Long loving life at top

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By his own admission, Shane Long likes to look on the bright side.  As he prepares for his final interview after over three hours of interrogation he appears a picture of calm and is happy to talk.  Life at the top level of football suits the former Cork City striker who has been made EA Sports FIFA 12 Irish ambassador and has the unenviable task of doing the rounds with journalists.  It’s been a hectic couple of months and there is much to discuss. 

His good humour is as much down to his friendly nature as it is a sign of how happy he is at his new club.  “I’m really enjoying being at West Brom” he begins refreshingly.  ”I’ve come in as one of the main strikers and have that extra bit of pressure on my shoulders now this year.  It’s a big change for me having been at Reading for what seems like my whole career but I’ve loved it all so far.”

Change is the key word in describing the past few months of Long’s career. In May, far from the cheerful character who presents himself today, the striker suffered crushing disappointment as Reading were denied a return to the Premiership when losing out to Swansea in the Championship Play-off Final. Cue weeks of speculation about where the Tipperary man’s future lay before Long signed for Roy Hodgson’s West Brom in early August.

Long takes a considered view of the events.  “I had the chance to leave Reading the year before but Brian McDermott, who had just become manager said he wanted me to stay on for one more year.  I felt I owed it to the club for standing by me for so long.

“Last year we gave it our all.  We got to Wembley when we probably shouldn’t have and in the end we were just piped by a very good Swansea team.  Obviously the perfect scenario would have been getting to the Premiership with Reading but it just didn’t happen unfortunately.”

Despite the huge interest in him, Long only met with one club during the transfer window.  Having spoken with Roy Hodgson, Long knew there was only one place he wanted to go and made the move to the Hawthorns based on a desire for regular first team football at the top level.

“There were other Premier League clubs interested but I wanted to go somewhere I knew I’d start and get minutes on the pitch.  I met Roy Hodgson and straight away I knew it was the right move for me.  I liked what he had in mind for me and the club.  It was an easy decision for me to make in the end.”

Indeed the Irish striker is full of praise for his new boss whom he believes bares similarities to Irish manager Giovanni Trapattoni. “They’ve both been around the game a long time and have experience of being at the top for a long, long time” he says.

“But Roy is different in that he’s a lot more about passing the football; playing the ball on the floor.  And that’s a part of my game I hadn’t really worked on at Reading.  I’ve really worked on it since I’ve arrived here and I’m looking to test myself more and more here.”

Long strikes you as someone thoroughly enjoying himself - and with good reason.  He scored on his West Brom debut on the opening day of the season against Man United before doubling his tally the next week against Chelsea.  On Saturday, he made it three goals from seven with a cool finish away to Sunderland.

But despite this strong start, West Brom have struggled this season, as he explains.  “It’s frustrating at the moment because we’re putting in really good performances.  Against Man United a deflected own goal cost us the game. The same thing happened against Chelsea. 

“Then against Stoke it was nil all going into the last minute of the game and then they scored.  So after three really good performances, we had no points.  But that’s what the Premiership does to you.  You’ll get punished for any mistakes.”

The club’s fortunes have improved since then however and currently occupy 15^th position.  The goal, according to Long, is a top half finish.

“After finishing tenth last year and having added players to the team we know we can compete with the best teams in the league.  We’ve got Wolves coming up next which is going to be a huge game for both of us, and with all the Irish lads there it should be good.”

Talk of Wolves brings us on to national team matters.  Long’s consistent performances for both Reading last season, and West Brom this season have certainly not gone unnoticed.  Indeed he was selected to start for Ireland ahead of Kevin Doyle against Slovakia in the Euro Qualifier tie at the start of last month, only for a calf injury to see him miss both that game, and the draw with Russia.

But true to his character, Long isn’t thinking about that disappointment and remains upbeat about the role he can play in the coming games. 

“It was hard to take but luckily for the team Kevin was there and he’s a top quality striker so it wasn’t much of a loss to the team.  Hopefully I can just keep fit for these two games now and be fresh in the manager’s mind for a starting position.”

Long is equally optimistic about Ireland’s chances of qualifying for Poland and Ukraine and feels top spot is there for the taking after the point picked up in Moscow.

“That draw in Russia has really opened the group up for us.  The performance the lads put in that night was ridiculous and to do it after flying out there and playing on the artificial pitch was just immense.  There’s no reason to think we can’t finish top now so long as we do the business in the next two games.”

Our time was growing short as PR people hovered around us. He needs to link up with the rest of Irish squad as they begin preparations for the final Euro Qualifiers. We couldn’t go without getting his views on the current state of the League of Ireland.

“The League here is definitely getting better”, he says enthusiastically.  “You see the players coming out of the league and going over to England and fitting straight in.  The likes of Kevin (Doyle) and then Alan Bennett, and Dave Mooney back in the day. The list goes on.”

He doesn’t get to see LOI games much anymore but checks the results regularly.  He has been following Shamrock Rovers European voyage and is delighted how they are acquitting themselves at European level.  He finishes on his former employers Cork City.  Cleary the club still holds a special place in his heart.

“I didn’t play a lot of games for Cork City but I do miss it.  I would have liked to have played a few more times and who knows at the end of my career maybe I could be back one day” he says with a smile.   

Shane Long is an EA SPORTS ™, FIFA 12 Ambassador, FIFA 12 is out now in stores nationwide.