Six reasons 2015 can be great

The above montage always bring a smile to my face, we don’t smile enough.

League of Ireland supporters love a good moan, especially on those factors outside of our own control. My twitter timeline was busy following the announcement that the English Premier League would offer live Friday night matches when it kicks off its next bidding war. LoI supporters were aghast, though knowing we have far bigger fish to fry.

Still, I’m an optimist by nature and I thought it might be worth pointing out that while there are concerns, we do have much to be positive about. Here’s six reasons I’m looking forward to the 2015 Premier Division season;

1. The Market’s Field

In one paragraph its hard to detail the importance of Chairman Pat O’Sullivan returning the club to its spiritual home. Thomond Park offered something new to the league and the experience will benefit the club but it was simply too big. Limerick FC will be tenants in the LEDP operated stadium, which is central and accessible to the entire city. With only 20 games sanctioned on it for 2015, it should also be one of the best surfaces in the league. I can’t wait to visit.

2. Away trips to Galway!

I was in Galway recently for the launch of the Galway United Co-op, which gives the public a chance to be directly involved in the Board, and thereby the running, of Galway United. It’s another important step, with the return of the name, as the club continues it’s remarkable rise. Galway is one of the best weekend’s away in the country without football, when you add in a League of Ireland match it can’t be beaten. If United continue the style of play that saw them promoted, there’ll be no shortage of entertainment either.

3. Cork City in Europe

When Cork City play in the Europa league next season, it will be seven years since the crushing defeat away to Finland’s FC Haka in 2008. Club employee Eanna Buckley had to withdraw his own cash to settle the team hotel bill that day as then owners Arkaga began to pull away all financial support. Seven years and a lot of heartache later, John Caulfield will lead a supporters-owned Cork City into another European Odyssey. It’s a remarkable story of which every City supporter can be proud. I can’t wait for the draw.

4. Keith ‘hoop’ Fahey 

Every year there’s a player move that whets the appetite; Keith Fahey’s move from St. Pat’s to Shamrock Rovers is the big one ahead of 2015. Fahey’s passion for Pat’s, displayed in the above photo, coupled with his interview comments about moving for ‘less money and to be ‘closer to home’ only adds fuel to the fire. It’ll be one to watch when he takes to the field in Inchicore in hoops.

5. Some new blood on the management benches

Of the twelve managers in the 2015 Premier Division season only Stephen Kenny, Liam Buckley and John Caulfield are in the same position as last season. Tommy Dunne and Tony Cousins, while familiar names, are bringing newly promoted sides to the Premier Division. Heary, Long and McDonnell are starting from scratch at Sligo, Bohs and Drogheda respectively. Fenlon, Russell and Hutton were all mid-season appointments last season, looking to put their own mark on Shamrock Rovers, Limerick and Derry respectively. All the change, while terrible for stability, will give us all a huge amount to talk about through the season.

6. Balls

Friday Night EPL coverage should kick-start a discussion on where we’re going, it must. In the last year Brian Kerr and Stuey Byrne, among others called for a task force to examine the league and its future. In a way, clubs had already started this process, meeting through 2014 under the guise of the Premier Clubs Alliance [PCA] as revealed by Daniel McDonnell this morning*. Having sat on some of the early sessions I believe it’s the right way forward. The PCA are setting themselves up to take more responsibility for those aspects of the game which clubs can control and seeking ways in which they can work more effectively with the FAI for the betterment of the league. What’s vital is that league-wide issues, rather than those which are out of self interest and club-specific, are targeted. I’m looking forward to seeing where this leads us.

*http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/league-of-ireland/tv-issue-an-excuse-for-league-of-ireland-to-have-real-chat-30835557.html

The Off Season doesn’t exist.

The off-season doesn’t exist, not for you.

The only thing that turns off is income. OK, you have neither player wages nor senior team operational costs, but you have an U19 team, maybe other underage teams too. They’ll need to train. They’re in school or college so it has to be at night; floodlights cost more. Every grass pitch is in bits so it needs to be Astro. A full-size floodlit Astro costs a nice bit. You’ll need one in January anyway when the Senior team are back and they’ll want double sessions. Jesus, you don’t have a home league game until March. You make a note to talk to your landlord about a line of credit for training facilities.

Supporters want an end of season awards ceremony. it won’t make money but you had to book it in June to guarantee a function room. You booked the weekend after the season ends, predicting you wouldn’t reach the FAI Cup Final. If by some miracle you do, the deposit and effort will be gone, but you’d lose it in a heartbeat for a Cup Final. You can’t push it later than that weekend anyway, the players will be on holidays, most will be out of contract and won’t show. You’ll have to put up with the grief supporters give you for the no-shows. You can’t criticise though, you understand the players’ reasons. If it leaks out they couldn’t be arsed attending it’ll only pop up online should they sign back. It’s best to keep everyone happy, you’ll take the ‘constructive criticism’.

