Time For Change

**an 'rock'** · 17/08/2004, 3:49 PM

I tried to start a pressure group when all section O had was a bit of gravel, it didn't catch on but every one approved of the anacronymn!!!

**max power** · 18/08/2004, 4:27 PM

the team know the result against city was awful ,they said it themselves...some of the squad didn't want to be paid that week ffs !!!

we ARE a small club and being in the league all is amazing seeing as we had to be re elected, getting promotion was amazing, getting to a cup final was amazing, getting to europe was amazing......but last season was a thing of dreams for anyone who went to abbeycarton and saw the team that played there.....

to sum up the above, we are very very lucky to be where we are. 5th in the league with the secong smallest budget is some achievment....i agree about the business men etc, but there is a new marketing committee going into action soon and all going well some more money can be brought into the club.

wallace wanted in on pats but he wasn't given a seat on the board so he walked, he has strong ties in the ballyferrmot/inchicore area and became friendly with dolan at that time so where ever dolan goes his money does too..

the club are forging links in new york at the mo and there is an idea on the table at the mo which could make the club a six figure sum....so there is stuff bveing done behind the scenes, but there is a small number of people involved with the club, majority of which have full time jobs, remember that...

btw if you have any marketing or money making ideas for the club let me know, i am currently doing up a marketing proposal of whcih i hope some of the ideas will be put into pratice in the closed season or for the start of next season.

**max power** · 19/08/2004, 12:40 AM

he also has put serious money into the youth of ballyfermott.

**DaithiT** · 19/08/2004, 8:16 AM

[QUOTE=Cop on]I am merely stating that we must push out the boundaries and the expectations.
No matter what league you look at there are allways small teams in there and
their no 1 goal is to survive when they get to that level. Take Freiburg in Germany for example they have been up and down two or three times over the past 10 years. Do they moan about the fact that the management etc haven't set their goals higher?, no because they are a realistic bunch. Have
they fired their coach during this period?, again the answer is no beacuse he
gets the max out of the resources he has.

Do you really believe that Longford can set their goals as high as Shelbournes?? We are a village compared to most other teams in the league.
And where are Athlone, Mullingar, and Tullamore in this equation??? They may be the most prosperous towns in the midlands but do they have a team in the first div??? If somebody had told you 8 years ago that the town would win the FAI cup and play european football twice you would have told them to get off the drugs!!!!! Its time to get realistic and enjoy this era because
you might be an "old" moaner when it comes along again.

**Enda M** · 20/08/2004, 8:20 PM

Cop on is right.this club has no ambition.last year we were all talking of how we could go for europe and suddenly battle to stay up is all your happy with.we have a good squad of players who are not motivated enough to go each week and consistently perform in the red and black.matthews is not doing his job.shels performance in europe was unbelievable and if they get hammered 8-0 they will still be known as the side that drew in landsdowne against one of europes BEST TEAMS yet longford cannot beat a vaduz squad from liechtwenstein who in 10 years have not won a game before this year and the shocking thing is they beat us twice.vaduz were nothing compared to the bulgarian lovech team we played in 2001.
for longfordian to say what has kenny won is absolute shi*e.i have no doubt in my mind that if matthews was given the job kenny was in 1998 we must certainly would NOT be where we are now.what kenny achieved was nothing short of unbelivable

**Longfordian** · 20/08/2004, 9:04 PM

Stephen Kenny did a lot of good things for Longford Town I never denied that but he did pretty well out of us too, then f*cked us over without a second thought. He deserves a lot of credit but it wasnt just down to him, those who took over the club at the time had a big part to play too. Your argument that if Mathews had got the job in 1998 we wouldn't be where we are now is pointless, no-one knows how it would have turned out. A lot of people would feel that if Kenny had stayed we'd be in Division One by now, but its all ifs and buts, we should focus on the here and now and there's still a lot of football to be played this season. Can we please move on from this debate as im getting really tired of it..lets just agree to disagree..

**Flea** · 23/08/2004, 8:49 PM

Originally Posted by Longfordian

Stephen Kenny did a lot of good things for Longford Town I never denied that but he did pretty well out of us too, then f*cked us over without a second thought. He deserves a lot of credit but it wasnt just down to him, those who took over the club at the time had a big part to play too. Your argument that if Mathews had got the job in 1998 we wouldn't be where we are now is pointless, no-one knows how it would have turned out. A lot of people would feel that if Kenny had stayed we'd be in Division One by now, but its all ifs and buts, we should focus on the here and now and there's still a lot of football to be played this season. Can we please move on from this debate as im getting really tired of it..lets just agree to disagree..

