Fixture changes.

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Originally Posted by Real ale Madrid

I'd imagine that City's schedule will go along these lines

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DUNDALK              CORK CITY
8th – Sligo (H)      Galway (a)
11th – Cork (H)      Dundalk (a)
14th – Rovers (A)    Harps (h)
17th – Longford (A)  St. Pats (a)
20th – Zenit (H)
21st -                St. Pats (h)
23rd – Bohs (H)     
24th -                Wexford (H)
25th – Pats (A)       
28th – Galway (H)      Bray (a)

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Almost as bad.

The league title will probably be decided by the strength and depth of the respective squads.

You know how many matches you can afford to postpone, and stop postponing games when you reach that max.

If that's in the middle of the Legia game, then tough.

And obviously Dundalk surely should have taken a bit of initiative too and pre-played some games. It was known that if ye got through one round, ye'd have at least two more rounds. That was certainly worth planning for.

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Originally Posted by pineapple stu

But you can't go changing matches beyond the end of the season and then pretend that (a) Dundalk didn't create the problem (because they did, in part) and (b) it doesn't affect other clubs (because it does)

Extending the league season may ewll be the only solution - and moving Cork v Dundalk would have the least impact - but the matter needs to be considered fully, because otherwise you've got another shambles.

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Extending the season 3 days is not as bad as some of the sh1te that has gone on already this season - I do admit though I didn't think of the knock on impact of other fixtures (inc the P/O) so I guess the Bank Holiday game is a NR really.

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Originally Posted by Real ale Madrid

I'd imagine that City's schedule will go along these lines

Code:

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DUNDALK              CORK CITY
8th – Sligo (H)      Galway (a)
11th – Cork (H)      Dundalk (a)
14th – Rovers (A)    Harps (h)
17th – Longford (A)  St. Pats (a)
20th – Zenit (H)
21st -                St. Pats (h)
23rd – Bohs (H)     
24th -                Wexford (H)
25th – Pats (A)       
28th – Galway (H)      Bray (a)

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Actually of all the back and forth on this extension subject this is the most persuasive for not extending, both title contenders have pretty much the same problem.
let the best man win...........but lets extend next season by 4 weeks and avoid midweek matches if possible....also schedule all 4 euro qualifiers to play each other in the weeks around the first and possible second round ties so postponements don't effect other clubs..

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Originally Posted by Real ale Madrid

Extending the season 3 days is not as bad as some of the sh1te that has gone on already this season

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I agree with that. All I'm saying is that all the extenuating factors need to be considered.

It's not just the final round either; how many clubs have lost Friday night matches and had to play in front of lower crowds of a Tuesday instead?

I think this is part of the reason why clubs in Europe should pay a small % of European prize money to a central pot to help compensate other clubs for the awkwardness they're causing.

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Originally Posted by pineapple stu

It's not just the final round either; how many clubs have lost Friday night matches and had to play in front of lower crowds of a Tuesday instead?

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Clubs in Europe probably suffer more than those who don't - we will end up with 6/17 midweek fixtures this season - you can take 1,000 off for each of those fixtures for us - that is some drop ( compensated by European money I know ) - but I agree with others - there should be no midweek league games. All League cup and first 2 rounds of FAI Cup should be played midweek. Extend league by 2/3 weeks and forget this mid season break nonsense.

Agree it's not ideal for ye - but at least clubs in Europe get huge prize money in compensation in fairness.

Their opponents get nothing.

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Originally Posted by pineapple stu

Not sure what the logic behind that is? Your suggestion would add big cost to clubs.

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Argument to be made that First Division season is too short. First Division cup should return for the first few weeks of the season.

Argument to be made that midweek games cost clubs with attendances falling and match day income badly hit. Three extra weeks of the season would ease the burden on part-time players as well as maximise attendances across the board.

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Originally Posted by pineapple stu

I agree it's a shambles by the league. Games are always postponed around European time, and there was no reason why they shouldn't have been played in May (like Harps v Pat's...which was moved with five days' notice, which was another shambles of course)

But you can't go changing matches beyond the end of the season and then pretend that (a) Dundalk didn't create the problem (because they did, in part) and (b) it doesn't affect other clubs (because it does)

Extending the league season may ewll be the only solution - and moving Cork v Dundalk would have the least impact - but the matter needs to be considered fully, because otherwise you've got another shambles.

(I'm assuming here Dundalk v Cork on the Bank Holiday Monday and all other matches as per normal - are you saying Bray v Cork moved to the Bank Holiday Monday? But then how does that help Dundalk?)

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<SNIP>

No need for this sort of post.

