I'm sick of going to a half empty Turners Cross

[harry crumb]

I'm gutted that Shels were knocked out of the Champions League tonight. I thought tonight could have been a big night in the history of the League of Ireland and Irish sport. And people like the corner and Colm annoy me cause of their jealousy.

I'm sick of the cr@p the league of ireland has to put up with(coverage, administration, marketing). And here was a club that managed to rise above the averageness of it all and come within 90 mins of the champions league.

I'm sick of going to a half empty Turners Cross or Dalymount.

Shels had a chance tonight, but came up short. But they should be applauded. They went professional. They showed the way for the rest of the league in how things should be done.

[adamcarr]

I was delighted to Shels go out. And it was great seeing them for what they are...SCUM! Moore and Fenlon both sent off! Now back to the league for the c*nts. Hopefully they will completely f*ck up(very unlikely) but theres still hope!

[dahamsta]

I'm sick of going to a half empty Turners Cross or Dalymount.

I still think the club should give discounts on tickets bought in batches, to encourage people to bring friends. Surely even selling them at cost for a month or so would pay off in the long run, even for the team with better support in the ground? I mentioned it to a guy involved in their marketing recently though, and he didn't seem all that impressed. *shrug*

adam

[A face]

I'm sick of the cr@p the league of ireland has to put up with(coverage, administration, marketing).

Hey ... you aint on your own there fella ...... but i am glad the went out.

I dont want the league to end up like the SPL or something .... a crap league with no competition. Two teams in the race and nothing else at least in our league there are always at least 3-4 in with a shout, only up till a few games ago, over half the table were in with a shout.

If Shels won ... they would pull away and destroy the league. Sorry ... but this is true.

[thecorner]

well harry,looks like its just not me and colm

so do us all a favour and go bury your head

[patsh]

I'm sick of going to a half empty Turners Cross or Dalymount.

And do you think $h£l$ getting through would attract more punters through the gates of the Cross or Dalyer?
How come they brought all of 30 or so fans to the Cross for a Saturday evening game?
How many Cork people were enticed by the prospect of seeing the mighty $h£l$?
You are right about the sh*te coverage, administration and marketing.
However $h£l$ getting €10,000,000 won't change a single thing about the coverage, administration and marketing of the eL, but would end the league as a competition.
Can't you just see the crowds flocking to an even more devalued league?..

[TheNorthsider]

count me in I'm glad they are gone out as well.If they won we might have given shels the league trophy at the start of every season and the rest of us play for second place.Just look at what they are doing at the moment without a large fan base.They still have the potential to earn big money if they can progress into the group stage of the uefa cup,hopefully they will go out of that as well.

[pete]

Is shels were to progress in Europe they'd get large criowds for european games but IMO their league crowds wouldn't change much. Theres been a lot of goodwill towards shels but unfortunately it can only go so far as other supporters have ambitions too.

I think not so bad if shels got to Uefa Cup group stages as not as much tv money there plus they'd have serious fixture backlog in the league.

I also think shels showed the thug side of their play last night to a wide audience.

[cathal]

.... a crap league with no competition. Two teams in the race and nothing else at least in our league there are always at least 3-4 in with a shout, only up till a few games ago, over half the table were in with a shout. .

since when? outside of shels and bohs or any dublin club there has no real outside challenge for the league since cork in 1998/1999


they are already running away with it. still though if city don't wake up it might only be a matter of time before they will a) win the league year in year out b) be in a position to someday qulaify for the champions league- then we are fooked and the already perilous poorly supported nature of EL football will collapse

[jmc105]

shels did incredibly well to get to the 3rd round, and to hold deportivo scoreless into the 2nd half of the 2nd leg was a great achievement. if jason byrne had scored from that first-half chance they might well have gone through to the group stage of the champions league. they've raised the profile of the league, which is good for all irish clubs. they've also raised the bar in terms of what irish clubs can aspire to.

as for the money they might have earned i have a question for thecorner, adamcarr etc. you say it'd be bad for the league to have 1 team much stronger/wealthier than all the others. would you still think that if it was cork city earning the 10 million?

we are in the great position of being the only club in the city. we have talented, young players and an ambitious manager/chairman. our problem is a lack of loyalty and patience among the fans. if we filled the cross for every home game we'd eventually be in a position to challenge shels financially, and in turn we'd improve on the pitch even more.

i think supporters have a part to play in building a fanbase. we need to convert thousands of one-off visitors into regular fans. the negative atmosphere at the cross, which is mirrored on this board, is starting to make me question whether i want to keep turning up, so i can only imagine what it's like for a newcomer checking out the scene.

instead of, for example, roaring abuse at a missplaced pass from georgie (or even a missed penalty), we as supporters should SUPPORT the team and the players. it seems like a bizarre concept, i know, but maybe the team would feel more comfortable in front of their home-crowd if they got the feeling we actually liked the team. maybe some SUPPORT for a player going through a bad patch might help him out of it, intead of ripping away the last few shreds of confidence he has by helpfully pointing out what a waste of space he is.

the club is obviously trying to move in the right direction, this should be applauded and SUPPORTED by us, the fans - and that is far more important to ccfc that what any other club is doing.

