Sadlier

[depor]

that sadlier or whatever his name is, is a complete clown. he said on MNS the rams v pats game was a dire game, bull****, there was some good football played that night. wether its his grudge against roy keane or the fact that his team(team hes associated with) didnt hammer us, is no excuse. hes a liar. he also said there was a small crowd at it, maybe compared to the linfield game but it wasnt small compared to their normal gate, unless therir normal gate is well over 4000 which it isnt. there was at least 2500/3000 at it. ''no offence to cobh ramblers'' what an assh*le.

the fact is he refused to admit that our team played some nice football. it was far from the ''most dire game'' as he put it. :confused:

[GavinZac]

christ, when will Ramblers fans get a grip and realise that Keane played 12 games for ye in one season before getting out as soon as he could. I would highly doubt Keane has anything to do with Sadlier's opinions, as much as I would doubt any Ramblers fan's claim to have a more informed opinion on what good football is after spending over a decade watching the likes of st francis, kilkenny, and dublin city.

There was a smaller than usual attendance for the Linfield game so having a small crowd compared to that should mean having a small crowd compared to the usual.

[Da Real Rover]

No pundit is ever going to be spot on, but as Sadlier gos hes the best pundit on it without a doubt. You could be right but as for the highlights, it was pure muck.
How small minded to create a new thread just to bash a pundit you dont agree with after he 'might' be incorrect on one episode.

[ramsfan]

christ, when will Ramblers fans get a grip and realise that Keane played 12 games for ye in one season before getting out as soon as he could. I would highly doubt Keane has anything to do with Sadlier's opinions, as much as I would doubt any Ramblers fan's claim to have a more opinion on what good football is after spending over a decade watching the likes of st francis, kilkenny, and dublin city.

There was a smaller than usual attendance for the Linfield game so having a small crowd compared to that should mean having a small crowd compared to the usual.

defo a roddy collins lover, has to be to be such a clown

[MojoPin]

after spending over a decade watching the likes of st francis, kilkenny, and dublin city.



thanks for including 3 clubs that went bust

[pineapple stu]

As a Cork fan, he can relate to it.

[micls]

As a Cork fan, he can relate to it.

Given he wasnt born when any club went bust then I dont think he can....

[GavinZac]

thanks for including 3 clubs that went bust

Nice spot, hot shot.


defo a roddy collins lover, has to be to be such a clown
:D I've been accused of many, many things on Foot.ie, but have never been accused of being a Roddy lover. Congrats on a first

[don ramo]

As a Cork fan, he can relate to it.

:D

ya but i didnt like what he said, he must watch some top, top, class games every week to make such comments (i must find out where as i know of no league thats that good all the time), pats fans said it was boring also, but at the same time thanked us for coming up for a game of football and not hoffball, so how do you make poeple happy, you play football your crticised, you play hoffball your critcised, i was there and personally found it to be a good game of football, 2500/3000 seemed a good attendance for a game against us minnows from down south, pats average is 2271, so i would condsider it a good crowd,

[deecay]

I really like him as a pundit

[nijboyle]

Isnt he working as a journalist now he knacked his knee, anyone know where?

[Martinho II]

sunday indo plus hes a director of pats... it was his scoop on clive clarke which kicked off the roy keane row...

[Mr A]

Isnt he working as a journalist now he knacked his knee, anyone know where?

Somewhere between the shin and the thigh maybe? :o

[passinginterest]

I was at that Pat's Cobh game too and I thought well under 2,000 there. I'd like to see the official figure. As for the match it certainly had some good spells, first 20 mins were very good, after that it was poor enough. Most of the Pat's fans seem to think it was an awful game too. I though it was OK myself. Bit over the top to be bashing Sadlier for an opinion.

[Dodge]

that sadlier or whatever his name is, is a complete clown. he said on MNS the rams v pats game was a dire game, bull****,

I said on here after the game it was poor. What has he to gain by deliberately being negative?

