FIFA rankings thread

[irishultra]

LOL this is about international ranking but anyway i went off topic() wages i agree obviously play a part, I doubt other clubs in other countries would offer some Irish players near what they're getting as they get in England.

Its not really the Premiership I have a problem with, its a great league, i'd just rather some of our middle of the road players branched out a bit, so instead of Jay O'Shea for example joining Derby, he joined like a French team or a Dutch team. Or Glenn Whelan rather than Stoke(sorry any stoke fans :P) joined a high end German team. I dont know how transfers work, i know its not a case of irish players picking at will which team they'd feel would look good beside the teamsheet and i mean i presume if clubs talked to players like kevin doyle they would consider it, probably interest just isn't there.

As predator says in the grand scheme of things if ireland qualify for tournaments it doesnt matter just would be better imo.

[irishfan86]

Here's the other side of the argument though- why would a high ranking German side want Glenn Whelan?

[irishultra]

hes a great midfielder...duh!!!!

[WexCar]

Glenn Whelan ain't the best example, I'd be thinkin of our better players like Doyle, Duff, Keane, Dunne, McGeady

[irishfan86]

I think Duff would do really well in Spain, and I heard a few rumours that he is looking for a move there right now as well, so who knows.

In fairness to Keane, he tried his luck at Inter.

McGeady has also expressed an interest in playing in Spain.

I've heard Doyle talk admiringly about German and Italian football, so I don't think it's completely out of the realm of possibility.

Hopefully Finnan stays healthy next year and shows the Spanish sides what the Irish are all about.

[irishultra]

See its a bit of a weird situation since the majority of our pro players already play in a foreign league so its not as if we are like the Swiss who complain that their clubs offer their players too high wages so they don't play in other leagues(although I'd bet they have greater diversity in clubs than Irish)

I mean its accepted that the majority of prospective Irish internationals will start his career in England, however this will probably change over the next years as less English clubs bring Irish players over at 15/16. I'd say the days of a second division club in England getting Irish players is over, its simply not financial possibe(if ireland is impacted by the under 18 rule, although u never know with ireland and its relationship with britian, in years gone by we werent considered foreign on their league quotas but in champions league we were

players like garvan i would like to see elswhere, liam miller etc.

i just found this, a few things i dont like about article(irish are foreign anyway(altho maby a little less) in england) but pretty good. http://www.thegreatestsportsshowonea...eeds-move.html

[WexCar]

just to bring this thread out on even more of a tangent it can be compared to british/Irish managers not managing outside of britian/ireland, players and managers can improve by branching out and going to other leagues eg. Alan Curbishly is out of work since West Ham and is waiting for a EPL job, on other hand u have Steve McClaren accepted a job in The Netherlands, does well by guiding FC Twente to CL and was linked with Ajax job.

[irishfan86]

Again, it comes down to money. Curbishley can get silly money in the Prem, whereas if you go to a place like FC Twente, some would consider that a step down, and you may not be able to get back in the Prem.

Look at a guy like Hodgson, once he jumped on the international circuit, he found it hard to get back into contention for English jobs.

Add in the fact that wives and kids have to adapt to a new language and/or culture and it just becomes unnecessary complications, especially when you consider you're taking a pay cut.

[irishultra]

its really rare for managers to step outside the culture their used to and the chances of irish managers managing non-english europeans teams unless they spend long careers in that country are very small. netherlands is weird because well they are brilliantly multi-lingual there but they have more than enough dutch(and flemish) to choose from. i mean steve mcclaren was the england manager in fairness, his rep is pretty much big enough for twente.

actually didn't don givens manage in switzerland?

[WexCar]

Add in the fact that wives and kids have to adapt to a new language and/or culture and it just becomes unnecessary complications, especially when you consider you're taking a pay cut.

thats all well and good but dey ain't exactly trying to survive on 20k a year.
they can afford to take a pay cut and still live very comfortably, i suppose its down to what their motivations are.

[irishultra]

ah ye well maby at the end of this summer the irish national team will be composed of players playing right across europe, whelan with ac milan, doyle with Wolfburg, Duff with Sevilla, Keane with Tottenham, Given with man city, dunne with roma, alex bruce with fiorentina, owen garvan with Palermo, Aiden mcgeady with bayern munich ...yada yada. lol. ah well im wrecked, later


edit: apparently doyle was linked with juve before the ireland italy game? somehow i dont hold much hope for doyler lining out for the old lady come august though

[WexCar]

well its just the obvious lack of interest in playing anywhere but england that gets to me, its like their not even aware of other leagues being an option for them and accepting championship and lower EPL teams when they cud do better, as i say its down to the individuals motivations

[irishfan86]

i mean steve mcclaren was the england manager in fairness, his rep is pretty much big enough for twente.

McClaren was smart to try and re-build his reputation outside of England after his time with the national team.

I really doubt he would have been able to get a Premiership job again after what the media did to him.

[WexCar]

i agree it was a smart decision by McClaren, being a success there can open up the door to bigger jobs on the continent and he may be able to forge a good career on the continent or put himself in contention for big jobs back in england

[irishultra]

ah i cant sleep anway doyle was a target of torino before he even joined pat's, but he wasn't really interested in football then(based on what i read). if there is one player who will play outside england and at a high level its doyle i reckon. the old trap connection maby???

irish football probably needs more mick wallaces tbh.

