AIL:Will it happen?

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Originally Posted by micls

That's why I said a lot and not every ;)

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That's why I said 'I' and not everyone;)

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Originally Posted by OneRedArmy

Believe it or not, I appraised the proposals and like them compared with the status quo.

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You did, and at first tried to say that the situation would be no different. Finally you admitted that it would be more difficult for the "smaller" clubs to compete. Then you argued that the "smaller" clubs are so far behind that a little extra difficulty won't have an effect, so the "smaller" clubs shouldn't even worry about it.

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Originally Posted by OneRedArmy

You can argue the toss all you like about how objective the naysayers are being in their opposition but their views are absolutely guided by the potential impact on their club.

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While that may apply to you, there are plenty of posters on here who have done what DeManetc said and based their decision not to support the proposals on an objective appraisal, something which your appraisal clearly was not.

Apart from micls, there hasn't been one poster who has even seriously attempted to show why the proposed AIL isn't a bad thing for "smaller" clubs.

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Originally Posted by micls

Seems to me a lot of the fans against it are not going along because it doesn't suit the club they support.
And it their club were in the G6 they'd have a different opinion, in the same way many fans of G6 would if their club wasn't in it.

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A lot of fans are against it because it isn't fair towards every club. I'd feel the same way even if Limerick were invited. (easy to say, I know, you'll just have to trust me)

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Originally Posted by micls

I'd wager almost everyone on here cares a hell of a lot more about whats good for their club than for the rest of the league. And therefore their views on any issue will reflect that.

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I'd wager you're right. But I'd also wager that the FAI will show far more concern for the "smaller" clubs among the eL than a new business consortium will. I think the views of the fans of clubs not invited are closer to being aligned with what's good for the league as a whole than the views of fans of clubs invited.

if by "good for the league" you mean "holds the pro clubs back so the part timers get to have some nice days out every now and again".

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Originally Posted by GavinZac

if by "good for the league" you mean "holds the pro clubs back so the part timers get to have some nice days out every now and again".

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Gavin, here's a post of mine from 4 pages ago on this thread, in response to a simiar "holding the top clubs back to help the stragglers" point of view.

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Originally Posted by osarusan

At the moment, of course some teams are better than others, and unfortunately for me, Limerick are closer to the bottom of the list than the top.

But this gap in quality has happened naturally, it has happened from the starting point of a level playing field. I have no problem with that.

Under the proposed AIL structure, it appears that lots of money would be given to the top clubs to improve further, while little to none would be given to the clubs at lower levels. When a club is relegated, they are to be given "parachute money" to allow them cope in the lower league, and, I assume, to help them get promoted again as quickly as possible. This is not a level playing field. The gap in quality is being artificially widened. Even the supporters of an AIL (in its current format) have admitted that.

It is not a case of the FAI holding the big clubs back, and helping the others to catch up - it is a case of ensuring that whatever progress made by any club is done fairly.

The FAI is, or is supposed to be, fair to all clubs, and show favour to none.

This new system is openly showing favour towards the big clubs through the financial incentives available. This is not fair.



I'm not bitter that my club haven't been invited - I'm aware that in their present condition, Limerick are by no means an attractive candidate, and I know this is, by and large, a result of their own doing. I don't begrudge other clubs their progress - well done to them for doing what Limerick couldn't do and make themselves consistently competitive at the top level.

But fans of clubs not invited are being asked to support a system that actively makes it more difficult for us to narrow the gap between ourselves and the bigger clubs. We have given, repeatedly, rational arguments as to why we should not support the proposed system. These arguments have not been convincingly countered. For fans of those clubs who are invited to be surprised at our lack of support for the new system, and for those fans to label our opposition to the system as "begrudgery" or "small-mindedness" is evidence they aren't able to counter our arguments.

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There are a couple of parts I'd like to stress.

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But this gap in quality has happened naturally, it has happened from the starting point of a level playing field. I have no problem with that.

