Northern Ireland duo in disgrace
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Northern Ireland duo Keith Gillespie and George McCartney are facing a hefty IFA rap after fighting on the flight back to London from Iceland.
The Irish Football Association are investigating the incident which occurred as the Northern Ireland squad was about to fly home from Reykjavik on Thursday morning.
The players were taking their seats on the Icelandair flight to London Heathrow at 7.40am when a dispute broke out between Sheffield United midfielder Gillespie, 32, and West Ham full-back McCartney, 26.
Other players quickly intervened to calm the situation and cabin crew staff reported the incident to Northern Ireland manager Nigel Worthington before the flight took off.
A statement on the Irish Football Association website read: "An incident occurred today between team members of the senior Northern Ireland squad which the president (Raymond Kennedy) and chief executive (Howard Wells) are aware of.
"Both the president and the chief executive will investigate the situation and take appropriate action."
Northern Ireland went down to a 2-1 defeat in their Euro 2008 qualifier on Wednesday night. -
Fight over the seats.
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Gillespie must be feeling sore abt Sheffield Utd being relegate while West Ham can still stay on the top flight
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Originally posted by seotiblizzard:
Fight over the seats. -
*Gillespie sorry for punch-up*
Keith Gillespie has apologised for his bust-up with Northern Ireland team-mate George McCartney.
The experienced winger came to blows with McCartney on the plane as the squad prepared to return from Wednesday's Euro 2008 qualifier in Iceland.
Gillespie is keen to put the 'unsavoury' incident behind him, and believes there are no hard feelings with McCartney.
"It was an unsavoury incident," Gillespie told Ulster Television. "It shouldn't have happened. Certainly it won't be happening, as far as I am concerned, again.
"As I said before, I apologise to the management, staff and the fans because it is something that shouldn't have happened. Unfortunately it did.
Misunderstanding
"Hopefully we can put this to bed and get on with playing football.
"It was really just a misunderstanding over a lost passport.
"George and I had words and there was a coming together, but, you know, the whole incident was finished within two to three seconds.
"Players came in and pulled us apart. The incident has obviously been sensationalised somewhat, but certainly I don't have a problem with George.
"It was just a total misunderstanding that shouldn't have happened. I've texted George and have told him no hard feelings.
"It was one of those things. These sort of things happen in football, on training pitches all the time, but obviously this being on an aeroplane, things were a little bit different.
"As far as I am concerned I just want to draw a line under it and get on with my football -
haha! Too bad.. It's fight over the lost passport.Originally posted by seotiblizzard:
Fight over the seats. -
only a passport ?