You’ve holidays built up, you’ve earned them; you’ve been too busy to take them during the season. It’s November, the weather is brutal but you probably can’t afford to go abroad, somewhere sunny. If you’ve got kids in school, the only weeks they’re free push the cost of time away even higher.

You send out an email and an announcement telling people season tickets make a great Christmas present. You know damn well you’re not spending €200 on your own relations

Season tickets need to go on sale! You open an excel file and work out who you’ve got at home twice next season. Is that better or worse for crowds? You can’t really put up the ticket price, you know that, but the money to ‘kick on’ has to come from somewhere. You consider adding a Euro, but that’ll make a balls at the turnstile and the bank will only do you for lodging coin anyway. You decide against it. You send out an email and an announcement telling people season tickets make a great Christmas present. You know damn well you’re not spending €200 on your own relations. You convince yourself you’ll hold the Season ticket money to January, the first two you sell in November go on the ESB bill that’s already past due.

You wonder how you’ll keep the Club in the public eye over the off-season? Outside of player signings you’ve only got the occasional story that might get picked up. Community appearances are gone, you’ve no players to do them and no-one wants office staff in the picture. There’s always the local lad who’s out of contract but happy to help; you know he’s signing on though and you have to consider if turning up for a photo shoot will be considered “working”; it’ll be in the paper, the lads in the dole office know who he is. It could lead to questions, it’d be unfair on him.

You stress, again, the need to announce new signings on a Tuesday. You explain, again, that it’s the best day to get the local papers to pick it up ahead of print deadlines. You explain, again, that once the locals aren’t scooped they might even carry a photo. The player is signed on Saturday morning and announces it himself on twitter. By the time Tuesday rolls around, it’s old news and becomes a footnote on the Junior Soccer page. You prepare to explain it all again next week.

“We need to go after marketing in a big way next year”. Everyone agrees but “what’ll it cost? What? Can we not get some free coverage? Sure that’s the cost of a player for the season!” You accept it and head back to twitter and facebook. You chance YouTube, other clubs use it well but the time spent isn’t worth the pay-off, you know the 20 hits are from the 20 die-hards who read everything, it’s not hitting new fans. Supporters complain about the lack of marketing. You nod politely. For the sake of a quiet life you listen to their ideas, which you’ve already costed, proposed and had rejected.

“I’m not doing a second set of kit for every lad who has a good Christmas”

The kitman is in. The manager has told him that we’re back the second week in January and he’s in a panic. The manager is targeting a squad of 23, a few lads will come in on trial too. They’ll all need kit. He’s spoken to the kit supplier but hasn’t a clue on sizes. How could he? You’ve got less than half a squad signed. He’s got the kit supplier to agree to send down uncrested kit, so he can return what’s not needed. Brilliant! You could hug him. You warn him not to leave any of the kit out of his sight though. Before he goes he reminds you that he’s “not putting up with that shit from last year, if a fella comes back overweight and needs an XL, he’s in it for the year, I’m not doing a second set of kit for every lad who has a good Christmas”. You know when it comes down to it, he will, so it’s an argument you’ll have to have.

Money’s tight. You’ve got a club lotto, the jackpot is decent, but it’s a throwback to a bygone age, as are the three sellers you’ve got left. Great clubmen, but they’re getting on and you question if it’s right that they’re out in this weather. Younger volunteers don’t want to sell Lotto tickets [neither do you if you’re honest, asking for money from strangers makes you feel like a chugger]. You look up online selling again though you know it needs to be face to face. You consider giving people commission; it might work. You know it won’t, it never has.

We do want four or five TV games of course, but please God, let them be away games.

it’s lashing rain most days but the shoe leather has to be worn down as those responsible for commercial revenue pound the pavements to collect payments and sell next year’s advertising hoardings. We will tell sponsors that we hope to have four to five games on TV, that makes it easier and it could happen. We do want four or five TV games of course, but please God, let them be away games. You get verbal agreements, commitments; you send contracts and invoices, you know nothing is guaranteed. Last year you spent too much time chasing them, how many times did you hear “in this climate”.

The Club licencing pack arrives by registered post. Preparing the licencing submission for the coming season will occupy a lot of time, but it’s not as difficult a task as people would have you believe. There’s a welcome structure to it, you just have to be organised and put the time in. There’s a large amount of information to gather and while deadlines exist, the league office are supportive. Licencing is more an ongoing conversation than anything else and you’ve developed a great relationship with that department in Abbotstown. Anyone who’s ever had a licence questioned knew exactly why long before they went before the Licencing committee. You have a lot of mandates to get signed, some of the roles are voluntary, they probably shouldn’t be.