Under the proposed AIL structure, it appears that lots of money would be given to the top clubs to improve further, while little to none would be given to the clubs at lower levels. When a club is relegated, they are to be given "parachute money" to allow them cope in the lower league, and, I assume, to help them get promoted again as quickly as possible. This is not a level playing field. The gap in quality is being artificially widened. Even the supporters of an AIL (in its current format) have admitted that.

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You (or anybody else, to the best of my memory) haven't disputed the contents of the second paragraph. It is simply unfair to give money to clubs at the expense of others.

What I don't want, and what the fans of "smaller teams" don't want is the implementation of a system which favours bigger clubs at the expense of smaller clubs.

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It is not a case of the FAI holding the big clubs back, and helping the others to catch up - it is a case of ensuring that whatever progress made by any club is done fairly.

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This is what I want, and this is all I want. Fairness. It is surely not unreasonable to ask. But it is something that the proposed AIL structure won't provide.

But Gavin, you have continually tried to portray this desire for fairness as begrudgery -

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Originally Posted by GavinZac

Because essentially you're saying that you don't want the quality of football on this island to improve, regardless of the involvement of NI teams. Or is it that you just want one that involves yourselves?

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My reply -

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Originally Posted by osarusan

I'm not saying either of those things.

I am saying that any moves to improve the standard of football in Ireland should focus on improving all the clubs, with equal focus given to each club, by an organisation responsible for doing so.

Creating a situation which allows the gap between the AIL premier division teans and the rest to widen does not, in my opinion, improve the quality of football on the island. It will improve the quality of a minority of clubs, while the quality of the majority of clubs, and the means by which to improve their quality, will be reduced.

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Looking at my last paragraph again -

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Creating a situation which allows the gap between the AIL premier division teans and the rest to widen does not, in my opinion, improve the quality of football on the island. It will improve the quality of a minority of clubs, while the quality of the majority of clubs, and the means by which to improve their quality, will be reduced.

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Again, nobody has argued with this view.

Why are you so surprised or bothered that fans of smaller clubs are against a the implementation of a system which is openly biased against us, which will make it more difficult for us to improve in the future because of financial aid to bigger clubs, and which will not be beneficial, in general, to football on the island?

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Originally Posted by osarusan

What I don't want, and what the fans of "smaller teams" don't want is the implementation of a system which favours bigger clubs at the expense of smaller clubs.....This is what I want, and this is all I want. Fairness. It is surely not unreasonable to ask.

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Fairness is in the eye of the beholder. Your view of fairness is subjective and is based on your supporting a "small" team.

Look at it from a slightly different point of view. I support a team which I, and lots of other fans, invest a lot of money funding, and time running and supporting. Why on earth is it "fair" that my team should be held back from receiving the rewards of this work by other clubs who, for whatever reason, cannot match that level of effort?

We can argue all day and night whether football should be run in a socialist manner, but I can't see a way to grow the game quickly enough where all parties benefit equally. You are looking for some kind of utopia which doesn't exist.

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I support a team which I, and lots of other fans, invest a lot of money funding, and time running and supporting.

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Lots of people at lots of 'small' clubs invest a lot of their own money and time running and supporting their club - probably more than ye 'big' club fella's.

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Originally Posted by Redie

Lots of people at lots of 'small' clubs invest a lot of their own money and time running and supporting their club - probably more than ye 'big' club fella's.

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Don't doubt that, but not enough of them do it. Thats why they are small.

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Originally Posted by OneRedArmy

Look at it from a slightly different point of view. I support a team which I, and lots of other fans, invest a lot of money funding, and time running and supporting. Why on earth is it "fair" that my team should be held back from receiving the rewards of this work by other clubs who, for whatever reason, cannot match that level of effort?

