Stephen Ireland

Stephen James Ireland (born 22 August 1986) is an Irish former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. Ireland played as a youth player with Cobh Ramblers before joining English club Manchester City in 2001 at the age of 15. He made his professional debut in September 2005 and soon established himself as a regular at the City of Manchester Stadium. At the start of the 2008–09 season, City were taken over by the Abu Dhabi United Group, which led the club to buy players such as Robinho and Vincent Kompany. Ireland was a key player for Manchester City that season, becoming the club's player of the year. Ireland fell out of favour at City when manager Mark Hughes was sacked and replaced with Roberto Mancini in December 2009. In September 2010, Ireland was transferred to Aston Villa in a swap deal with James Milner. After a slow start to his Villa career, he was loaned out to Newcastle United where he only played twice. In the 2011–12 season, he improved and won the Fans' Player of the Season award. However, he fell out of the first team under Paul Lambert and in September 2013 he joined Stoke City on loan, before making the move permanent in January 2014. After being released from Stoke in 2018, he joined Bolton Wanderers for a brief spell before retiring. His early performances with Manchester City saw him earn international recognition with the Republic of Ireland. However, a row with Steve Staunton saw his international career come to an abrupt end in 2007.