Kerr - Irish Premier League "Lacking Ambition"

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13/07/2009, 12:15 PM
Scram

Kerr - Irish Premier League "Lacking Ambition"

Did anyone hear Brian Kerr being interviewed on radio yesterday 10:30am or so (91.3 FM, whatever that is), live and exclusive from the Faroes!?

He said he didn't enjoy his 15 month stint at St. Pats and found the "lack of ambition" of League of Ireland clubs towards Europe very frustrating. Kerr went on to say that the Irish Premier League appears to have accepted that there will be no progress in Europe for their teams and they are not concerned.

I don't really know where he is coming from? Clubs buy the best they can to win games primarily!, to win leagues and win cups, what would/could they do differently to show ambition in Europe? You can only buy what you buy.

What does he expect? UEFA Cups coming to Tallaght or Inchicore? Even a massive club like Celtic can hardly reach the last 16 of the CL. So how can Kerr expect LOI to compete with the big European clubs and all the Sky revenue? What's his angle?
13/07/2009, 3:38 PM
Greenforever

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scram

Did anyone hear Brian Kerr being interviewed on radio yesterday 10:30am or so (91.3 FM, whatever that is), live and exclusive from the Faroes!?

He said he didn't enjoy his 15 month stint at St. Pats and found the "lack of ambition" of League of Ireland clubs towards Europe very frustrating. Kerr went on to say that the Irish Premier League appears to have accepted that there will be no progress in Europe for their teams and they are not concerned.

I don't really know where he is coming from? Clubs buy the best they can to win games primarily!, to win leagues and win cups, what would/could they do differently to show ambition in Europe? You can only buy what you buy.

What does he expect? UEFA Cups coming to Tallaght or Inchicore? Even a massive club like Celtic can hardly reach the last 16 of the CL. So how can Kerr expect LOI to compete with the big European clubs and all the Sky revenue? What's his angle?

He's living in Noddy land, look at all the EL clubs that have almost put themselves out of business due to thier European ambitions.
13/07/2009, 6:07 PM
prince20

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scram

Did anyone hear Brian Kerr being interviewed on radio yesterday 10:30am or so (91.3 FM, whatever that is), live and exclusive from the Faroes!?

He said he didn't enjoy his 15 month stint at St. Pats and found the "lack of ambition" of League of Ireland clubs towards Europe very frustrating. Kerr went on to say that the Irish Premier League appears to have accepted that there will be no progress in Europe for their teams and they are not concerned.

I don't really know where he is coming from? Clubs buy the best they can to win games primarily!, to win leagues and win cups, what would/could they do differently to show ambition in Europe? You can only buy what you buy.

What does he expect? UEFA Cups coming to Tallaght or Inchicore? Even a massive club like Celtic can hardly reach the last 16 of the CL. So how can Kerr expect LOI to compete with the big European clubs and all the Sky revenue? What's his angle?

His angle is he is a bitter and twisted man who has turned anti irish football since his stint as Irish manager.
13/07/2009, 8:38 PM
Infadel

Its people like him and retarded owners of Irish Clubs that have put the league on the brink of financial ruin. If he wants to look at a lack of ambition then he can look no futher than the backwater league that his own team is comprised of. A very bitter man indeed...
13/07/2009, 9:13 PM
MariborKev

We are ambitious, but when the financial backers are still gazing across the Irish Sea we are going nowhere.

http://foot.ie/blog/drumavillewest-b...lubs-for-sale/
14/07/2009, 2:12 AM
Colbert Report

He's right though. Far too many teams for such a small island. There should only be six or eight Premier teams on the whole island of Ireland. Too many clubs splitting the pie into far too small pieces.
14/07/2009, 7:53 AM
macdermesser

stating the obvious .. but he won European Championships with U/16 and U/18 and third in the U/20 World Cup .. resurrected Pats in the 80s .. all with minimal resources. I think he is probably talking about a mentality rather than bankrupting a club to live the European dream.
14/07/2009, 7:54 AM
Gareth

