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Ireland and Bulgaria together? And so Bulgaria are in position to qualify for Group B in the Euro Nations League and, if Ireland progress under new manager Heimir Hallgrímsson, they will stay in Group B leaving open the possibility of them appearing in the same group. That would be nice for me. The great Jimmy Greaves could have played for Ireland After years of both teams going downhill I hope they are on an upward curve. Of course if Bulgaria stay in Group C and Ireland drop out of Group B then it will be the same. It would be better if we are in the higher group, though. Do internationals matter? I remember when the Irish team mattered more to me than Arsenal, the great years when we qualified for major tournaments with far smaller numbers of teams allowed. The whole nation would go crazy. I guess, from talking to so many Bulgarians that they feel the same about their golden generation in the ‘90’s and the incredible semifinal in 1994. And when I came here in the 2000’s, Dimitar Berbatov, Stilyan Petrov and Martin Petrov, among others, were plying their trade at the top level. Hristo Stoichkov is an all time great. Hristo Stoichkov - the greatest ever Bulgarian footballer? I feel that those days will never come back for any international team as they seem to have dropped in importance and not just in Ireland and Bulgaria because the teams are struggling. It am not sure why but I suspect that increasing the numbers qualifying was a bad move. Too many teams qualify making it less of an achievement and the tournaments have too many games with a lot of the matches not so important. It goes on too long. Odegaard: Those nuisance internationals have knocked out our best player? With Calafiori and now Odegaard out for Arsenal means that crucial players are lost at a time when internationals have lost their importance. That annoys fans. Let’s hope the rest of ours stay fit. The snakes returned to Ireland I guess some of you were wondering why Declan Rice got booed in Ireland every time he got the ball? It is because he played all the way through the junior teams and even 3 full internationals for Ireland, albeit friendlies before declaring for England. Jack Grealish did similar and got booed as well. It is like you watching good players come through Bulgaria and then switching to a bigger country. There is little doubt that money played a big part in their decisions. Do you know how many of the current English team have Irish passports? Jude Bellingham, Anthony Gordon, Harry Maguire, Harry Kane, Conor Gallagher, Reece James, Kalvin Philips, James Maddison and the other two mentioned above. How many Irish fans view Grealish and Rice In the case of Kane and Bellingham, it means they are EU citizens and don’t cause any player problems regarding visas etc. But those ten playing for Ireland would dramatically strengthen Ireland. Of course, Ireland have had part English players for a long time but having looked down the list since I started supporting Arsenal in 1969 I believe that only Steve Heighway and Mark Lawrenson (both Liverpool) were pretty certain to have become England regulars. Heighway was born in Dublin to English parents and moved to England very young. He never considered himself Irish. He didn’t play professionally until his 20’s and was approached by Ireland. He went on to win everything with the first great Liverpool team of the ‘70’s. Some top English players had Irish roots Mark Lawrenson was playing for Brighton in the second division when he was called up for Ireland having given up on getting a chance with England. He got a transfer to Liverpool and again won everything with their second great team in the ‘80’s. England ignored both because they were playing for small teams. Top players such as Kevin Keegan, Paul Scholes, Paul Gascoigne, Martin Keown, Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard, Jimmy Greaves and many others could have played for Ireland. England have not lost out to Ireland but Ireland lost out to England Besides Lawrenson and Heighway, it is possible that some who declared for Ireland may have got England caps, maybe Kevin Kilbane or Andy Townsend but I doubt it. To sum up, Ireland have not weakened England the way they have weakened us. Mark Lawrenson would surely have got many caps for England The thing is that top Irish young players usually go to English academies. The three stand outs for Arsenal are Liam Brady, David O’Leary and Frank Stapleton. They went as kids in the ‘70’s. O’Leary happened to be born in London but they moved back when he was very young. He was never a candidate to play for England. But all three would surely have been England regulars. Easy to become English, too There is a anomaly regarding Irish people. It is very easy to get English citizenship if you live in England. We have a bilateral agreement that makes it easy. Nowadays would a young Liam Brady have declared for England? My point with this is that nowadays agents could approach the likes of Brady and Stapleton (who came at 15) or similar and say wait for 3 to 5 years and you could get an English passport. You can play for the youth sides and then switch. You will make more money playing for England than Ireland. And we wouldn’t even get the top players we get nowadays. Could it happen across Europe? Will that start happening at the big countries where young footballers come to the academies? Most countries have a residency period after which you can become a citizen. Players can be told to wait before declaring or, play for the young teams of their home country knowing that they will switch when their citizenship comes through if the big country wants them. Small countries would lose out. Messi may not have been an Argentinian star but Spanish. Have you noticed the amount of Kosovan and Turkish players declare for big countries? Martin Keown could also have played for Ireland This will make the small countries even weaker. It will happen as agents are now the agents for change in football. They want their percentage and they want it now. A transfer to a big club before they are ready? No problem. Wait for citizenship so the agents can make more money? No problem. But without big stars in the small countries interest in international football will die even more. One answer may be to ban players from switching and I feel that is the best solution, it will force players to decide who they are most likely to get games for. Is there a good side to international football? It will happen and probably already is. Will anything be done? I don’t think so. Does it matter? Yes it does. The club system divides countries, the international system unites them. The biggest example being Scotland where possibly the bitterest rivalry in world football is in Glasgow between Celtic and Rangers. Check out the lyrics to Rangers Billy Boys song if you don’t believe me. Yet for a long time the Scottish national team was comprised mainly of players from these two teams who often formed strong bonds. Steve Heighway, a true Englishman, should probably have never played for Ireland For Arsenal fans they will cheer on Lineker, Gascoigne, Hoddle, Kane and so on when they play for England and the Spuds fans the reverse for Saka, Rice, Wright and Adams. This is the good part of international football. It unites fans. I don’t want to see it die but my days of watching lots of international matches are over. I find it hard to summon up the enthusiasm. A slow death could be the outcome unless action is taken. And for me, smaller competitive tournaments could help. Qualifying could once again be a good triumph for small nations. Big, bloated events thousands of miles apart that make it near impossible for fans to be able to follow their teams are surely crazy? Or maybe it is me that is crazy?