Too honest maybe. By far the worst game we've been involved with this year

[mark12345]

I can't say I saw the match in question but Sadlier is not alone in thinking bad of the Irish domestic football. I have to confess I had'nt seen an Irish domestic game in a few years (living abroad) but I have heard great things about the standard in general from friends.

I tuned in to a couple of MNS's on the web and God preserve us but it was pure unadulterated rubbish, every one of the four games I saw - that included Drogheda, Bohs, Rovers and Galway. I was telling myself beforehand that I should not be so cynical, and to be more accepting of my own country's game, but I got a ruder than rude awakening.

The standard is abysmal. Long balls to nowhere, teams unable to hold possession for longer than two or three passes, creativity nil, technical ability less than nil. I have long since criticised the English game for all of the above (because the Premier League would be nothing without its foreign imports) but at least it has a halfway decent standard about it.

It pains me to say it but I don't know where the light at the end of the tunnel is for Irish football.

[Sheridan]

Well, that's it for me, lads. If some nameless blow-in has proclaimed our league worthless on the basis of a few edited highlights packages, that's good enough for me. I don't know what I was thinking all these years. See you all at the bar for the next installment of The Premiership!

[don ramo]

i saw a few of sadliers games, and hes games werent exactly the most entertaining games, as i said he said "it was the most dire game of football he had ever seen]" what kind of pundit says somthing like that, especially considering hes a director or whatever association he has with pats, to put the club down, that will really help attendances, MNS is better than TV3 highlight are better, analysis, and also its much better at putting the league down, anyone can pick out bad points to a game of football its 22 players running for 90 mins, there are gonna be bad games, bad periods, its just how it is, but sometimes they just go out of there way to find bad points, shoddy is proof of that and sadlier is no better,

[TonyD]

Sadlier didn't make a general point about the standard of the league, he was talking about one game in particular (I don't think he was specifically aiming the comment at Cobh either, so Depor should calm down a bit). I find him fairly inteligent and articulate as a pundit myself.

As for Mark, perhaps you should see a few full games before you judge. Comparing the league here with one of the richest(possibly the richest) in europe is completely unfair - though the football played by the majority of teams in that league can be pretty unattractive stuff, just witness Liverpool v Chelsea last night, a horrible game.

[GavinZac]

It pains me to say it but I don't know where the light at the end of the tunnel is for Irish football.Far be it from me to be crass; but just this once. Perhaps it is shining out of your own arse?

[thischarmingman]

Lads, maybe the fact that he had no trouble saying the match was dire attests to the entertainment value of the league the majority of the time? If he calls one game dull, surely that means that the other games in contrast, were not at all dull? If we're confident enough at this stage to be able to criticise dull games then is that not in some ways a good thing?

And also, as someone else said, there's dull and boring games in every league; See, the 180 minutes football in the semi-finals of the Champions League yielded one goal this week. Or watch Bolton any day.

[thischarmingman]

It pains me to say it but I don't know where the light at the end of the tunnel is for Irish football.

www.samaritans.org

[harry crumb]

I can't say I saw the match in question but Sadlier is not alone in thinking bad of the Irish domestic football. I have to confess I had'nt seen an Irish domestic game in a few years (living abroad) but I have heard great things about the standard in general from friends.

I tuned in to a couple of MNS's on the web and God preserve us but it was pure unadulterated rubbish, every one of the four games I saw - that included Drogheda, Bohs, Rovers and Galway. I was telling myself beforehand that I should not be so cynical, and to be more accepting of my own country's game, but I got a ruder than rude awakening.

The standard is abysmal. Long balls to nowhere, teams unable to hold possession for longer than two or three passes, creativity nil, technical ability less than nil. I have long since criticised the English game for all of the above (because the Premier League would be nothing without its foreign imports) but at least it has a halfway decent standard about it.

It pains me to say it but I don't know where the light at the end of the tunnel is for Irish football.

I've seen you around, I find you very attractive;)

[Dodge]

I can't say I saw the match in question but

I'll comment anyway?

Anyway as above sadlier is actually quite complimentary about Irish football, he just noted that lat Friday's game in Inchicore wasn't a shining example.