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First - the comments in your most recent post, which I've highlighted in bold - the rewards for your efforts are that you have a better team than we do, you have bigger crowds than we do, you are in the top division, you play in Europe, you win prize money....while we do none of these things. You've made more effort as a club, and you're in a better position as a result - to this I said -

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Originally Posted by osarusan

I'm not bitter that my club haven't been invited - I'm aware that in their present condition, Limerick are by no means an attractive candidate, and I know this is, by and large, a result of their own doing. I don't begrudge other clubs their progress - well done to them for doing what Limerick couldn't do and make themselves consistently competitive at the top level.

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My point is that under the current system, Derry's, and other clubs' progress was made through their own efforts. They improved their own quality under a governing body which was fair to every club.

The problem I have is that under the proposed AIL structure, the governing body itself will be biased towards the better and more profitable teams. That simply isn't fair.

A post of yours from earlier in this thread -

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Originally Posted by OneRedArmy

As one of the Cork lads said above, I care about my own club above all else, and the wider League only to the extent in affects my club.

At the minute Derry are in the plans and there appears to be a large upside potential, ergo, I'm tentatively supporting them.

If I supported a club on the outside I wouldn't be particularly happy. But since when did you have to be equitable and fair when supporting a football team?!

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In this case, fairness is not subjective. You, as admitted by you, have no pretense of even trying to be fair.

You seem to be perfectly happy for your club to benefit even though the governing body is not being impartial.

I want the governing body to be impartial and unbiased towards every club, and let the clubs continue to progress at the rates they are currently.

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Originally Posted by OneRedArmy

Limericks continued poor performance and support is primarily due to a lack of support for senior football in the city?

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Where above have I argued with this point??

There are of course many reasons for the "lack of support for senior football in the city"

My objection was to the implication that Limerick are some kind of special case that will never garner support.

By the By attendance figures would seem to suggest the Limerick public are not much more apathetic than the Dublin public.

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Originally Posted by osarusan

I want the governing body to be impartial and unbiased towards every club, and let the clubs continue to progress at the rates they are currently.

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Herein lies the problem. This is fundamentally a lowest common denominator approach and therefore appeals to the smaller clubs.

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Originally Posted by OneRedArmy

This is fundamentally a lowest common denominator approach and therefore appeals to the smaller clubs.

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I genuinely don't see why it is??

Osarusan, God love you patience, but you're wasting your time repeating your reasoned arguments on these people, rest assured that the rest of us agree with you :)

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Originally Posted by Lim till i die

I genuinely don't see why it is??

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You don't see why funding shouldn't always be distributed on a pro-rata basis?

Well, as I understand it, the moneymen behind the AIL are only interested in a limited field of "big" names. They have no interest in the lower tier as sponsors and TV have no interest in this. What this broadly means is that the wider market has no interest in teams outside of the top tier. Therefore funding teams outside the top tier is an artificial redistribution of income taking money away from the top teams.

What I repeated said above is that this doesn't actually happen at the minute (except for the odd occasion when a smaller club gets a big cup draw).

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Originally Posted by osarusan

I want the governing body to be impartial and unbiased towards every club, and let the clubs continue to progress at the rates they are currently.

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Originally Posted by OneRedArmy

Herein lies the problem. This is fundamentally a lowest common denominator approach and therefore appeals to the smaller clubs.

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The opposite to my above post is that the governing body is biased towards certain clubs and actively helps some clubs progress faster than they have been, while hindering the progress of others by ignoring them.

Is that what you want? Are you happy with this premise as the system under which the AIL will be run?

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Originally Posted by jebus

Osarusan, God love you patience, but you're wasting your time repeating your reasoned arguments on these people, rest assured that the rest of us agree with you :)

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The rest of who?

Personally, when I'm in disgreement with you, I generally feel I'm going in the right direction.

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Originally Posted by osarusan

The opposite to my above post is that the governing body is biased towards certain clubs and actively helps some clubs progress faster than they have been, while hindering the progress of others by ignoring them.

Is that what you want? Are you happy with this premise as the system under which the AIL will be run?

