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I think it's worth adding that at the Oireachtas hearing last week, the FAI said they had "low millions" in cash available - so €3m or so. And huge debt servicing, which will have payment terms to be met to avoid default.
Let's say the suggestion is to add €500k onto the manager's salary on a four year contract. That's €2.2m (incl ER's PRSI) over four years - close on the entire cash reserves of the FAI at present.
That doesn't leave a lot of scope for anything else to go wrong...
I'm not giving any odds, I'm not interested in discussing any complexities of accounting. I simply gave a worst case scenario when asked and said it was highly unlikely to happen in the greater scheme of things given that we're talking a few hundred thousand pounds/euros here. I was then told that I apparently "wanted taxpayers to pay for the FAI".
It's very difficult to have a sensible discussion when people start putting words in your mouth like that. No wonder this forum is half dead.
I do think the sums of money being discussed are relatively small when you look at the money the association gets from FIFA - or even the €4.5m a year that the DDSL takes in in player registration fees. Or the money that is spend on renovating a single 4G pitch.
I don’t expect us to be paying second highest in Europe like we were under Trap but I also don’t think we should be paying 40th highest in Europe either.
We’re not happy with League 1 players, so I don’t see why we should expect to attract a manager above that calibre when we’re only prepared to pay League 1 wages.
You suggested upping the budget but you aren't interested in discussing what that would actually entail.Quote:
Originally Posted by Eirambler
You're advocating gambling money we don't have while employees are unpaid. I'm asking you what would happen if the gamble doesn't work. Can you sensibly discuss that?
You mentioned three factors that would help.
1. crowds - been basically the same throughout
2. sponsorship - enough to pay off all the debts?
3. qualification for a major tournament.....ok.........if we triple our current budget and get McCarthy, does he succeed this time?
So.....upping the managerial budget secures which one of those and to what degree?
No, you very clearly said that.Quote:
Originally Posted by Eirambler
You can't discuss financial matters and say you're "not interested in discussing any complexities of accounting" - conveniently, because that's where your argument falls down. And it's not complexities of accounting to say the FAI has admitted it has a relatively low level of ready cash available and very high levels of debt, which will come with repayment terms which have to be met.
Given the FAI's financial issues I wonder if they've given any consideration to the obvious solution.
Jim Crawford is available at 80/1 with Paddy Power. If they were to stick €100k on him at that price and then give him the job it would pay out 8 million.
Give him the 2 games in March and then try again over the summer with a decent budget.
You know, that could be a way to clear the national debt. We might even have enough to pay for a metro.
Sweden have got a manager. Jon Dahl Tomasson. Wonder if we sounded him out. Decent manager. Their first foreign manager.
https://www.the42.ie/paul-clement-ir...10645-Feb2024/
Would Paul Clement interest anyone?
Never really heard of him tbh (despite a spell as our 21s assistant apparently) but his career doesn't sound great on wiki. Some impressive coaching roles (PSG, Real, Bayern) but then sacked in short time at Derby ("Clement's style of football was also cited as a contributing factor"), Swansea ("Clement was criticised for playing "boring" and "negative" football"), Reading and Cercle Brugge when in full charge. Didn't last a year at any of those roles.
He was Anthony Barry before Anthony Barry.... the hipster choice for a while because he was a coach at big clubs.
Him & Joe Edwards combo was one rumour doing the rounds last week, Edwards was a coach at Chelsea and England u20s as caretaker. Lasted about as long as a decent firelighter in his first top dog role at Millwall recently.
Its gone on too long when even most of the papers and the clickbait bottom feeders have had enough.
Do we have to have a manager? We'd save a fortune by freeing ourselves from the tyranny of management. A simple phone app (paid subscription) would allow fans to make key decisions from pickign the squad to in-game substitutions.. and would build on the money-making ideas above.
Only if we say it with the French pronunciationQuote:
Originally Posted by Razors left peg
You know I think this Paul Clement for Ireland talk sounds fairly logical if you think what the FAI are looking for, I could definitely see it happening tbh Watch this space...
Oh that is gorgeous. I can't not say it that way now.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fixer82
Yesterday I had a text conversation with a lad who said we should just go get Roy Keane "cos sure who else is there at this stage". This fella is a LOI season ticket holder, Ireland Season ticket holder and watches far too much Premiership football. (The same lad text me about 2 months ago asking me "if Ive heard of this Szmodics fella who seems to be doing ok".) I said to him that I heard Paul Clement is the latest to be mentioned for the job. He said "who the fcuk is that" with all the laughing emojis. When I listed all the clubs hes coached at the fella instantly said, "yeah think I know him". Literally in the minute before said he had no clue, but was impressed enough by the clubs he coached that he couldnt pretend he didnt know. It was funny.
This morning I wake up to see one of the Irish football podcasts has shared something about Mick McCarthy on their Facebook page and every single comment is along the lines of "Id have him back in a heartbeat."
My point to these 2 anecdotes is that us on here who post and talk regularly about Irish football are in the vast minority. Most of the Irish sporting public havent a clue and dont care beyond getting to sing Ole Ole every few years. The amount of times Ive heard that "they'll never be as good as the rugby team" would make me want to punch someone in the mouth.
Roy Keane would sell. Mick McCarthy would sell. There are enough football fans that Lee Carsley would sell.... If we have a few bad results before the Nations League Im not sure Paul Clement would fill the stadium. He would have to win games instantly and he would have to do whirlwind tour of Joe Duffy, Pat Kenny, Late Late Show and all the other nonsense to try get people on board. Most people dont care that appointing Roy Keane would set the young players in the squad back years, to a point where they might not recover. They care that they know him from TV and he "says it like it is".
I dont think Clement would be a good appointment, Im just using him as an example, but no matter who it is most people in Ireland will care more about whos replacing Klopp than who replaces Kenny.
Sums up the attitude of the average irish fan neatly. For all the football these lads consume they don't seem to know much beyond the premiership bubble (and maybe champions league). That extends not just to the Irish team but to other international football and any league below premiership (with the possible exception of Wrexham's tv travails). Possibly even including prem teams in the bottom half of the table.Quote:
Originally Posted by Razors left peg
At least this lad supports the LOI I guess!
I think a lot of this, to be fair, is having spent 4 years watching us going nowhere under Kenny. And his personality in the media being that of a wet cloth. People want to get excited about Irish team again. Roy would do that. McCarthy might too.
At least under McCarthy there was a bit of personality about us and he seemed to steady the ship and started getting performances out of lads.
It's been so drab under Kenny and it's felt like we've just been in limbo with no real plan
Don’t get the fondness for McCarthy. We scored 7, conceded 5 during his EC2020 qualification campaign. Switzerland and Denmark both conceded 6 goals but scored three times as much. And arguably out best performances under McCarthy were late goals to salvage draws. Our personality was the launching of balls into the box and hoping the second ball breaks our way, and an over-reliance on set plays to muster attempts on goal. Can work for a while, see McCarthy's initial spell at Cardiff, but ultimately is all huff and puff stuff, and gets found out quickly enough. Kenny’s time was up, but we were going nowhere under McCarthy (and were paying him twice as much as Kenny and gave him an additional €1million+ to leave his position).