Oh and it was still 1000% times better than Liverpool v Chelsea

[depor]

Sadlier didn't make a general point about the standard of the league, he was talking about one game in particular (I don't think he was specifically aiming the comment at Cobh either, so Depor should calm down a bit). I find him fairly inteligent and articulate as a pundit myself.

As for Mark, perhaps you should see a few full games before you judge. Comparing the league here with one of the richest(possibly the richest) in europe is completely unfair - though the football played by the majority of teams in that league can be pretty unattractive stuff, just witness Liverpool v Chelsea last night, a horrible game.


i agree especially with your 2nd paragraph. and maybe the 1st, maybe i over-reacted. i never thought sadlier was putting the league down, or anything of the sort, sure hes involved in a LOI club. i just felt rams (as always) put the ball on the ground and tried to play a bit of football, it wasnt the best game but it wasnt as bad as he made out. i dont know where yer man mark is coming from, but hes totally misread the thread and its replies. there is a lot of poor games in the premiership, i know i watch it. maybe mark is like a lot of irish people who need explosions, sound effects, wwe-type names like ''grandslam sunday'' and exploding crests to think a league is any good. they need their gloss.

[GavinZac]

Or more importantly, watch a side that do attempt to play football, e.g. Cork City.

For example, the City v Drogs game on Friday is very likely to be similar to the Barca v Man Utd game last night; City stroking the ball around, generally looking good but struggling to break down a solid Drogheda defence, well capable of punishing City on the break.

What would pundits and armchair fans say? Ah sure at this level of football you always have teams sitting back, theres no entertainment like.

[Les Fluer]

Haha, lets all laugh at Ramblers. Sadlier gave an honest opinion. Anyone who has seen Ramblers this season knows they are muck and will struggle big time to stay up.

Good to see a director of a club be honest with regard to his own team.

[GavinZac]

Haha, lets all laugh at Ramblers. Sadlier gave an honest opinion. Anyone who has seen Ramblers this season knows they are muck and will struggle big time to stay up.

Good to see a director of a club be honest with regard to his own team.

I watched them destroy Shamrock Rovers. If they play like that every week, or even every 3 weeks, they'll stay up.

[Les Fluer]

I hope they do. It will be good for Cork. 3 points is a must tomorrow night against UCD. That will be a big test of their mettle against a fellow struggler.

[6yardpunisha]

Haha, lets all laugh at Ramblers. Sadlier gave an honest opinion. Anyone who has seen Ramblers this season knows they are muck and will struggle big time to stay up.

what games have you been at this season


[quote=Les Fluer;928013]I hope they do. It will be good for Cork. 3 points is a must tomorrow night against UCD. That will be a big test of their mettle against a fellow struggler.

change of heart i see

[cheifo]

My prediction at the start of the season was Rams would surprise a lot of teams and I will stick with that.Sadlier is developing into a very good writer.His column on Sundays always includes some entertaining insights.Cant believe Keane got so enraged over one article.Hes not shy about expressing his own views and needs to rid himself of that immature streak.

[SunderlandBohs]

I can't say I saw the match in question but Sadlier is not alone in thinking bad of the Irish domestic football. I have to confess I had'nt seen an Irish domestic game in a few years (living abroad) but I have heard great things about the standard in general from friends.

I tuned in to a couple of MNS's on the web and God preserve us but it was pure unadulterated rubbish, every one of the four games I saw - that included Drogheda, Bohs, Rovers and Galway. I was telling myself beforehand that I should not be so cynical, and to be more accepting of my own country's game, but I got a ruder than rude awakening.

The standard is abysmal. Long balls to nowhere, teams unable to hold possession for longer than two or three passes, creativity nil, technical ability less than nil. I have long since criticised the English game for all of the above (because the Premier League would be nothing without its foreign imports) but at least it has a halfway decent standard about it.

