Clarke allowed his squad to travel to Dublin for a night out after Saturday’s loss to Norwich, which was their third Premier League defeat in a week. The trip made the news as striker Long, playing a guitar, and goalkeeper Boaz Myhill were pictured busking in the streets of the capital.

“I have heard Shane sing and he is a very good singer, very talented. Maybe Boaz didn’t help him!,” said Clarke.

“Shane’s good on the guitar. As well as being a very talented footballer he is a very talented musician as well. It was good, I don’t have a big issue. You get a lot of bad headlines surrounding football, but I don’t think that was a bad headline at all.

“It was good for the players to get away. It was a difficult week. They went away, got themselves together and had a good time. They have to relax and enjoy themselves. If anyone says they weren’t hurting after three defeats in a week — they were. Everyone hurts when you lose. To try make an issue of going out and trying to have a night out is wrong.”

@Shanelong009 nice work in Temple Bar tonight ☺️😃 pic.twitter.com/ZHAPwm6D5X — Tracey Quinn (@LOL_BlogIreland) December 8, 2013

The party had been pre-planned but some fans have been critical that it was allowed to proceed after the Norwich result. But Clarke said: “They had two days off and they wanted to go and spend some time together — no problem.”