QuoteWell that did not go well. Nothing was achieved. Fran Gavin stuck to what they already said in the statement and the ****ery the FAI has been engaging in for a decade was never properly addressed.
Anybody who thinks that bothered Fran Gavin has never had any dealings with the man.
He lives for it, wallows in it.
He has a head and neck constructed solely from jockeys ******.
Well that did not go well. Nothing was achieved. Fran Gavin stuck to what they already said in the statement and the ****ery the FAI has been engaging in for a decade was never properly addressed.
Agree with this and posted this on another forum.Originally Posted by gufcfan
Having watched Soccer Republic tonight, I felt the whole lot of them were full of guff and the wrong arguments were being put to Fran Gavin. All Stuey Byrne said was how angry people were and things can't continue. No coherent proposal.
While I did agree with Brian Kerr on the issue of fines, at one stage he suggested that the clubs should be given €100k each rather than between them. That's ridiculous to be fair. Can you imagine, if TNB was still in charge of CCFC, how quickly that money would be wasted? Or if you gave it to Waterford? They'd blow it all and be back out with the buckets next season.
If any money is to be given to clubs, it should be spent on facilities, marketing and coaching. Not to be blown on wages.
Let's call a spade a spade here. Many of the clubs can't run themselves, because they are either run by egotistical idiots or by volunteers who are out of their depth. One point that was well made by Fran Gavin is that the FAI have at least reigned in the collective debt of the clubs.
I can see the logic in what the FAI are trying to do. They want sustainable strategies to be set up so that the clubs can better run themselves. The only problem is that they are implementing and handling it very badly. And the clubs see it as too little too late. Same with the 65% rule. Also not implemented correctly. That should have been an opportunity for the FAI to force clubs to put money aside for improving facilities.
I think the clubs are fighting the wrong battle here.
They should be arguing for more transparency in the costs of running the league. Reduction in reg fees, higher spends on marketing the league, working with clubs to improve facilities, aiding them to obtain grants and providing FAI funds to do so. Providing more coaching aid for underage players etc, reducing the cost of coaching courses, obtaining badges etc. And finally, telling the FAI to act like they give a sh1t about the league.
Exactly. Tonight won't change anything for him.
Fran Gavin was hung out to dry by the FAI tonight.
Why didn't John Delaney come on is what I want to know?
Where is the leadership? Where is John Delaney? All well taking credit for the success's of Dundalk and Cork City in Europe, but what about Athlone, Waterford..
Yeah man, they call gambling a disease, but it's the only disease where you can win a bunch of money.
Handling of it by soccer republic was terrible tbf seen a few people say Byrne and Kerr didn't make enough points or the right points but they weren't allowed to. O'Donoghue was fine to let Gavin ramble on with the party line while trying to stop Kerr properly having a go at Gavin. Not near enough time given to it either.
Soccer Republic is a misnomer, this is a party political show. The FAI/RTE dictatorship.
The LOI is a distraction to these organisations, a "problem child"
This was the most anticipated show of the season. 2 huge European fixtures including a historic breakthrough by Dundalk AND a massive sporting political storm over a €100k grant that made all the Sunday paper and radio.
And yet they put the show out at 11.40 on a Monday evening to show the King's "****ing" Speech while Chinese fellas do somersaults on the other channel.
Last edited by harry crumb; 09/08/2016 at 2:21 AM.
Yeah man, they call gambling a disease, but it's the only disease where you can win a bunch of money.
Totally agree with you that clubs should not be given vast amounts of money, the majority have shown they can not keep their houses in order and as you said the majority are run (badly) by volunteers who throw out the volunteer card as soon as criticism comes their way. For me every club should have professionals appointed by the FAI to run them and only when the clubs are in a position to pay them then the FAI should cover the cost.
Also Stuey Byrne made the point about some clubs in the league holding back the rest, totally agree with him. Clubs that aren't meeting certain levels of professionalism should be punished. They'd soon pull their socks up.
