english league is knackered

[Ali-G]

Read this today about the football league in England..

Taylor's fears over the future of English football have been cemented by official PFA figures which show 431 of 562 players given free transfers this summer are still without a club for the new season.

Sounds like a great time for LOI clubs to snap up young talent, especially young irish lads. Coupled with the new summer season, it could give the LOI even more profile and improve the game here... Why did Derry bother with David Kelly.

Stats like this also mean it is more likely that City will be able to hang on to Flynn even if he finishes the season as top scorer in the league

[pete]

I wouldn't tajke too much delight in the demise of other clubs as many eL only just about solvent.

It would seem a lot of nationwide clubs (particularily from the 2nd & 3rd division) reduced their squads a lot as many had huge amounts of professional players on their books.

BBC did piece on last night & one of few times a club Director admitted that wages were their biggest problem & basically had themselves to blame.

Irish players will only come back to Ireland if they have no other option unless the eL can provide proper fulltime clubs as opposed to a few fulltimers training on their own while rest of squad at their 'proper' job.

[Festus]

Bringing players from England would be expensive for an eL club. Not only would the players expect full time wages, but there would be re-location expenses ie accomodation , travel etc if they're not from here in the first place.

Given the numbers of young Irish players who make the journey in the opposite direction, there is obviously no lack of footballing talent being produced here. Holding onto it is the key in my opinion . If the facilities and opportunities exist, it would perhaps become more likely that those young Irish players would stay. At the moment they need to go cross-channel to avail off basic full time training etc

I think the league will see some of these players coming back for economic reasons, and the standard might gradually improve. The league has suffered from a tremendous "skills drain" as anyone who displays any aptitude for playing soccer gets taken away before they even leave school. It would take a huge effort and alot of resources to reverse this trend.

[pete]

Originally posted by Festus
Bringing players from England would be expensive for an eL club. Not only would the players expect full time wages, but there would be re-location expenses ie accomodation , travel etc if they're not from here in the first place.

Is not the league attempting to move towards fulltime footballers? Sure if the league can't provide a fulltime football career then theres little point in bringing the players back in the first place....