[patsh]

as for the money they might have earned i have a question for thecorner, adamcarr etc. you say it'd be bad for the league to have 1 team much stronger/wealthier than all the others. would you still think that if it was cork city earning the 10 million?

Probably not, but the fans of EVERY OTHER CLUB would be worried and p*ssed off, wouldn't they?

[pete]

i think supporters have a part to play in building a fanbase. we need to convert thousands of one-off visitors into regular fans. the negative atmosphere at the cross, which is mirrored on this board, is starting to make me question whether i want to keep turning up, so i can only imagine what it's like for a newcomer checking out the scene.

Thats all part of supprting ateam throughout a season. We can debate it to death but teams & suppoprters will always go through highs & lows.

Been living in dublin for almost 5 years now amoung the so called "big clubs" & IMO City have more potential than many of the dubs combined. I think dublin clubs are almost no hope of big league crowds in the medium term although its a big city so can easily get crowd for Bigger European games.

Lennox comes across as ambitious & has good busienss head & if anyone can bring the club forward he can.

[jmc105]

Probably not, but the fans of EVERY OTHER CLUB would be worried and p*ssed off, wouldn't they?

i was trying to point out that this argument is, as the vulcans say, illogical, captain.

1. we are all fans of irish football, and therefore we want eircom league football to continue to progress.
2. shels' performance means that the next level of progress is to reach the group stage of the champions league.
3. according to corner etc. this will have a negative impact on eircom league football.
4. therefore irish football fans do NOT want eircom league football to continue to progress.
5. now i have a headache.

[patsh]

i was trying to point out that this argument is, as the vulcans say, illogical, captain.

1. we are all fans of irish football, and therefore we want eircom league football to continue to progress.
2. shels' performance means that the next level of progress is to reach the group stage of the champions league.
3. according to corner etc. this will have a negative impact on eircom league football.
4. therefore irish football fans do NOT want eircom league football to continue to progress.
5. now i have a headache.

Ok
1. It WILL have a negative effect on the league if only ONE team can win the league every year. No club in this country can EVER get access domestically, to the type of money available to a champions league group club.

2. I completely agree with you that we have a classic catch-22 here. We want the eL to progres, $h£l$ getting into the CL group stages is progress. They would get the money to keep winning the league and so be the only club to have the chance to qualify for the group stages where they would keep earning enough money to keep winning the league.....

3. Thats a bleak outlook, maybe it wouldn't be so bad, and another club could win the league while $h£l$ were busy in Europe, but as a fan of a rival club, I wouldn't want another club to get to a position where they can completely dominate.

[pete]

I think I can possibly sum it up by saying almost all eL fans would welcome shels progession through europe if weren't gonna make massive prize money so they'd up the profile of the league without earning enough to have bigger budget then other clubs combined.

I don't think they can make so much money from Uefa Cup so think will be different feelings when that comes around.

[jmc105]

...as a fan of a rival club, I wouldn't want another club to get to a position where they can completely dominate.

exactly. which is why i suggested that if it was city who got thru and got the money, corner etc wouldn't be so worried about the competitiveness of the league.

the champions league creates huge gaps in every domestic league where teams reach the group stages. even in england, there are only 3 teams capable of winning the domestic league, and one of them is only able to compete because it has a sugardaddy.

realistically i can't see an irish club make that breakthough for a while yet, close and all as shels came. but i hope it happens eventually, and i hope it's city who get there.

[thecorner]

exactly. which is why i suggested that if it was city who got thru and got the money, corner etc wouldn't be so worried about the competitiveness of the league.

.

its not coz of the money i wanted to see shels go out

i just dont like shels

[Storysham]

It was nice of Eircom to take out a half page full colour ad in the mirror congratulating shels and wishing them luck in the uefa cup. must have cost a pretty penny. at least they did it during citys euro run, OH YEAH THATS RIGHT THEY DIDNT.

[tiktok]

It was nice of Eircom to take out a half page full colour ad in the mirror congratulating shels and wishing them luck in the uefa cup.

You're right, it was.

[Colm]

Harry Crumb, it's not just me and theCorner who don't want to see Shels succeed. Every City fan I've spoken to in the last few days wanted to see Shels knocked out and embarrassed, the vast majority of City fans who have posted here share that view. Whether it is because of the money or because of the intense hatred between our two clubs or a combination of both, we are perfectly entitled to want to see Shels fail.

On an aside, I've noticed that on the most part it's fans of small clubs like Longford, Bray etc who are outraged at our views on Shels as it wont matter to them if Shels dominate as they're never going to win the league themselves anyway. Very few City or Bohs fans wanting to see Shels do well.