Champions League/Europa League draws 2010

[pineapple stu]

It's basically ignoring everything you've just seen and imagining something else to be the case. It's not as if TNS squeaked past Bohs; they're a full-time team who put in a good showing in Dalyer - even if Bohs could have won by more - and who hammered them in Wales. If you want to ignore those facts, then fire ahead. But don't expect anyone to take you too seriously.

[Charlie Darwin]

Bohs did nothing in either match to suggest they could acquit themselves well against Anderlecht or CSKA (or whoever else they may have drawn).

[Dodge]

If Boh's and Shamrocks Rovers were getting to the play-offs most season's and getting some big games, it would raise their profiles.
If they built 50,000 seat stadiums that'd raise their profile too. As likely to happen too

[Dead_Star]

From supporting a team that chased the European dream, I know how painful it is when the things go wrong. Clubs shouldn't be looking to crack Europe each year and see it as the ultimate goal. Don't get me wrong the success and the European nights were great and if asked back then if I would have swapped it for a team that was financially ok I would have told you were to go.

It seems every successful club thinks we'll be the ones to crack it, we were better than previous clubs. They then go and pump loads of borrowed cash into trying to acheive it and then turn to the supporters to bail them out when it goes wrong.

I think it was when we were playing Kiev, Doolin said something like - it cost 2/3 million a year to run a LOI club, Sunderland wouldn't even pay that for a fullback and we'll get closer to Champions league than they ever will. Looking back I often think that statement showed the mentality the club and is the reason why we are in the position we are today.

[abcd]

I'd have to disagree with that. Teams like Port Vale and Scunthorpe are far less conventionally successful than teams in Ireland with similar catchment areas, but they still pull in higher crowds than every side in Ireland, even in spite of competition from bigger and more successful teams in the same region, or even the same city. The difference there is that the clubs are, or have been, an integral part of the fabric of the community, building a culture of attending games. I think it's possibly easier, probably cheaper, and definitely less risky to try and boost attendances this way, while thinking of Europe as a nice possible bonus, certainly not the greatest and only goal.

Its building the culture of attending games thats everything though. In England the culture is there of supporting your local team, that culture isn't in Ireland and tbh I can't see it happening in the future either. Its English football first for the vast majority, a certain percentage of fans will come out for big league and cup games for most clubs but not the mundane league games where you need the crowds to be coming in. Other clubs have build a somewhat sustainable supporter base but you'd wonder is it a house of cards whereby if success drys up so will the fans?

[peadar1987]

Its building the culture of attending games thats everything though. In England the culture is there of supporting your local team, that culture isn't in Ireland and tbh I can't see it happening in the future either. Its English football first for the vast majority, a certain percentage of fans will come out for big league and cup games for most clubs but not the mundane league games where you need the crowds to be coming in. Other clubs have build a somewhat sustainable supporter base but you'd wonder is it a house of cards whereby if success drys up so will the fans?

It's not like Irish people are fundamentally different to the English or the Scots though, or the Norwegians, or the Swedes, as much as many would like to buy into the myth that we are a world apart from anyone else. If they can build a culture of attending games, so can we. When you get several thousand Norwegians willing to travel from Oslo to Tromsø for a mid-table league game, there must be some way of getting the same number of Irish people ten minutes down the road for a top of the table clash

[Sean South]

I’m just generalising here but as a whole Irish people are sheep/lemmings afraid to do something different and believe most what the media tells them. When it comes to football it’s the same. The one thing though other countries have is a thriving fan/supporters scene you will often see 50% of the attendance in the curva. It’s not uncommon to have over 90% of travelling supporters who will be involved in the supporter scene. This is just another thing which has never taken of here just like a culture of attending games and most likely won’t. There are many reasons why there isn’t a culture of attending games in Ireland and it’s all been done to death on sites like this. People involved at clubs need to forget about the “league” and how it can be “improved” just concentrate on their own club, supporters and community and the rest will take care of it’s self

[peadar1987]

Perhaps the parentheses were justified for "improved", but I don't think you can argue with the fact that we have a league! :p