The impact that almost all of that list (Snodgrass and, maybe, Phillips aside) will have upon the Premier League next season will be completely and utterly negligible.Quote:
Originally Posted by TheOneWhoKnocks
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The impact that almost all of that list (Snodgrass and, maybe, Phillips aside) will have upon the Premier League next season will be completely and utterly negligible.Quote:
Originally Posted by TheOneWhoKnocks
Haha, sorry, Tets! I'd seen it on the BBC during my lunch. I will skim Foot.ie more carefully on my work lunch-break in future! :pQuote:
Originally Posted by BonnieShels
Brian Lenihan to Arsenal? Thescore.ie
Also linked with Aston Villa, Everton, Wigan and Bournemouth.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stuttgart88
I thought Arsenal stopped scouting in Ireland.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stuttgart88
Hope this rumour is true. Would be good for player and LOI. :)
I would rather have thirty players making a negligible impact on the PL than the depleting numbers of Irish players (probably around 12) making a negligible impact on the PL. Three or four Scottish players scored virtually more goals than our entire pool of players in the Championship. They have several players at Dundee United, alone, who are linked with huge clubs - one of them just moved to Sporting Lisbon.Quote:
Originally Posted by Olé Olé
It's shocking being an Irish fan these days. No players displaying upward mobility - or any kind of mobility - such as that of moving to continental clubs. One of two players averaging 6 or 7 a season in the League and then one or two chipping in with one or two.
Our best LB option is Stephen Ward FFS! Two Scottish left backs are on the move to the PL this summer!
With Dunne facing a struggle to start for QPR, the midfield signings Hull are making allied with Brady's continuing fitness struggles, the players relegated/retired/out of contract and no players coming up with the promoted teams our numbers in the PL are depleting and this, an increase in foreign managers, increased scouting across the rest of the world, the lifestyle attraction of playing in US and Australia and an unwillingness of Irish players to even consider playing anywhere other than Scotland or England.... I forecast dark days.
I guess I should just give up supporting Ireland now...
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Originally Posted by Stuttgart88
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Originally Posted by CityRebel
Looks like our youth prospects have "turned the corner".Quote:
Originally Posted by Nagger
Wasn't the headline "arsenal looking at the new Seamus Coleman"? He's only 26 ffs. Lenihan has been very good from the little I've seen of him. Still plenty of time for him, not sure Arsenal is right fit.
Tough one, isn't it? Arguably, Arsenal aren't lightyears ahead of Everton, who managed to nurture Seamie into the best right-back in the PL. Furthermore, Arsene Wenger tends to give youth much more of a chance at Arsenal than David Moyes did at Everton.Quote:
Originally Posted by centre mid
I was thinking to myself, maybe Bournemouth is the best option because he's likely to progress to first-team level at a faster rate and they're a club on the up under Eddie Howe. On the other hand, the coaching he'll get at Arsenal is likely to be better and he'll likely be afforded superior loan options at Arsenal than Bournemouth could provide.
Maybe it's as simple a fact that if he has enough talent he'll make it at a level reflecting those talents. But Conor Clifford and Christy Fagan were regarded by some in the know as the two of the best young players to come out of Ireland in the last 10 years and neither has progressed to the top level (maybe there's something in the fact that they moved to clubs of Arsenal's stature i.e. Chelsea and Manchester United, and at a younger age). So many variables to take into account. It'll be a tough decision if he does get a few offers on the table. Alls we can do is hope for the best for the lad!
It's hard to know. The Coleman route was ideal. Move to big club and get lent out, but with an automatic pathway back to a big club. If Lenihan went to Bournemouth, even if he impressed his pathway upwards would be less certain.
Yeah, and Coleman was lent to an upwardly mobile side (at the time) in Blackpool, so he was involved in the fever pitch of a PL promotion. It all just fell beautifully for Seamie, bar that one average season he had. But that average season was on the back of a very, very good season so he had acquired goodwill on the back of that.
Perhaps Arsenal would be a great move for Lenihan, if the interest is genuine. He'd be getting the best coaching and likely to get a good loan because his fee will have given effect to a tangible indication of how Arsenal rate him and a marked market value. If he, consequently, doesn't make it at Arsenal then he should have suitors of a decent level. It'll all depend on how far he is from the top.
Quite a few of Arsenal's League Cup starlets have plummeted down the leagues too, though.
Towk is pretty downbeat about our future prospects, and probably with good reason, but it'd be nice to think some lads are on the verge of a decent breakthrough if their cards fall right.
