I think that is exactly the point. Atm England's performance in Europe has dropped off. Does that mean its not as good a league as the Spanish league for example (a passing fan might think that La Liga is just Real Madrid plus Barcalona head above the rest in contrast to the the more competetive Premier League... that however neglects to account for strong performances of Atleti, Seville etc in both Champions League and Europa League...). All across Europe leagues are being judged on their success. The decline of Serbian clubs/pedigree in Europe demonstrates the decline in standard there in contrast to the relatve success of a small club from a small country; Maribor. Or even closer to home Celtic's dominance of Scotland but failure to sparkle in Europe (even EL success would be nice) shows the decline there. Dutch clubs in comparison can be prouder I suppose of their progress.
Europe is important. It did get people talking. People were quite aware to what was going on... The same happened to a limited degree with Rovers but I still remember the hype surrounding Drogheda's tie with Kiev and im sure older people also saw positive spin when Shels did well.. So it is good for the coefficient (at least up to 2017 lol) and it was also good for PR. That it does not necessarily bring in more bums on seats is not really the point ie European success will not solve the leagues problems. We need to tackle them at their roots. I just wish European success would draw attention to the positives and focus the FAI on recognising the benefits for local football all the way up to the national team etc. It seems theyd rather schedule nice bumper games in Aviva, "domestic" football be dammed...But I also think it needs to go beyond FAI as an institution there needs to be more grassroots bottom up stuff going on to connect with people the way GAA does, the way Rugby does.
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