All Ireland League

Simmer away - anyone who thinks that this would do anything remotely beneficial for Sligo Rovers wants their head tested.

For all the talk and plans, the simple principle remains that a team should only be in the division they're in based on results. Now a handful of Irish clubs want to scrap that principle in favour of an invite-only "elite" league, confident that most Irish people will tip the cap to the "big man" who appears to have all the answers (ie money and political connections).

This idea that the league is being ruined by clubs like Rovers not being able to sustain full-time professionalism is a joke. Pat's, Bohs, Cork and the like are in hock up to their eyeballs and desperately trying to secure themselves before the chickens come home to roost. If that means shafting the smaller clubs, they won't hesitate for a second.

It's just a pity that there is anybody supporting Sligo Rovers who can fool themselves into believing otherwise.

agreed fivesilver - 2 years in the wilderness with nothing to play for would do imponderable damage.
i would prefer to be in the first division graveyard than that

Forget fanciful debate - this would be the death knell for provincial football in ireland!!

Cherry picking teams like this and ringfencing teams from relegation, lining the pockets of the few suits(Arkaga and Drury et al) who couldnt give a damn about the long term health of football in ireland!

Even then if by some miracle it is for the long term good of irish football I for one do not want to sacrifice the future my football club for the sake of the jackeen teams and those teams in the larger population centres who have no support!!!!

I am very interested to hear from supporters of the other clubs who would be "cherry picked"?

I see Eircom are not renewing their contract with the FAI in sponsoring the League when their contract is up. This is a major kick in the teeth for the League as a whole!
Another plus for Fintan Drury's argument.

QUOTE=Only1Rovers;987875]I see Eircom are not renewing their contract with the FAI in sponsoring the League when their contract is up. This is a major kick in the teeth for the League as a whole!
Another plus for Fintan Drury's argument.[/QUOTE]

How so? What lines of advertising does Drury have available to him ?

Using his Paddy Power and Anglo Irish Bank connections to sponsor the league.....I doubt it and he has not given any commitment to this.

It amazes me that the word (document) of a man (agent in his football related business) who runs an organisation, Platinum One, of 7 people and is on record as being a supporter of Man City, no Eircom League team mentioned, is taken as Gospel.


He says that the top four clubs in the League lost €6m last season, so how will his idea reduce such debts, if anything it would accelerate as each team tries to buy the best players from the other teams, he also hopes that the league would bring back Irish players from the English lower leagues to play in the proposed AIPL, those wages would, as we all know from experience, be above normal Eircom League levels hence creating more expensive operating costs in the proposed AIPL.

Any one who has read the document - in full - to my eyes surely cannot fail to see there is only one motivation behind this idea and that is the income his company will get from running such a 10 team league. The health of football in Ireland is well down the list of priorities.

Saying he can increase income to the teams in the league is one thing, saying he can get extra bodies through the turnstiles is another thing completely.


As he said himself he thinks his plan if embraced by both FA's has a chance of succeeding, what happens after the initial proposed 5 year operation of the league it is still as bad as ever his company walks away and you have a collapse of the teams in the 10 team league.

Who says a man with no football business related experience aside from agent work on behalf of players can operate a league better than those already in charge.

The proposal is amateurish at best in its presentation and structure and derogatory in its use of language.

By no means are the FAI excelling themselves but what about the A league, Futsal league, under age football at the clubs and FAI jurisdiction ? Its cherry picking what football he wishes to look after also.

What about working with the League and providing a blueprint for them to use rather than trying to act as a military coup.

As Drury himself admits the FAI or IFA have no obligation to listen to his ideas as he is merely trying to put forward a business idea he has that was not commissioned or requested by the leagues FA's.

The IFA are looking at revamping their league and running an invitational league. There are also moves afoot to expand the Setanta Cup.

If Drury et al was to offer consultancy and advice to the FAI I would have far more respect for this idea.

He knows little or nothing about the league in its present form and the idea that Galway and Limerick can all of a sudden magic bodies in to watch their team is a joke of the highest order.

In the report a list of clubs that have struggled in recent years, in that list three teams Cork, Shams and Bohs , thats 30% of his proposed teams in the 10 team League are noted as having difficulties, so how does he plan to get them from excess €1m each per year operating debts in Bohs and Cork case to making profit in his league of €4m prizemoney even though not one cent of that proposed
€4m prizefund has yet been secured.


Why am I raising this point ? The report mentions :

- Clubs would need to meet very strict Licensing criteria as set by UEFA through
the Associations Club Licensing Departments, to qualify for the AIPL including
meeting financial demands that would protect the League against unanticipated
difficulties.

How on earth could clubs do that when at present by his own admission those very clubs are in serious financial difficulty.

The GAA in Galway's case and Rugby in Limerick case is so strong that football is lucky to be surviving at all in those areas and that’s from being there on a regular basis and talking to people on the ground involved locally. Drury sitting in an office in Dublin scribbling down his plans doesn’t seem to have done that as by his own admission he has spoken to a few of the Dublin teams and Bohs are keen for it to take off, that’s Bohs who had a operating deficit of over €1m last year.....sort of makes Rovers €130,000 pale into insignificance.

Drury is pushing this idea as a Fait Acompli as if no one else can have an idea on how to operate the league.

Sure why would he do that when there would be far less money involved in that.

I was just about to make those very points myself Guts&Glory.
Glad you got in before me.
Totally agree with you.

Well, well, well, Eircom pull the plug. Looks like we'll be damn glad of Fintan Drury before long.

If Drury gets what he wants, there'll be no reason whatsoever to refer to Sligo Rovers as "we" in connection with the AIL.

Yeah? Well, at least we won't be burying ourselves in debt trying to compete at a level which is, financially, beyond us. And we'll have winter football back.

