lofty9
26/12/2006, 10:35 AM
The last quote from Maurice Malpas sums up the FAI in regards to being a professionally run organisation:rolleyes:.
http://www.sundayherald.com/sport/shfootball/display.var.1089990.0.0.php
Rub of the Green
THE IRISH tricolor flies proudly above the Scottish Premier League table, and this time it has nothing to do with Celtic's travelling support.
With no fewer than nine players and one manager from the Republic of Ireland involved in SPL match squads last weekend, Motherwell lining up three more players who will arrive in January, and the first managerial import Stephen Kenny also likely to raid his old stomping ground at the turn of the year, footballers from across the Irish sea are this season's must-have accessory.
With the SPL's ranks also swelled by three Ulstermen in the form of Neil Lennon, Ivan Sproule and Dean Shiels, the sheer amount of arrivals marks something of a departure.
The traditional route to soccer stardom for a talented youngster from across the Irish Sea involves leaving as a teenager for one of the big clubs south of the border, a journey traversed in the last 15 years by Roy and Robbie Keane, Damien Duff, and even current SPL top scorer Anthony Stokes. But it is the convergence of a number of new factors which has seen the SPL become the beneficiaries of a second wave of Irish immigration.
Firstly, the TV money which has poured into the Premiership academies south of the border, and the consequent increased competition for places, has squeezed opportunities for young Irishmen - with even those that do make it finding it impossible to infiltrate first team squads laden with foreign talent. Stephen O'Donnell, Patrick Cregg, and even Stokes have found Scottish football a hospitable halfway house.
Secondly, the equilibrium between the SPL and the Eircom League is at a particularly delicate stage. While SPL wages and standards have generally declined in recent years, the Eircom League's development as a professional summer competition in the last three seasons has borne only partial success.
More and more of those players unable to find a berth in an academy down south have stayed at home, yet although the top four clubs in the country - Champions Shelbourne, Derry City, Drogheda United and Cork City - could easily compete in the SPL (Kenny's Derry side, for instance, embarrassed Gretna in the Uefa Cup and drew with Paris St Germain), poor attendances and sponsorship revenues have seen even the top clubs struggle with finances. Shelbourne, for instance, won the title despite players going for months without receiving their wages.
The end result is that Irish-based players in general still regard a transfer to the SPL as a good career move, while clubs in the SPL or the Championship down south sniff a bargain, particularly in January, when the Eircom League is in close season.
Reading, who plucked Kevin Doyle from Cork City for a paltry £80,000 last June and now have on their hands a £6 million striker with eight Premiership goals, would certainly agree. So would Wolves, who have been heavily linked with Cork striker Roy O'Donovan, and Ipswich, who are set to sign another Cork player George O'Callaghan.
For Dave Rogers, the former Dundee and Ayr United defender, who has just won his third title in four years with Shelbourne, this fiscal flight is more a reflection on the league's uncertainties rather than the quality of its football.
"I played against Kevin Doyle in my first two years over here and he was very average but he had a great attitude and you only have to look at him now," Rogers said. "He is right up there with the top goalscorers in the Premiership with eight goals. A Scottish team could have taken a chance on him for £80,000 but Reading decided to take a chance."
There is certainly no doubt that this has been a bumper year for Irish talent. Stokes is the league's top scorer, while Motherwell's Richie Foran and Dundee United's Noel Hunt are all in the top five places in domestic competitions. Rogers - who was at Shelbourne when Stokes left for London as a 14-year-old - believes the chance to showcase talent at venues like Ibrox and Parkhead is a big factor.
"Personally I think players are moving over to Scotland, to teams like Motherwell, not because it is better money I think it is more to do with the certainty of the whole league set up," he told the Sunday Herald.
"Things are more secure in the SPL, you get bigger crowds, and if not better facilities, the whole league is run better. The main thing is that you want to test yourselves against better quality, and in the likes of Rangers and Celtic you've got that. When I was in Scottish football I used to love going to play against Rangers at Ibrox or Celtic at Parkhead. The people who run the Irish league don't have a clue really. There is more professionalism in the SPL.
"But without question the top four teams in the Eircom premier would all finish in the top half of the SPL. We are all full-time clubs, with good players and good managers. There are certain people in Scotland who give the Irish league a bit of a bad name, but we beat Derry to the league and proved we were better than them, and then you look at what Derry did to Gretna."
Kenny and Craig Levein are also likely to be dabbling in the Irish market this January, but Maurice Malpas has got his work in first. For him, the reasoning behind his decision to bring in Cork City left-back Danny Murphy and St Pat's Athletic striking duo Trevor Molloy and Paul Keegan is simple enough.
"There are three or four reasons," Malpas said. "The players are available at this time of year, they're out of contract because it is the close of their season.
"Secondly - the ones we've had in the past have done well and the ones now will adjust to our type of game, because it is reasonably quick and direct there. Three - they come into our price bracket but, most importantly, we do think they're good enough to come into our team.
"We don't kid ourselves on that this the SPL is a great standard but I honestly think it is a step up and none of them will play against teams as big as Celtic and Rangers," Malpas added. "That is a big attraction for the guys."
Indeed, the main worry for Malpas to consider in recruiting the trio is whether he can get international clearance in time for Motherwell's SPL match against Rangers on January 1.
