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Should the league do what every other league in the world has done and stand up for itself, promote itself, market itself and try to bring in sponsorship from interested business if it can. Appoint people who have real interest and experience of our league and try to make the league bigger and better. In its present format, it is really only surviving and functioning by the FAI or even half-owned by the FAI.
Anyone with an interest and thoughts! :confused:
IMO the league is better with the FAI, than without. That said, they should be doing WAY more to support the league. But even with minimal support, i'd say the league is in a better state now that when the FAI weren't involved
The only thing worse than the FAI running the league at the moment is clubs doing it.
It was tried for years before the FAI stepped in, and it didn't advance anything.
That said - the FAI has done very little to advance the senior league either, and things have got so bad under their tenure that the previously existing pool of aspiring entrants to the league (of which there have been many over the years) has completely dried up.
One alternative scenario would be for an external sponsor to come in and run the league properly. Though their main motive in doing so would be profit (direct and indirect).
So in the short-to-medium term the FAI need to step up and run the league properly in every sense. In the meantime, clubs should develop their own structures and professionalism and show that they can work together (e.g. the PCA) to credibly assert the possibility that the league could again be run by its clubs - and done properly.
Evening Niall! How's Qsat getting on?!Quote:
Originally Posted by nr637
;)
Joking aside, long term yes, that'd be ideal but given most every club in the history of the league has been in the ****ter at one stage or another for various reasons, a week away from going bust, gone bust multiple times or ended up homeless to name a few; the 50/50 option for the next 5 years after 2020 is the best way forward I think at least in the short/ medium term to hopefully build the foundations of a properly self sustaining league.
I agree the league needs to escape from the FAI. Apart from the underage leagues, the FAI has done very little to help make the league sustainable, never mind develop it, and the problems never seem to never to go away. Of course, when the clubs ran it themselves it was just as bad.
I’d like to see a national league governing body independent of the FAI and the clubs. Not a Platinum 1 type thing, or sponsor-led. More like a not-for profit organisation, ploughing all revenue back into the league, and the underage leagues which would also come under its remit along with:
corporate governance
marketing and branding
generating revenue
providing a pathway from underage to senior international football
maximising government grants for stadium and infrastructure development
A board with experience in football and football administration and a relatively small staff could manage it.
john delaney gave an interview in the sun today saying that loi is better off not being run by the FAI .said that FAI can deal with stadia etc
So Delaney's big answer to the criticism he's been receiving over his stewardship of the league is to divest himself of any responsibility for it.
More proof, if it was even needed, that Delaney's main priority is the entrenchment of his own domestic position whilst he attempts to scale the European (and global ?) footballing ladder. His interest is clearly not on the development of the game in Ireland to its full potential. Because if it was he would be doing all he could to boost the domestic game, rather than stepping away from it.
Will be interesting to see if he also intends to get rid of the derisory prize money the FAI gives the league as part of this self-serving plan.
JD Sports is all about the brand
If that happens he'll claim responsibility for any success because the fai created the atmosphere by doing nothingQuote:
Originally Posted by Martinho II
Quote:
Originally Posted by EatYerGreens
It strikes me that the FAI are trying to distance themselves from the LOI in tandem with the timiing of clearing the Stadium debt.
When that occurs that would give the FAI a lot of disposable income so to speak and all eyes would be on them for proper investment which they are unwilling to do
I think the FAi needs to be run the LOI. But an FAI without John Delaney. Whats needed is an FAI that values the LOI, see's its potential and invests in it.
Make no mistake - John Delaney is aiming for a top job at UEFA/FIFA. He sees himself as a potential Platini or Infantino.
He can only achieve that - for now - by remaining at the top of the FAI. So he will do whatever it takes to ensure he stays there, and weathers every storm that comes his way. That means buying the silence, one way or another, of anyone and anything that could hurt him e.g. the women's International team, LOI clubs.
He is the Boris Johnson of Irish football. A man more interested in his own career than he is in fulfilling the responsibilities of whatever job he is in. A man who plays the system and politics to get to where he wants to be., and doesn't really care what damage he does along the way.
Spot on. He has got overly friendly with IFA President David Martin, another who is fond of climbing the greasy pole.Quote:
Originally Posted by EatYerGreens
Its ironic that if he put the effort in to doing things right he could climb the ranks of UEFA/FIFA on merit. If he were to oversee the development of what was considered a basketcase league in to a stable and at a certain level compatative league in Europe, similar to Croatia eg, that that would be recognised. We have a previous example where Des Casey was VP of UEFA and he certainly didnt get there by losing his shoes, getting p!ssed out of his brain, or singing rebel songs during pub lock ins. I wonder what his European counterparts particularly from larger nations think about him earning more than they do considering the massive difference in relative finances. Of course we talking about UEFA and they might very well think that the way he has squeezed a big salary for doing damn all as laudible.
hmmmmm not sure screwing huge wads of cash out of people would lose him any browney points with UEFA big wigs:D JD just wants to be liked and is so used to surrounding himself with 'yes' men who tell him how good he is that he cannot take criticism and/or failure.Unfortunately he does not see improving the league as any advantage to him and consequentially it just doesn't figure on his agenda. Until he gets high office in UEFA or FIFA he will not, under any circumstances, step back from the FAI as he would soon be forgotten if he did.Quote:
Originally Posted by Nesta99
That is a very worrisome, but probably accurate comment... :(Quote:
Originally Posted by Ashbohs
Ye get the feeling that even if he did get a job with UEFA/FIFA that he'd have a lifesized cardboard cut out of himself that would get paid for being at FAI meetings. Would probably have more to say to the media post AGM's or any other general crisis!!Quote:
Originally Posted by marinobohs
In fairness the FAI have been floating the idea of the clubs running the league themselves for a while now at the PCA's request for a greater role. Wasnt it said that when the current participation agreement runs out in 2020(?) that a new company jointly run by the PCA and FAI will take over the league in an NIFL model.* How much money that the new company could eek out of a supposedly debt free FAI is another matter especially when 'debt free' is on the basis of qualifying for Euro 2020 and payment for being a host nation. The bid for the U21 Euros with the IFA will suck up plenty of additional revenue - lets hope that at least some of that money will be used to improve grounds that will hold games especially the Showgrounds, ED Park, Turners Cross eg. Tallaght will already have a 4th stand and they will hardly start from scratch for a Finn Park or Oriel Park to be considered for games so at least let there be legacy benefit that UEFA often rattle on about to this bid for the league rather than borrowing Thomond and the like.
edit *https://www.independent.ie/sport/soc...-37016361.html
Have you seen the list of proposed venues for 2023 ? There'll be minimal incremental investment for it in LOI grounds. Dalymount was due to happen anyway, Tallaght too, and most of the rest are rugby grounds. The only candidate likely to see investment would seem to be Turners Cross - and even that would probably be relatively minor (i.e. nothing close to a complete rebuild).Quote:
Originally Posted by Nesta99
The FAI do not have a record of investing in the LOI in any way. Sadly I don't see that changing any time soon.