[EalingGreen]

Put it like this today I heard the Austrian centre back Pogatetz was linked with Roma, Dunne is linked with Stoke City. Why? Why will Dunne most likely end up at Stoke and a player he's far superior to end up playing for Roma? I just don't get it tbh. Are Irish players not very flexible when it comes to transfers or something?

As a big admirer of Dunne, I am surprised that City may be prepared to let him go (at least without signing a big name replacement) and even more surprised he might go to Sunderland, or even Stoke (no offence, Stokies).

However, there was an interesting comment by Mark Hughes at the weekend, which indicates how he rates Dunne (and Given).
Noting that City might still bid for a "marquee name" [a Kaka or a Ronaldo etc], he added however:
"We are not where Chelsea were when Abramovitch came in, competing for Champions League Finals and top four in the Premier League.
"We are starting at a lower level, so we have to make sure players we bring in are the right quality to make us successful. Shay Given and Gareth Barry epitomise the type we want - strong players who understand the Premier League."

I would have thought that Dunne was at the level of Given or Barry, therefore that maybe Hughes and he have just fallen out. Except that if Dunne were leaving City for mere personal reasons, you'd have thought better teams would be after him?

[EalingGreen]

I think Irish players prefer England (and are preferred by English teams) for a number of reasons.

-The English league has the best wages in Europe on average.
-England is close geographically to Ireland.
-Similar culturally and linguistically (little cultural adaption required).

Why play in Spain for lower wages, further from your family/friends in Ireland, and have to learn a new language if you don't have to?

Obviously it's a cultural experience a lot of people would jump at, but from a career perspective in terms of making money, playing in England makes a whole lot more sense.

English teams used to pay the best wages (ostensibly still do), but players in England are no longer the "best paid". That is, deductions mean that their take home is now less than in Spain.

For example, the top tax rate in England has just increased to 50%. In Spain it is 27%. Plus there is National Insurance. Plus Sterling has lost 20% against the Euro over the last 18 months.

Consequently, when eg Arshavin joined the Arse, he thought the tax would be 40% and he overlooked the NI, so that when you add in the Exchange Rate, he is now earning less than he was in Russia!

It is no coincidence that both Kaka and Ronaldo have gone to Spain when they have, and if Ribery moves, it is much more likely to be to Spain than England (unless maybe Chelsea really "go for it" and pay over the odds).

In the end, the top players go where the top money is. So that assuming English clubs will no longer be paying top money, then that will tell us more about the actual quality of those (so-called) "top" players who remain in England, whilst others head off to the Costas...

[Den Perry]

As a big admirer of Dunne, I am surprised that City may be prepared to let him go (at least without signing a big name replacement) and even more surprised he might go to Sunderland, or even Stoke (no offence, Stokies).

However, there was an interesting comment by Mark Hughes at the weekend, which indicates how he rates Dunne (and Given).
Noting that City might still bid for a "marquee name" [a Kaka or a Ronaldo etc], he added however:
"We are not where Chelsea were when Abramovitch came in, competing for Champions League Finals and top four in the Premier League.
"We are starting at a lower level, so we have to make sure players we bring in are the right quality to make us successful. Shay Given and Gareth Barry epitomise the type we want - strong players who understand the Premier League."

I would have thought that Dunne was at the level of Given or Barry, therefore that maybe Hughes and he have just fallen out. Except that if Dunne were leaving City for mere personal reasons, you'd have thought better teams would be after him?

I think Dunne is a fantastic centre half. However I will admit he had a few disasters last season. That said, an awful lot of defenders can have a very poor season and go on to perform to their best again. eg Rio Ferdinand, even Vidic in his first season with Man Ure was dodgy.In addition, I don't think he was helped by the performances of the way overrated Richards back there(even if he spent most of the season at right back) Indeed, Wayne Bridge, another I rate highly had a poor first season at City.

[briar007]

Doesn't anyone think league of Ireland players should get a look in on the senior squad , they play winter football and are on a par with many of the current crop - Alas I don't think it will happen unless I become manager, the likes of joe Lapira - Nybersgund Idrettslag Trysil- Anyone heard of them before ?

[John83]

Agreed elo is much more sensible and fairer than FIFA, but I don't see the need for it. There are only 53 countries contesting each UEFA championships, as opposed to potentially thousands of chess masters. There's also a potential oddity given what has happened recently in qualifying games- Spain surrendered to NI who imploded versus Iceland who lost heavily to Liechtenstein. Would that distort the elo points they earned against each other?

Any system which ranks teams on the last three tournaments (in ratio 40:40:20) looks daft.

Sorry for the belated reply, but I just noticed your post when I went looking for the link I posted.

Each of the results you mentioned would result in a change in the ratings of the countries in question, but not by an exception amount.

Their current ratings:
Spain 2099
Northern Ireland 1557
Iceland 1390
Liechtenstein 1153

Each of the results you pointed out would be an upset, but only the NI one was very unlikely: their expected score was <10% (where 100% is wins every time and 50% is wins half the time, draws every time, or some mixture). Even that result would change Spain's rating by ~36 points, which is just slightly less than the gap back to 2nd (Brazil). It's a big jump relatively, but the Elo system is fairly stable - it's a good measure of performance over time.