Niall Quinn league

An excerpt from an RTÉ piece on where Mick's starting line-up from his 1st ever Ireland game in charge are now:

Niall Quinn
Quinn has been a very busy man since his retirement as a player at Sunderland in 2003.

He took a brief coaching role at Sunderland after retiring before moving into television punditry and commentary.

Quinn returned to Sunderland in 2006 when he headed up a consortium that bought the club and named the former striker as the club’s chairman and manager. Quinn stepped aside as manager to appoint Roy Keane but remained as chairman until 2011.

He now works for Sky Sports as a commentator and has most recently lent his support to breakaway League of Ireland group which plans to put together a proposal for a revamped league within the next six months.

Does anyone know to whom Quinn is speaking regarding the LoI nua? Has he approached your club? Are there signs the FAI are going to sell the league to the highest bidder?

The league is not the FAI's to sell.
The way forward is through the PCA that's if they ever get their act together.
There was lots of talk about the PCA a while back but little has happened since.

I suppose 'sell' might not be the most accurate description. Rather I would liken it to the Roads Authority, whereby a road is built using public money but then a company (a highest bidder?) comes in and sets up tolls. They are then responsible for the roads for the next ten years.

So a new Group with permission from the League Authority (FAI) comes in and sets the TV rights and is reponsible for merchandising and upkeep of the league.

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Originally Posted by disgruntled

The league is not the FAI's to sell.
The way forward is through the PCA that's if they ever get their act together.
There was lots of talk about the PCA a while back but little has happened since.

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The league is not the PCA's to sell either.

The clue is in their name. They only strive to represent part of the League of Ireland.

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Originally Posted by Scrufil

An excerpt from an RTÉ piece on where Mick's starting line-up from his 1st ever Ireland game in charge are now:

Niall Quinn
Quinn has been a very busy man since his retirement as a player at Sunderland in 2003.

He took a brief coaching role at Sunderland after retiring before moving into television punditry and commentary.

Quinn returned to Sunderland in 2006 when he headed up a consortium that bought the club and named the former striker as the club’s chairman and manager. Quinn stepped aside as manager to appoint Roy Keane but remained as chairman until 2011.

He now works for Sky Sports as a commentator and has most recently lent his support to breakaway League of Ireland group which plans to put together a proposal for a revamped league within the next six months.

Does anyone know to whom Quinn is speaking regarding the LoI nua? Has he approached your club? Are there signs the FAI are going to sell the league to the highest bidder?

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Is Quinn actually talking to clubs though? The part I recall from last months coverage was he was talking to investors, and his original proposal was franchise based (get the dvd's ready lads) but may have moved on from that.

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Originally Posted by A N Mouse

Is Quinn actually talking to clubs though? The part I recall from last months coverage was he was talking to investors, and his original proposal was franchise based (get the dvd's ready lads) but may have moved on from that.

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I can't find a link right now but he did say he'd talked to clubs and they'd been receptive.

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Originally Posted by EatYerGreens

The league is not the PCA's to sell either.

The clue is in their name. They only strive to represent part of the League of Ireland.

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There was a need for some organisation to represent LOI clubs because they seem unable to represent themselves.
I was never happy with the name & would have preferred something that represented all LOI clubs no matter what division they played in.
I understand the organisation had been talking to 1st Division clubs as well but what became of that is anyone's guess because the PCA have gone very quiet for some time now.

At the moment Quinn is more or less ruling out any progress forward unless there is a whole scale clean out of the FAI board. Although it might be time to gamble and leak elements of his idea to the public to see if it can gain widespread support.

I'd be worried about Quinn getting his way and taking over the FAI.
His connections with foreign investors and plans to open an academy here would worry me.
If there is one good thing to come out of the FAI over the last few years it is the FAI giving the young players over to the control of the LOI clubs.
A pathway into the LOI and an extended group of people involved with the clubs

Does this result in Quinn getting himself a good job? I'd just be a bit wary of a campaign led by a person on borderline moralistic grounds that ultimately results in that person getting a job. Unfortunately it's hard to trust anybody when it comes to football governance.

The FAI and LOI, despite itself, has actually done some good things recently with advent of elite underage leagues. It was more out of necessity than ethics as we can't rely on English clubs any more but good things are happening nonetheless. I don't trust clubs to run the league either. If that's the proposal, I wouldn't be in favour.