Author of Never Felt Better (History, Film Reviews).
It's SO great he's gone. A weight has been lifted from our shoulders. WE'LL NEVER HAVE TO SEE HIM AGAIN! YIPPPEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!
The SFAI are the governing body for grassroots football in Ireland, not the FAI. Its success or the lack of is all down to them.
The weight of qualifying for tournaments was a tough one alright.
One tournament - after getting an incredibly easy draw in the play-off; after being extremely fortunate to finish second in a weak group. By common consensus the ONLY time the team looked impressive under him was in one game - the World Cup play-off against the worst French team in living memory. This was such an unexpected surprise that many commentators presumed that the Irish players that night ignored his instructions and decided to express themselves against his instructions.
He fell out with players, held petty grudges against them, showed loyalty to individuals whose constant presence in the team bemused and exasperated fans and journalists alike, couldn't communicate with his team, or the media, and played the most boring football I've watched and Irish team play in over forty years.
And, either through gratuitous cynicism or befuddled ignorance, he insulted the national league of the country he was managing.
We'll miss him, all right.
Id prefer Noel King over Trapp to be honest. Better result vs the Germans for a start.
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Stan only lost 1-0 away to Germany. He must be a way better coach then Trap.
Now that the FAI have a new managment team coming in this week Lets hope the FAI use them to reverse the negative comments by Trapatoni about the League and use them to be seen to promote the League in the future in a posative way ....
Its certainly in the FAI's interest to have a stronger league and when you look at say the Scandanavian leagues, it would be good to know there were players in the domestic league who could fill in at international level if we had injuries, suspensions etc. Personally I would like the FAI to insist on 2 league players in every national squad right up to full international. We have players always in international trips who never play anyway, at least if there were a couple from the league it would boost interest and the managers would have to research the league and know what player they could use. Wouldn't be a popular idea I know
A leading authority on League of Ireland football since 2003. You're probably wrong.
Why is tokenism so bad?
It's preferable but the world isn't a perfect place. It would be preferable if women and minorities had an equal chance of being elected to the Dáil, but they don't. There is some utility to affirmative action, no matter how unfair it seems to middle class white males. No to compare footballing ability to electability - I'm sure there is more of a merit basis to the selection of international panels - but we can still aspire to better systems.
Certainly it does seem strange that a player's stock with the international team rises with the simple act of being picked up by an English club. It seems logical that if Kevin Doyle or Paddy Madden is good enough for the international team within a few months of moving to England, there is at least as much merit in including him in a panel while he's a hot property in the LOI as there is in including Conor Clifford while he's toiling in Chelsea reserves on his way to League Two.
Affirmative action makes sense in a setting where greater access to opportunity permits, encourages and enhances further social progression, but what goal would it achieve exactly in the context of a senior international football team? I'm not categorically saying it is completely futile and will ultimately achieve nothing of substance, but I am struggling to think of how token gestures would truly benefit the league and those players from it selected to the senior team simply in order to meet a quota. I'd be more than happy to have these goals pointed out to me.
1: Forced normalisation of relationship between domestic and representative football, to levels taken for granted in rest of world.
2: Place urgent pressure on representative arm to foster and improve domestic game.
3: Puncture myths of vast disparity between standards of domestic and lower-league British football.
4: Enhance level of visibility of top players in league.
A leading authority on League of Ireland football since 2003. You're probably wrong.
But a forced relationship for the sake of it isn't a genuine one, nor do I see how it could have the effect of generating something sincere. It's purely superficial, cosmetic and is anything but "normal".
One would like to hope so, but there's no guarantee. Wouldn't the representative arm be the one setting the quota anyway? They'll do what suits them, or what makes them appear concerned.2: Place urgent pressure on representative arm to foster and improve domestic game.
I'm not a believer in this supposed disparity myself, but lower-league British football isn't the standard of our international football team.3: Puncture myths of vast disparity between standards of domestic and lower-league British football.
Maybe so, but for what aim? So they can be sold on to pastures perceived as greener, I assume you mean? Nigel Worthington was always keen to select Irish League players in his NI squads, supposedly for this very reason, but I'm not sure if this increased visibility of the "shop window" really did spur the opening of bulging wallets. In the case of some of those he selected, the spotlight might even have been to their professional detriment!4: Enhance level of visibility of top players in league.![]()
Last edited by DannyInvincible; 05/11/2013 at 8:12 AM.
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