It pains me to say it but I don't know where the light at the end of the tunnel is for Irish football.
That must have been a different Bohs v Drogheda I watched. I thought the game on Sunday was a credit to the league. A big crowd, good atmosphere & plenty of drama & exicitiment. As for technical ability or creativity, what about Brennan's goals? As you can guess I'm a Sunderland fan & have been over a lot this season. I can think of at least 3 games this season that if I wasn't a dire heart fan, I would have sued the club for lying calling themselves 'A Premiership football club playing in the best league in the world'. You can't compare the LOI to the EPL. That would be like trying to Bristol City to Manchester Utd. But if you compared the league to League 1 or the bottom have of the Championship even the SPL. You would see that the LOI is just as good if not better. I'm afraid Mark you've be brainwashed by the Sky Primiership monster!

[Les Fluer]

what games have you been at this season

change of heart i see

No change of heart. I think Rams will struggle. UCD is an early 6 pointer IMO.

And for the record, I have been to the Shams, galway and Cork City games in St Colmans this season. Probably the same as yourself at a guess?

[6yardpunisha]

No change of heart. I think Rams will struggle. UCD is an early 6 pointer IMO.

And for the record, I have been to the Shams, galway and Cork City games in St Colmans this season. Probably the same as yourself at a guess?

so you after being at those games you still call us muck, must be wearing those cork city tinted glasses :p

[BohDiddley]

Well, that's it for me, lads. If some nameless blow-in has proclaimed our league worthless on the basis of a few edited highlights packages, that's good enough for me. I don't know what I was thinking all these years. See you all at the bar for the next installment of The Premiership!
Moi aussi.
I realise now that I was foolish to consider that we were on a par with EPL and La Liga. What was I thinking?
In future, I would like to see matches such as the 90 minutes of sheer eye-glazing class that we witnessed between Barca and ManU last night. It was so good, you hardly noticed that nothing happened.

[biscuit]

My prediction at the start of the season was Rams would surprise a lot of teams and I will stick with that.Sadlier is developing into a very good writer.His column on Sundays always includes some entertaining insights.Cant believe Keane got so enraged over one article.Hes not shy about expressing his own views and needs to rid himself of that immature streak.

I havent seen or read thsi article yet! Has anyone a link to it?cheers

[depor]

i also feel that running to the paper, or tellin his journalist buddy on the record, that keane called him this or that was pathethic. and then on MNS sadlier acted like he didnt know how it got on the paper.

[Jerry The Saint]

i also feel that running to the paper, or tellin his journalist buddy on the record, that keane called him this or that was pathethic.


*COUGH* (http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2006/aug/24/sport.comment)

[bennocelt]

I do enjoy his articles for the Indo, but i wouldnt trust him.
He was a keen supporter of Stans regime right upto the end, then when he got the sack he totally changed his opinion and was very negative against stan. I mean I dont like people who cant stand by what they write

And how dare he criticise our Roy:(

[mark12345]

Hello lads, it's the 'blow in' here. Yeah, sorry about that earlier post, I just base my knowledge of Eircom League football on the highlights of four games. I had never seen a game before, and never even set foot in Ireland. I usually make all my judgements in life based on such scant information...........

Now for reality. I played in the League of Ireland back in the 80's, represented the country in the Schools World Cup during the same period, have followed the game at home all my life and the national team for the duration, and watch as much English football (not by choice mind you) as the next guy. D'ya think that qualifies me to have the right to an opinion, slightly more than say... a blow in?

The thing about the Eircom League is that it has not changed as far as I can see in all those years. I started the original post by questioning my own cynicism and hoping to be proved wrong. But on the evidence of four games, and I've seen a few since (and let's be honest they are the highlights, ie. the best of what was on view) there is absolutely nothing to get excited about and plenty to be worried about.

I'll say it again - I would love to be proved wrong about the game at home, but until our teams start qualifying for the middle rounds of the Uefa Cup or the knockout stages of the Champions League, then how (as much as you lads try to persuade us otherwise) can they be taken seriously?

