Everton In Ireland

From www.evertonfc.com

The 'Everton in Ireland' initiative has been launched in Dublin.

Representatives of the club travelled across the Irish Sea on Tuesday evening to attend the celebratory dinner that officially announced the link-up between Everton and the Republic of Ireland.

Lee Carsley, Kevin Sheedy and Keith Wyness were the guest speakers at the Lucan Spa Hotel in the Irish capital and over 180 enthusiastic Ireland-based Evertonians were also in attendance.

The new project will see Everton work closely with County Kildare-based football club, Ballyoulster United.

"Obviously, the dream would be to bring some young players through to play for Everton," said Kevin Sheedy, a pivotal member of the Blues Academy coaching staff.

"But I am really looking forward to working with Ballyoulster and helping them to continue to progress as a football club. I have heard that their facilities are first-class and I am sure we will enjoy a fruitful relationship."

The Chairman of the Irish Toffees, the biggest Everton supporters group in Ireland, Jim Kearney, was very much involved in the organisation of Tuesday's launch.

"I'd like to than Keith, Lee and Kevin for taking the time to come over," he said. "It means a lot to us here and you can see from the turn-out just how keen we are to forge stronger links with Everton."

The three Everton guests took part in a hugely entertaining question and answer session after the dinner and the event received widespread publicity in the Irish media.

The second part of the 'Everton in Ireland' scheme will see a tie-up between the club and Celtic Horizon Tours, a Maynooth-based company that specialises in football tours.

"Our fan base in Ireland is not as strong as it used to be and we as a club take responsibility for that," admitted Keith Wyness.

"By working closely with Celtic Horizon Tours we can make Everton games more accessible to our Irish supporters and by coming over here tonight I hope we are confirming our commitment to this initiative."

Did they not try this with Home Farm years ago, without much success if I remember correctly.

Yea Home Farm Everton cant remember anything much coming from it .

it seems silly going with such a small club it would be much better to link up with cork city , good chance of getting players out of them plus any reserve / youth team players at everton could go the other way

Is this sort of thing good for Irish football ?

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Originally Posted by NeilMcD

Is this sort of thing good for Irish football ?

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Not at all. But these junior clubs get wet thinking about average premiership clubs paying them some attention.

180 enthusiastic Ireland-based Evertonians? Say 170 of them are clowns from here.

KOH

Speaking as a part-time Evertonian (Full time Gypsy of course) I'm totally against these link ups. They devalue our own professional clubs and mean the most talented youngsters can bypass domestic clubs on their way to england, cutting of an important revenue stream for EL clubs. Plus we have seen that those who fail abroad often come home so disillusioned that they quit the game. The best scenario is for players to stay in Ireland until they are at a reasonable age and then if they are good enough they can go abroad for a reasonable fee. Those who aren't deemed good enough for the very highest level abroad but yet may be of decent quality would then still be plying their trade with our own clubs who would in turn be stronger for having banked good transfer fees for the cream of the crop. We'll never stop the very best going abroad but there are ways to make that work for us and there are ways it can leave us in the gutter.

Apart from this having failed previously, it's difficult to criticise the club.
The problem is the Junior clubs are doing what is right for them, they are not to be blamed because they have got a link with a club in England as opposed to a local club. From their point of view they can send players over to get better coaching etc.. if they make the grade in the UK (even just getting a pro contract) it generates income for the club and encourages more youngsters to join their club.
The local EL sides can't match what is potentialy on offer, but if they built up a decent relationship (I think Galway have local Junior team(s) that they have an agreement with, I know Athlone used to with St Peters) so it does happen but the EL side needs to be able to offer a viable alternative and unfortunately I think not enough of them do. The point made elsewhere about scolarships is a very good one, the likes of Athlone, Galway and other College towns can (and to be fair many do) use College Scolarships as a way of keeping talent at home and giving a proper viable alternative to the eggs in one basket 1 in 10,000 risk of jumping in to an EPL accadamey system.

Well even if they only got a friendly game once a year surely that would generate a nice few £ for them , also i think if a player isnt breaking into a prem team by 22 he wont make it so staying in ireland any time past 20 is talking a risk .

i dont really like these link ups just to swap players but if everton help train the coaches + players etc it can only be good .

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Originally Posted by anto1208

Well even if they only got a friendly game once a year surely that would generate a nice few £ for them , also i think if a player isnt breaking into a prem team by 22 he wont make it so staying in ireland any time past 20 is talking a risk .

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In the old days but that is changing slowly. Scottish prem teams are now signing Irish players in their 30's. The scenario I talk about gives scope for that to change further. If Irish teams improve (we will be setting up an acadamy with some of our millions for example) the cream of the crop will still go accross but we'll also have a better player over here.
Anyway what I'm really talking about is kids of 14 going over which IMO is far too young.

Good posts Bohs Partisan could not agree more.

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Originally Posted by BohsPartisan

In the old days but that is changing slowly. Scottish prem teams are now signing Irish players in their 30's. The scenario I talk about gives scope for that to change further. If Irish teams improve (we will be setting up an acadamy with some of our millions for example) the cream of the crop will still go accross but we'll also have a better player over here.
Anyway what I'm really talking about is kids of 14 going over which IMO is far too young.

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yea i never like to see kids that young go across .

hopfully it works out for both teams and everton get the next kevin doyle and the club here gets a squad of decent enough players out of it .

Well, I hope the next Kevin Doyle is found playing for an eircom league team, where he should be.

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Originally Posted by robbiesdrogs

seriously are ye buying out a club then giving all the high paid staff sorry players redundancies then building stadia all over the place??or am i mixing up everton and tesco again??:p

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Your just making an idiot out of yourself , how can you manage to mix up a football club with a shop :rolleyes: