Keith Andrews suggests ‘Irish staff’ helped Greece beat Ireland

Simon Kelly

“I am sure he will be reading.”

Keith Andrews has suggested that Greece may have used an Irish informer to help them to victory over Ireland in the Euro qualifiers in June.

Ahead of Friday’s match between the two teams at the Aviva Stadium, Andrews told the assembled media that Greek manager Gus Poyet openly admitted to knowing Ireland’s tactics before the match.

This helped the home side take all three points, and Andrews has suggested that Poyet may have had help from someone with knowledge of the Ireland team.

Keith Andrews on Gus Poyet getting Irish people in from English club to assist his preparation against Ireland Pre Athens and reckons that had a part to play in Greece knowing Ireland's tactics and system of play in the Euro 2024 qualifier in June.

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Keith Andrews suggests ‘Irish staff’ helped Greece beat Ireland.

“In terms of the approach [to the Greece game] in June, it wasn’t rocket science was it?” the Ireland assistant manager said at Tuesday’s press conference. “We had played a similar system for a long period of time.”

“In terms of this game coming up, I’m not going to say anything here that’s going to jeopardise anything.

“Because I am sure he [Poyet] will be reading, and possibly getting some Irish staff from clubs around England to come in and watch his training session and have an opinion or view of sorts that will maybe help in his game plan.

“Gus has a thing where he invites certain people in to watch training pre-Athens. I am sure that assisted his preparations.

“He is quite cute, very experienced in his preparation. He said certain things post game, where he alluded to, he has done his homework…

“It is out there, it is not me coming up with it, there was a text off my phone. It is out there, so I am sure you will have a look into it.

When asked if there were any concerns about similar tactics being implemented by the Greeks ahead of the game on Friday, Andrews said, “I like to sleep well at night so I don’t know,” and said that he was sure they would find out post-camp.

Keith Andrews optimistic ahead of Greece showdown.

Ireland will be looking to pick up some form from their disappointing Euro qualifying campaign on home soil this week. The desire will be especially heightened playing Greece, as the reverse fixture in Athens is a significant sore point from the campaign, with Andrews calling it a “blot on the copybook.”

Looking on the more optimistic side of things, Stephen Kenny’s second in command pointed to encouraging performances against France at home and the first half against the Dutch in September.

Things look bleak for Ireland’s qualification hopes at this point, however, a couple of wins could open the door to a potential Nation’s League play-off place for next year’s Euros in Germany.

“I think it’s just the nature of football, to be honest,” said Andrews.

“You sign a contract and that’s the reality of it. There are permutations for if you qualify if you don’t qualify… we won’t go into all those. But that’s the reality.”