I wish people would stop trying to fix the problems in the league with these Frankenstein's monster attempts at club building. What is the point in having a joined Mervue-Salthill-GUST club? Mervue and Salthill will be competing with each other at underage level and all other Galway junior clubs will be excluded. The FAI should just do what they clearly want to and find some stupid reason to cast Mervue and Salthill from the league and give GUST their undeserved preference, rather than try to meld two junior clubs' identities into some ready made mold for GUST. Individual club identities deserve more respect.Originally Posted by Trainee
For the record, this also applies to expanding the LOI brand in new counties. Successful junior clubs are where interest needs to be built, not some Tipperary United farce.
The FAI dont wanna give it to gust.
Most likely outcone in galway next year is a Limerick 37 ish thang.
And there'll only be one division. I'd nearly put money on it at this stage.
One of the things I always wondered was what any GUST/Mervue/Salthill entity would look like. Would it actually be a new club, or would it just be Galway United with their colours, name, stadium and history attached? I recall one poster on here last arguing vehemently that the new entity should absolutely be called "Galway United" and nothing else. I can imagine the people behind Salthill and Mervue would be fearful of their clubs ethos - as small as it may be - vanishing in a merger.
Author of Never Felt Better (History, Film Reviews).
At this rate, the whole thing will go the same way as the Connacht Senior League idea- pushed down the pipeline again.
My biggest fear is that the genuine supporters of Galway soccer, and GUST, are being lead down the garden path again. I'd imagine it's going to be nigh on impossible to carry the can for a 3rd successive year without a team.
Not being smart, I'm genuinely curious as to what that means? I thought Limerick simply changed their name to Limerick 37 for a few seasons then changed back to Limerick F.C. after a while or is there more to it? I thought they were the same company?
Also agree they don't want to give gust the responsibility, I think it's fairly clear. They want all "stakeholders" involved.
roddy collins you're a flanker you're a flanker!
Limerick 37 had the same people who had been involved in senior football for years (some were coming back after a short break following some purges by danny drew)
But sitting on the board you also had people from the schoolboy league and the junior league.
And in the background you had the fai pulking strings and giving out the occasional sweets.
It didnt really work out! But in thepry the idea wasnt a bad one and i genuinely think its a similar type of thing the fai are pumping galway for.
They wont want it going on much longer in galway without a team its a lucrative family friendly kind of a loi place.
But gust are too inexperienced/erratic to be given the run of the place.
And if.anything big is to happen in galway naughton will want his piece of the pie. He's earned it by being the best boy all this time.
Also afaik the name change was because drew owned the name "limerick fc" at the time
If we get relegated, we'll more thank likely go under.
There are several good suggestions here, but I have yet to understand what people have in mind when they think of a single division, with 16-18 clubs and no relegation (unless it's a temporary measure). One of the reasons that make the First Division this dull and disgusting thing is precisely the lack of relegation, which means that teams like Salthill Devon will be forever hanging on in the last place with 5 points. Not to mention the obvious fact that in a championship like this the only 4 or 5 teams with stable finances will compete for the european spots and the other 11 will basically play 30 friendlies against each other, can you imagine what sort of team would troubled clubs (like Bohs, for example) come up with if they had no relegation to be afraid of? The cheapest possible, of course. We would have most of the teams playing with absolutely no ambition and investing exact zero on improving their squad, since they will be there next year anyways, and if it's already hard to put 1500 people in most matches, who would watch that c***? Unless the FAI has some even crazier idea, like NBA style playoffs.
My idea, is that we could have a single division, with all the current teams except Salthill Devon and Mervue United (maybe Mervue can be spared) and GUST in their place, for the next year. This would qualify the first 10/12/14/16/any number you prefer to the next year's championship, while something of the hundreds of nice ideas in this topic is done to encourage traditional and well structured junior squads to join the league. But then again, thinking of tables and number of clubs in a division is the easiest. The biggest problem is all the rest.
The reason the 1st is so dull and disgusting is the lack of promotional opportunities, not a lack of relegation. That and it's too bloody small. Maybe an expanded premier would have the same problem because of no relegation, but at least all clubs would be guaranteed a certain number of big games/ gates to help them survive. If the FAI can get their crap together and get other clubs to join, then we can look at a split again, as in 1985, but at the moment there isn't the number of clubs for 2 divisions and no indications of any looking to make the step up.
