Irish grannies are owed an immense amount of credit for the success of Irish football in the past three decades even if two of their number did unwittingly facilitate the permanent exile of Stephen Ireland.
Their progeny have been amazingly prolific in the creation of future Irish footballers, born in places like Tooting and Maidstone and other such glamorous spots.
No Irish granny, however, can take any credit for the existence on this earth of Jamie Vardy.
Martin O'Neill's assistant Steve Guppy was on Off the Ball tonight - as Wooly Parkinson noted, former Leicester foot-soldiers are going to earn a handy few bob in media appearances out of recent events - and disclosed that O'Neill had, as a first order of business, immediately sought to ascertain whether Vardy had any Irish background.
Scouring genealogy records has long been a key aspect of the Irish manager's job.
However, we don't quite know where O'Neill got the idea that Vardy might qualify for Ireland or which collection of Vardy's O'Neill is referring to. This was at a time when Jamie Vardy gave no indication that he was going to become a global superstar.
One of the first things Martin got me to do when I got the job was to find out if Vardy was Irish or not and sadly his grandparents were not.
via Newstalk.com