Got to agree. Just looking at the World Cup and teams like Costa Rica, Algeria and to an extent, Honduras. All are some way ahead of us based on their performances in Brazil. Teamwork, ball retention, fighting for the cause etc are all attributes those teams have, among everyone else at this year's World Cup with the possible exception of England, and we don't anymore.Quote:
Originally Posted by TheOneWhoKnocks
You mention the attraction of playing in the USA. I live here and I would dearly love to see our young lads come over here en masse. I cannot complement the coaching here enough and I firmly believe that Irish kids would do themselves a world of good if they were to come. It is the land of opportunity (or at least it was before some politicians got a hold of it) and it can be the land of opportunity for Irish football going forward.
Just as an aside, you should read Dave Hannigan's article on US footy in the Irish a Times from a few days ago. Basically, coaching costs a packet and only middle class kids can afford to play. Clint Dempsey was from a poor background but was so obviously gifted others mucked in to help his family pay. Lots of poor kids are priced out of foot all.
Anyway, Stephanie Roche has just gone to France! Dem French must think all Irish athletes have that name.
Of course the question is, even if. our kids were prepared to go abroad, would they be wanted? Like in business we should be looking to form reciprocal arrangements and partnerships with potential trading partners.
We drew with Costa Rica and missed a penalty. Honduras were muck. Algeria were good but then again North African football is of a consistently high quality and many players were developed in France.Quote:
Originally Posted by mark12345
I'm not saying that what you say is wrong. Teamwork, cohesion etc etc is very important. Let's see if MON can get this. It took both Jack and Mick a long time to make much difference.
But the key is that there are many decent European countries who (a) struggled to qualify and (b) wouldn't have had much impact even if they did. This tournament has been the best of south and Central America and Europe with a few gate crashers, each of whom has an easy path to qualification. Only 4 teams outside Europe's elite qualify for a WC.
This World Cup has important lessons, as they all do, but at the same time no World Cup can ever be definitive proof football in an island of 4m people is in the stone age. The evidence in our case probably lies elsewhere! I know the Irish mentality: we'd be walking up Croagh Patrick naked if we "only" did what Croatia or Bosnia did. Personally I'd be very happy if we could get to that level in the first instance. Then we take our chances wrt good draws etc. Every World Cup has its minnow story. That's a far different thing to saying Ireland should or even could always be a successful World Cup minnow.
That was a definite eye opener of a read, amazing achievement because a relative handful of scholarships aside, they are basically bypassing the social demographic most countries draw the majority of their talent from.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stuttgart88
I'm confused Ted. Are you now endorsing Keane's playing in the US?Quote:
Originally Posted by TheOneWhoKnocks
And yet the US players are still prone to a dive or two. :pQuote:
Originally Posted by CraftyToePoke
Well put. I would be very happy if we could achieve that level in, say, the next six years, and go from there.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stuttgart88
Tour de France spoiler alert.
I couldn't help thinking of this thread and whole debate today when I saw Froome pull out of the Tour after only a few stages. Team SKY is perceived as one of the slickest, smoothest, best organised and most methodically planned outfits in any sport. I have some doubts but anyway, I think the perception is largely correct. But after only 4 days the Tour favourite is out and unless Richie Porte can step up (he is a super climber) their Tour is goosed earlier than England's World Cup. Now, if Rooney, or Gerrard for that matter, was 3 inches taller I reckon England would have made the last 16. That's not to say England's football architecture and plumbing isn't all wrong.
But let's not overlook just how capricious sport can be. All the analysis in the world can't explain the role tiny things can do. If David Silva had taken a routine chance to make it 2-0 Holland may have been heading for the exit early.
My point is that planning and organisation is probably a necessary but certainly an insufficient ingredient in determining success. Planning, organisation, structures, governance etc can improve your chances but raw luck is often the essential factor. As osarusan(?) said above many doubt that Belgium's success is really down to their NGB. Even those who laud the NGB's role openly accept that raw luck was a factor in this generation coming together.
4 words never used in the whole GB affair.
how did you construct all that during the world cup semi finale
Most of it was written during the anthems.
I'm a disciple of causality and I believe "luck" to be what happens when preparation meets opportunity. One may not strictly be able to personally control the rising of an opportunity - although that's not to say opportunity cannot be manufactured or influenced either - but preparation is essential if one is going to be able to take full advantage of an opportunity. Preparation will provide you with the necessary basis or grounding from which you can springboard, if you will. The better prepared will, by and large, rise to the top. It's no surprise Germany made it to the World Cup final after trouncing Brazil. They were prepared - ruthless, clinical and consummately professional - and were able to take advantage of being presented with a bunch of headless chickens in their semi-final.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stuttgart88
Fail to prepare; prepare to fail.
