From Brendan Crossan in Abbotstown
REPUBLIC of Ireland striker Callum Robinson says his childhood friend Jack Grealish can expect a hot reception in Dublin on Saturday night – and believes former England boss Gareth Southgate made a mistake by not bringing his former Aston Villa team-mate to Euro 2024.
Both Robinson and Grealish’s friendship stretches back to when the pair were young hopefuls at Villa.
Both with Irish grandparents, Grealish went on to represent Ireland at underage level while Robinson played for England at U16 to U20.
By a strange quirk of fate, they swapped international allegiances at senior level, with Grealish incurring the wrath of many Ireland fans by opting for England in 2016, while Robinson committed to Ireland two years later.
The pair remain firm friends.
Robinson, who didn’t feature under John O’Shea’s interim regime earlier this year due to injuries and a lack of game-time at club level, smiled when asked what Grealish can expect from a packed Aviva Stadium in Saturday evening’s Uefa Nations Cup opener.
“I don’t know what abuse he might get, but I think he’ll be expecting it,” said the 29-year-old Cardiff City striker.
“I’ll be surprised if he doesn’t because I think he gets booed everywhere he goes, even in England so I think he’ll be getting ready for a bit of abuse.
“But listen, that’s part of the game, and I think he’s old enough and being a senior player, that stuff is going to come. He gets it in Premier League games. I don’t think there will be any change on Saturday, I think he’ll be getting it.”
The enigmatic Grealish has had mixed club and international career. His form dipped significantly last season which prompted Southgate to omit him from his Euro 2024 squad bound for Germany.
Even though England reached the Euro final in Berlin, Robinson maintains it was a strange decision that Grealish wasn’t included.”I was [surprised] and not just because he’s a close friend. I’ll be honest, I thought he’d bring something different to that squad on and off the pitch as well.
“Off the pitch, he’s been part of that squad for four or five years now, and he’s a character. I think with tournament football that’s big off the pitch, but on it as well, he’d probably bring something a bit different.
“England probably didn’t have the best of tournaments, playing-wise, but listen, they got to the final and that’s the qualities of the players they do have but I do think he probably would have helped in a different way.”
Robinson returns to the international fold after a year away and feels that Ireland are in a good place, thanks to the foundations dug by former boss Stephen Kenny.
“Stephen Kenny did such a good job, I think, as he brought all these young players through,” said Robinson who is currently Ireland’s top scorer with nine goals.
“He left and that is part of football, it is about results. But for Irish football he has done the hard bit.
“You see now, Adam [Idah] at Celtic is playing, Troy [Parrott] is playing, Jayson Molumby is playing. All these players who were young are now a big part of the team.
“There is a good sprinkle of older lads as well. That is key to have the senior lads - myself, Alan Browne, ‘Docs’ [Matt Doherty], Seamus [Coleman], Robbie [Brady] - to help the young lads because there is a lot of quality.
“With a new manager coming in he has young lads with 20, 25 caps already. So maybe it is a good time. It’s a big challenge but we look forward to it.”
Robinson has started just one of Cardiff City’s four Championship matches this season – but scored coming off the bench in his side’s 1-1 draw with Welsh rivals Swansea City.
Robinson was nearly always an automatic starter under Kenny, but the 29-year-old Northampton-born striker returns to the Irish squad facing stiff competition for minutes under new boss Heimir Hallgrimsson.
Sammie Szmodics, who scored 27 goals for Blackburn Rovers last season which earned him a move to Premier League new boys Ipswich, was the best performer in Ireland’s last four games under O’Shea.
Evan Ferguson has suffered a few blips at club and international level - but probably remains first choice while Tory Parrott, Chiedozie Ogbene and Adam Idah will be jockeying for the forward berths against England and Greece.
“Sammie is obviously doing really well the last two years, goals-wise,” Robinson said.
“Adam brings something different and he had a good end of the season with Celtic and now he’s moved there, and ‘TP’ [Troy Parrott] moved in the summer [to Holland].
“We’ve got a good group of forward players and with my experience as well playing for quite a long time, I like to help the boys in positive ways. I’m quite a positive person on and off the pitch.”
Meanwhile, defenders Seamus Coleman and Andrew Omobamidele sat out yesterday’s training session but are hopeful of resuming at Abbotstown later today.