News article on the radio the other day about the need for investors in the clubs here and the potential if there was a European break through and then as if completely unrelated, they move to Charlie Chalk and Newcastle and the hope he can drum up millions for businessmen in Ireland interested in soccer. Surely he'd have a better chance of making a return on putting a couple million into a LOI side, over hundreds of millions into a Championship side who have to compete against Man City and Chelsea's purses?
14/07/2009, 8:19 AM
osborne

Kerr's attitude since he lost the Ireland job has been pathetic. Now it seems that he is starting to believe his own hype and genuinely thinks he is up there with Roddy!
14/07/2009, 8:39 AM
pineapple stu

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gareth

Surely he'd have a better chance of making a return on putting a couple million into a LOI side, over hundreds of millions into a Championship side who have to compete against Man City and Chelsea's purses?

Would have thought a Shels fan would have known the answer to that one, to be honest. If Newcastle get promoted, he'd double his investment, I'd say. A couple of mill would maybe get a LoI side one big day out in Europe.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Colbert Report

He's right though. Far too many teams for such a small island. There should only be six or eight Premier teams on the whole island of Ireland. Too many clubs splitting the pie into far too small pieces.

How can you have a six club Premier, FFS?
14/07/2009, 8:46 AM
CMcC

Kerr showed massive ambition taking his current gig didn't he.
14/07/2009, 8:50 AM
Macy

I didn't hear the interview - Did he actually say spend more money?

It's funny seeing heads come in here from the Ireland forum to have a pop at Kerr, and yet he's apparently the bitter one.
14/07/2009, 9:10 AM
Scram

Quote:

Originally Posted by Macy

I didn't hear the interview - Did he actually say spend more money?

It's funny seeing heads come in here from the Ireland forum to have a pop at Kerr, and yet he's apparently the bitter one.

He didn't give any specifics.

My question was "what is his angle?" i.e. what is he suggesting?

Because he didn't make any suggestions on air.

Is he talking "owner mindset", "money", "player quality" "player mindset" "manager mindset" ?

.....over to anyone from Pats?!
14/07/2009, 11:45 AM
Colbert Report

Quote:

Originally Posted by pineapple stu

How can you have a six club Premier, FFS?

They do it here in Canada. An eight club American football league called the CFL. Very successful.
14/07/2009, 12:00 PM
DeNiro

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scram

Did anyone hear Brian Kerr being interviewed on radio yesterday 10:30am or so (91.3 FM, whatever that is), live and exclusive from the Faroes!?

He said he didn't enjoy his 15 month stint at St. Pats and found the "lack of ambition" of League of Ireland clubs towards Europe very frustrating. Kerr went on to say that the Irish Premier League appears to have accepted that there will be no progress in Europe for their teams and they are not concerned.
I don't really know where he is coming from? Clubs buy the best they can to win games primarily!, to win leagues and win cups, what would/could they do differently to show ambition in Europe? You can only buy what you buy.

What does he expect? UEFA Cups coming to Tallaght or Inchicore? Even a massive club like Celtic can hardly reach the last 16 of the CL. So how can Kerr expect LOI to compete with the big European clubs and all the Sky revenue? What's his angle?

Great. Let's sit back and watch the Faroe Islands leading the way so. An utter clown. Can't get more Mickey Mouse than the Faroe Islands, unless Disneyland have a team? Anyone?
14/07/2009, 12:17 PM
pineapple stu

Quote:

Originally Posted by Colbert Report

They do it here in Canada. An eight club American football league called the CFL. Very successful.

The Canadian League is a mickey mouse league - five months, ten teams split into two sections, with the best team not even playing in it (Toronto FC) and all bar one of the clubs from the one province. That's not the way for the LoI to go.
14/07/2009, 12:27 PM
Dodge

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scram

He didn't give any specifics.

My question was "what is his angle?" i.e. what is he suggesting?

Because he didn't make any suggestions on air.

He was interviewed. If anyone has an angle, its the interviewer.

