A brief farewell…

…not for me, all though in fairness, the infrequency with which I update this blog probably makes Daryl pull his hair out, apologies, one and all. I would promise to return to some type of regular posting, but I think we all know where those previous promises have gone…

I’m just going to write a quick piece on Stephen Carr, the ex-Spurs and Newcastle right-back who announced his retirement from all forms of football today at the age of 32, after failing to secure a new deal at a club since Kevin Keegan released him from St. James’ Park at the end of last season.

Carr represents one of the great what ifs of Irish football, with his career clearly defined by two periods, before his knee troubles and after. He was never able to regain to potential that marked his time at Spurs, where he could mark the best wingers out of a game along with pushing forward to join the attack, resulting in a few crackers from 30 yards and beyond. However, his knee saw Carr pushed down the pecking order for both club and country, and when he returned, his first-team place was gone at Spurs, along with his starting role for country, with Steve Finnan filling the gap (admirably, it must be added).

Injury affected Carr’s chances of regaining the right-back slot at Spurs, and he went north to Newcastle for £2 million in August 2004. Carr has a mild resurgance in form for the Magpies, but he was part of a declining squad, and the need for upheaval saw Carr lose out to the likes of Geremi, Nobby Solano and Habib Beye in the end, not helped by further niggling injuries keeping him on the sidelines. His release and failure to secure that precious new deal triggered his announcement today, far too young for a player of his quality, but inevitable given his struggles since the knee injury six years ago.

Carr only played 44 times for country, the last five after coming out of international retirement for the ill-fated reign of ‘The Gaffer’ (Steve Staunton to the rest of you), but I bet anyone who’s watched Ireland for any stretch of time will struggle to remember Carr having a true stinker in the green shirt. Much like his successor Finnan, Carr was one of those dependable elements of a fairly average squad that made the play-offs for Euro 2000 and which qualified for Japan and Korea in 2002 (He missed the competition through the knee injury). He was never the same after the knee went, and it’s a real shame, because if Carr had been able to maintain the form that brought him to promenance at White Hart Lane, he was bound to sign for a top club in England, and would have probably been a mainstay of the Irish squad ahead of Steve Finnan, no mean feat.

Alas, there goes one of the great wasted talents of Irish football, a career wrecked through no fault of the player. Carr will go down as one of the unfulfilled stars of the international squad, rather than one of the all-time greats, and thinking about it today, that does make me quite sad, for his own sake.

I think I’ve said about as much as I can say though, and I don’t want to make it sound too much like a funeral oratory, so I’ll leave the last word to Big Mick, who oversaw the greatest part of Stephen’s international career up to the 2002 World Cup. I think his analogy of the player holds up fairly well in the light of today’s announcement, and neatly sums up his career. A few videos should do the job as well…

Taken from Mick’s diary of the 2002 World Cup:

April begins with bad news all around. Stephen Carr is ruled out of the World Cup finals at the start of the month and I am heartbroken for him. He rang me as soon as the verdict was delivered by the Tottenham medical staff and his deep disappointment was clearly audible. Stevie has worked so hard over the last eighteen months to get us to Japan. He was a contender for man of the match in Amsterdam, he was magnificent in Estonia. We will miss him. The biggest compliment that I can pay him right now is that he is one of the few full-backs in the world that I would fancy to do a marking job on Damien Duff.

A few videos for the general public an’ all.

One from the Newcastle era

And another

And probably the one we all remember best, at number 8 on that list, at 0:41. Incidentally, you might as well continue watching that video, purely for number 4. Fat goal. Shits all over Gerrard’s effort.

Stephen, whatever you get up to in retirement, the vast majority of all Irish fans and myself wish you the best.

Hopefully talk soon, one and all.