RTE Radio One LW

[Petmuller]

Any of ye guys listening to the debate on RTE Radio One Long Wave tonight after the Shels game. It made for very interesting listening. Eoin Hand, Dermot Keely, Johnny McDonnell (Pats Manager). With Shels dumped out of Europe tonight the discussion was along the lines of where our league is going. Both Dermot and Johnny's opinions were along the same line - clubs not getting the backing they deserve from the league legislators, whereas Eoin felt that the league clubs aren't doing enough at grass roots levels to promote and move the game forward in this country. He sighted the Kennedy Cup in Limerick a competition for U13's and according to Eoin not one Eircom league club send representation to watch these games with the view to picking up the cream of the crop yet the place is awash with representatives from across the water. Both Dermot and Johnny blamed it on the lack of finance as one reason the others being resorces etc but Eoin was having none of it. He used our club Sligo Rovers as prime example of doing things the wrong way by bringing in imports from across the water in order to gain success. The years we were successful the players were gone the following season so there's no stability. He said he too fell into the same trap when he managed Limerick when they won the league. Acording to Eoin there's too much of a blame culture in our game instead of getting out there and doing something about it. He felt Shels went into the game tonight expecting to be beaten whereas if the opposite were the case then they could have got something from the game. Of course the others disagreed which really added fuel to the fire of the debate.
Both sides made great points but I had to side with Eoin Hand and I'm looking at it from a Sligo Rovers point of view. Too often we feel hard done by and expect it to be that way and we go into games with that belief. This being the case our side is not totally focused on the real job so we're not really surprised when the expected happens.
The debate on the radio was when a team from the Eircom League will progress to the league stages of the Champions League if ever. Eoin Hand feels that teams like Shels are not too far off depending on the qualifying draws of course, the others differed in their opinions. Eoin says it's down to attitude and believing in ones ability I'm inclined to agree.

[LondonRover]

What does Eoin Hand want - a Rovers team entirely made up of Sligo lads like in the gaelic? We don't have that huge a pool to draw on in all honesty - not if we want to do well. The Dub teams would dominate even more than they usually do was that to be the case. To be fair, most of the lads are Irish - and a fair few of them are local...

[Red Head]

I agree with most of what Eoin Hand says, however he clearly doesnt know SLigo Rovers based on his comments about us. Yes Connor has brought in players from across the water but the last couple of years has shown great progress on the underage setup by Mickey Feeney. As for Keely i dont know why he is in the game he is such a negative advertisement for the league for the style of football his team plays and his attitude. Wish he would just **** off out of the game.

[gustavo]

the players that are coming over for us now arent the type that fly in for the matches and take the cheque and leave for a week we arent doing that anymore so his point is invalid there also the spine of the side is west of ireland not to mention irish

[Redzer]

Hand is right about one thing, we did import players in the hope of success in the past. TBH the success we achieved was limited. As, was quite an amount of the players.
But, now things are a totally different. Over the last four or five years the emphasis has been on promoting local youth, and establishing an underage structure at the Showground’s. No club in the Eircom Ireland, or elsewhere, will be successful with an all local team. You need a mixture of experienced players with the locals, and the only way you can do that is by bringing in players who have done it at other clubs.
We have first hand knowledge from the last few seasons, as to what was lacking in a mostly local team. There is no substitute for experience.
We are going about it the right way. Even at managerial level, an outsider can view players without any local bias, so he can choose the pick of the crop, instead of favouritism.
It’s important to keep a balance of local and outside players. That’s the only way to have continuity at the club, and hopefully it will lead to sucess.

[Da Real Rover]

Dont be so quick to bash the foreigners that we have had over the years, remember they have had as much to do with the success this club achieved as the local lads. Frankly it sounds like Hand is speeking through his arse we have one of if not the best underage structures in Ireland. The bankruptcy has nothing to do with foreigners its the scum who plundered this club for all its worth.