Ronnie O'Brien I don't know that much about the guy but it seems he isn't that good. i mean he got released by middlesboro, managed to blag a 5year contract with juventus (worth about a million pounds!!) thanks to paul merson, they farmed him to zurich, he returned briefly to a lower division english club, moved onto to the SPL, dundee i think, got released again and is now plying his trde in the states. and he's only about 23/24.
Re: Ronnie O'Brien I saw him play a few times this year in MLS with Dallas, he did quite well. I think he scored on his debut.
Re: Re: Ronnie O'Brien For Ireland! Phelan plays in the A-League with Richmond (I think) not MLS. A-League is lower than MLS. I would rate MLS the same level of play as Division 1 in England and A-League like Division 2.
Re: Ronnie O'Brien Not quite right - Boro wanted to keep him but he moved to Juve when his contract expired. He wasn't released from Juventus either - he asked to be released from his contract there after 3 years...Lippi apparently did see a fairly promising future for him in his squad but he wanted him to get one more year's experience playing in Italy this time, with a Serie B or C club. Ronnie reckoned he'd heard that before so asked to leave and moved to Dallas Burn, where he's doing quite well from what I hear. He seems to be one of these players who's talented enough to make it in any league but is held back by his own laziness/lack of concentration...
Re: Re: Ronnie O'Brien That's not quite right either. I remember at the time Brian Robson saying that he was being released from Boro because he thought that he wasn't of a high enough standard. robbo then got slated by the Boro fans because (a) he publicly said he was a bad player - which is just rude (b) he couldn't have been that bad if juve signed him - which reflected on robbo as a manager. boro weren't doing too well at the time and it was another nail in his coffin paul merson (ex-arsenal, now portsmouth) was at Boro at the time and thought ronnie had talent, he then arranged for his agent to send a video of ronnie to italy. ronnie (whose nickname is pele!) had a successful trial and was offered a 5 year contract. he did play once or twice for the first team, pre-season friendlies if i recall. i also remember edgar davids saying that he thought he was a good player and one for the future. unfortunately he's slipped by the wayside. we'd need an input from our MLS friends for an update on how he's doing now.
Re: Re: Re: Ronnie O'Brien I heard juve put him out on loan to several clubs as they werent impressed, he didnt impress with a swiss club (cant remember which) and made something like 13 starts in 2 seasons with dundee unt, struggling with relegation at the time. Doesnt sound much like an international player lads.