As far as I'm concerned English football is the big malaise - simply because it is useless beyond the four big clubs and our kids at home mimick it all day long (at least that's what it seems like to me). Hence the low standard of the Eircom League.

Funny that most people who trumpet the Eircom League have this deep hatred of the English game - that hatred seems far stronger on the surface than their affection for the Irish game? Maybe it's just me. I've no love for English football - it's not half as good as they make it out to be - and I'd take the far more attractive Spanish, German, Argentinian leagues over it any day of the week.

Now for the hard part. If either of you are interested in talking about constructive ideas for the game at home, I'm all ears. It's so easy to slag one another off but I'm more interested in getting a good dialogue going about the problems that beset the Irish game and hopefully contributing to solving those problems. I have a few ideas of my own - how about you lads?

[GavinZac]

I played in the League of Ireland back in the 80's... it has not changed as far as I can see in all those years. Right. Keep telling yourself that, yeah if you'd been around 20 years later you'd be earning thousands of euros a week to play professional football in all seater stadiums in June. Bitter at all?

I mean for crying out loud, if I thought you were on a wind-up I'd be telling you how bad you are at it. Ideas of your own? I'd be glad to hear them, but frankly, I'd imagine I'll be treating them with all the reverence I'd treat advise from my mother on how to dress. That is the relevance you have if you think that, so to speak, the 80s are "in".


I'll say it again - I would love to be proved wrong about the game at home, but until our teams start qualifying for the middle rounds of the Uefa Cup or the knockout stages of the Champions League, then how (as much as you lads try to persuade us otherwise) can they be taken seriously?Taken seriously? What, are they some sort of joke because they aren't in the last 16 of the Champions League? The knock out phases of the CL this year are remarkable only in their familiarity. 4 English clubs, 3 Spanish, 3 Italian, one a piece from Germany and France and the token participants from Southern Europe. The 'surprise package' consisted of Celtic, former champions. Does this mean that outside the established ranks of the latter stages of the CL, everywhere else is a joke? Do fans in Prague, in Brussels, in Warsaw, in Stockholm, in Vienna, do they call their teams a joke? Is modern football, outside of perhaps 50 clubs with any remote chance of qualifying for these stages, worthless and rubbish. No, it is not. Fans in those cities support their club in their droves, because they are football fans, true fans, proud of their allegiance in bad times and in good because they are proud of the team that represents them not ignorant sheep with some facade of expertise based upon what is fed to them via their pundit of choice.

The "malaise" of Irish football is not English football. It is the innate ability of the Irish to hate almost everything about themselves whilst crowing about how patriotic they are.

[SkStu]

Taken seriously? What, are they some sort of joke because they aren't in the last 16 of the Champions League? The knock out phases of the CL this year are remarkable only in their familiarity. 4 English clubs, 3 Spanish, 3 Italian, one a piece from Germany and France and the token participants from Southern Europe. The 'surprise package' consisted of Celtic, former champions. Does this mean that outside the established ranks of the latter stages of the CL, everywhere else is a joke? Do fans in Prague, in Brussels, in Warsaw, in Stockholm, in Vienna, do they call their teams a joke? Is modern football, outside of perhaps 50 clubs with any remote chance of qualifying for these stages, worthless and rubbish. No, it is not. Fans in those cities support their club in their droves, because they are football fans, true fans, proud of their allegiance in bad times and in good because they are proud of the team that represents them not ignorant sheep with some facade of expertise based upon what is fed to them via their pundit of choice.

The "malaise" of Irish football is not English football. It is the innate ability of the Irish to hate almost everything about themselves whilst crowing about how patriotic they are.

superb.

[WoodquayBoy]

GavinZac, forget post of the month, that gets my vote for post of the year.
Extremely well said sir, I applaud you.

[Straightstory]

The "malaise" of Irish football is not English football. It is the innate ability of the Irish to hate almost everything about themselves whilst crowing about how patriotic they are.

Particularly true, I think.
Mark - how Irish teams are going to qualify for the Group Stages of the Champions League on average League attendances of about 2,000 people? Any ideas?

