Kerr - Irish Premier League "Lacking Ambition"

**Scram** · 14/07/2009, 4:22 PM

Originally Posted by Duggie

sure kerr is right in what he says. no real ambition in the league. the ambition is to just survive from day to day.

That did seem to be the gist of what he was saying.

**SkStu** · 14/07/2009, 4:46 PM

ColbertReport, too many teams is probably the least of the problems within the league right now. The CFL is not a fair comparison. I think you have missed the point and, anyway, im not sure you know very much at all about the domestic league.

**joema** · 14/07/2009, 5:16 PM

LOI clubs are too ambitious.

Look at Shamrock Rovers - they are, without doubt, the best run club in the country..and they are not fully pro!

IMO, that says it all. LOI clubs should not live beyond their means. They should all be part-time. Professional football in this country is simply not sustainable...not in its current guise anyway.

Used to have a lot of respect for Kerr, but I couldn't be arsed with him anymore.

**Dodge** · 14/07/2009, 5:41 PM

That's a seperate argument, and one which Kerr didn't touch

**joema** · 15/07/2009, 2:00 PM

Originally Posted by Dodge

That's a seperate argument, and one which Kerr didn't touch

Fair enough if Kerr didn't address that.

But I still think its true - I find it hard to take the title of this thread seriously so! But in all fairness, it is clear that a lot of LOI clubs have unrealistic aspirations. I don't think its accurate to say they lack ambition.

**irishultra** · 15/07/2009, 2:19 PM

Originally Posted by Colbert Report

He's right though. Far too many teams for such a small island. There should only be six or eight Premier teams on the whole island of Ireland. Too many clubs splitting the pie into far too small pieces.

Not really no.

Bray-Wicklow-32,000 population
Galway United-Galway-72,729
Cork City-Cork-119,000
Sligo Rovers-Sligo-17,000
Shamrock Rovers-Tallaght-73,000
Dundalk- Dundalk-35,000 +
Derry City-Derry-83,000+
Drogheda United- Drogheda -35,000 +
Bohemians-Dublin
Pat's-Dublin

thats all the clubs, most of these populations don't even include outer limits. look at Derry City and Cork City FFS who are the competing with? they should be playing in 25,000 capacity stadiums and filling them out every week

sorry but the comparison with canada doesnt work, as johnny mcdonnell said abouts elfsborg 'they ar getting 12% of the city at games, we can't even get 12% from Ballyfermot' sums it up. if irish football fans cared we would have a healthy league with reasonable quality.

its typical of irish mentality though that people couldnt give a ****

**EalingGreen** · 15/07/2009, 3:22 PM

Originally Posted by irishultra

Not really no.

Bray-Wicklow-32,000 population
Galway United-Galway-72,729
Cork City-Cork-119,000
Sligo Rovers-Sligo-17,000
Shamrock Rovers-Tallaght-73,000
Dundalk- Dundalk-35,000 +
Derry City-Derry-83,000+
Drogheda United- Drogheda -35,000 +
Bohemians-Dublin
Pat's-Dublin

thats all the clubs, most of these populations don't even include outer limits. look at Derry City and Cork City FFS who are the competing with? they should be playing in 25,000 capacity stadiums and filling them out every week

It is far too simplistic simply to quote population figures and deduce from them what a club's crowds "should" be (imo).

For it is the nature of sport in Ireland (and elsewhere?) that traditional patterns of support, deriving from history and past achievement etc are a good deal more critical.

I don't know about the Dublin clubs, from that list I'd say that Dundalk, Derry and Sligo are proper "football towns", in a way that eg Galway, Bray, even Cork(?) arguably are not (no disrespect to the loyal fans of those last three clubs, btw).

It's the same in NI. For example, Omagh is as "big" a town as nearby Dungannon, but has never really proven capable of sustaining an IL club. And a little further away, I'd argue that Enniskillen is also traditionally a "football town", but has never had a senior IL club like eg the much smaller Ballinamallard, only because it (Ekn) has so many competing Junior clubs (six?). By contrast, Ekn has only one?two? Gaelic clubs, despite it having a Nationalist majority.

Which imo is also why the Franchise model, so beloved of American sport, has rarely if ever caught on in football in the British Isles - a club can't simply 'up sticks' and move elsewhere, just because there is a bigger population waiting.

As I see it, for any football league to be successful, it has to build gradually and sustainably on its strengths and traditions. I'm not qualified to say what those are as regards the LOI, but with the IL, for instance, I'd need a pretty powerful argument to persuade me eg to switch from a Winter season to Summer.

Otherwise, you might attract new fans/investors/media initially by making wholesale changes (eg Summer football, full-time players, concentrating on Europe, slick marketing etc), but the 'last in' are likely to be the 'first out' when/if things should go wrong, or the novelty simply wears off.

And if in the meantime, you've p1ssed off your loyal fans, then who is left to save you then?

Just a thought*

* - Applies (imo) to football generally, I'm not picking on the LOI specifically.

**TonyD** · 15/07/2009, 8:39 PM

Originally Posted by irishultra

Not really no.

as johnny mcdonnell said abouts elfsborg 'they ar getting 12% of the city at games, we can't even get 12% from Ballyfermot' sums it up. :

It does indeed. And that's the problem in a nutshell. How we convert those people I genuinely haven't a clue.

**KR's Post** · 15/07/2009, 8:44 PM

Does Bohs result tonight shove those comments right back up Kerr's ass...

**Dodge** · 15/07/2009, 11:01 PM

Originally Posted by KR's Post

Does Bohs result tonight shove those comments right back up Kerr's ass...

tonight's draw barley wipes out Bohs losing to the Latvian crowd, if we're picking out individual results

And I repeat, he said "some" irish clubs.

**Macy** · 16/07/2009, 7:18 AM

Originally Posted by TonyD

It does indeed. And that's the problem in a nutshell. How we convert those people I genuinely haven't a clue.

It's verging on the impossible - too many will come up with any excuse to justify why they won't go. None of them will include "I'm too lazy, I'd rather sit on the couch or in pub and watch foreign football". And their loss. We should just try and make the best of it based on what we have - we can have sustainable clubs in reasonable grounds with proper management at both club and FAI level.

**Scram** · 16/07/2009, 10:39 AM

Originally Posted by Dodge

tonight's draw barley wipes out Bohs losing to the Latvian crowd, if we're picking out individual results

And I repeat, he said "some" irish clubs.

I don't think so...he said "Irish clubs"

**SkStu** · 16/07/2009, 2:50 PM

Originally Posted by Macy

It's verging on the impossible - too many will come up with any excuse to justify why they won't go. None of them will include "I'm too lazy, I'd rather sit on the couch or in pub and watch foreign football". And their loss. We should just try and make the best of it based on what we have - we can have sustainable clubs in reasonable grounds with proper management at both club and FAI level.

brilliant post Macy, well said.

us getting so worked up about getting the 'stoolers in is like begging a bird to go out with you when all she does is laugh at you and slag you off every time you go near her (and i should know)...