A WhatsApp audio message in relation to a bust-up in the Republic of Ireland camp and Declan Rice taking time out to decide on his international future are just part of a more complex relationship between management and players, according to Packie Bonner.
The former Irish netminder, who had been a technical director with the FAI, gave his take on the recent controversies that have engulfed Martin O'Neill's squad when he spoke on The Ryan Tubridy Show from the National Ploughing Championships.
On the incident involving, Roy Keane, Harry Arter and Jon Walters, he said: "I had a wry smile on my face when it happened because I kind of knew what Roy is like.
"In saying that, there's something broken when it comes online and you can hear somebody describing events. It never happened in our day. The trust of the dressing room was broken."
"Looking at it more broadly, I think as you get older you reflect a little bit more, you manage things slightly different and you have to. The world that we live in now is completely different to the world that I grew up in.
The people are different, young people are different, social media is there... players now are almost celebrities to a point.
"There is something going on at the moment which isn't good and we want to get back to where we were."
As for Declan Rice, the former Celtic player referenced a time when "everybody wanted to walk across the water to come here" but added that the player has his own choice to make.
"Declan Rice has go to make up his own mind," he added.
If he wants to come, he's got to come and be a part of it. Everybody has got a responsibility to keep that ethos right because it is an Irish ethos."