Your mandate for assistant manager is a gap, the manager is looking for a new one. It’s not an issue in November, but come January, when he’s still looking, you’re getting phone calls telling you “It’s a mandatory requirement” and “there’ll be sanctions”. You pass the message along, you see it’s forgotten as soon as you finish speaking. He wants to talk about players again.

Licencing Infrastructure plans and youth development plans will need to be updated, it’s quicker to do it yourself and then circulate it for review. You remember to put a date deadline on the review, when the manager forgets to review it and spots something he wants changed after you’ve submitted, it’ll save you an argument.

There will be licencing workshops run in Dublin by the FAI. They’re worthwhile but it’s a full day in Dublin, home late and you’re already up the walls. You get a phonecall from Abbotstown that someone has declined a mandatory workshop, it’s a volunteer and in work that day. You move your calendar around, it’s another day gone, but the club has to have a presence. You put a note in your diary to buy a car speaker for the phone, it’ll ring the whole way to Dublin and back.

January 1st. Happy new year, here come the agents, sniffing around

January 1st. Happy new year, here come the agents, sniffing around your promising young players, retained or playing U19. The agents have been speaking with the players’ parents, filling their heads with nonsense. “Don’t stand in the young lads way” you’ll be told. You’re sitting there thinking about the coaches you’ve hired, the structures you’ve put in place and you laugh at the idea that a League Two academy is a step up. The UK club “think he has potential, but need to have him over for a week on trial”. Piss off, if you want him, make an offer. “We don’t have much money.” Sure!

Everything in the media and online [which you keep an eye on] is about players. “Will he, won’t he?” It’s the easiest question in the world; if it’s more money, nine times out of ten, he will.

You lose a good player, supporters are furious as a 32 year old who has three more years earning capacity signs somewhere else for more money. It doesn’t bother you anymore than it bothers the player, you both have to get on with it. You wonder what he’s going to do after he retires, he left school at 15 to go cross-channel, he hasn’t done any coaching badges, he doesn’t have a face for TV. It’s a tough career and the League of Ireland doesn’t set you up for life. You let it go, you’ve only known him 12 months.

Someone is online claiming you offered the player “a pittance”, they claim their source is the club. It’s probably a mate of the player, if not the player himself. Easier to get it out that you left because a club disrespected you. “It wasn’t about the money”. Of course it was about the money.

You phone the other club’s Chairman, you both have a good laugh about the player’s claim

You sit down with a potential signing, the manager wants him but doesn’t want to make it obvious. It’s already obvious by your meeting him. The player is interested, likes what he sees but he has an offer from another club. It’s more than you want to pay. You phone the other club’s Chairman, you both have a good laugh about the player’s claim. The player has bumped the offer up a lot, their Chairman is being cagey though, so they’ve offered him a decent package.

You meet another potential signing who tells you he’s off to the UK for trials. He want’s to give cross-channel a go, says it’s his “dream”. He mentions the clubs he’s heading to, sounds more like a nightmare. He’s on Pro forms and turned 23 during the year, so the club that’s developed him won’t see a penny. That doesn’t bother you, that’s part of the reason you’re talking to him now despite interest twelve months ago. You wouldn’t pay a transfer fee either. He’s young and you wish him well. “Call me if it doesn’t work out” you tell him. It’s unlikely to work out. Hundreds of trial requests cross your desk every year from players and agents. One or two might pique an interest but If the manager hasn’t specifically looked for you to come in, you’re almost certainly not getting an offer. If you’ve invited yourself over, someone’s doing your agent a favour,

Everyone around the table knows it’s guess work

In January the board, financial controller and team manager will meet the FAI for two to three hours at Abbotstown to go through the season’s budget. At this stage the spending column is committed in contracts or known fixed costs. You hope your income projection is a good estimate and not aspirational. It’ll swing wildly based on results on the pitch. You answer probing questions and figures are challenged. We all know they need to be. You talk about the mid-season friendly that’s “nearly over the line”, knowing that it’s not and that the UK club you’re speaking with might not be attractive enough to get 1,000 people into the ground. You’ve done your best, you’re being honest but everyone around the table knows it’s guess work and you’re a couple of injuries, or a postponed game, away from phoning the bank for a loan.