Those extra three weeks would add an extra three weeks' wages costs though.

Sometimes, midweek games have to be seen as bonus gates for no extra salary. That's the argument some clubs in England have made against the idea of 5 league divisions of 20 clubs, with midweek games gone. Yes, the gate receipts are lower - but they're bonus income.

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Originally Posted by Ezeikial

Do you have some type of mood disorder syndrome?

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Not altogether sure what your point is here, caller?

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Originally Posted by White Horse

Apparently this the FAI's proposed October schedule for Dundalk:

8th – Sligo (H)
11th – Cork (H)
14th – Rovers (A)
17th – Longford (A)
20th – Zenit (H)
23rd – Bohs (H)
25th – Pats (A)
28th – Galway (H)


Crazy stuff.

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I predicted almost exactly that with Pats and Bohs switched.

I reckon Galway United will have a decent say in where the league title goes this year. It wouldn't surprise me at all if we got something off Cork City on Saturday, now that Dunne is gone we won't be as negative in our approach and we might actually have a cut at Cork this time instead of rolling over and dieing, we actually started with a 3-5-2 in Turners Cross :D.

Our remaining games are against Cork City at home, Wexford Youths away, Longford Town at home and Dundalk away. We should be collecting six points minimum from Wexford and Longford and looking to get something from the Cork City/Dundalk games, which may push us into the top half.

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Originally Posted by pineapple stu

Those extra three weeks would add an extra three weeks' wages costs though.

Sometimes, midweek games have to be seen as bonus gates for no extra salary. That's the argument some clubs in England have made against the idea of 5 league divisions of 20 clubs, with midweek games gone. Yes, the gate receipts are lower - but they're bonus income.

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What sort of bonus is it for players who have to book days off work?

They have to book days off work for Friday games anyway.

If the season gets extended three weeks, then fine, so long as players take a commeasurate weekly pay cut.

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Originally Posted by Olander

I reckon Galway United will have a decent say in where the league title goes this year. It wouldn't surprise me at all if we got something off Cork City on Saturday, now that Dunne is gone we won't be as negative in our approach and we might actually have a cut at Cork this time instead of rolling over and dieing, we actually started with a 3-5-2 in Turners Cross :D.

Our remaining games are against Cork City at home, Wexford Youths away, Longford Town at home and Dundalk away. We should be collecting six points minimum from Wexford and Longford and looking to get something from the Cork City/Dundalk games, which may push us into the top half.

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Negative? You've scored 5 of the 13 goals we've conceded in the league this year!

Well, jesus I'll rephrase it to 'extra days off' then. It's of no financial bonus to those who have to travel away for these games, in some cases twice in a week.

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Originally Posted by El-Pietro

Negative? You've scored 5 of the 13 goals we've conceded in the league this year!

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The game was over at half-time. Cork tired badly in the second half. We actually set up correctly after half time when Dunne realised the dreadful error he made using a 3-5-2 and his team selection was also baffling. Why he used that formation, nobody will ever know... it was bizarre.

It's time for us to return to 4-4-2 or go with a 4-3-3, we did that against Finn Harps last week and we dominated the opening 60 minutes, scoring 3 and having a perfectly legitimate goal ruled out, but then we tired and let them back into it.

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Originally Posted by nigel-harps1954

Well, jesus I'll rephrase it to 'extra days off' then. It's of no financial bonus to those who have to travel away for these games, in some cases twice in a week.

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But it is an issue to clubs, and that has to be factored in.

Three weeks extra in the season is three weeks extra of salary costs.

Midweek games are a bit awkward, I'll grant, but the two factors have to be balanced out.

Just on the subject of next season, extending the season by a couple of weeks and eating into the ludicrous longest off season in world football makes sense for absolutely everyone- players, clubs and fans, irrespective of whether you're in Europe or not. Having a little more leeway reduces the number of rearrangements and midweek games. An increase in general running costs should be offset by modestly increased gates.
It doesn't necessarily have to mean an increase in cost of wages. A player who's on a 40-week contract should be able to get it into his thick skull that he's going to get a bit less each week over 44 weeks, or a fair bit less but a lot more stability by getting paid the same amount over 52 weeks.
I'm in favour or something like 1% of Euro prize money going into a fund to compensate other clubs who get bumped around.

Personally I'm a bit tired of Dundalk moaning about fixture congestion when a) we failed to get 1-2 extra league games played in advance of the Euro games (when we knew exactly when we'd be playing our first tie before the start of the season)
b) we declined to play in and around our early Euro games (though FH, Legia and BATE all did)
c) fixture congestion is a fact of life for all successful teams