There was 14 fellahs playing some new breed of rugby when I turned RTE 2 on, thought SR had been shafted in favour of it.
The reason most clubs have had problems is because running a league of Ireland clubs is very, very difficult. A downturn in results or unexpected expenses and you're in trouble. There may be volunteers out of their depth- but more of the time they just have more to cover than they have time to do well. It's easy to throw shots and all but there is good stuff happening at virtually every club.
The FAI did employee people at clubs previously through the CPO programme. This was a great initiative and it was a pity it went but the crash came and it was done away with.
As for the idea that some clubs are holding the rest back- well John Caulfield would certainly agree there. He said last week that the league should reduce to 6 teams if necessary. But the thing is a club that at one time might be held up as a good example may be fecked beneath the surface, while clubs down in the dumps may be well run but struggling nonetheless. Did the league improve when it reduced from 22 to 20 clubs by the way?
There are no easy answers to any of this- and one issue is that most of the time the debate is dominated by people whose involvement with the league has been paid. Most of these people don't have the remotest idea of what it takes to run a League of Ireland club. Even Kerr, while he made some good points said "I'm talking to managers every day".. does he every talk to directors or volunteers? The league would be in great shape if we could monetise former managers and players saying 'there needs to be reform and more investment'.
Last edited by Mr A; 09/08/2016 at 10:20 AM.
#NeverStopNotGivingUp
disgraceful comments by a so called football man , denying any club the right to exist & the opportunity to represent their town or community at the highest level of football is just wrong. Who does he think he is saying that for example Cobh,Longford or Athlone should be out of the league.well John Caulfield would certainly agree there. He said last week that the league should reduce to 6 teams if necessary.
John Caulfield seems a really nice guy, but he once admonished the Dublin clubs for not pulling in 7,000 fans.So John, how many did your club attract last night against Sligo ? 2,500 was it ? So,where did the extra fans from the Genk match disappear to ? For a County the size of Cork,I think you should be more concerned with that !!
While I don't disagree with the principle of the point you're making I think every other club in the country would kill for the problems of only attracting 2,500 people on a Monday night. I didn't bother my arse going last night as it happens so that's one of the extras from Genk accounted for.
The ball is round and has many surprises.
In fairness, most of what you say here was uttered in some form by either Stuy Byrne or Brian Kerr last night. Between all the shouting, the idea that investment in facilities and coaching should be made by the FAI was suggested.
Kerr also had a go at Gavin for the lack of marketing and promotion of the league.
Agree though that 100k should not be simply given to the clubs. A strategic plan should be made by both the FAI and the clubs working with each other, but it's been done the wrong way. The FAI are going about this all wrong, and as others have said, it should have been done 5 years ago if not more than that.
I thought things erupted into an awful shouting match, and it was handled very badly all round, but, the fact Kerr was willing to get stuck in and have a go was fantastic.
https://kesslereffect.bandcamp.com/album/kepler - New music. It's not that bad.
Amen, brother.
I can understand that Pats and Derry were totally ****ed off, but by rejecting the grant on their own (rather than it being a collective thing by all clubs) all they've done its strained their relationship with the FAI. Don't start a fight you can't win.
Fundamentally, the league needs the FAI if we're going to get it to be the best it can possibly be. Nobody here is happy about the above-mentioned topics (like fines, reg fees, unpublished accounts, etc, etc) but like any business, you've got to work with your business partners to give yourself any chance of success. I'm not saying the clubs must bend over and take everything that the FAI says, you've got to box clever. Forming the PCA to legally represent the clubs was a v smart move and that's exactly the type of clever strategic thinking we need more of, not lone clubs angrily lambasting the FAI in the media.
Wrote this about Peter Collins and Joanne Cantwell as Soccer Republic hosts last month.
https://leagueofirelandhistory.wordp...peter-collins/
Unfortunately he's still there.
Stats & Trivia blog - http://leagueofirelandhistory.wordpress.com/
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