You know pre-season friendlies are a neccessary evil but pre-season trips are not. Training has started well, everyone glad to be back. You’re told “the lads are buzzing, but we need to give them a lift”. Spain, Carton House, Fota House and “bonding sessions” are mentioned. A trip away could “make all the difference to the lads”. The fact that such a trip would cost more than the prize money won for a mid-table finish is irrelevant.

You work out how many people you need in just to cover the officials, you hope it doesn’t rain.

You can’t afford to start the season cold, your crowds might never recover if you lose early matches. High tempo games are needed. If a game is on a neutral venue to save travelling costs for both clubs, you’re directed to find a “great surface” for our “passing game”, but it can’t be on Astro. It’s January in Ireland, so that shouldn’t be a problem.

It costs to open up your own ground, but if the weather holds, you might get a few in. A game is arranged. The visiting team phone late in the day “Can you give us a split towards our costs?”. Everyone is in the same boat, but if you don’t hold fast you won’t break even. You get the game sanctioned by the FAI, meaning you’ve got referee and officials to pay now. You work out how many people you need in just to cover the officials, you hope it doesn’t rain.

The game kicks off. The striker you’ve spent the winter complaining about scores a wonder goal.

You think it might be different this year.

Still, you thank God you’re not in the Setanta Cup.

Tweets by johngosullivan

Pay as you go

This morning I tweeted this;

I was asked, through a private message from someone who didn’t like the point I was making, to back it up or take it down.

So, I’m backing it up, which won’t take long. The numbers of red and yellow cards referenced below, I took from this morning’s excellent League of Ireland pull-put in the Irish Sun newspaper.

1. Affiliation fees: €19,000 x 12 Premier Division teams = €228,000

2. There have been 688 yellow cards issues this season, a €25 fine associated with each one = €16,700

3. 71 players reached four yellow cards, a suspension and further €50 fine = €3,550

4. 6 players reached eight yellow cards, a further suspension and further 50 fine = €300

4. 72 players received red cards, a suspension and €50 fine = €3,600

5. €228,000 + €16,700 + €3,550 + €3,600 + €300 = €252,150

6. The League Prize money is €241,500 as announced at the season launch.

Now, the above is the minimum figure that Premier Division Clubs have contributed to the League Office in fines and affiliation fees. I don’t have Red Cards and fines associated with Management nor do I have information pertaining to fines attributed to supporters, beyond Dundalk FC’s statement where they claim to have paid €5,000 in fines attributable to supporters in 2014, before the fireworks on the night they won the league title.

Clubs pay as they go in the League of Ireland and it is an issue which could have a serious knock-on issue. In the past year, a number of clubs are quietly, but pointedly, asking questions among themselves such as “Why am I spending €X,000 per week over 36 weeks on players to win €100,000?”

Don’t blame Roddy; we created him.

On Saturday I attended an Irish Supporters’ Network http://www.heartofthegame.ie conference which highlighted some great work by clubs and their volunteers. The http://www.extratime.ie report on the day is linked at the foot of this post.

One of the most interesting comments came during a panel discussion when the Irish Sun’s Owen Cowzer pointed to our League’s levels of newspaper coverage being driven by feedback on Twitter. That feedback to journalists is matched by purchase of papers. Supporters will buy a paper just for League of Ireland coverage, a trait not matched by other codes.

I wondered how I’d discuss the influence supporters can have on the media when Roddy Collins made a few disparaging comments about Sunday’s FAI Ford Cup Final on RTE 1 during the ‘Today with Sean O’Rourke’ show. These went viral, and have since been featured on most Irish online Sports sites.

Roddy is a divisive character. I learned that first hand when I hired Roddy to manage Athlone Town ahead of the 2012 season. I received a torrent of online abuse from Cork City fans who questioned if I’d “forgotten what he’d done at City”. Roddy is media savvy, it’s one of the reasons he remains a good managerial candidate. Through periods of employment and unemployment as a football manager, he’s maintained a media career in Print, Radio and TV [the subject of two Setanta documentary series]. This isn’t an accident.

Roddy knows which buttons to push to get a reaction; when you meet him after he drops one of his bombshells he’ll laugh about it, knowing that the reaction will only increase his profile and the desire for the next editor or producer to get his opinion. Eamon Dunphy on RTE is the other great master in this arena. If you meet Dunphy, read his books, or listen to the wonderful extended interview he did with Second Captains, it’s hard not to like him. But he has a living to earn and he knows that entertainment and controversy will keep him on RTE’s panel far longer than tactical insight.

Roddy knows the value of a well placed controversial soundbite. Supporters react, those monitoring social media report back and producers smile. We’ll wait for the newspaper columns Roddy writes and scour it, ready to be outraged again.All the time, RTE, Newstalk and the Star have more website hits, listeners and readers to put before advertisers.

