Presently, qualified by a conditional, as denoted by the use of "if".
So presently as in hypothetically , in a unlikely set of circumstances in the distant future sense, rather than in the traditional 'at this point in time' defintion of the word?
I just don't understand why, when there's an example of a Dublin club that has overspent on wages this year, you've chosen as your example a Sligo club that is demonstrably living within its means. If you're trying to make a general point using a specific example, you need to chose your example carefully.
And I'm neither a Sligo fan nor from anywhere close to north Connacht.
At present there are number of LOI clubs, given a similar set of circumstances to a championship club, re full time training, re training facilities, re playing pitch, would be able to compete at mid championship level.
You might not agree but is it such a difficult opinion to comprehend?
this thread is effin hilarious,
so many non loi fans with the quick fix solution, ( i can see the boards of the clubs reading this and saying "its been staring us in the effin face, why don;t we pump loads of cash we don't have and chase an unattainable dream")
do folks not think that this model of champions league footy has been the near death of shels, cork, drogs now bohs and derry to a lesser extent. While clubs like rovers and dundalk over the last 3-4 yrs are only really recovering from years of mismanagement.
There is no quick fix solution to this. LOI has been vastly ignored for roughly about 20 years that it could possibly take 20yrs to recover. I think we need to get real and people and try to progress the league slowly in all clubs. First things first we need to stop giving people ammunition in which to shoot us down with and we need to look at the clubs where it does work. The UCD's, Sligo's, St. Pats and see what they have done right so all the clubs can see about implementing it.
Long Live King Kenny
Well, Sligo don't just exist to develop players to sell on, or blood young players for the national side. They also exist as a football club in their own right, and as such will do what they need to, hopefully within the rules, to win trophies. On yesterday afternoon's evidence, they're not doing too badly!
I just picked an example at random. It could as easily have been any club as its a league wide phenomenon. I went for Sligo as they are a small town club with a few players on the books who have obviously come from other parts of the world to play there. The likes of Ndo and Boco certainly aren't in Sligo for the love of the club, but the same could be said of any of the former English/Scottish league players plying their trade up and down the country (ok, I'm sure there's one who met a nice Irish girl, moved here, signed for the local side and fell in love with the place, but I'm speaking in generalities here)
They won, and they won well. But surely that is a luxury when your fans are in an 80 year old stadium with the wind howling through it. Not because of the fans who are there at every home game, who will give it 100%, but because of the thousands of people who went to Dublin on Sunday who will never show their face at the Showgrounds, or any other League of Ireland ground (except the shiny modern Tallaght Stadium). Its really easy to slag them off for following cross channel clubs, but they are the very people local football has to attract through the turnstiles.
Sunday demonstrated the potential for big crowds to watch football in this country, if it is done right. I'm not saying 30,000 people will show up every week, or even any more often than once a year, but if somewhere between half and a third of that crowd were at most grounds most weeks, every club in the league would be able to put far superior players on the pitch, and you end up in a virtuous circle. Even a quarter of the people at Lansdowne on Sunday would fill the biggest League of Ireland stadiums to bursting points
Which is why I'm saying that until we are in that situation, the priority should be on raising revenue to put decent facilities in place. One of the best ways for football clubs to raise money is developing young players and selling the best of them on, but that means giving them a chance in the first team at the right time, and not signing someone else who will do a better job in the short term.
Bring Back Belfast Celtic F.C.
Surely it would have been better to pick an example based on evidence? I find this concept of making an argument without any facts to be bizarre.
I know. They're in Sligo because the club feels it can make a profit above what it pays them. You have to pay players, so why not pay for the best you can afford?The likes of Ndo and Boco certainly aren't in Sligo for the love of the club, but the same could be said of any of the former English/Scottish league players plying their trade up and down the country
So basically if an LoI team was a Championship team, it'd be as good as a Championship team? Come on...
If the top LoI teams were good enough to be in the Championship, why are the players happy here on a tenth of what they could be earning? Only logical answer - they're not good enough to play in the Championship. Corollary - the LoI is nowhere near Championship level.
Aye, have no axe to grind.
The LoI is on about a par with the Conference premier (Div.5) in England or bottom-half Div.1/top-half Div.2 in Scotland.
With a few players, say 5-6, who are capable of playing in the Eng.Championship/SPL bottom-half at their current levels. Though obviously could go on to greater things?
Would be good to see a stronger domestic league but we have a limited playing base, not least down to the alternatives of GAA (& Rugby!), so unless you change those major cultural forces, domestic soccer will always be a very poor third.
Thus am happy for our best youngsters to be developed, if necessary, by bigger clubs in foreign leagues. Though it's not obligatory!
Complete and utter rubbish. Out of interest, how many Scottish Division two games do you watch, and how do you think Crawley Town would fair against Juventus? Or Fleetwood Town against Dynamo Kiev or Hertha Berlin?
As for soccer "always being a distant third"....that's only been for the last 10 years of success in rugby, yet you think this will continue forever now?
I said a number of teams could compete at mid-championship level, not that the LOI is near championship level. But given a level playing field, a number of clubs could compete at mid championship level. The bottom half of the championship is a pretty basic standard, no great shakes.
I wrote this in response to someone saying that a few LOI clubs could compete amongst the lower championship teams.
And I spoke of the top LoI teams in my reply, not of the LoI in general. I think it's something people like to believe yet is way off the mark, particularly with (to refer in to Jicked's post as well) the full-time era almost gone.
And the level playing field thing is irrelevant - it's like saying the city of Cork could support a Div 1 team. It probably could, but what does that show? It's irrelevant to the question of how the LoI compares.
Last edited by pineapple stu; 16/11/2010 at 10:20 AM.
And you also wrote "the LoI is nowhere near Championship level"
The level playing field is relevant to my opinion, when somebody says a number of LOI club could compete at lower championship level. I don't think they could - even that basic standard is much higher than those LOI clubs could survive amongst. A couple of the reasons why it is higher, is that championship players benefit from full time and better facilities.And the level playing field thing is irrelevant - it's like saying the city of Cork could support a Div 1 team. It probably could, but what does that show? It's irrelevant to the question of how the LoI compares.
Well then you're not anywhere near comparing like with like.
I was not trying to compare like with like. I am stating that there is not a like for like comparison, between the current standard of a few LOI clubs and the lower half of the championship.
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