Steve Finnan has denied reports that Rafa Benitez or Liverpool had any hand in helping him make his decision to retire from the Republic of Ireland team.
The 31 year old full back said to the Irish Independent
"Hopefully it'll benefit my club career, though that wasn't really a reason for the decision. But I hope I've a couple of years left at this level and, between club and country, I've played a hell of a lot of games in recent years.
"There's a lot of mileage there and it does become difficult as you get older."
He did however criticise the Irish Media and Public for what he calls unrealistic expectations.
He said
"I think everyone still enjoys coming over, but it's becoming more difficult,". "Maybe because of the tournament finals we've got to in the past, people are impatient for us to get to more.
"I mean you know that if you don't play well, you're there to be criticised. That's fair enough. But there seems to be a feeling that we should be qualifying for most tournaments and that's difficult given the amount of players we've got to choose from compared to other countries.
"The atmosphere has definitely changed in my time with Ireland. There's a lot more negativity from the media. A lot more pressure is being put on and people are far more critical. Maybe that's just the way of the world now. It's changing. Things are becoming more pressurised now, more hyped.
"The negativity makes it more difficult, though. Some players come in and they don't really care what's said or written about them. They just play. And most of us understand criticism. If you don't play well, it's fair enough. But there are times now where it probably becomes a bit personal. It certainly did with Steve Staunton, which was wrong."