The key point, to return to Owen Cowzer’s comment, is that our reaction is a positive. We can drive added discussion and interest through tools like twitter in a positive way. Do you like “Soocer Republic”, do you want to keep it? Do you like seeing League of Ireland coverage in the papers? Make those responsible for producing the items that interest you aware that you’re reading, listening and watching. We created Roddy, we can do a lot more.

http://www.extratime.ie/newsdesk/articles/13275/greatestleagueintheworld—report-from-supporters-workshop/

Parenting tips

Earlier this week John Delaney described the League of Ireland as the “difficult child” of the Association. The throwaway remark was poorly chosen within a brief but largely straightforward summation of the League’s issues. Supporters and clubs won’t be happy with the description and rightly so, but Delaney was correct that much of the negative attention the league receives is self inflicted, and much of the improvement within our own grasp.

Inspired by Daniel McDonnell’s thought provoking list of ten realistic ways the league can improve [link at bottom] and with Delaney’s “difficult child” comment in mind, here’s my top 6 parenting tips in addition to those Dan discussed.

1. Let the kids play together.

Clubs must take responsibility but it must be within an environment where they can do so collectively. There are great people in the FAI who give daily support to clubs however the Annual Clubs’ Convention is the only time that the association sits down formally with ALL clubs; and it’s happened only twice in the last 24 months.

The convention function is to elect, on alternating years, the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the league. The 2013 clubs’ convention was the worst I’ve been at because of the apathy, from all parties. The meeting took under 90 minutes with an agenda so packed that clubs got little opportunity to discuss anything at length with the association.

Clubs meeting outside of this forum is treated with suspicion yet the association simply don’t hold sufficient meetings. Clubs should be meeting each other, with or without the FAI, on a monthly basis to discuss the league, it’s direction and issues. It’s basic; nothing works without effective communication.

2. Encourage the children to share

At a clubs meeting in 2011 I was still new to the boardroom level of the game and naive. I raised the topic of collective bargaining and sharing best practice. A rep of another club said “come on John, you’re talking about clubs that steal footballs from each other at matches”. Happily, it’s improved and the FAI have helped, running workshops through the licencing department on specific topics such as media practices, where clubs present case studies.

In the last 12 months clubs have acknowledged the need to share but it’s hard to shake the notion that the association don’t really like clubs talking to each other without an FAI presence. It is vital that clubs work together effectively (including collectively bargaining) to build solutions from within rather than creating an environment where they consistently look to external support, and let’s admit it, a blame culture.

19 clubs collectively negotiating with e.g. billboard providers will create better deals and better opportunities. Clubs must cooperate and the association must encourage it.

3. Pin your kids’ pictures to the fridge

We have genuine success stories and they should be celebrated. One of the simplest selling points the league has today, of which every supporter is aware, is the domestic background of many of our National Team. At the upcoming home game against Gibraltar you will have 12 former LoI players in one spot.

Photograph and film the 12 players in Irish kit, their former club scarf around their neck with a simple message “Seamus Coleman, former Sligo Rovers player” etc., and distribute those clips to clubs for use in advertising. Use them on the FAI’s central website, social media outlets and on the big screen at games. Make them available as stings, pre- and post- advert breaks, on Televised National matches.

4. Have rules for time in front of the TV

A televised home game costs money. That’s a fact. It can be a nice to inform sponsors of television exposure but it means little ultimately. In the absence of compensation for clubs, it’s long been clear that changing your kick-off time for TV costs you money. In Limerick’s first Premier Divison home game, after 19 years way, we conservatively estimated the cost to the club in changing the KO from Saturday night to Sunday afternoon at over €20,000.

Soccer Republic is a great highlights show but we just don’t need 30 live games per year. What’s more important is the games that are chosen, particularly European games.

As I said, chopping and changing kick-off times costs, European Football and TV are the primary causes of these changes; planning of both can be better.  If league games are going to be televised, pick Friday night with a 7.35 KO to limit impact on those getting to the ground. if this doesn’t work for RTE, stop choosing time slots such 3pm Saturday or 5.30pm Sunday, that decimate crowds. Don’t show a game for the sake of it.

Also, clubs who put clips of goals etc., online should not be punished, they should be advised how to do it in a way that drives viewing figures for Soccer Republic.

5. Ensure kids clean their rooms

People hold up better stadia as an attendance solution and they’re right, Infrastructure in the league is admittedly poor. As much as I love the league, there are grounds I can’t visit with my kids due to poor toilet facilities or lack of a roof on rainy days. Large scale capital investment is a long-term project but grounds being clean and safe would be a start; some aren’t.