Stephen Kenny did a lot of good things for Longford! It sounds like he was sent out to get the ice-creams for half-time and came back with 11 99's with a flake too. The man got us into the premier with a very very average team but a hugely committed team.. mmm... can I say that about the team now...no its actually the contrary.No-one knows how it would have turned out with Matthews if he was in charge in 1998 but I can rely on the facts, Kenny was a great manager who had far limited resources than today and when a bigger job came along he grabbed it (although not in the best fashion) the man chased success, whats wrong with that and I think he even managed to get free sprinkles on the cones.

**Longfordian** · 24/08/2004, 12:30 AM

Just move on ok this thread has been done to death already..

**max power** · 24/08/2004, 2:56 AM

Originally Posted by Flea

Stephen Kenny did a lot of good things for Longford! It sounds like he was sent out to get the ice-creams for half-time and came back with 11 99's with a flake too. The man got us into the premier with a very very average team but a hugely committed team.. mmm... can I say that about the team now...no its actually the contrary.No-one knows how it would have turned out with Matthews if he was in charge in 1998 but I can rely on the facts, Kenny was a great manager who had far limited resources than today and when a bigger job came along he grabbed it (although not in the best fashion) the man chased success, whats wrong with that and I think he even managed to get free sprinkles on the cones.

kenny got his cahnce to put whatever he wanted on his cone at bohs and he got sacked, simple fact.......

alan all the way.

**Albert** · 24/08/2004, 9:44 AM

I think that we are missing the point here, of course we all want to see Town challenge for the league, of course thats the ultimate ambition of every fan and I am sure of the management and board too. Anyone who thinks that the fans or management doesnt want to challenge for the title is being incredibly naieve. However while that may be what we want it is ridiculous to spend our time moaning and complaining because we dont win it!! We want more than mere survival but given our tiny base and resources we are grateful for survival and while we may aim for higher goals it would be a danger to the club as a viable entity should we start making such aims a priority while forgetting where we come from or what should realistically be expected from our resources............

**DaithiT** · 25/08/2004, 9:16 AM

So Mr Cop it, and if your such an expert in the world of footie then please
try to explain to me why the likes of Spurs, Everton, Man City and a bunch of other teams have failed in their conquest to win the Premier League?? Look
at Liverpool, they have no desire either or what???? We are a small country team that has had a lot of success over the past few years and sure it would be great to win the league but with our Budget etc I cant see it happening. We are the Everton, Spurs in our league and its time you grew up and realised that.
I played against the Town many times when they were a county team
but your way too young to even know that judging by your posts. They have come a long long way since then so no need to start getting greedy. Pity you didn't make it to Vaduz, you may live to regret it.

**Albert** · 25/08/2004, 11:51 AM

Cop on, I propose that its time you laid out this great business plan that you seem to have tucked away before us all. You clearly seem to know how to win League titles withoutspending money, which iswonderful news for all town fans and please go ahead and share it with us............

Oh and yes remember that in your world palyers cannot have a dip in form and that if they do you get saced and all your ideas are presumed to be crap. So yes lets rise above all this bull and now that you can talk the talk tell us what needs t be done differently which can GUARANTEE us the league title as thats what you seem to want from everyone else

and sure if you want t be a big club all you have to do is say it and then you know what you magically become one

**Albert** · 25/08/2004, 1:06 PM

thats fair enough but its not all about training heart and determination either. If it was Eircom league clubs would do a lot better in Europe and the ManUs and Real Madrids of this world would win nothing. Look at shels, Bohs, even the drogs going full time has had a huge impact on their league position so unfortunately whether you like it or not, the facts speak for themselves money has a huge bearing.

I agree its not the only factor but I honestly dont believe that no one at the club knows how to train or motivate, how else would we have done so well last year and still be doing reasonably for a bad season this year? Im still waiting to hea your suggestions for training and motivation, tell us what you see that is so wrong, what is done badly behind the scenes that you know about and what would you propose to do if you had the job? Like I said cut the bull, if you have the answer spit it out, if not, the leave the people who are trying it their way to do it

**max power** · 25/08/2004, 1:20 PM

Originally Posted by Cop on

Oh Dotty T, you flatter me so ! I would dearly love to be as young as you protest I am. Proud I am to boast that I witnessed the two greatest Town players of all time - the Great Zac and the mighty Heysham - in their prime (and they spawned two gorgeous daughters to boot - proof of true greatness !)
It horrifies me to think we would be as mediocre as Spurs, Everton or Liverpool. We MUST raise the bar. Look at last night. Rovers were absolutely atrocious. Disgraceful. We should have hammered them off the park. With all our talent we should have blown them away. Instead, we labouriously, torturously trawled through 120 mins of football for a result. ENOUGH. We are going backwards. Are you happy to settle for that ? Every other team has improved since last season, but we're no better. In fact, we're arguably worse. I don't accept these jaded arguments of small budget, small town and small minded businessmen. We must raise above this bull$hit. We must strive to get better, otherwise we are going down. But, ah sure, aren't we doing soooo well for such a wee town !

right cop on, i am involved in putting a marketing proposal to the club in the coming weeks, lets have some of your ideas to move the club forward. all i've heard out of you are complaints, but yet no soloution ???

as albert said, training and motivation soloutions as well please.

