Shane Long Interview - Mentions HNA?

[Starfish]

This is from The Tipperary Star and was sent to me by a friend of mine who knows about my being on HNA? from time to time. The website is http://www.tipperarystar.ie but I cannot find a link to this story anywhere. Who is the poster Shane is referring to or is it more than one person?

Shane Long speaks ...
It is fair to say that Shane Long has had his ups and downs since leaving Ireland in 2005. The club he signed for, Reading FC, were promoted to the top flight in England in 2006 but dropped back into the Championship two years later. When the man that had brought Shane to Reading from Cork City, Steve Coppell, stepped back from the Reading helm, Long found the change initially hard.
"Brendan (Rodgers) is a great bloke and I learned a lot from him but it was always going to be difficult for him taking over from Steve. The fans expected us to go straight back up and when we struggled in the first couple of months this season, it was sort of like a downward spiral. We just couldn't turn things around."
When Brian McDermott took over, Shane had his third manager to impress in less than a year, and when he was given his chance, he certainly took it, winning a penalty and then scoring the winner against Liverpool in Anfield in this season's FA Cup.
"That was great. It was a big turn around for me and it gave me an awful lot of confidence."
The goals have flowed since then but Shane admits that there were times that he began to doubt if he would ever be a Reading regular again.
"I put on half a stone there last year and although I thought I was doing okay in training, it did seem to affect my performances on the pitch."
And how did he take the inevitable criticism from fans?
"They have the right to criticise but, in fairness, the fans in the grounds just want you to give your best. I saw a lot of nasty comments about my weight on internet forums though. In a way, it sort of woke me up. The lads in the dressing room gave me a bit of stick about a forum with the name of a biscuit company and the fact that I was carrying a bit of extra weight and was there any connection - we are normally not supposed to look at these sites or whatever but all players do it."
But something more positive came from Shane's perusal.
"Yeah, there was a bloke on there who really defended me, producing statistics about my performances and my goals per minute ratio and all that, things I didn't know myself. And although it sounds strange, that sort of gave me some of my own confidence back. I was thinking 'I'm not a bad player - see' (laughs) and it helped me get back down to basics and to turn a corner."

And what people tend to forget is that the the Tipperaryman is only 23 - with the experience of that struggle now behind him, we can only hope for more sparkling performances in the Reading (and Ireland) colours!
- Brendan McCormack

[T.R.O.L.I.]

"Yeah, there was a bloke on there who really defended me, producing statistics about my performances and my goals per minute ratio and all that, things I didn't know myself. And although it sounds strange, that sort of gave me some of my own confidence back. I was thinking 'I'm not a bad player - see' (laughs) and it helped me get back down to basics and to turn a corner."

Farking Nora - SnowbaLOLLOL's going to be unbearable!

[sandman]

Biscuit type "Shane".

[SpaceCruiser]

He's talking about Snowball. Must be.

[Wycombe Royal]

And we all thought it was Brian who had turned round Shane's form. Now we know where the credit should go.....

All hail Snowball's stats.........

[Rex]

Snoooooooowbawl.

[ZacNaloen]

Oh christ, someone hide this thread from Snowball before he reads it!

[brendywendy]

no!

well deserved for Snowball imo


LOLS!

[FiNeRaIn]

LOL Long reading HNA

There were some really spiteful comments about him that crossed the line and for a while you could see he wasn't happy with the fans either - I gave him a bit of stick also, obviously hurt him hearing the discontent but what a turn around in his performance and confidence.

Great to have the long of that promotion season back where he looked a permanent threat.

[Royal_Delight]

So Snowball was behind Shane Long's success,not McDermott.

McDermott out! I am backing Snowball.

[ShinPad]

this is a massive wind up! No doubt about it!

[Mr Angry]

Snowball will come on and prove positively that 100% of the time a player mentions an HNA? poster, it will be him............

.............which over the course of a season will that every player will mention him!



Just joking Snowball - thats a great shout out to you by Shane!!!

[rhroyal]

So we can credit Long's form, and consequently some of ours, to Snowball.

[floyd__streete]

So the players read HNA? Interesting.

FEDERICI, YOU'RE SH*T.

[CMRoyal]

And we all thought it was Brian who had turned round Shane's form. Now we know where the credit should go.....

All hail Snowball's stats.........

Oh come on, we all know snowball's Shane's agent/girlfiend.

Seriously, well done snowball if your persistence has indeed gone some way to helping boost Shane's confidence.

Having said that, the sceptic in me would like to see the original article - could it all be a wind-up?

[Ian Royal]

"Yeah, there was a bloke on there who really defended me, producing statistics about my performances and my goals per minute ratio and all that, things I didn't know myself. And although it sounds strange, that sort of gave me some of my own confidence back. I was thinking 'I'm not a bad player - see' (laughs) and it helped me get back down to basics and to turn a corner."

Farking Nora - SnowbaLOLLOL's going to be unbearable!

Oh Bejesus. Still he lost the weight and improved didn't he, so criticism founded?

Oh,and LOL @ most the fans expecting us to challenge for promotion this season! Most I saw saying anything (like me) were saying consolidation this season.

[ZacNaloen]

this is a massive wind up! No doubt about it!

Could well be right, if this is real the story hasn't come from the internet.

[ZacNaloen]

Oh Bejesus. Still he lost the weight and improved didn't he, so criticism founded?

Oh,and LOL @ most the fans expecting us to challenge for promotion this season! Most I saw saying anything (like me) were saying consolidation this season.

Criticism of his weight was founded, because he'd obviously got too big to be at his most athletic.

But some of the other stuff about his ability was largely unfounded (his only real fault was his poor first touch, which now thankfully seems to have been heavily worked on and sorted)

[Salford Royal]

half a stone my arse.

[ZacNaloen]

Half a stone can look like a lot on a slim frame, trust me I know