Kerr is right. A lot of clubs here don't high ambitions, and are happy to be one step above Junior clubs (my words, not his)

At no stage did he say that clubs should "speculate" or anything similiar. At no stage did he suggest that we be competing "with the big European clubs" as you suggest either

TBH it was a completely nothing interview with kerr stating that most Irish clubs don't prioritise European football the way they should. Something that others like Richardson have said too

Obviously I'm completely biased but IMO there was no angle, and certainly no bitterness. Anyone who claimed Kerr is anti-Irish football is, frankly, talking out of their ring...
14/07/2009, 12:31 PM
Schumi

Quote:

Originally Posted by pineapple stu

The Canadian League is a mickey mouse league - five months, ten teams split into two sections, with the best team not even playing in it (Toronto FC) and all bar one of the clubs from the one province. That's not the way for the LoI to go.

I think he's talking about the CFL, an American Football league. They only play 18 games in a season though so hardly a viable structure to copy.
14/07/2009, 12:33 PM
pineapple stu

That's an even weirder comparison to make. :confused:

But yeah, same major drawback to the one I pointed out.
14/07/2009, 12:47 PM
Duggie

sure kerr is right in what he says. no real ambition in the league. the ambition is to just survive from day to day.
14/07/2009, 4:22 PM
Scram

Quote:

Originally Posted by Duggie

sure kerr is right in what he says. no real ambition in the league. the ambition is to just survive from day to day.

That did seem to be the gist of what he was saying.
14/07/2009, 4:46 PM
SkStu

ColbertReport, too many teams is probably the least of the problems within the league right now. The CFL is not a fair comparison. I think you have missed the point and, anyway, im not sure you know very much at all about the domestic league.
14/07/2009, 5:16 PM
joema

LOI clubs are too ambitious.

Look at Shamrock Rovers - they are, without doubt, the best run club in the country..and they are not fully pro!

IMO, that says it all. LOI clubs should not live beyond their means. They should all be part-time. Professional football in this country is simply not sustainable...not in its current guise anyway.

Used to have a lot of respect for Kerr, but I couldn't be arsed with him anymore.
14/07/2009, 5:41 PM
Dodge

That's a seperate argument, and one which Kerr didn't touch
15/07/2009, 2:00 PM
joema

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dodge

That's a seperate argument, and one which Kerr didn't touch

Fair enough if Kerr didn't address that.

But I still think its true - I find it hard to take the title of this thread seriously so! But in all fairness, it is clear that a lot of LOI clubs have unrealistic aspirations. I don't think its accurate to say they lack ambition.
15/07/2009, 2:19 PM
irishultra

Quote:

Originally Posted by Colbert Report

He's right though. Far too many teams for such a small island. There should only be six or eight Premier teams on the whole island of Ireland. Too many clubs splitting the pie into far too small pieces.

Not really no.

Bray-Wicklow-32,000 population
Galway United-Galway-72,729
Cork City-Cork-119,000
Sligo Rovers-Sligo-17,000
Shamrock Rovers-Tallaght-73,000
Dundalk- Dundalk-35,000 +
Derry City-Derry-83,000+
Drogheda United- Drogheda -35,000 +
Bohemians-Dublin
Pat's-Dublin

thats all the clubs, most of these populations don't even include outer limits. look at Derry City and Cork City FFS who are the competing with? they should be playing in 25,000 capacity stadiums and filling them out every week:mad:

sorry but the comparison with canada doesnt work, as johnny mcdonnell said abouts elfsborg 'they ar getting 12% of the city at games, we can't even get 12% from Ballyfermot' sums it up. if irish football fans cared we would have a healthy league with reasonable quality.

its typical of irish mentality though that people couldnt give a ****:mad:
15/07/2009, 3:22 PM
EalingGreen

Quote:

Originally Posted by irishultra

Not really no.

Bray-Wicklow-32,000 population
Galway United-Galway-72,729
Cork City-Cork-119,000
Sligo Rovers-Sligo-17,000
Shamrock Rovers-Tallaght-73,000
Dundalk- Dundalk-35,000 +
Derry City-Derry-83,000+
Drogheda United- Drogheda -35,000 +
Bohemians-Dublin
Pat's-Dublin

thats all the clubs, most of these populations don't even include outer limits. look at Derry City and Cork City FFS who are the competing with? they should be playing in 25,000 capacity stadiums and filling them out every week:mad:

It is far too simplistic simply to quote population figures and deduce from them what a club's crowds "should" be (imo).