We have the right man in charge (of laying out cones at national team training).
To be honest, Keane as FAI CEO would be the real dream.
Very good debate about the problems in brazillian football going on right now mentioned in various mediums, very similar to what has been spoken about the problems in ireland.
But they might actually change things.
I'm away at he moment but this article contains links to two reports from the German Bundesliga about Germany's state of affairs.
http://thescore.thejournal.ie/german...m_source=email
I'd be interested in reading them. Of course if anyone here can do a summary...:)
I felt myself doing a lot of reflection after reading this article. Showing my age now, but Brady was such a class player. saw him live twice, once at Highbury and at Lansdowne Road and he had a real ability to control a game and determine the pace of the game too. However, I don't believe he deserved to go to Euro 88 as the pace of the game had passed him by. But I digress!
What shocked me was just how parasitic youth system is. Taking kids is one thing, rejecting them at 14 is another. I would love to know if studies have been done on rejection at such a young age after been built up by clubs initially. I did not realise that players of such young age were being treated this way which shows my innocence. It also highlights for me that if ever we do create an Irish youth system it should be about creating well-rounded individuals, not just footballers who are one dimensional.
http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/socc...1870933?page=3
14 year old from Tallaght invited to trial with Atletico Madrid
http://www.thecoachdiary.com/coerver...letico-madrid/
A successful outcome from the Coerver guys apparently.
That s two years ago. Did he sign for anyone?
has stutts been reading old news all thus time like it's some radical new development?
are these coaching sessions still happening?
Sorry, I saw it on thecoachdiary.com this afternoon. On the homepage too, so I presumed it was current. Don't know what happened.
Remember this?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cricket/16698328
I do.
What is interesting, 10 years ago I had next to no interest in cricket. Watching a Shane Warne bowl in the 2005 Ashes series made me go "Wha?". Became instantly hooked. Moving to Australia later in the year helped it.
Anyway, in the intervening period since then the Ireland cricket team as we all know here, have become the leading associate nation in world cricket. The goal is to have a first class series in Ireland (getting there) and test cricket by 2020. There was also the attempt top stem the tide of our best players going to England by signing players centrally.
Now this roadmap was all encompassing with measurable goals.
Cricket has gone from no where 15 years ago to a sport that is really growing in popularity and the public awareness.
Now... what I fail to see is that in the last 15 years Irish soccer has gotten progressively more mediocre with no real measurable goals and zero joined up thinking. Irish soccer is being left behind in professionalism from the other 4 of the top 5 sports.
Reading that article again for the first time since it was published 2 and a half years ago makes me feel frustrated for Irish soccer. We're going no where in fact we're going backwards and I honestly can't see where the change and improvement is going to come from.
FAI extend emerging talent programs to include promising ten year olds: http://www.thescore.ie/fai-emerging-...90884-Jul2014/
Can you trust a promise from a ten year old tets?
Copenhagen CEO calls for champions league for smaller countries. Super idea in my opinion.
http://www.sportal.com.au/football/c...c1ea9al5sjltlv
I wonder who put you onto that without any acknowledgement either.
I think its a good idea in theory, but how would you share the money out, you can't expect UEFA to give money from a superior competition to an inferior one that teams dont participate in.
Also, if there was some incentive for the "bigger" teams from smaller nations to enter like guaranteed winning gets you group stage in the following years CL.
I saw it before you texted me Paul :)
The CL subsidises other areas of European football and could continue doing so. I haven't seen the CL TV revenue broken down by country but my guess is that big countries contribute the most anyway, and non-European countries (e.g., Asia) would still pay handsomely.
It's not unfeasible that these lesser countries, if they pool resources, could strike an attractive TV deal from their own territories with a revenue sharing agreement among themselves, and with UEFA. Additional local sponsors would be attracted too, and I'd imagine not necessarily by diminishing ad revenues for the main CL.
I'd say it's more than a zero sum game. Any cost to the CL proper would be outweighed by gains to the lower competitions.
It'd all be down to the power politics. In principle the European Club Association is representative of a very wide group of football clubs, not just the old G14. This would test the big clubs' solidarity commitment!
I don't know how it would play out at UEFA level though. On one hand they'd be seen to being more inclusive of the non-elite. A stronger non-elite would strengthen UEFA. However, on the other they would be virtually ring fencing the elite which might strengthen their hand?
"Brady says lack of young Irish talent emerging ‘scary’": http://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/b...ry-278843.html
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Originally Posted by Tony Leen