Menton - league must run itself
Setanta
Football Association of Ireland general secretary Brendan Menton has called on decision-making power within the eircom League to be taken away from the clubs and given to a body of paid professionals.
Menton was speaking in the wake of the latest St Patrick's Athletic registration irregularity, which exposed faults within the league rulebook and administration set-up.
Eircom League commissioner Roy Dooney has already criticised the 'chaotic' rulebook and the lack of technology and staff in the league office. Menton backed up Dooney's calls for a better-equipped structure, to keep up with the growing professionalism within the league itself.
The FAI official highlighted the 21-club management committee and the 12-club board of control as being in need of replacing if the league is to progress.
"The FAI needs the league to run smoothly and effectively," he said. "We need the league to be run by professionals, not the clubs. Having a management committee of 21 clubs that meets every two months, and a board of control that is made up of 12 clubs is not the way to run the league. You can't run a professional business under that structure. There needs to be clear decision making within the league itself.
"In the Premiership, big clubs accept what the FA says. And that's the same with junior clubs over here. The authority is currently with the clubs - they have the overriding decision-making. If the management committee says something has to happen, it happens. There needs to be a swing to where all decisions need to be made by paid professionals."
Menton is frustrated by the situation that has seen St Patrick's Athletic lose 15 points, awarding the title to Shelbourne. He pointed to a process that has grown more and more complicated in recent years.
"We need the structures within the league to be simplified," said Menton. "It's gotten quite complicated over the last few years. Registration is a simple process - either your registered or your not. We need a system set up that ensures clubs and referees know who is registered for each season. There is a need for a more sophisticated system to be put in place."
Dooney has already approached the FAI with ideas for upgrading the eircom League and is hopeful that work can begin in the close season. Menton is looking towards increasing the resources available to the league and the clubs, but he said: "Clubs need to look towards ensuring that everything is okay at the top of the ladder. Then we can concentrate on working down.
"He (Dooney) has a lot of support from the FAI for his proposals. He has proposed to upgrade the registration system and that has been approved. Work hasn't started on it yet, but it will do soon. It will give the eircom League access to greater technology."
Menton feels Dooney has been wasted in his first season in his post of eircom League commissioner. "The whole game of football in Ireland is under-resourced," he said. "You need more people and that would make things happen quicker. That way people at the top, like Roy, have more time to look at the key development issues, instead of concentrating on the administration. The league is a business. It is in the interest of clubs to ensure it is resourced."
Marketing the league
While the league has suffered negative publicity over the improper registrations of Paul Marney and Mbabazi Livingstone, Menton has his own ideas about how to move the league forward in a more positive light.
"Clubs should look at matches as entertainment," suggested Menton. "You get the impression that unless a club is winning, there is very little interest generated in the matches. The games need to be sold as good events or occasions, regardless of whether it is a mid-table clash at the end of the season. For example, UCD and Bray - there could be nothing at stake, but it could be a very enjoyable occasion. That's one of the changes needed."
He also called on major businesses to invest in the league. "That's beginning to happen. Okay, it's not the top 50 companies in the country, but it is definitely improving at local level, like at Bohemians and St Pat's. It would be great if some of the very wealthy companies did begin to invest in the league and the clubs within the league.
"With eircom, there were posters at local level last year. There certainly are discussions taking place at the moment with eircom on the marketing of the league.
Menton hopes that top National League stars will one day be as recognisable to Irish football fans as top English Premiership players are. "We have to emphasise the positives of the league," he stressed. "We don't promote the star personalities within the game. In England, they use David Beckham, Teddy Sheringham and Michael Owen to promote things. We don't do that at all over here.
"Take Glen Crowe for example. Very little has been done to say that Glen Crowe is a star - to get kids to come along to watch him. We should promote the game through the star players.
"Martin Russell at St Pat's can do things with the ball that are unbelievable. Mark Kenny has those amazing free-kicks. The game is about the players.
"One of the problems is that unless you are heavily involved in the game, either as a supporter or an official, you would struggle to name the Shelbourne or the Pat's team and you would hardly recognise the players in the street."