As for this "inviting applications" crap - the FAI should've been going around the country developing, helping and encouraging clubs to make the step up. They've done nothing. Their only focus has been on reducing the number of clubs with the Galway situation. At a time when the league needs clubs, even if it's not ideal having 2 or 3 from the same city. GUST have been ready to go the last few years, and the FAI have actively blocked a club that's willing and able to join the league. Beggars belief imo, and all so people in the FAI can point to a LoI related "achievement". What are the FAI doing with the likes of Mons and Kilkenny, to try and encourage them back into the league?
It's time for something radical. Open discussions with the IFA and UEFA about an AIL. We should switch to winter to facilitate this if it looks like a runner (there's no way a summer season would work imo if the issues of this summer are repeated in the 6 counties). It's no silver bullet, but would give everyone the chance of decent sized leagues without the monotony of playing teams 4 or 5 or more times a season, and would give a short term boost to clubs. If that's not a runner, a radical shake up here (2 conferences and play offs or something along those lines).
If you attack me with stupidity, I'll be forced to defend myself with sarcasm.
FAI should be doing all they can to get junior clubs to make the push up, the league entry should be lower than what it is and grants should be made available to "new" clubs willing to step up so they can build up their infrastructures. The likes of Tralee and Carlow were asking to be put forward a few years ago, Monaghan could come back as they have a junior club still going in the Ulster Senior League I think it is. Do Castlebar want to come back? Even during the old reserves/u21 leagues there was two Mullingar teams, can they put a team forward? Would Home Farm, St. Francis etc be willing to come back. Theres very little teams out in south Dublin other than UCD and Rovers over in Tallaght. Balbriggan and Swords are big catchment areas with no clubs around.
And that's precisely why there will only be one division next year, if Bohs finish bottom (and they will )
Would that 100,000 you might have got if you had beaten that pish poor Icelandic team last season had made any difference! Europe can be important (re what the fat guy on MNS always says)
I really cannot see a position where bohs would fold if they were relegated. technically bohs are the only traditional northside team left. I really cant see how they couldn't be rebuilt from bottom up.
before shels fans kick up, no matter what you say you are a southside club
Long Live King Kenny
According to prico, its great for clubs to go down. Done us and athlone loads of good being stuck in the first.
Dunno about you but Athlone have got RODDY since they went down.
Havn't given up hope yet. A win tomorrow against Rovers and it could drastically change our season.
Our crowds have drastically reduced this season. I'd say were averaging about 1,100 a game. With significantly smaller away gate receipts, decreased sponsorship and increased travel costs there's a very real chance of Zurich deciding were not viable anymore and pulling the rug from under us.
Our only real hope of survival is sitting it out until property prices pick up somewhat and selling Dalymount for more than our liabilities.
It definitely would have made a difference. However in the overall scheme of things it would have been just a fraction of what we owe.
Last edited by Bohs11; 15/08/2013 at 2:16 AM.
Was think more like building a team with that dosh.
Are your crowds still not bad considering you are near the bottom last two season?
I wouldnt imagine Bohs will go through any greater challenge than any other side who spent time in the FD if they went down. I understand the Zurich position, but crowds might actually pick up if they are leading the FD (if they did get relegated)
Lets face it, only two clubs have been spared the FD at this stage, Pats are the other one, so its really not the end of the world if it happens, a setback yes, but it can be turned around.
Going out of business altogether is another matter ofcourse.
#DundalkFC - First Irish club to win an away game in Europe (1963), first Irish club to win points in a group stage in Europe (2016).
F*cking hate that old cherry being rolled out by a club when relegated - lets rebuild from scratch blah blah, 7 damn years of hellish rebuilding if thats the case for us and not on the cheap either! and feck all done rebuilding either if ye ask me. To add to that a constant reminder of those horrible days is that many of our younger fans see the Drogs as our main big rivals now, bless them, as our wee neighbours happened to be going through their only period of success while we flirted with re-election, were denied promotion twice in the dimly lit corridors of Merrion Square, were managed by somone who resembled an evil dictator, laid a carpet as a pitch, sold our training ground, nearly gave John Gill a few heart attacks along with many other fans, only to be promoted eventually by a goal scored by Limerick.....yeah its great to be relegated!!!
Well I know CCS hasn't looked this good in years. Tasty as fcuk so it is!!
Sporting F*ck All!
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