Terrors boss targets Irish raids

Terrors boss targets Irish raids


Dundee United manager Craig Levein has scheduled further scouting trips to Ireland in the coming weeks to cast his eye over potential recruits from the eircom League. Levein signed Sean Dillon from Shelbourne in January as well as former Irish under-21 striker Jon Daly from Hartlepool United. And he believes the Irish soccer scene could provide him with more bargains – although he admits a trip to a Setanta Sports Cup game this week was a wasted exercise.

He told The Courier: “I wasn’t too impressed by the guy I went to watch but I’ve got a whole list of names so I’ll be back over to watch more of these Setanta Cup games in the next few weeks. “Ireland is a market I’ve always liked. It’s true that it has changed a bit over the last few years but I still feel there is an opening to pick up a bargain. “We did some very good business to get Sean Dillon here in January so I’ll be keeping a close eye on what’s happening across there.”


Taken from www.eleven-a-side.com

Moving to Dundee would be a step down for any Premier Division player. Moving to Scotland does not provide big bucks, it provides no European football and the chance of a transfer to the big english divisions become much slimmer.

Moving to a Scottish First Division club would be an absurd waste of time for anyone bar an EL First Division player.

Let's not forget that Gretna are 10pts clear at the top of that division, with Dundee 14 points behind them. We all know what happened to lowly Gretna when they played a team who weren't even the best in the EL, so that shows how rubbish Dundee really are.

Finnpark and Steve, read the first two words of the article.

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Originally Posted by dcfcsteve

Moving to a Scottish First Division club would be an absurd waste of time for anyone bar an EL First Division player.

Let's not forget that Gretna are 10pts clear at the top of that division, with Dundee 14 points behind them. We all know what happened to lowly Gretna when they played a team who weren't even the best in the EL, so that shows how rubbish Dundee really are.

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Steve, from what I know Dundee United are not only an SPL club but pay and conditions are much better than anything provided by any Irish club north or south ;)


BTW, Levein has always been an admirrer of players in the LOI and has sough to sign them for others clubs he was at

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Originally Posted by Poor Student

Finnpark and Steve, read the first two words of the article.

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"Terror's Boss.." ?!?! :confused:

Only messin ! D'oh - don't know how I missed that - I blame Finn Park for leading me astray :D

Anyways - Dundee United is still a step down in quality for any decent EL player. Our top 4 teams would frequently take points off a team like that. The bottom half of the SPL is weak. And Gretna are on their way there to prove to us all just how weak.... :eek:

Money is significantly better (outside of the Bohs and Drogs bubble) and the exposure is higher.

No brainer.

Unfortunately.

The SPL is a better standard than the LOI.
There is no question of that.

So players wanted to prove themselves would want to move there.

So what match was he at and which player was he looking at?

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Originally Posted by A face

but I still feel there is an opening to pick up a bargain. “We did some very good business to get Sean Dillon here in January so I’ll be keeping a close eye on what’s happening across there.”

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I wouldn't get too annoyed with that A face, there are bargains to be had in any league and you can't really blame him for realising that the clubs in Ireland haven't yet started to play hard ball when it comes to transfer dealing.

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Originally Posted by stevieontour

The SPL is a better standard than the LOI.
There is no question of that.

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Outside of the Old Firm there is a question about that.

Derry, Drogs, Pats, Cork (pre-sales) would easily hold their own in the SPL.

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Originally Posted by charliesboots

Outside of the Old Firm there is a question about that.

Derry, Drogs, Pats, Cork (pre-sales) would easily hold their own in the SPL.

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Dont you see how you are shifting the goalposts there ?

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Originally Posted by charliesboots

Outside of the Old Firm there is a question about that.

Derry, Drogs, Pats, Cork (pre-sales) would easily hold their own in the SPL.

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People keep saying things like...

"The SPL is made up of more than just Rangers and Celtic"

"The top eL clubs (Derry, Cork etc) would hold their own in the SPL."

Ok, I know the SPL has much weaker clubs than Celtic and Rangers. I also know that the eL has much weaker clubs than Cork and Derry.

An opinion that the best Irish clubs would hold their own in the SPL indicates that others would not.

You can't compare some of the weaker teams in one league with some of the stronger teams in another, and claim that is is an accurate comparison.

It is great to see the league improving (ignoring whats going on off the field) but lets not give ourselves any ideas of grandeur too soon.

The discussion here is about players potentially moving from a top LOI club to a poorish SPL club.

TBH i wouldn't blame any player for doing it for stability if nothing else. There's also more exposure in the SPL.

To say there is no question that the SPL is of a higher standard than our premier division is wrong in my opinion.

I'm fairly sure Sean Dillon is playing with worse players now than he was last season

But probably playing against better players overall

Overall, or 6/7 times a season?

Overall .The teams at the top of their division are better than the teams at the top of ours , same goes for teams in mid table and teams at the bottom , I agree that the teams at the top of ours would be mid table or slightly higher over there but thats not a fair comparison.

Players move from big clubs like Benfica and PSV to teams in England who are not nessecarily better than them all the the time. It is because the english league is better than the dutch or portugese league. Likewise with players moving from the eircom league to the scottish league. Think of it from the players point of view, better money or at least greater stability, much bigger crowds and playing at a higher standard overall. Its all well and good saying the likes of Dundee United are pish but what about Waterford and Bray who weren't much better than the top junior soccer teams last year.

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Originally Posted by Ceirtlis

Players move from big clubs like Benfica and PSV to teams in England who are not nessecarily better than them all the the time. It is because the english league is better than the dutch or portugese league.

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Its because of money. Plain and simple. it has nothing to do with the strength of the league

Oh and Bray and Waterford were MILES above what any junior team was last year. MILES.

For some players a move to the SPL can mean maybe improved wages & more security. However top eL players will not move to Dundee United unless they desparate.

In the long term they are better off waiting for english Championship transfer as one promotion away from the Premiership. (e.g. Byrne, Forde, Ward, O'Callaghan). No non-old firm SPL players get a move to the Premiership.

Only one eL-SPL transfer in the close season was in last years eL team of the year.

James McFadden and Andy Webster both moved to the EPL from non-Old Firm SPL clubs. A good few non-Old Firm SPL players get moves to Championship clubs though and the odd one has gone onto Bundesliga, Ligue 1 and Russia.

Anyone attending the Setanta Cup spot him at a game?

My guess is he was looking at Paul Keegan playing for Drogheda against Linfield