfriend in Cork, who had suffered a miscarriage.

The faulty starts to his career makes the progress he has made since even more astonishing. His journey from ridicule to respect has been all on his own doing. It started with the 1-8 defeat to Middlesbrough at the end of the 2007-08 season when Stephen realised that something had to be done. This resulted in a self indulged summer boot camp with basis in martial arts and fitness training. Together with his own personal black-belt coach, Stephen used the summer of 2008 extremely well and got back super-fit before the 2008-09 season. He became the unsuspected hit in a City-team in extreme makeover following the Arab takeover. 13 goals in all competitions and 10 assists in the Premier League that season made him respected as one of the finest midfielders in the League. The question now is how long he can endure the increasing shouts for him to rejoin the Irish national team.

Playing Record:

Season:	Club:	LEA	LEG	FCA	FCG	LCA	LCG	ECA	ECG	TOA	TOG
2004-2005	Manchester City	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2005-2006	Manchester City	24	0	3	0	1	0	0	0	28	0
2006-2007	Manchester City	24	1	4	2	1	0	0	0	29	1
2007-2008	Manchester City	33	4	3	0	3	0	0	0	39	4
2008-2009	Manchester City	35	9	0	0	1	1	14	3	50	13
Total:		116	14	10	2	6	1	14	3	146	20

LA = League Attendances. LG = League Goals.
FCA = FA Cup Attendances. FCG = FA Cup Goals.
LCA = League Cup Attendances. LCG = League Cup Goals.
ECA = European Cup Attendances. ECG = European Cup Goals.
TOA = Total Attendances. TOG = Total Goals