Former Republic of Ireland player Stephen Ireland has admitted that he retains hopes of making a return to international football amid a lengthy interview where he considered his initial decision to step away.
Over a decade after his last international appearance and two years since he last played a game of professional football, Stephen Ireland, 33, nevertheless has hopes of one day pulling on the green shirt again.
"The dream would be: get back with a club, smash it, go back to Ireland and undo all that scenario," the Cork native has revealed in an interview with The Athletic.
In what is Stephen Ireland's second career retrospective with The Athletic within a 12-month period, there is still a sense that the former Manchester City midfielder has plenty left to say. On his international future, however, it is clear that he still has some regrets over how his brief spell with the Republic of Ireland finished.
A swirl of lies regarding his grandmother's well-being by way of explaining Ireland's decision to take leave from international duty tainted what had seemed to be a very bright future in green for the young player.
Yet, as a young man with a growing family and immense responsibilities, it is understandable now why Ireland may regret that he didn't simply acknowledge the actual situation he felt the need to take international leave.
"It came down to prioritising," he explained. "Can I leave my kids for two weeks to play for Ireland? As much as I’d loved to have done that, I couldn’t. I was away at matches, stressed out of my head because of my kids.
"I had no support. I had to pick option A or option B. But of course, I wish things could have been different."
On a slightly more sinister note, Ireland, who has six international caps and four goals to his name, suggested that his continued Irish ambitions may not be welcome by all Irish fans and followers.
"I had death threats," he admitted, "I had all sorts. Christ, I didn't want to the leave the way I did. I didn't want to be disliked in my own country but it came out of circumstances which were tough.
"Why wouldn't I want to play for my country 150 times? Why wouldn't I want to be an Irish hero? Who would turn their nose up at that? Why would it ever be my agenda to be disliked?"
You can read Stephen Ireland's interview with The Athletic in full here.
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