Relegation 2008

[Mr Maroon]

Just rate the teams licence apps on a points basis and take the top 16 rather than the top 10. With so many clubs struggling financially at the mo, I think this process of accessing who are "fittest" top ten clubs is going to have to happen anyways.

That sounds a lot something that has been tried already...

[Mr A]

So did Pats actually make any effort whatsoever against Cobh? It certainly didn't look like it on MNS.

[gufct]

They were a disgrace and i doubt if they will be as bad tomorrow night which is shocking.

[Dodge]

So did Pats actually make any effort whatsoever against Cobh? It certainly didn't look like it on MNS.

Didn't watch MNS but i'd be surprised if they showed how bad we actually were.

A slight mitigation factor was our huge injury list, which saw us name only 3 players on the bench that have never played senior football before. Of the 11 that started, only 4 would be first choice in their positions (and one of them was Barry Ryan, who went off injured at half time)

[Trainee]

Didn't watch MNS but i'd be surprised if they showed how bad we actually were.

A slight mitigation factor was our huge injury list, which saw us name only 3 players on the bench that have never played senior football before. Of the 11 that started, only 4 would be first choice in their positions (and one of them was Barry Ryan, who went off injured at half time)

How many of those injured players are back for tomorrow night

[Dodge]

None. Derek O'Brien is back from suspension.

Out are
• Dessie Byrne - hamstring injury
• Damien Lynch – ankle injury
• David Partridge – shoulder injury
• Bobby Ryan – knee injury
• Stephen Paisley – groin strain
• Gary O’Neill – groin strain
• John Murphy – back injury

Doubtful;
• Mark Quigley - flu (missed Cobh)
• Barry Ryan - back (replaced at half time v Cobh)
• Gary Dempsey - toe (played 90 mins v Cobh)

We finished the game with Cobh with Jamie Harris and 18 year old debut boy Stephen Fitzpatrick up front

[El-Pietro]

In our case the crowds are as low as they will go due to being down to the hardcore already for the past couple of seasons.

A 18 team league would at least give us some away support and that would help the cash flow situation in the division. I have spent the guts of 15k advertising our games this season and no noticable increase.

I dread to think how bad this division would be crowd wise if Dundalk and Shels were promoted and no offence meant here but UCD and Cobh were relegated.

Just to follow on from this. Probably should be in another thread somewhere but what the hell.

As things stand we have 22 clubs plus the 3 A Championship sides as well as Kilkenny for arguments sake. That gives us 26 clubs

We could have a league with the top 16 for next season or the season after (or whenever) and then a league with the remaining ten as the first division

You could have 2 teams relegated and one play off spot below that for arguments sake.

That 16 team league might consist of (depending on how financially screwed certain teams are)
1: Bohemians
2: St. Pats
3: Derry City
4: Cork City (I'm assuming Drogs will be deducted ten points this week)
5: Sligo Rovers
6: Shamrock Rovers
7: Drogheda United
8: Bray Wanderers
9: Finn Harps
10: Cobh Ramblers
11: U.C.D.
12: Galway
13: Shelbourne
14: Dundalk
15: Waterford United
16: Sporting Fingal

The first division would then contain
1: Limerick 37
2: Monaghan United
3: Longford Town
4: Wexford Youths
5: Athlone Town
6: Kildare County
7: Tullamore
8: Kilkenny City
9: Salthill Devon
10: Mervue United

I have listed these teams in their current league order so no one can say why aren't we in the premier - It wouldn't be up to me to decide who goes where there would obviously be a licensing committee to decide upon that.

you could maybe talk to the likes of Kerry League, FC Carlow and whoever else to get the first division to a 16 team league.

Obviously the teams in the first division would struggle to get crowds as they wouldn't be facing Shels, Dundalk et al but conversely you might see bigger crowds if marketed properly as teams like Athlone or Monaghan would be doing fairly well in this league and might have a legitimate shot at promotion - especially if you introduced a play off in the first division between 3rd and fourth over two legs to face third bottom in the premier.

The smaller teams - the A champ sides wouldn't need huge gates as they would most likely be amateur.

Its not perfect but no system is, but maybe it's worth debate

I'll leave it up to you to pick holes in. I know the premier looks very interesting and every team in the league as things stand would have a shot at getting to the premier if they had a good season.