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If thats what it takes to bring about a sustainable professional league (and thats a big if) then yes, I won't lose much sleep that it will make it tougher for clubs currently in the lower divisions to break into the top tier.
The alternative that you suggest holds little attraction for sponsors and therefore is the utopia that I mentioned earlier. I would also query what progress would be hindered? Is there really progress being made?

The equitable solution you are suggesting would work only if money was chanelled through the FAI and as this wouldn't be attractive from a sponsorship point of view, would have to be supplemented by public money, which is highly unlikely to ever get off the ground.

Capitalism is fundamentally unfair in its Darwinian approach to picking out winners and losers, and being realistic, there is probably a fairly sizeable chance the whole thing will go tits up anyway. So maybe you will get the last laugh.

But at least someone is trying to raise the bar.

Originally Posted by OneRedArmy

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They have no interest in the lower tier as sponsors and TV have no interest in this.

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Well how come RTE showed Athlone v Finn Harps live last season

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Originally Posted by OneRedArmy

If thats what it takes to bring about a sustainable professional league

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If the professional league consists of a few chosen clubs who are being given funds by a governing body out for profit at the expense of clubs who don't fit their plans, I wouldn't say it is definitely "sustainable".

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Originally Posted by OneRedArmy

But at least someone is trying to raise the bar.

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For some, not all.

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Originally Posted by OneRedArmy

The rest of who?

Personally, when I'm in disgreement with you, I generally feel I'm going in the right direction.

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Right back at you champ

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Originally Posted by osarusan

It is simply unfair to give money to clubs at the expense of others.

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Right then I assume when Limerick next win a trophy, you'll be all in favour of dividing the prize money out equally.

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Again, nobody has argued with this view.

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Because its tiring, its like arguing with a creationist who isn't making a lick of sense but who has it very much in his interest to stick to his guns lest his values, and the time and money he has put into sustaining them, come crumbling apart.

Of course I can see your argument, but its pretty damn flawed. Would you consider the current "cascading" of prize money unfair? I mean, the top clubs get far more than the bottom ones; that's perpetuating and making the gap between the clubs larger. Unfair! Right? So essentially you must also not want that to continue, and certainly not with 4 clubs inserted above you. Which is, of course, nonsense because football is competitive and selfish and always has and always will be. I'd imagine you'd have the same begrudging response if 4 of the clubs below you (were there 4 clubs below you last season?) received massive external investment and moved you 4 rungs down the ladder in a similar fashion.

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Originally Posted by GavinZac

Right then I assume when Limerick next win a trophy, you'll be all in favour of dividing the prize money out equally.

Would you consider the current "cascading" of prize money unfair? I mean, the top clubs get far more than the bottom ones; that's perpetuating and making the gap between the clubs larger. Unfair! Right? So essentially you must also not want that to continue, and certainly not with 4 clubs inserted above you.

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Gavin, good to see you haven't lost the ability to ignore posts - here's a post of mine from this very page -

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Originally Posted by osarusan

the rewards for your efforts are that you have a better team than we do, you have bigger crowds than we do, you are in the top division, you play in Europe, you win prize money....while we do none of these things. You've made more effort as a club, and you're in a better position as a result

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As I've said, I have no problems winning prize money, as it is a result of the efforts the club have made to improve. Cork City make more collective effort, and win more prize money than Limerick - doesn't bother me (apart from the fact that my team are relatively awful, and have been for a long time)


Let me stress it for you one more time-I have no problems with clubs being better than others, as long as the governing body is fair and the teams improve through their own efforts - this includes prize money, as I previously mentioned.

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Originally Posted by osarusan

The problem I have is that under the proposed AIL structure, the governing body itself will be biased towards the better and more profitable teams. That simply isn't fair.

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I'll ask you the same question I asked OneRedArmy -

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The opposite to my above post is that the governing body is biased towards certain clubs and actively helps some clubs progress faster than they have been, while hindering the progress of others by ignoring them.

Is that what you want? Are you happy with this premise as the system under which the AIL will be run?

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Is that what you want Gavin?

