St Ledger: Heads back to Posh this weekend
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Posh return sparks Sean's memory
Sean St Ledger returns to the scene of his greatest embarrassment on Saturday, while still coming to terms with his greatest disappointment.
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The Middlesbrough defender was part of the Republic of Ireland side cheated out of a World Cup finals place by Thierry Henry's sleight of hand earlier this month.
From that emotional night at the Stade de France, he will now head to the more prosaic surroundings of London Road, Peterborough, one of his old clubs and the place where he achieved infamy for his role in a fly-on-the-wall documentary.
He insists he is fully focused on helping Boro win promotion back to the Premier League at the first attempt, but he is finding it difficult to escape the pain of Paris.
St Ledger said: "It's one of those things that's hard to forget about, really.
"You look in the papers and you see the line-up for the World Cup, all the teams and who they think is going to do well, and it hurts still."
Asked if the experience of getting so close to South Africa had increased his hunger to make it to the 2014 finals in Brazil, he added: "I would say so, but it's just such a long way away.
"Everyone talks about the Euros (in 2012), but at the same time, it's not the World Cup.
"And as much as it is a big tournament, the qualifying campaign is two years long and I am very impatient, I wanted it now.
"But that wasn't to be and you just have to move on and try to set yourself another goal.
"This one is now to try to help (Boro) get into the Premier League."
The trip back to Peterborough will rekindle many memories for St Ledger, and not all of them pleasant.
He emerged through the ranks at Posh and made 91 senior appearances for the club before winning a £225,000 switch to Preston in July 2006.
But it was a few weeks later that he came to national prominence when the Sky One documentary 'Big Ron Manager' was broadcast.
The warts-and-all look at life behind the scenes at a lower league football club laid bare a chaotic existence at the time which saw, among other things, manager Steve Bleasdale resign in the dressing room in front of the cameras barely an hour before a game.
It also included footage of a less-than-impressed and youthful St Ledger being ordered from the training pitch by Bleasdale, and later a frank exchange of views between the pair.
Asked about the series, the player said: "Embarrassing probably would be the word.
"It was an experience that I learnt from that I could never, ever be like that again.
"I am sure if I was like that here, I would be out of the door.
"I was probably fortunate that I moved to Preston before the TV programme happened.
"I was in a hotel with [then Preston boss] Paul Simpson a couple of weeks back and he actually said to me he might have changed his mind if he had seen the TV programme.
"I had my slice of luck there."
St Ledger certainly did not enjoy much good fortune in Paris last week, and while he will watch the finals next summer on television, the scars will remain.
He said: "I am a football fan and it's the greatest tournament in the world, so I will watch it.
"But when France play, I won't be supporting them, I don't think."
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powzer (Liverpool fan)
"Irish supporters to sue FIFA for breech of contract over the late introduction of seeding of the second placed group teams in Europe. The supporters are upset because when they bought tickets and incurred travel costs to games it was their understanding if Ireland were to finish second in their group they would be placed in an open draw. FIFA last minute change of the rules is seen as breech of contract by the Ireland supporters as those conditions were not in place when they bought the tickets. "
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