"The problem is that it is the FAI's close season," Malpas told the Sunday Herald, "and if we can't get things done in the next few days there will be a problem, because they don't open until the 2nd. The FAI have never been known to be quick about anything."
http://www.sundayherald.com/sport/shfootball/display.var.1089990.0.0.php
Rub of the Green
THE IRISH tricolor flies proudly above the Scottish Premier League table, and this time it has nothing to do with Celtic's travelling support.
With no fewer than nine players and one manager from the Republic of Ireland involved in SPL match squads last weekend, Motherwell lining up three more players who will arrive in January, and the first managerial import Stephen Kenny also likely to raid his old stomping ground at the turn of the year, footballers from across the Irish sea are this season's must-have accessory.
With the SPL's ranks also swelled by three Ulstermen in the form of Neil Lennon, Ivan Sproule and Dean Shiels, the sheer amount of arrivals marks something of a departure.
The traditional route to soccer stardom for a talented youngster from across the Irish Sea involves leaving as a teenager for one of the big clubs south of the border, a journey traversed in the last 15 years by Roy and Robbie Keane, Damien Duff, and even current SPL top scorer Anthony Stokes. But it is the convergence of a number of new factors which has seen the SPL become the beneficiaries of a second wave of Irish immigration.
Firstly, the TV money which has poured into the Premiership academies south of the border, and the consequent increased competition for places, has squeezed opportunities for young Irishmen - with even those that do make it finding it impossible to infiltrate first team squads laden with foreign talent. Stephen O'Donnell, Patrick Cregg, and even Stokes have found Scottish football a hospitable halfway house.
Secondly, the equilibrium between the SPL and the Eircom League is at a particularly delicate stage. While SPL wages and standards have generally declined in recent years, the Eircom League's development as a professional summer competition in the last three seasons has borne only partial success.
More and more of those players unable to find a berth in an academy down south have stayed at home, yet although the top four clubs in the country - Champions Shelbourne, Derry City, Drogheda United and Cork City - could easily compete in the SPL (Kenny's Derry side, for instance, embarrassed Gretna in the Uefa Cup and drew with Paris St Germain), poor attendances and sponsorship revenues have seen even the top clubs struggle with finances. Shelbourne, for instance, won the title despite players going for months without receiving their wages.
The end result is that Irish-based players in general still regard a transfer to the SPL as a good career move, while clubs in the SPL or the Championship down south sniff a bargain, particularly in January, when the Eircom League is in close season.
Reading, who plucked Kevin Doyle from Cork City for a paltry £80,000 last June and now have on their hands a £6 million striker with eight Premiership goals, would certainly agree. So would Wolves, who have been heavily linked with Cork striker Roy O'Donovan, and Ipswich, who are set to sign another Cork player George O'Callaghan.
For Dave Rogers, the former Dundee and Ayr United defender, who has just won his third title in four years with Shelbourne, this fiscal flight is more a reflection on the league's uncertainties rather than the quality of its football.
"I played against Kevin Doyle in my first two years over here and he was very average but he had a great attitude and you only have to look at him now," Rogers said. "He is right up there with the top goalscorers in the Premiership with eight goals. A Scottish team could have taken a chance on him for £80,000 but Reading decided to take a chance."
There is certainly no doubt that this has been a bumper year for Irish talent. Stokes is the league's top scorer, while Motherwell's Richie Foran and Dundee United's Noel Hunt are all in the top five places in domestic competitions. Rogers - who was at Shelbourne when Stokes left for London as a 14-year-old - believes the chance to showcase talent at venues like Ibrox and Parkhead is a big factor.
"Personally I think players are moving over to Scotland, to teams like Motherwell, not because it is better money I think it is more to do with the certainty of the whole league set up," he told the Sunday Herald.
"Things are more secure in the SPL, you get bigger crowds, and if not better facilities, the whole league is run better. The main thing is that you want to test yourselves against better quality, and in the likes of Rangers and Celtic you've got that. When I was in Scottish football I used to love going to play against Rangers at Ibrox or Celtic at Parkhead. The people who run the Irish league don't have a clue really. There is more professionalism in the SPL.
"But without question the top four teams in the Eircom premier would all finish in the top half of the SPL. We are all full-time clubs, with good players and good managers. There are certain people in Scotland who give the Irish league a bit of a bad name, but we beat Derry to the league and proved we were better than them, and then you look at what Derry did to Gretna."
Kenny and Craig Levein are also likely to be dabbling in the Irish market this January, but Maurice Malpas has got his work in first. For him, the reasoning behind his decision to bring in Cork City left-back Danny Murphy and St Pat's Athletic striking duo Trevor Molloy and Paul Keegan is simple enough.
"There are three or four reasons," Malpas said. "The players are available at this time of year, they're out of contract because it is the close of their season.
"Secondly - the ones we've had in the past have done well and the ones now will adjust to our type of game, because it is reasonably quick and direct there. Three - they come into our price bracket but, most importantly, we do think they're good enough to come into our team.
"We don't kid ourselves on that this the SPL is a great standard but I honestly think it is a step up and none of them will play against teams as big as Celtic and Rangers," Malpas added. "That is a big attraction for the guys."
Indeed, the main worry for Malpas to consider in recruiting the trio is whether he can get international clearance in time for Motherwell's SPL match against Rangers on January 1.
"The problem is that it is the FAI's close season," Malpas told the Sunday Herald, "and if we can't get things done in the next few days there will be a problem, because they don't open until the 2nd. The FAI have never been known to be quick about anything."