Glenn Whelan said the press and TV criticism he received during his international career rarely bugged him but did annoy his family, leading him to avoid engagement with the media in later years.
Whelan earns his 85th cap against Northern Ireland this evening and will captain the side in what is likely to be his final international. Though the player himself has stressed that he is not retiring from international football and will answer any future call.
The Aston Villa midfielder made his debut for Ireland against Serbia in Giovanni Trapattoni's first game as manager and afterwards became a firm favourite for the Italian.
He retained his place as first choice midfielder under Martin O'Neill, despite a restive press frequently calling for a more attacking alternative.
It wasn't just at international level that Whelan was a manager's favourite. He made almost 300 Premier League appearances for Stoke City between 2008 and 2017, surviving challenges to his place from a host of signings and being hailed as one of the club's "best ever signings" by their CEO Tony Scholes.
Despite this, he remained a frequent target for those alienated by Ireland's style of play but Whelan insists that he was only interested in impressing the manager, his team-mates and his family. Those outside of that didn't figure.
"I didn't care. That's something that youse might want to answer because youse write the headlines. When I come in, I wanted to impress my family first and foremost. And then I wanted to impress the manager. I wanted to play.
"Headlines and stuff like that. I wasn't trying to make them better. I'd like to think the players that I've played with, if you asked them what I was like, they'd tell you the truth."
Amid the criticism, Whelan stopped regularly engaging with the media a few years back. Speaking to the press ahead of tonight's clash with Northern Ireland, Whelan said media criticism never hurt him but did get to those close to him.
"I didn't take it as hurtful. I saw it as part and parcel of the job. I understand that.
"I've moved away to play football when I was 15. Obviously loves the limelight when they're raving about you but there's obviously another side of it. For me, there was a certain stage when I thought it got a bit personal. And that's when I stepped away from it. I've got two kids, I've got an older girl and there's stuff online.
"So I said I'd step away from it and let everyone else speak. When I come in, I only want to impress the manager, Roy, and my teammates. So, that side of it didn't worry me.
"I'm a footballer but I'd like to think I'm a normal person away from the pitch. But there was certain stuff that did get a little personal.
"My background was brought up and then there was a thing written about a car I was driving. And I definitely didn't drive that car," he said, referring to Eamon Dunphy's claim on RTÉ television in 2013 that he "drove two Ferraris".
"For people who weren't close to me, they read certain things and then they start believing it. For me, it wasn't hurtful. It just a case that I didn't want to do it.
"Listen, I get that side of it. Everything can't be great and rosy all the time. But there was certain times when it got a little too much. Like I said, it didn't hurt me but it did hurt family and stuff."
But when asked if his cool relationship with the media had turned him off the idea of punditry, he instantly denied it. Never say never is Whelan's take on punditry.
"Never say no to anything. There's a few people out there that are doing okay (at punditry) and I think I might be a bit better than them! But that's my opinion.
"Listen, I've done my (coaching) badges and I still see myself as a player. But you never know what'll happen in the future and it's definitely something that I wouldn't turn down."
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