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Irish Career
Sean St Ledger is not going to be eulogised in any songs or be as adored as many past legends. But he served his country with pride and determination and was involved in some memorable games. He played 37 times and scored 3 times which is a very good return for a defender. But they were actually very important goals, always a good sign of a player for the big occasion.
His first was a late goal in Croke Park against Italy, to give Ireland a 2-1 one lead which felt at the time like it would be a winner, but alas Italy scored in the 90th minute to equalise. He also scored away to Slovakia in a 1-1 draw. His third goal was his biggest goal and in fact is a historical one. It was Ireland’s first goal at Euro 2012 and it was Ireland’s only goal at Euro 2012 and therein lies the problem, Euro 2012 is eviscerated from Ireland fans memories. It’s like a family get together where there was a big fight, everyone is embarrassed and it’s rarely if ever spoken of again.
For those that need reminding we were paired in a group of death with Italy, Spain and Croatia and we were terrible, losing all three games and equalling the worst Euro’s result from three group games. We lost three, conceded 9 goals and scored 1. In our defence Italy and Spain contested the final, while Spain were at the height of their footballing excellence. And to top it off Croatia were a really good team and would have qualified out of most other groups. In our game with Croatia, St Ledger equalised to make it 1-1 and gave us fans the only 15 minutes of enjoyment throughout the tournament as Croatia went ahead soon after and finished the game as 3-1 winners.
St Ledger established himself a starter in Giovanni Trapattoni’s teams in 2010 having made his debut against Nigeria in 2009. During Ireland’s World Cup 2010 qualifiers St Ledger was an intgral part of Trap’s defensively setup teams, like a lot of Ireland teams it wasn’t pretty but it was effective and we got to the play-offs against France. St Ledger played in both games in the heart-breaking loss to France in Paris, known as the Le Cheat game.
Club Career
St Ledger’s was a career punctuated by injuries and he could well have played a few seasons at least in the Premier League. He started out with Peterborough, and spent 4 season with the club before joining Preston North End, where he had 5 seasons and build up his reputation as one of the best centre halfs in the Championship and also getting his break with Ireland.
He went onto Leicester City, who were just starting out on their amazing journey under their new owners King Powers for four seasons but niggling injuries prevented him from establishing himself there properly and while he got a winners medal for their promotion in 2014 to the Premier League he barely played that season and the damage to his knee wouldn’t properly heal. It really could have been quite different for him, a Premier League medal perhaps, these are the break you can get as a footballer which is similar to the casino bonus experts at bonusfinder, which breaks down all the basics you need to know. After his injuries St Ledger had one last throw of the dice with his career
and moved to America playing for Orlando City and then Colorado Rapids but by that stage his he gave it one more chance but could only manage a few games with Solihull Moors and Guiseley. He finally retired in 2018.
After football
He has done some scouting work for Leicester City and also worked in the media side with the club doing some commentary for the Under 23s.
There was at one point a famous pic of him with Taylor Swift and many rumours sprang up that he was her new boyfriend, but alas for St Ledger it wasn’t true.
What is he up to now?
He is still at Leicester City. St Ledger plans on taking his UEFA B licence and and to go into coaching.
