Huge Game for our League

[eoinh]

However, I resent the continually made argument that fans who do not want to see a rival club get ahead of their club are doing the league a diservice.


My point is that shels doing well in europe is just as big a benefit to city as it is to shels. or anyother LOI club.

[eoinh]

Everyone's focusing on the additional revenue that Shels could attract from a relatively small number of European games (3 or 4 home games in the UEFA group stages - only 1 or 2 of which would be big-name sell-outs - and TV rights to 2 or 3 live matches) as if that will suddenly give them a sufficiently large war-chest to dominate Irish football for all eternity.

The real financial benefit of ANY Irish club doing well in Europe is not from such one-off, opposition-dependent income. It's instead from rich idiots like Courtenay, McManus, Magnier etc, who suddenly twig that it'd be a much better investment to put a small amount of money into an Irish team with genuinely strong potential (Bohs, Cork, Derry etc) than to put a much larger sum into a nothing team like Carlisle that would be unlikely to deliver any return. or a much bigger sum into Man U or Celtic with a much lower likely yield on your investment.

If Irish clubs keep themselves in the public eye through European exploits, sooner or later somebody will see them as a good low-cost financial investment. You would only need to spend a few million on an Irish team that within 3-4yrs could realistically be in the Champions League group stages. Hey presto - serious return on your money for the bored rich, and you become a local hero for Irish sport. No great negative impact if it doesn't work out, as the initial outlay would be relatively small versus your net worth.

Without reliable forms of income, teams can't afford to sign all the best players in the League and dominate it totally. Praying for group-stage qualification each year and games against big European clubs is not a reliable form of income to budget against. Speculating in this way would be foolish for Shels or any other Irish club (ref. Leeds United). Shels have one of the lowest reliable incomes in the league, as their crowds are crap.

The real benefit of any Irish team doing well in Europe would therefore be to stimulate external investment in the league. Ironically, that investment could well go to other clubs than the likes of Shels.


I would agree with this 100%

[inexile]

A small bit of advice to you. Don't assume you ever know anything about another poster. You have no idea what position the poster may or may not be in.


fair enough point taken but im my eyes that makes it worse because if you do put your time and effort into club you know how much hard work it can be and how often you get **** for thanks

[paudie]

Some interesting points made by both sides of the argument.

I'll still be supporting Shels, even more so when I realised that there are double coefficient points available for these games, so progress would benefit the league even more.

[dancinpants]

Yeah well, its all ****** now anyway Lilles 2 up at half time!!!!

[dancinpants]

Quite the come back, 2-2 now

[GalwayFrancis]

7,400!!!! fucin joke... why was it not played in tolka???? the only reason it should be in lansdowne is when at least 20,000 ppl are in attendance.... shels would have done much better if 7,400 ppl were and it been played in tolka!!!
when Galway United get into europe they better play it in Terryland!!!!
well done shels.... do it for ireland!!

[GalwayFrancis]

sorry mistake with figures...it was 7,463

[ShelsTim]

Our floodlights aren't good enough.

[brendy_éire]

Shocking attendence, it looked terrible on TV. Shels actually lost money on it, aye?

Heartless performance from Shels. Sloppy mistakes, looked like they didn't want to be there. Whatver happened to the spirit shown against Hadjuk Split and Depor?
Great last 10 minutes though. Fair play.

[A face]

Wesser had a mare !!
Totally left Lille go at them in the first .... Shels improved in the second and probably would have deserved something if they had played like that all game. They didn't deserve to draw but fair play for doing so !!

C'mon City !!

[gspain]

Well done Shels. Great fighting spirit - Lille looked a class side and really up for it in the first half.

A bit lucky ok but Shels will reap the benefits of this for the next 5 years once they qualify for Europe and our champions will be seeded next year whether it is Shels, Drogheda, Bohs or Cork - probably Shels.