For it is the nature of sport in Ireland (and elsewhere?) that traditional patterns of support, deriving from history and past achievement etc are a good deal more critical.

I don't know about the Dublin clubs, from that list I'd say that Dundalk, Derry and Sligo are proper "football towns", in a way that eg Galway, Bray, even Cork(?) arguably are not (no disrespect to the loyal fans of those last three clubs, btw).

It's the same in NI. For example, Omagh is as "big" a town as nearby Dungannon, but has never really proven capable of sustaining an IL club. And a little further away, I'd argue that Enniskillen is also traditionally a "football town", but has never had a senior IL club like eg the much smaller Ballinamallard, only because it (Ekn) has so many competing Junior clubs (six?). By contrast, Ekn has only one?two? Gaelic clubs, despite it having a Nationalist majority.

Which imo is also why the Franchise model, so beloved of American sport, has rarely if ever caught on in football in the British Isles - a club can't simply 'up sticks' and move elsewhere, just because there is a bigger population waiting.

As I see it, for any football league to be successful, it has to build gradually and sustainably on its strengths and traditions. I'm not qualified to say what those are as regards the LOI, but with the IL, for instance, I'd need a pretty powerful argument to persuade me eg to switch from a Winter season to Summer.

Otherwise, you might attract new fans/investors/media initially by making wholesale changes (eg Summer football, full-time players, concentrating on Europe, slick marketing etc), but the 'last in' are likely to be the 'first out' when/if things should go wrong, or the novelty simply wears off.

And if in the meantime, you've p1ssed off your loyal fans, then who is left to save you then?

Just a thought*

* - Applies (imo) to football generally, I'm not picking on the LOI specifically.
15/07/2009, 8:39 PM
TonyD

Quote:

Originally Posted by irishultra

Not really no.

as johnny mcdonnell said abouts elfsborg 'they ar getting 12% of the city at games, we can't even get 12% from Ballyfermot' sums it up. :

It does indeed. And that's the problem in a nutshell. How we convert those people I genuinely haven't a clue.
15/07/2009, 8:44 PM
KR's Post

Does Bohs result tonight shove those comments right back up Kerr's ass...
15/07/2009, 11:01 PM
Dodge

Quote:

Originally Posted by KR's Post

Does Bohs result tonight shove those comments right back up Kerr's ass...

tonight's draw barley wipes out Bohs losing to the Latvian crowd, if we're picking out individual results :rolleyes:

And I repeat, he said "some" irish clubs.
16/07/2009, 7:18 AM
Macy

Quote:

Originally Posted by TonyD

It does indeed. And that's the problem in a nutshell. How we convert those people I genuinely haven't a clue.

It's verging on the impossible - too many will come up with any excuse to justify why they won't go. None of them will include "I'm too lazy, I'd rather sit on the couch or in pub and watch foreign football". And their loss. We should just try and make the best of it based on what we have - we can have sustainable clubs in reasonable grounds with proper management at both club and FAI level.
16/07/2009, 10:39 AM
Scram

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dodge

tonight's draw barley wipes out Bohs losing to the Latvian crowd, if we're picking out individual results :rolleyes:

And I repeat, he said "some" irish clubs.

I don't think so...he said "Irish clubs"
16/07/2009, 2:50 PM
SkStu

Quote:

Originally Posted by Macy

It's verging on the impossible - too many will come up with any excuse to justify why they won't go. None of them will include "I'm too lazy, I'd rather sit on the couch or in pub and watch foreign football". And their loss. We should just try and make the best of it based on what we have - we can have sustainable clubs in reasonable grounds with proper management at both club and FAI level.

brilliant post Macy, well said.

us getting so worked up about getting the 'stoolers in is like begging a bird to go out with you when all she does is laugh at you and slag you off every time you go near her (and i should know)...