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Originally Posted by avvenalaf

Yeah? Well, at least we won't be burying ourselves in debt trying to compete at a level which is, financially, beyond us. And we'll have winter football back.

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The club could compete ina division with the top 10 teams in the country, i would not put Limerick or Galway ahead of us.

Precisely the point a lot of people seem to be missing - we're in debt from trying to compete with the top few teams who are also taking ludicrous financial risks. They're now getting seriously windy about their precarious situation and want a league where, in their own deluded world, they're guaranteed bumper crowds every week, in the process shafting whoever necessary. The ultimate goal of this brave new world appears to be one day, possibly, turning out a team as good as the mighty Rosenborg.

Never mind the fact that all this guff about massively improved performances in Europe is a smokescreen. Summer football means our teams at the peak of their season are playing against pudgy, unfit sides just back from Ibiza and Lanzarote. Neither do our clubs these days start out against the level of team they used to. For all the talk, what Irish club of this era has produced anything to rank with Dundalk v Spurs, Bohs v Rangers or Athlone v Milan?

Unfashionable as it may sound in the Celtic Tiger era of "winners" and "brash mavericks", I'd be perfectly happy to see League of Ireland teams be less, rather than more, ambitious. This league and its clubs should stop trying to be be what they're not, stop pretending that they're ever going to be a "force" (whatever that means) in Europe, and concentrate on finding ways to increase their appeal at the level they're really at. Links with the community, a conduit (why not?) for young players on their way to a higher level, and week in, week out, decent, committed entertainment on your doorstep without the fear that your hometown club is going to fall victim to stupid overspending.

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Well, well, well, Eircom pull the plug. Looks like we'll be damn glad of Fintan Drury before long.

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Anyone any idea how much money Rovers get from eircom's sponsorship every year?

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Dundalk v Spurs, Bohs v Rangers or Athlone v Milan?

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......Rovers v Floriana....Rovers v Nantes......Rovers v Heerenveen.

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I'd be perfectly happy to see League of Ireland teams be less, rather than more, ambitious. This league and its clubs should stop trying to be be what they're not, stop pretending that they're ever going to be a "force" (whatever that means) in Europe, and concentrate on finding ways to increase their appeal at the level they're really at

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Sorry Fivesilver, can't agree with you there. Eurpoe is the only real way to measure if the league is making progress or not and is one of the main ways for any club to increase their appeal. If you don't have ambition you have nothing!

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Originally Posted by Redie

Floriana....Heerenveen.

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Have you any idea how ridiculous that comparison looks?

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Originally Posted by Redie

If you don't have ambition you have nothing!

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There's a meaningless empty slogan Drury himself would be proud of. My point is that the ambitions are misguided. Ambition without regard for reality is simply stupidity.

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Originally Posted by avvenalaf

Yeah? Well, at least we won't be burying ourselves in debt trying to compete at a level which is, financially, beyond us. And we'll have winter football back.

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I would not consider €130,000 burying ourselves in debt.

Especially compared to Pats cork Bohs Drogheda an dtheir €6m plus total losses.

The difference is that their losses are covered by assets/investors and are not the subject of bucket collections in the Tesco car park.

"Covered" being a fairly optimistic description.

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Originally Posted by avvenalaf

The difference is that their losses are covered by assets/investors and are not the subject of bucket collections in the Tesco car park.

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The companies set up as the 'feeder' of cash for the clubs can close for business and be wound up at any time, if wound up with losses those losses would be held against the club potentially meaning the club being put out of business, definately putting those clubs directly into acute financial difficulty.

The directors of those feeder companies can walk away.

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Have you any idea how ridiculous that comparison looks?

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Actually no I don't, maybe you might come up with a few to help me?

When Rovers beat Floriana in what was then the Cup Winners Cup it was - and I am open to correction here - the first time an Irish club had won a tie in European and progressed to the next round of the competition. Now I cannot remember but exactly what results did Dundalk, Bohs and Athlone achieve against Spurs, Rangers and Milan?
I notice you did not mention the Nantes game!

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There's a meaningless empty slogan Drury himself would be proud of. My point is that the ambitions are misguided. Ambition without regard for reality is simply stupidity.

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Look, I have nothing but contempt for Drury's plans and any other Drury with similar plans but I refuse to believe that to have ambition and a desire to improve and progress is something to apologise for.
Now maybe that's another 'meaningless empty slogan Drury himself would be proud of' but as I wouldn't know the man if he popped up in my soup I'll have to depend on you to advise me.

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Originally Posted by Guts&Glory

The companies set up as the 'feeder' of cash for the clubs can close for business and be wound up at any time, if wound up with losses those losses would be held against the club potentially meaning the club being put out of business, definately putting those clubs directly into acute financial difficulty.

The directors of those feeder companies can walk away.

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Now why didn't we think of that?

That should have read...........

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Have you any idea how ridiculous that comparison looks?

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Actually no I don't, maybe you might come up with a few to help me?

When Rovers beat Floriana in what was then the Cup Winners Cup it was - and I am open to correction here - the first time an Irish club had won a tie in European football to progress to the next round of the competition. Now I cannot remember but exactly what results did Dundalk, Bohs and Athlone achieve against Spurs, Rangers and Milan?
I notice you did not mention the Nantes game!

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There's a meaningless empty slogan Drury himself would be proud of. My point is that the ambitions are misguided. Ambition without regard for reality is simply stupidity.

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Look, I have nothing but contempt for Drury's plans and any other Drury with similar plans but I refuse to believe that to have ambition and a desire to improve and progress is something to apologise for.
Now maybe that's another 'meaningless empty slogan Drury himself would be proud of' but as I wouldn't know the man if he popped up in my soup I'll have to depend on you to advise me.