As a matter of interest does anyone know of any other country that has a senior league run in a similar manner to that proposed by the AIL people - i.e. an elite league run almost as a private company detached from the National Governing Body, etc.

[QUOTE=OneRedArmy;848575]

Well, as I understand it, the moneymen behind the AIL are only interested in a limited field of "big" names. They have no interest in the lower tier as sponsors and TV have no interest in this. What this broadly means is that the wider market has no interest in teams outside of the top tier. Therefore funding teams outside the top tier is an artificial redistribution of income taking money away from the top teams.

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if everything you say is true and i dont douth it then i cant undrstand why on gods green earth you expect the other clubs to support this, and do you need our support in the first place

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Originally Posted by Redie

As a matter of interest does anyone know of any other country that has a senior league run in a similar manner to that proposed by the AIL people - i.e. an elite league run almost as a private company detached from the National Governing Body, etc.

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The English Premiership.

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Originally Posted by passerrby

if everything you say is true and i dont douth it then i cant undrstand why on gods green earth you expect the other clubs to support this, and do you need our support in the first place

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Debatable whether it requires other clubs support and I don't expect clubs to support it.

AIL: Will it happen?

Hopefully no.

The only team from the North who would be vaguely competitive, would be Linfield. The rest of them would be relegation candidates.

As for the practicalities of the seasons not matching, I don't see the view on either side changing. They want their games on Saturday at 3pm in December, while we want ours on Fridays at 7.45 in June. Neither side is prepared to budge an inch.

It would weaken the league instead of strengthen it.

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Originally Posted by OneRedArmy

Debatable whether it requires other clubs support and I don't expect clubs to support it.

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I hope they go and give it a bash best of luck to em i can only wish them all that they deserve

Sounds like Franchise Football to me.

I'm in support of an AIL, but only if a pyramid structure remains.

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Originally Posted by osarusan

Is that what you want Gavin?

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I don't get it. The hypothetical, speculated governing body is "favouring" other teams because they've been successful, they've turned full time and are thus in the new premier? If i was to guess now, I'd say your qualm is with the selection process being business based and not football based. We went through that last year and while your own club couldn't have much complaints, it being a week old when the selection was made, it must have been rough on old dundalk. Fair enough, but then that was another thing "we all agreed to and cant complain about".

This time however, it is clearly even more justifiable to choose for off-the-field reasons; supposedly 4 of the clubs are from an entirely different league, the structure is completely new, and there is no footballing precedent for it bar the setanta cup which has featured so far about 10 teams(?).

I think people are reading far too much into supposed "G6/8" and elitism. I know for a fact that Aidan Tynan, one of the drivers behind this, has met with his Waterford counterpart during the last few months aswell.

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Originally Posted by monutdfc

Sounds like Franchise Football to me.

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If you take the speculation re: single companies and stuff seriously.

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I'm in support of an AIL, but only if a pyramid structure remains.

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I would echo this.

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Originally Posted by osarusan

The problem I have is that under the proposed AIL structure, the governing body itself will be biased towards the better and more profitable teams. That simply isn't fair.

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Osarsan I have been talking about an AIL in general rather than the speculation about what could be happening with the one planned at the moment.

And from that viewpoint I don't see why we're so sure the governing body will be biased? Anymore than the governing body now is. Look at the FAI, how much of a chance did they give a small team(Limerick) last season? Now compare that to the years off leeway they gave the big team (Shels). Fair? Unbiased? Questionable imo.

Even in the current 'proposals' Im not certain the governing body will be biased. Firstly I certainly am not taking every rumour about it on here as fact so I see very little proof of it apart from it only seems to be the bigger clubs driving it at the moment.

Football will always be 'unfair'. It is worldwide when it comes to finance, but with a proper pyramid system in place and parachute money for the promoted, not relegated, I don't see why an AIL would be any more unfair than things are now.

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Originally Posted by micls

Osarsan I have been talking about an AIL in general rather than the speculation about what could be happening with the one planned at the moment.