Add to this, most LoI clubs do nothing to encourage away fans. We hope Rovers, Cork & Dundalk will bring a crowd, we expect UCD to bring no-one. There’s a soft €20,000 per annum for any club who proactively puts effort into welcoming away fans. Make sure the ground is as clean and comfortable as possible, give them a roof, some decent hot food, a cup of tea and train stewards specifically to cater to away fans. Treat people well and they might come back. Treat them poorly, they won’t.

6. Don’t use their pocket money to buy cigarettes.

The League of Ireland is not a financial burden on the FAI. It couldn’t be.

The starting position of most European top flight football is the allocation of TV money. In Ireland, after coming through a lengthy licencing process you hand over €19,000 for the right to play the game. That’s €228,000 into FAI coffers from the Premier Division clubs alone.

After this, clubs pay officials for each game [including inter-club friendlies, which is causing clubs to play ‘behind closed door’ friendly games so save referee fees while getting fringe players some game time]. Clubs pay a significant fine structure [Dundalk have stated they’ve paid €5000 to the FAI for flare offences in 2014 already]. Every yellow card is a minimum €25 which opens up a double punishment in terms of finance and loss of player for bans.

Then clubs must pay professional players for a week long holiday over the unnecessary mid-season break which compounds fixture congestion. This despite the Standard player’s contract guaranteeing sufficient time-off for professional players.

The League Cup is a huge cost and also compounds fixture congestion. It’s a competition on which Cork City just broke even in 2011 despite hosting the final and finishing runners-up. It cost Limerick FC significant money in 2013 with two poorly attended home games [with split gates], Limerick actually made a few euro on it in 2014, losing away to Cork City in the first round The share of the gate covering the cost of the bus and pre-match meal. The Association get money from EA for sponsorship, but I don’t know a single club who value the competition and that’s reflected in supporter apathy.

All of the above sources of club expenditure have to be debated with the association; I’m not saying there should be no consequence for offences but would a single flare be lit by Dundalk fans all season if they were facing a 3 point deduction rather than €500 fines on each occasion? I doubt it, so look at alternatives, communicate!

Cherish your child

When your child is being difficult, the parenting books I’ve skimmed [and pretended to read] state the most effective process is to get down to your child’s level, look them in the eye, listen, understand the difficultly and communicate. It might take a while before you can all walk down the aisle of a supermarket without a tantrum, but in the end, you get there.

The Daniel McDonnell piece referenced earlier; http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/league-of-ireland/ten-realistic-ways-we-can-improve-the-league-of-ireland-30623058.html

The ‘Rock & A hard place’ squad.

Ahead of the Gibraltar and German World Cup qualifiers, Martin O’Neill announced an initial 37 man squad including 5 goalkeepers, 11 defenders, 13 midfielders and 8 strikers; to be trimmed ahead of the qualifying games. I examined the league appearances the squad have made at their respective clubs this season and it threw up a nugget I found interesting, former League of Ireland [LOI] players are slightly ahead of the rest in England this season.

Now, I’m not a statistician and I’m aware there’s a danger I’m using data to back an already held belief. So, to be fair up front I’ll be honest, I cannot bear to see Irish kids aged 15 or 16 leaving school and travelling to a UK club where they’ll join 40/50 other kids in a 2-3 year battle for a couple of available professional contracts . The emergence of the development leagues for older players in the UK may have slightly increased the odds of getting that first professional contract, though the subsequent ones remain rare. I think there has to be a huge push across the FAI, SFAI and LOI clubs when it comes to the retention of young talent in Ireland, to include increasing the quality and frequency of coaching they’ll get at home.

The 37 man squad features 20 English Premier League [EPL] players, 15 Championship players, 1 Scottish premier League [SPL] player and 1 MLS player. 12 of the 37 man squad are former LOI players. Taking just those players who are based in England a month into the current season; former League of Ireland players are – on average – slightly outperforming those who bypassed the domestic league and left for the UK at a younger age.

The 20 EPL players have collectively made 57 appearances from a possible 100 opportunities to play [57% appearance rate]. The 15 Championship players have collectively made 95 appearances from a possible 120 opportunities to play [79% appearance rate].

7 of the former LoI players play in the EPL and have collectively made 24 appearances from 35 opportunities to play [69% appearance rate. The remaining 5 former LoI players in the squad play in the Championship and have collectively made 32 appearances from a possible 40 starts [80% appearance rate].

To give a direct comparison against players who have never played for a LOI club [regardless of whether the player was born in Ireland or not] the EPL % appearance rate is 51% and the Championship % appearance rate is 79%.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that former LoI players are simply better equipped to handle the transition to a UK club, they tend to be more mature, better educated, less likely to suffer home sickness and have at least some experience of a professional football environment.