[patsh]

Fair play to Shels last night.
No matter what anyone might think of the club, to keep going and get a draw in a game where they could easily have been 4 or 5 down at half time, is a great result and was some achievement by those players.
If "Lucy Lu" waas any use at all, he could have had a hat trick in the first half, alone.
Fair play to the team, and with Byrne and Moore to come back in, Shels are still in with a great chance.

[GalwayFrancis]

Our floodlights aren't good enough.

they had like about 2/3 weeks to install new floodlights after the depor match... any improvements could have easily been done in the time they had.... the floodlights have to be fixed sometime!!! more than lightly they will have some euro matches next year...will they be played in lansdowne also???? they should improve tolka in the close season or start making good plans to built a proper 12,000 -> 15,000 seater stadium, which can be used by all el teams in europe... shels do things much too slowly... its a company not a charity... ye are all full time... now start to look like it...plz

[eoinh]

they had like about 2/3 weeks to install new floodlights after the depor match... any improvements could have easily been done in the time they had....

In fairness theres no way you could do it in that time.


more than lightly they will have some euro matches next year...will they be played in lansdowne also????

Why do i get the feeling you didnt mean that as a pun?

[GalwayFrancis]

Why do i get the feeling you didnt mean that as a pun?
ok you have lost me...where's the pun...didnt mean to have one

[noby]

ok you have lost me...where's the pun...didnt mean to have one




more than lightly

you don't get away with much round here

[Slash/ED]

they should improve tolka in the close season or start making good plans to built a proper 12,000 -> 15,000 seater stadium,

There's already plans for a new stadium, we wont be in Tolka for too much longer. That's the rumour anyway.

**** performance from Shels to be fair for the first 80 minutes but in a strange way, if anything, that can be used to our advantage. We played rubbish and still drew with them and we've two of our most influencial players to come back. We paid Lille too much respect and yet still carved them open at times, there's no doubt at all that if we go at Lille we can create chances. Lille will be favourites, but if we go and play as well as we can and have in the past we're capable of getting the result imo. If we play like that again we'll be destroyed though.


happened to the spirit shown against Hadjuk Split and Depor?

You saw it in the last ten minutes. We went from dead and buried too still very much in contention. I agree it was lacking for the rest of the game though, if we can get it together for the whole of the away leg we could do well.

[ShelsTim]

they had like about 2/3 weeks to install new floodlights after the depor match... any improvements could have easily been done in the time they had.... the floodlights have to be fixed sometime!!! more than lightly they will have some euro matches next year...will they be played in lansdowne also???? they should improve tolka in the close season or start making good plans to built a proper 12,000 -> 15,000 seater stadium, which can be used by all el teams in europe... shels do things much too slowly... its a company not a charity... ye are all full time... now start to look like it...plz

1. 2/3 weeks isn't enough to install floodlights and I think we had less than that with CHF and Derry
2. We don't exactly have money to be chucking around on spanking newe floodlights
3. We're moving soon anyway so there's no point improving Tolka too much before then.
4. 'which can be used by all el teams in europe', can you imagine Bohs, Longford or Cork playing in Shels' home ground for European games?
5. We're the ones who have made the breakthrough in Europe considerably faster than all the other eL teams, bar Cork but they're only in the InterToto (no offence to Cork).

[HarpoJoyce]

Shelbourne's and Cork City's results in Europe are just a continuation of the preformances of recent years.
Shelbourne's "breakthrough" is by getting into the CL's 3rd qualifying round, they've opened up a whole new oppurtunity to play a bunch of matches in Europe and win points for themselves.

With UEFA's introduction of more and more clubs in European competition in the 1990's. League of Ireland clubs were finally able to reverse the
nosedive started in the mid-1980's when Irish clubs went 4/5 years without scoring a goal.

Slowly, slowly eircom League clubs have progressed through the rounds of the different competitions. Shels and City are just taking the next step.

Other positives, City continued their great European home record and Shels are unbeaten at home this year.