Even in the current 'proposals' Im not certain the governing body will be biased.

with a proper pyramid system in place and parachute money for the promoted, not relegated, I don't see why an AIL would be any more unfair than things are now.

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Re your first paragraph, fair enough if that is the case, I have been referring to the info (or rumours) we have regarding the current proposal. Your AIL of the future would be a different prospect to the current version, I hope, as your third paragraph implies.

Your second and third paragraph contradict themselves a bit though, as the situation you outline in the third paragraph is clearly different (in that it is fair) from the current proposals.

But thanks for a rational and reasoned response. I appreciate it.

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Originally Posted by osarusan

Re your first paragraph, fair enough if that is the case, I have been referring to the info (or rumours) we have regarding the current proposal. Your AIL of the future would be a different prospect to the current version, I hope, as your third paragraph implies.

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Well that clears up that confusion. Why would you take any newspaper talk seriously, or assume anyone else would? :D

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Originally Posted by mypost

AIL: Will it happen?

Hopefully no.

The only team from the North who would be vaguely competitive, would be Linfield. The rest of them would be relegation candidates.

As for the practicalities of the seasons not matching, I don't see the view on either side changing. They want their games on Saturday at 3pm in December, while we want ours on Fridays at 7.45 in June. Neither side is prepared to budge an inch.

It would weaken the league instead of strengthen it.

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Sorry uneducated rubbish.

Linfield would comfortably contend for the championship and we have proved we can consistantly beat the best the LOI has.(i'm not saying we would win the AIL, but we would certainly be contenders)

Cliftonville would be a fringe contender, one that would last the pace for a lot of the season before falling away.

Glentoran although have been shown up in the Setanta cup so far, are a far better side than the Setanta cup results show. Although I would say they wuold be an upper mid table side.

The rest would be lower mid to relegation candidates.

Your league is better than ours on the whole. But it is not worlds apart by any stretch of the imagination.

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Originally Posted by osarusan

as the situation you outline in the third paragraph is clearly different (in that it is fair) from the current proposals.
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The point being none of us know what the current proposals actually are. There are rumours being posted on here, but absolutely nothing official.

Originally Posted by OneRedArmy

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The English Premiership.

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Absolutely no comparison. I am depending on memory here and stand corrected on the following points.

When the English Premier League was set up about fifteen years ago the main driving force behind it was Sky TV who were just starting up at that time and offered something like 360 million pounds for the full rights to the new league, this compared to the 10 million or so the BBC/ITV were paying at the time. Rupert Murdoch saw the new league as the best way to sell the number of Sky dishes needed to get his new empire up and running. In the years prior to that there were some mutterings about the then big five – Arsenal, Liverpool, Everton, Spurs and Man. Utd – breaking away from the league. However negations were held between all of the clubs and the then English League and the English FA and a procedure was agreed for the formation of the new Premier Division. Crucially ALL the teams that were in the existing first division were entitled to join the new Premier Division at the end of the season except for the three clubs that were relegated and – more crucially – all the teams in the then Second Division had the opportunity to join the new Premier Division if they finished in the top three and got promoted, not sure if the play-offs were in place at that time. Then at the end of the season in question the then First Division became the Premier Division and the then Second Division became the First division – and so on – and then Sky took over. At no time was an elite group of clubs hand-picked to form the new division and at no time was the promotion/relegation trap door tampered with.

Of course the result of all that is that is today the English Premier League is an over-hyped circus that gets saturation TV coverage and is awash with money, the most of which goes to that horrible creation that is the modern day professional football, who play more often than not in half empty football grounds.

Now if an All Ireland League is proposed that will offer the opportunity for all the teams in the top division of the current two leagues to play in it as long as they don’t get relegated and offers the opportunity of all the teams in the second division of the current two leagues the opportunity to get promoted into it and is run in conjunction with the two Football Associations then I think it might be worth a go.

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Originally Posted by Redie

Originally Posted by OneRedArmy




Absolutely no comparison. I am depending on memory here and stand corrected on the following points.