I’ll be the first to admit that in a month’s time, these figures could read differently. Whether slightly ahead or behind the average though, one thing we can determine is there is absolutely no disadvantage for a talented player if he chooses to wait a little longer in Ireland and finish his education while playing LOI.

It”s up to the ‘football family’ in this country to ensure we sell that message to our kids.

Designs on a more attractive League

In recent weeks an uprooted penalty spot, a Palestinian flag and failing floodlights caused deserved negative coverage of our league. I decided it worthwhile to celebrate an area where the League of Ireland collectively and quietly do a good job, an area which has improved greatly in the past twelve months.

In a league suffering from public apathy and struggling infrastructure Artwork & Design might not seem important, but there’s a growing awareness that it may be the first interaction a potential supporter will have with a club. While we must acknowledge that the league has work to do to retain new supporters, there are green shoots in the increasingly well crafted and artistic imagery that clubs are using to turn the heads of potential supporters.

Club Media officers, predominantly volunteers covering a licencing requirement, create volumes of strong content. However, it’s their growing familiarity with social media alongside reports of the World’s largest companies turning to visually led social media campaigns that have led to clubs’ using eye catching imagery and clever artwork to increase awareness. Despite football’s global popularity and ubiquity, the League of Ireland remains a niche pursuit and this gives us licence to take risks and try new ideas rare among global football brands and our own National Association. It’s something we’re good at.

By taking advantage of strong visuals, many containing tongue-in-cheek humour, League of Ireland clubs can push awareness into markets and regions we’d otherwise miss. Embracing creative Art & Design is not brand new concept though it’s use in the past year has been particularly clever. Below is some of my favourite work from the past year, in no particular order;

Bohemian FC

Right from the off, the ‘Bohs Graffiti Jam’ to redecorate Dalymount Park was a huge success driving interest and awareness of the club, solidifying the club’s brand colours black, red and white as the club played around with the familiar and traditional Red and Black stripes of the home jersey

. 

St. Patrick’s Athletic

St. Patrick’s Athletic include the strong Graffiti Art around Richmond Park into Press Days announcing new players, as they did with Keith Fahey. The ‘Once a Saint, Always a Saint’ artwork is a hugely strong visual, tying in well with the club’s branding, with the theme continuing through the club’s website and social media outlets.

Cork City FC

Cork City FC has worked with Kobe Designs this season for programme design and match posters, the latter in particular driving strong social media interaction as part of the club’s hugely successful marketing push this year. The Kobe design posters have raised awareness and have become the subject of news features. Quirky and professional, they’ve strengthened Cork City’s output this season.

Limerick FC

Limerick FC’s quality has improved dramatically since the introduction of Kreo Creative & Anthem to the club. The quality of the publications and match posters, combined with strong negotiating by the club, means they are one of the few in the League of Ireland producing a profitable match programme. The strong imagery is consistent across the club’s social media and website.

Sligo Rovers

Sligo Rovers create a really strong, eye-catching series of posters, notably the ‘Clash of the Rovers’ comic book series for games versus Shamrock Rovers which are among the best the league produce.

Dundalk

I said no particular order, but my personal favourite over the past twelve months is this brilliant minimalist Richie Towell cover on the Dundalk FC matchday magazine, adding brilliant design to the outstanding content that keeps it the League of Ireland’s best programme.

Liam Buckley. Gent.

St. Patrick’s Athletic deservedly clinched the Airtricity Premier Division League title last Sunday and in a congratulatory tweet I mentioned the fact that I thought manager Liam Buckley was “a gent”. A few people didn’t share the opinion with me, mainly because they don’t know the man; and because he’s the St.Pat’s manager and not their own. So I started typing.

Firstly, I don’t know Liam Buckley well, I’ve met him a handful of times and he’s always been polite but first impressions count and my first real impression of the man came in 2010, the day after FORAS (where I was Chairman) had been granted a licence to enter a Cork City team  (of which I had just become Chairman by default) in the First Division.

We had received the licence at approximately 9.20pm on a Monday night. Seven people suddenly become the board of a football club, with hundreds of members simultaneously becoming owners of their football club. We had ten days to put a manager in place, build an admin team, find and register players, organise a training base and a home stadium; and book a bus to Derry for our first game of the season. Only Ten days.

In the midst of this chaos I received a phone call from Liam Buckley, then manager of Sporting Fingal. He’d gone to the trouble to find my number, he called to wish us luck and to offer us a pre-season friendly the following weekend [the final weekend before the season kicked off].  He told me it was great what we’d achieved in Cork, how great it was to see the club continue and he let us know that there were countless “great people within the league” who’d be there to help, a fact made abundantly clear over following years.