**DaithiT** · 25/08/2004, 2:07 PM

Cop on, stop bull****ing and do something. Go up to Jim Hanly and give him all your super duper solutions how you see and believe that the Town will conquer Ireland within the next 2-4 years and when they do you cant be then fully satisfied or??? Like lets go on and be the Kingpins of Europe within
7-10 years

**max power** · 25/08/2004, 2:10 PM

well said, cop on jim is at nearly every game and ALL ideas are welcomed by him, not by other mind you, but thats another days work.

**Longfordian** · 25/08/2004, 5:21 PM

No manager is going to get on with 100% of his players but the vast majority of them have great respect for him, they wouldn't have showed such heart and determination last night if that wasnt the case. Those on the European trip who spent a good bit of time in the company of the squad and management will tell you the same thing.

That's a valid point about employing someone and I believe that will happen at some stage soon, but as regards looking for a partner club in England, that's easier said than done, and the benefits are dubious. No-one is exactly beating down the door for Longford's best talent, which is what English clubs are usually interested in.
I would like to think this season was about knocking some proper shape into the club off the field and the UEFA A Licence standards had to be met and were met but not without a lot of work. In the off season and next season hopefully there will be room for planning for the future but this season a lot of mistakes from the past are having/had to be dealt with. Nobody is resting on their laurels it just takes time and the longer we're in the Premier Division the further we're progressing as a club. Just have a bit of faith in the club. Thats my view on the subject, now i really think we should move on..all the debating on here really achieves f*ck all..theres more significant ways of putting your views across

**max power** · 25/08/2004, 6:42 PM

Originally Posted by Cop on

I told you before - get 100 rich Longford people at home and abroad to give 10,000 yo-yos each and you would have a fantastic basis from which to start. You've got to approach these guys with money to burn. YES, they are out there. Seamus Ross, Albert Reynolds, Dessie Hynes, Jim Reynolds, etc, etc, There's loads of them. Get the diaspora - Australia, America. Start generating goodwill. There's still a lot of bad feeling among SOME folk about the good old bad old days. Invite these rich guys to a corporate gig of some sort. Generate interest. How can the bloody Longford GAAH (a voluntary outfit) organise a massive fundraising gig (the races) EVERY year and they can't win a big match to save their lives (Kerry & Westmeath this year apart);
yet we've won the cup & have got to four cup finals in a few seasons and we can't generate a fraction of that interest. You've got to ask yourself why we can't generate that interest ? Granted it's a malaise across the league in general, but we should have an added advantage over Dublin clubs in that people can relate to the club - small, local, rural. You could put in a section of "soft seats" for corporate contributors. You could have "Friends of LTFC" - silver, gold & platinum - similar to what they've got in the Abbey & Gate theatres - Give them discounts & loads of publicity. Put their names in the programme every week.
Now, that's a start. When you've done all that, come back to me for more.

ok for a start, i mentioned some of those points in previous threads....the comperate event was down for march but moved to november, it was on de town web site.

some of those money men you mentioned wouldn't give you the steam of their pi$$, namely a certain showband family.....

the seats thing might work, but ya know what people in longford are like, look at yur man in the fancy seat.....

there is a large event in the pipeline in new york also, in spring of next year as well.

btw i want to put my name forward for that job

**Longfordian** · 25/08/2004, 6:56 PM

Right then Max, its paying �5 a day and you have to work 10 hours a day

..Cop on, these are all good ideas but they've been thought of before, I know for a fact that at least three of the people you've mentioned have been sounded out before and aren't interested in giving any kind of serious money, they might buy a table at the corporate lunch but they wouldnt do any more, you underestimate what a GAA hard core background these money men have. They didnt get where they are by being overly generous.. the newly formed New York supporters club is working away quietly with the view to organising a couple of things in the spring which should be of benefit. The idea of the seats has been mentioned before too, a lot of these ideas arent new but would, I think, require a whole committee devoted to nothing but fundraising, if it were to be done right, and as i've said before it will be looked at

**Enda M** · 25/08/2004, 7:50 PM

Originally Posted by DaithiT

at Liverpool, they have no desire either or what???? We are a small country team that has had a lot of success over the past few years and sure it would be great to win the league but with our Budget etc I cant see it happening. We are the Everton, Spurs in our league and its time you grew up and realised that.
I played against the Town many times when they were a county team
but your way too young to even know that judging by your posts. They have come a long long way since then so no need to start getting greedy. Pity you didn't make it to Vaduz, you may live to regret it.

first we are talking about loi not the champions league and we are a country team with most of OUR PLAYERS FROM DUBLIN.....