When the English Premier League was set up about fifteen years ago the main driving force behind it was Sky TV who were just starting up at that time and offered something like 360 million pounds for the full rights to the new league, this compared to the 10 million or so the BBC/ITV were paying at the time. Rupert Murdoch saw the new league as the best way to sell the number of Sky dishes needed to get his new empire up and running. In the years prior to that there were some mutterings about the then big five – Arsenal, Liverpool, Everton, Spurs and Man. Utd – breaking away from the league. However negations were held between all of the clubs and the then English League and the English FA and a procedure was agreed for the formation of the new Premier Division. Crucially ALL the teams that were in the existing first division were entitled to join the new Premier Division at the end of the season except for the three clubs that were relegated and – more crucially – all the teams in the then Second Division had the opportunity to join the new Premier Division if they finished in the top three and got promoted, not sure if the play-offs were in place at that time. Then at the end of the season in question the then First Division became the Premier Division and the then Second Division became the First division – and so on – and then Sky took over. At no time was an elite group of clubs hand-picked to form the new division and at no time was the promotion/relegation trap door tampered with.

Of course the result of all that is that is today the English Premier League is an over-hyped circus that gets saturation TV coverage and is awash with money, the most of which goes to that horrible creation that is the modern day professional football, who play more often than not in half empty football grounds.

Now if an All Ireland League is proposed that will offer the opportunity for all the teams in the top division of the current two leagues to play in it as long as they don’t get relegated and offers the opportunity of all the teams in the second division of the current two leagues the opportunity to get promoted into it and is run in conjunction with the two Football Associations then I think it might be worth a go.

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Read your question and my response.

I answered your question.

You may have thought you asked the question you just responded to above, but you didn't.

Also for the record, the Premier League may well have "negotiated" with the football authorities but it was with the implied threat of withdrawing. It was a fairly one-sided negotiation.

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Originally Posted by OneRedArmy

You may have thought you asked the question you just responded to above, but you didn't.

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I think I know what you mean and yes maybe I didn't but at my age......

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Also for the record, the Premier League may well have "negotiated" with the football authorities but it was with the implied threat of withdrawing. It was a fairly one-sided negotiation.

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Absolutely right and I think all the clubs in the then first division resigned from the league in order to to bring about the change - I think Oldham was one of the originals - but I repeat ALL the clubs at the time had an equal opportunity of being part of the new all-singing All-dancing Premier Division

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Originally Posted by Steve Bruce

Sorry uneducated rubbish. Linfield would comfortably contend for the championship and we have proved we can consistantly beat the best the LOI has.(i'm not saying we would win the AIL, but we would certainly be contenders)

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Linfield would never win the AIL as long as they remain a part-time side. Yes, they can compete in the Setanta Cup during pre/early season for NL sides, but over the season, they wouldn't be able to sustain a challenge.

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Cliftonville would be a fringe contender, one that would last the pace for a lot of the season before falling away.

Glentoran although have been shown up in the Setanta cup so far, are a far better side than the Setanta cup results show. Although I would say they wuold be an upper mid table side.

The rest would be lower mid to relegation candidates.

Your league is better than ours on the whole. But it is not worlds apart by any stretch of the imagination.

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When you have match fit sides losing 5-0 and 7-0 to clubs in pre-season, the gulf in class is massive. Glentoran were hammered by Shels in Europe and have done nothing of note in the Setanta Cup, while Cliftonville have not played in it before. The NI teams would face a perennial struggle to stay up in an AIL, and would weaken the NL considerably.

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Originally Posted by monutdfc

Sounds like Franchise Football to me.

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Exactly

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Originally Posted by GavinZac

If you take the speculation re: single companies and stuff seriously.

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Not just speculation.

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Originally Posted by monutdfc

I'm in support of an AIL, but only if a pyramid structure remains.

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It won't.

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Originally Posted by Mr_Parker

It won't.

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So the proposals don't allow for promotion and relegation into the AIL from domestic leagues?