[the-blue-harp]

i think the idea of a ten team league is to give top teams a more competitive league, where they are challenged every week.

personally i like this structure of 16 because it does more for all the other teams in the league that would give teams a second chance to start again. i think it would revitalise the league. really shake things up. also it would stop these ten teams in the premier next year overspending again in a repeat of this year.

[mypost]

Was it is as biga failure as any of the other league "options"? 12 team league doing well at the moment?

Yes it was, the worst possible solution. Next year, we will have 2 extra away games than this season, and 3, not 1, midweek games, which could be anywhere from Derry to Cork.

At least with the 12 team league, you'd go 3 months before playing the opposition. With the 10-team league, if you're unlucky with postponements/midweek games, you could be playing them every 6-7 weeks, more than that if you get them in the cups as well. It will all impact on the gates.

[Candystripe]

To be fair we will be playing Cork tonight for the 6th time this season..4th time in 4 weeks and we should get at least 3k plus at it.

It depends on the type and quality of the competition we play each other in and how much it means to both clubs.

[JC_GUFC]

None. Derek O'Brien is back from suspension.

Out are
• Dessie Byrne - hamstring injury
• Damien Lynch – ankle injury
• David Partridge – shoulder injury
• Bobby Ryan – knee injury
• Stephen Paisley – groin strain
• Gary O’Neill – groin strain
• John Murphy – back injury

Doubtful;
• Mark Quigley - flu (missed Cobh)
• Barry Ryan - back (replaced at half time v Cobh)
• Gary Dempsey - toe (played 90 mins v Cobh)

We finished the game with Cobh with Jamie Harris and 18 year old debut boy Stephen Fitzpatrick up front

You forgot to add Paul Osam to that doubtful list.

[The Rebel Ram]

St Pats V Galway game is off due to water logged pitch.
Great news for Cobh,
St Pats might have the injury list reduced by time of the replay

[GuisaSaigon]

St Pats V Galway game is off due to water logged pitch.
Great news for Cobh,
St Pats might have the injury list reduced by time of the replay

And we'll have Jay O'Shea back from international duty

[foxx92]

Its relly heating up now. Galway won and Harps lost tonite!

[JC_GUFC]

I have to say Harps looked shockingly bad tonight.
I'm surprised that Drogheda got a point in Cork and that's bad news for Harps who travel there next week.

Huge game tonight in Cobh, I guess a draw is the best result for United.

We're playing Pat's on Monday now but they've also got a game tonight. I believe we could win it but would take a point as Pat's are still a very good team.

[Mr A]

Very hard to see us staying up to be honest, we're just not really good enough and have a shockingly incompetent manager. I think we need 7 points from the last 3 games but it looks very unlikely indeed. On current form Galway will beat us off the park.

[brianw82]

Harps were brutally bad last night. I think a lot of commentators were underestimating Rovers, though. As mentioned by Stephen Alkin in commentary, we actually haven't lost to one of the bottom 4 this season, and were never going to roll over. Harps need to buck their ideas up, and fast.

[Inside Man]

2/1 last night on Rovers to win. Easy money. Don't know where them odds came from. But I won a few quid on it anyway.
Galway to stay up now. I just really hope one of either Harps or Galway stay up. Harp preferably.

[The Rebel Ram]

Ramblers looking good for fourth from bottom, Galway the biggest threat now. Hopefully Pats can do Cobh a big favour on Monday night by taking all 3 points from Galway.
Will it stay this way though????


Avg
Team P W D L F A GD Pts Pts
1 Bohemians 30 24 4 2 49 12 37 76 2.5
2 St Patricks Athletic 28 17 6 5 42 21 21 57 2.0
3 Derry City 29 14 9 6 38 20 18 51 1.8
4 Drogheda United 30 12 9 9 34 24 10 45 1.5
5 Cork City* 30 14 10 6 43 25 18 42 1.4
6 Sligo Rovers 30 10 11 9 37 27 10 41 1.4
7 Shamrock Rovers 30 8 12 10 31 30 1 36 1.2
8 Bray Wanderers 30 9 6 15 21 45 -24 33 1.1
9 Cobh Ramblers 30 6 8 16 23 46 -23 26 0.9
10 Finn Harps 30 7 4 19 22 49 -27 25 0.8
11 Galway United 29 5 8 16 29 47 -18 23 0.8
12 UCD 30 4 9 17 19 42 -23 21 0.7

[Maroon 7]

Cobh and Galway seem the form teams at the bottom right now. Harps after a good run are flagging. UCD look doomed.

Very hard to predict all the same. I fancy there will be a twist or two before the end.