Liam didn’t need the friendly match, his pre-season was almost complete, but he knew our new manager would need one. He offered to put his team on a bus to Cork the following weekend, at his club’s expense, to do a favour for a bunch of supporters now running a league of Ireland club.

Unfortunately, the game never happened, through no fault of Liam. When he rang, we hadn’t a ground to play any match, had neither a manager nor a single player. I thanked him for his generosity and admitted we’d be lucky to have things pulled together for the league opener never mind the following weekend. As it turned out, nine days later, Tommy Dunne took 11 players and 2 subs [one injured and one goalkeeper] to the Brandywell where we secured a draw in one of the best night’s I’ve had in football.

Cork City went on to win promotion in 2011, but Liam Buckley’s generous offer will stay long in my mind. There’s a lot of talk about “real football people” in the media these days, Bucko is one, and he’s a gent.

A league of their own

I enjoyed the Irish game tonight, the first Irish game I’ve enjoyed for quite a while. Of course it was a pretty facile win given the standard of the Oman team, but it was underpinned by occasionally good football and a sense that we were watching some of the next generation of [exciting] players coming through. Most would argue that players like Shane Long, James McLean and Seamus Coleman are good enough to be regular starters already but Giovanni Trapattoni has only used them infrequently.

The game tonight featured six players who took their formative steps in football within the League of Ireland. David Forde, Seamus Coleman, Shane Long, Kevin Doyle, James McClean, David Meyler all featured in League of Ireland matches, coming through underage ranks at Irish clubs before they moved cross channel. A seventh, Stephen Ward, didn’t feature tonight, already a regular at left back under Trapattoni.

Something that all seven have in common is that they travelled to English clubs at a time in their life when they were older than has classically been the case for kids moving cross channel. Most had completed secondary school and all were mature enough to recognise the opportunity before them and appreciate the work they would have to put in to continue their development.

The League of Ireland has, in recent years, produced a number of players who have gone on to represent Ireland. It’s something that should be a huge source of pride for supporters, clubs and sponsors. With the national U19 League improving domestic competition at that age level and a national U17 league in development to provide the same, there’s no reason why the domestic game can’t continue to develop international class senior players.

Turkeys voting for Christmas

The last few minutes of last night’s [03 Sept 2012] MNS show on RTE2 was given over to discussing the potential move to a single division. It was interesting to hear the opinions of the panellists, former players  Pat Morley and Tony McDonnell and from Richard Sadlier, formerly CEO of St.Pats. Ideally, the opinions of all stakeholders within the game would be taken into considerations, including that of supporters as we face into what’s potentially a radical overhaul of the league, but with clubs already preparing licence applications and planning their 2013 budgets, most realise that the decision on next years structure is needed very soon.

During the MNS discussion a couple of points were made which need to be clarified, the primary one being that the club will make the decision, that it was ‘Turkeys voting for Christmas”. This simply isn’t the case. The clubs will meet and vote to make a recommendation, which will be brought to the National League Executive Committee [NLEC]. The NLEC, and they alone, will make the final decision; it’s worth pointing out that while Eamon Naughton, Chairman of the League will bring the club’s recommendation to their next meeting, no direct representative of any club will have access to that meeting or can argue the point on the day. Club’s can recommend, but ultimately will not decide.

Richard Sadlier made the point that standards could drift to that of the weakest club and that licencing and the participation agreement might as well be turn up. The truth of the matter is that clubs have already broadly accepted that with a move to a single Premier Division will come an expectation to up their standards. It is expected that a pre-requisite to entry in a single premier division would be the possession of a Premier Division licence.

Also, the participation agreement isn’t legislative in the way licencing is. It was updated at the start of this season with the change to a 12 team Premier Division and it can be updated again to accommodate a new structure with the dilution of other key aspects of it.

There is also a keen awareness in the clubs’ discussions that 19 teams, should that many qualify to play, can only be a short term interim step and that over time it has to be reduced to a 16 team Premier, as most clubs wished was passed over two years ago at the last round of talks. Contrary to the belief on last night’s panel, this was advocated most vocally by one of those clubs who, in theory, would be in the greatest danger of failing to make the future 16 team league. Their stance is ‘if we’re not strong enough, then we’ll exit, but at least we exit a stronger league.’

Finally, all clubs recognise that there has to be a trapdoor and a penalty for a bottom place finish and there has been good work, led by the Airtricity league clubs, on building a bridge to the junior and intermediate game to ensure that clubs exiting the league have somewhere to continue in football, and that those in the junior game have a strong league to aspire to.