I stand corrected.Quote:
Originally Posted by El-Pietro
Is this true for most clubs. Would senior players get a week off to head abroad and sun themselves or whatever?
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I stand corrected.Quote:
Originally Posted by El-Pietro
Is this true for most clubs. Would senior players get a week off to head abroad and sun themselves or whatever?
Yeah I think so, I saw a tweet from a journalist after the last games, can't remember which one, and he said around 70% of the league fly out on holiday today, whether that number is a ballpark figure or not I don't know but I know many Dundalk players went away for a couple of days anyway.Quote:
Originally Posted by Philosophizer
The PFAI have always requested (demanded??!!) a break of at least one week. It's too allow, among other reasons, players go on holidays with their children when the children are off school. Though the age profile of players would suggest that if they have children, those children are more likely to be in junior school rather than secondary - even though it's the secondary children who are off in June!
Think our players were off from Cork game Fri night to Thursday when the squad went to Fota Island to train until Tuesday.Quote:
Originally Posted by ArFella
Lets hope the training week, has the same affect this season once Europe comes around
I think it's tough to argue that getting results in Europe actually improves the league. Sure, you can argue it gains publicity for the league like Dundalk did last year, but did other clubs see a bump in interest or attendance as a result? It would be interesting to see if they did, but without any evidence that they did why should they really care if the teams in Europe do well? Especially to their detriment.Quote:
Originally Posted by seand
I agree on the proper planning point though.
The draw will NOT be regionalised according to this site. https://www.rangersobserver.com/news...-european-draw
Quote:
Originally Posted by micls
Well that's just made things a lot harder on multiple levels.
That regionalisation story doesn't seem to be confirmed anywhere. There's been no formal regionalisation in the regulations since 2009, but it has happened each year since.
Also, I'm pretty sure that they only decide on it within 24 hours of the draw.Quote:
Originally Posted by seand
It's up on the official rangers website now, which adds some amount of credibility.
That would seem mad. What would the logic behind that be? They've known the teams for a week. They're hardly there Sunday trying to get the teams into equal groups.
Nothing credible about that shower.Quote:
Originally Posted by micls
Dundalk balanced domestic fixtures and Europa League group games very well. Teams in European competitions have to get on with playing domestic games at least 3 days after a European game and at least 4 days before their next European game.
Clubs themselves know in advance they are going to be in European action. They have to use their squads accordingly. It's up to the clubs to find the right balance of relative success in Europe while challenging for domestic honours. It's not the place of their domestic rivals to assist them.
Not sure if this is any more trustworthy, but the Scottish Sun don't reckon there'll be regionalisation either.
https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/spo...-st-johnstone/
Sounds like multiple outlets quoting each other
By my count, according to this article, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/foo...fers-2014.html, there were 19 players transferred to Championship clubs from the 21 clubs who started the 2014-15 League One season and hadn't just been relegated from the Championship. So you'd have to have about four or five players going to Championship clubs per year to match this. If we want start thinking about the League of Ireland's upper half as being on a par with League One, you'd also need to have a bunch of players being picked up by bigger League One clubs (I know this has happened a little recently, with the likes of Forrester and Browne). I think we're still a bit off that level - the League is probably more at a level where a handful of young talented players, who might otherwise be squeezed out in the English system, can rack up some consistent game time experience early in their careers rather than bouncing around from club to club struggling to make an impression, which itself is a good thing.Quote:
Originally Posted by legendz
So, if we want the League of Ireland to be considered as good a league as League One, we need to sell more of our best players to League One sides? I don't see your logic whatsoever.Quote:
Originally Posted by samhaydenjr
Do you really gauge the level of a league by how many players move on from it?
Essentially, everything you wrote is a complete load of nonsense, and a lot of it quite ignorant in all honesty.
I've been following the league since the early 70s. and the BEST thing that's happened in that time was Dundalk's performances in Europe last year. It's the ONLY thing that brings the league to the general public's attention. Clubs who have qualified for Europe should make those games their no 1 priority. I'm hopeful that Dundalk can make an impact again this year. Not sure if Cork are set up as well for European competition, but am really hoping that they can bring some of their league form into the Europa.Quote:
Originally Posted by micls
In terms of competing at a European level we should be looking at different leagues around Europe. Austria for example loses many of its best players to Germany, Football (clubs or even the national team) is also not really considered the National Sport or popular spectator pastime at least in the mainstream. Every time i bring up their league its universally dismissed as low standard, even among the fans who attend Sturm Graz games etc. Despite that they have a decent system in place, decent performances in Europe and decent representaton on the national team etc.
Discussing the northern leagues is also interesting in terms of the infrastructure theyve put in place.
Also I thought the article about the Wexford lads in New Zealand was interesting... in that it showed even in a place like New Zealand, with "low standard" of football and not a fully professional system, the lads have better prospects by involvement in coaching and promotion in the underage system etc (it was interesting that they noted that football has a higher participation rate than rugby although the standard and the popularity is obv much higher for rugby)
While European success is important to capture the imagination of barstoolers/wider public the infrastructure is really not there to maintain consistency and importantly any time there is success the best players will disappear for a pitance to England.
At present it seems clear that the league can only reasonably maintain 2-3 solid competitive teams at a High level. Success in Europe wont save/improve this league... the current system needs uprooting and investment and proper linkups with junior football etc
Best thing by what metric though? Have attendances actually increased as a result? Across the league?
Getting people talking about the league is one thing, and I agree it's great. And for a fan, it's incredibly rewarding to see people care. But it's a long way from there to bums on seats. And without actual figures to support it, I doubt very much that the likes of Bohs have seen positive gains financially as a result of it.