Originally Posted by
Dr.Nightdub
The other morning in work, two guys who have practically no interest in LoI were talking to me about the Drogheda match. One of them is a staunch Dubs fan first and foremost, who recently shelled out €900 to bring his kid to a CL match in Anfield for a last-minute birthday present. Both were sufficiently gripped by what they saw on a minority-interest channel to stick with it for the whole 120 minutes and sufficiently engaged by it to talk about it the following day.
A couple of reasons I mention this:
1. Providing a spectacle of reasonably good quality on the pitch will attract people's interest
2. TV exposure is a huge help
I know it's a tiny sample of two but it does suggest that there's an audience of casual football fans (as opposed to football casuals) who CAN occasionally be woken out of their slumber.
While we are making progress on points 1 and 2 above, the stumbling block that'd stop me trying to persuade yer GAA man to come down to Richmond is that someone who's used to going to Croker regularly (or Anfield occasionally, or Old Trafford occasionally or any ground in England occasionally) is not going to get beyond the disparity in facilities / infrastructure.
All three - standard of product, TV exposure to a wider audience and infrastructure - need to be developed in tandem. Trouble is the infrastructure part needs someone with deep pockets.
Everyone's giving out about Quinn, going "Why wouldn't he invest in the LoI?" Wrong question, folks. It should be "Why WOULD he?" People are being naieve if they expect him or any other wealthy Irish person to invest in the LoI purely on the basis of geography or national affinity. That's not how investment works - Bulmers didn't launch a lager here to compete with all them fizzy foreign beers, they launched Magners cider in the UK cos that's where the bigger potential return lies. Quinn & co saw a potential return from investing in Sunderland and if they can keep Sunderland in the EPL for a while, they'll reap the rewards. Such an opportunity simply doesn't exist here, not in the same time scale anyway, so moaning about them investing in Sunderland is pretty pointless.
Stampp talked a lot about the non-financial aspects of Quinn's decision to pump money into Sunderland. The same applies to Kelleher and Pats (btw Charliesboots, everything you said about Mulryan and land in Sunderland can and has been said about Kelleher and land in Inchicore. Glasshouses, stones, mate. I know we share the same views about Special K, so I'm not having a go - just pointing out the inconsistency, that's all).
Kelleher is unusual in that he isn't putting money into Pats just for the financial return, there's an emotional dimension to it too, similar to Quinn's emotional attachment to Sunderland being a factor in him investing there. I know it took Andy O'Callaghan a very long time, probably over two years, to even just identify a potential investor like Kelleher. It took a further eight months and two attempts before he was persuaded to come on board.
For the sake of the rest of youse, and indeed the League in general, I hope other clubs' boards are working their way through the Irish version of Who's Who to identify potentially similar investors. Rovers have taken a bit of a different tack in terms of dependence on SDCCC / the government, Bohs and Drogheda seem to have at least identified tangible solutions even if neither has come to fruition yet, but I don't see much sign around the rest of the League of anyone trying to locate other golden geese.
Muttering darkly about Niall Quinn isn't going to re-invigorate anything other than the stereotype that LoI fans actually ENJOY being bitter, twisted and defeated. If Quinn chooses to wear his disco pants in Studio 54 rather than down the parish hall, so what, they're not the only trousers in town.
