FAI are Slaves to English Football

[ArdeeBhoy]

Hardly.

Am addressing the points of three other posters, who made direct comparison with the French...

[marinobohs]

Nights like last night will continue to happen as long as we send our kids across the water. The time for a sea change in the way players are coached and taught in this country was at least 20 years ago. I like the idea of trying to send our best kids to the continent for coaching (fanciful I know) because we are so deficient in trying to keep the ball that it's embarrassing. Are our kids inherently inferior to kids in Europe? No.
I often wonder is there a bigger influence from the GAA in how we play football in this island than we realise? By that I mean when you see a GAA player (particularly a back) in possession his instinct is to get rid of the ball asap.
By the way I'm not having a go at the GAA here but is it possible the culture of how we play other team sports in this island influences our thinking in approach to football? Jt

We dont 'send' our kids across the water they run screaming and kicking at the first nod from an English/Scottish club. And they do not go for the coaching either - offer state of the art coaching in Ireland OR a contract at any EPL club and see how many kids are concerned with coaching.

We should be sending our coaches to European clubs, but instead have badges delivered by coaches wedded to the 'English' style of play - all hioping to discover/develop the next big thing in, yes you guessed it, the EPL . Crap teachers invariably make crap students

[A N Mouse]

Hardly.

Am addressing the points of three other posters, who made direct comparison with the French...

I must have missed the bit where you replied to specific points.

You clumsily sidestepped the points raised by the one poster who responded to your initial derail. And seemingly ignored the rest of the thread.

[OwlsFan]

Unless your thick or part of the ole ole brigade - its obvious!
The way things are going at the moment it seems the national team need the LOI more than the other way round.

I don't really appreciate receiving pejorative personal messages from someone whom I would say has attended far less LOI games than I ever have. If following Ireland home and away since the early 1970s make me part of the Ole Ole brigage, so be it.

Again, I repeat the point that making a statement that the FAI is a slave to the English game without saying why to readers, many of whom would not be familiar with the Irish league, is meaningless. The fact that the best local players go to England does not make the FAI slave to the English game. Even if the local sides were attracting crowds of 20K, the better players would still go to where they would earn more money (i.e. England) as do much of the cream of Europe as well as the better Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland players. Are their organisations also slaves to the English game? Even players of massive clubs like Celtic and Rangers go south.

Not investing in the local game is an allied issue but with the FAI Council made up of primarily local football people, one must wonder are they doing all that they can or if not, why? Obviously most people here think they aren't but I can tell you the FAI as an organisation has improved 100 fold from what I remember it used to be, and no I am not John Delaney in disguise. The investment must come from their primary income generator, the international side and hence a lot of money has been invested in the manager etc (whether wisely is discussed in other forums) and thus I raised the question about Glynn's barbed comments about the money being spent on the international side. As I said chicken and egg situation.

p.s. nigel-harps1954 and SkStu I love you too and keep liking each others posts. It will make you feel good.

[nigel-harps1954]

p.s. nigel-harps1954 and SkStu I love you too and keep liking each others posts. It will make you feel good.

It makes me feel wonderful.

[A face]

We should be sending our coaches to European clubs, but instead have badges delivered by coaches wedded to the 'English' style of play - all hioping to discover/develop the next big thing in, yes you guessed it, the EPL . Crap teachers invariably make crap students

Where to though? Spain? Italy? How would a junior club even go about equipping themselves with the ability to coach technical football that is taught elsewhere (not EPL). Its not like there is a one stop shop for all their needs anywhere.

Agreed on the crap teachers, but the teachers union (FAI) are a million years away from changing their thinking on the game and how its approached here.

[MariborKev]

Never mind being slaves to English football, Irish people are in general slaves to all things English.....

With the new TMS kids can transfer intra-Europe after the age of 16 anyway, so if they were good enough they would be going to the clubs mentioned. The idea of the FAI paying for players to be played at European clubs is ludicrous anyway. If that investment was ever mooted it should be in capital expenditure and the development of such a facility on Irish soil.

As someone alluded to before, offer a kid/parent a chance of state of the art coaching here or a academy/scholar place in the EPL and in the vast majority of cases they'll be off before you can get the door closed. However, we had a case recently where a parent/player were keen to stay as they thought that the LOI was a much better route to development than heading across the water, despite significant interest. It was heartening to see.

[ArdeeBhoy]

I must have missed the bit where you replied to specific points.

You clumsily sidestepped the points raised by the one poster who responded to your initial derail. And seemingly ignored the rest of the thread.

Hardly. And you may need to top up on the numeracy front.

[Macy]

Irish football needs a total restructure, if the aim is to ultimately develop top class players for the National team. There should be a national academy, like the French have. It has nothing to do with attendances or money in the French league in comparison to the League of Ireland. It will never happen here - the school boy leagues have too much voting power in the FAI. Look at how young we start competitive football leagues compared to other European countries who develop skillfull players.

Yes, the very best players will ultimately move abroad, but there's no need for it to be at 16, as a lot of our current National team show. The route should be local team --> national academy --> national league --> national team.

[osarusan]

Yes, the very best players will ultimately move abroad, but there's no need for it to be at 16, as a lot of our current National team show. The route should be local team --> national academy --> national league --> national team.

How good would the national league have to be to be a better option than England, from the player's perspective? Is the national league, ever in our wildest dreams, ever going to be able to compete with even the Championship as a league?

[Macy]

The very best players will still go, but we wouldn't be losing the 90% who don't currently make it, think 'dream over' and give up playing to any reasonable standard. And if we had a proper development structure in place, chances are more players would be at top clubs, not less. If we get the player development structure right, it's inevitable the standard of the league will improve. I wouldn't make any.claims about how that.would translate in crowds or money - barstoolers will always make bogus excuses for not supporting the league.