[TonyD]

Mark,

Since you addressed your reply to me and Joey, let me respond.

1. It was yourself who said you were basing your judgement on the highlights of 4 games. (no -one said you weren't entitled to an opinion btw)

2. If you're seriously claiming that things haven't improved here since the 1980's then you have a real credibility problem. The only thing that hasn't improved in that time are the crowds. Facilities are better, pitches are (by and large) better, there is a better(and fitter) standard of player, the league is more competitive - as proof, Shamrock Rovers were able to win 4 titles in a row in the 80's, plus 3/4 cups, only Shelbourne and Pats have been able to retain the title in the last 15 years.

3. (To echo Gavin), are you seriously saying that the only teams who can be taken seriously are those who qualify for the Champions league group stages and the latter stages of the UEFA Cup ? (Are you Eamon Dunphy ?) That leaves an awful lot of teams out.

4. You claimed there was nothing, even in the highlights to get excited about - Did you see Keith Faheys goal against Bohs ? How many goals of that quality were scored in the 80's. And if you can't see that more teams are trying to play better football now, then, as I said before, you need to see more games. Or perhaps you have a rose tinted view of the past when you were playing ?

5. If you have constructive ideas, by all means lets hear them. My own would start with not running down our own teams beacuse they can't reach the heights of Barca, Real Madrid, or Man U. Newsflash, they never will. Not with the level of finance available here. However, football at EL level can still be perfectly enjoyable(and very serious btw). If we can get that message across to peope then we might be getting somewhere. It's about having pride in your own team, not constantly comparing yourself, in unfavourable and unfair terms, to the big boys.

I'm not saying all is wonderful with the league, and I don't believe anyone else here would claim that either. Of course we have a long way to go. It doesn't happen overnight though, and the first thing we need is just a little bit of belief and support from people.

[CvilleRovers]

sadlier seems to be an attention seeking ****, dont pay any attention to him

[Dodge]

sadlier seems to be an attention seeking ****, dont pay any attention to him

How so?

[mark12345]

Hello lads, it's the 'blow in' here. Yeah, sorry about that earlier post, I just base my knowledge of Eircom League football on the highlights of four games. I had never seen a game before, and never even set foot in Ireland. I usually make all my judgements in life based on such scant information...........

Now for reality. I played in the League of Ireland back in the 80's, represented the country in the Schools World Cup during the same period, have followed the game at home all my life and the national team for the duration, and watch as much English football (not by choice mind you) as the next guy. D'ya think that qualifies me to have the right to an opinion, slightly more than say... a blow in?

The thing about the Eircom League is that it has not changed as far as I can see in all those years. I started the original post by questioning my own cynicism and hoping to be proved wrong. But on the evidence of four games, and I've seen a few since (and let's be honest they are the highlights, ie. the best of what was on view) there is absolutely nothing to get excited about and plenty to be worried about.

I'll say it again - I would love to be proved wrong about the game at home, but until our teams start qualifying for the middle rounds of the Uefa Cup or the knockout stages of the Champions League, then how (as much as you lads try to persuade us otherwise) can they be taken seriously?

As far as I'm concerned English football is the big malaise - simply because it is useless beyond the four big clubs and our kids at home mimick it all day long (at least that's what it seems like to me). Hence the low standard of the Eircom League.

Funny that most people who trumpet the Eircom League have this deep hatred of the English game - that hatred seems far stronger on the surface than their affection for the Irish game? Maybe it's just me. I've no love for English football - it's not half as good as they make it out to be - and I'd take the far more attractive Spanish, German, Argentinian leagues over it any day of the week.

Now for the hard part. If either of you are interested in talking about constructive ideas for the game at home, I'm all ears. It's so easy to slag one another off but I'm more interested in getting a good dialogue going about the problems that beset the Irish game and hopefully contributing to solving those problems. I have a few ideas of my own - how about you lads?

[pól-dcfc]

Twice?

[Jerry The Saint]

Twice?

20 hours after the first time? :eek: Must have forgotten which forum he was trolling on...