One of the main complaints that Irish fans had in the aftermath of Jack Grealish's decision was that it felt as if the Irish underage setup was being used as leverage to bigger and better things. The thought was that Grealish was always angling for England and his inclusion in the Irish setup was some kind of make the English jealous for want of a better term.
Whether that's true or not is up for debate, but one man who would appear to hold belief with the argument that Grealish never had any real intention of playing for Ireland is Roy Hodgson.
Both Grealish and his father have been keen to point out that he does retain a lot of affinity with his Irish roots but that's not something that the England manager seems to agree with. Speaking at his squad announcement today Hodgson was asked about Grealish and he was very up front with his belief that his nationality is in no way ambiguous.
Frankly, he is English. Having met him and his father it is an English family, albeit with fairly distant Irish roots.
Reading between the lines, that 'fairly distant' comment has to be taken as a bit of a jibe at Ireland's tendency to look across the water for talent. We've already criticised that ourselves but it does take on added significance coming from the England boss.
As for Grealish, Hodgson has made it clear that there's no guarantees over his inclusion just becuase he has made the decision to represent the country of his birth.
I was happy that with the choice between the two countries he took the bolder decision and what matters now is how he does for Villa. He is aware of that. I was keen to point out that there were no guarantees for him with England.
So does that mean he could be up for grabs again in a few years if he doesn't get a cap? (We jest)
