League of Ireland in Europe 2017

Live coverage again from Turner's Cross for the second leg.

rebelradioccfc.com

Cork City v Levadia Tallinn
5,500 tickets sold already. It's amazing how much a successful league run helps.



Nothing succeeds like success they say. In fairness there's always been a solid core of a couple of about 3,000 fans - easily enough to support a decent league of Ireland team and from time to time the crowds will rise with success or fall without it.

This season I think the average home gate has been about 4,500 which is a decent number given all the other distractions available in the city.

How many tickets sold for the Shamrocks game so far anyone!

Originally Posted by Charlie Darwin

He's right about it being the hardest job in the country, or possible even the world. No other manager has to deal with having every single interview dissected by Ezekial on foot.ie. It's serious pressure.

To make my job a little easier, I've applied for one of the vacant coaching job at Rovers.

Originally Posted by micls

Odd definition of biggest club to me. There's far more to a club than a trophy count.

That's not the only criteria of course. Shels have had tonnes of sucess too but I wouldn't consider them anywhere near the biggest club any more. Their attendances are woeful, the ground is falling to pieces (and won't even have their own ground in a few yrs as they'll be sharing Dalyer with bohs), they're just fallin off the map.

Originally Posted by micls

Also, theres some insecurity evident in having to repeatedly say that your club is the biggest club...

As mentioned earlier, they're not my club. But all things considered like stadium, attendances, historical success, notable ex players and managers, brand identity, media coverage, community endeavours etc i'd say they're the biggest club. That's just my opinion of course.

Originally Posted by nr637

Cork City v Levadia Tallinn
5,500 tickets sold already. It's amazing how much a successful league run helps.



Nothing succeeds like success they say. In fairness there's always been a solid core of a couple of about 3,000 fans - easily enough to support a decent league of Ireland team and from time to time the crowds will rise with success or fall without it.

This season I think the average home gate has been about 4,500 which is a decent number given all the other distractions available in the city.

How many tickets sold for the Shamrocks game so far anyone!

That was a genuine compliment btw about success for cork Don't see why you need to ask the question about rovers ticket sales ? I was making that exact point for you !

Originally Posted by Ezeikial

Stephen "I'm not deluded" Bradley spouting his usual egotistical nonsense in a pre-match intervew with eir

"We are the biggest club in the country, and I've got the hardest job going"

Thanks for your interest as always

Originally Posted by Ezeikial

Stephen "I'm not deluded" Bradley spouting his usual egotistical nonsense in a pre-match intervew with eir

"We are the biggest club in the country, and I've got the hardest job going"

As I said a few pages back, he says this before every game, I'm not sure if he's trying to convince himself or everyone else

Bradley is a fool ... and Rovers have a long way to get back to the top of the League of Ireland ... 2011 - there was there but fallen far ...and quickly!

I was talking about Bradley, not you.

I don't disagree that Rovers are one of the biggest clubs in the country. But the consistent labelling of themselves as 'the biggest', with no real way to agree criteria to define that is nonsense. As I said, it just makes them seem insecure

Bradley probably feels under pressure because most seem to be of the opinion that Rovers should brush past their Icelandic opponents tomorrow, and he doesn't necessarily share their optimism.
Rovers were gash against a relegation bound sligo team on sunday so its a bit 50/50 on which Rovers team shows up.
If Starnen score 1st it could be a squeaky bum evening for most in Tallaght

Originally Posted by placid casual

Bradley probably feels under pressure because most seem to be of the opinion that Rovers should brush past their Icelandic opponents tomorrow, and he doesn't necessarily share their optimism.
Rovers were gash against a relegation bound sligo team on sunday so its a bit 50/50 on which Rovers team shows up.
If Starnen score 1st it could be a squeaky bum evening for most in Tallaght

Nah! He is keeping his powder dry for the big day out with Celtic (this weekend isnt it?) - where the prestige is all at in Tallaght this season.

Originally Posted by placid casual

Bradley probably feels under pressure because most seem to be of the opinion that Rovers should brush past their Icelandic opponents tomorrow, and he doesn't necessarily share their optimism.
Rovers were gash against a relegation bound sligo team on sunday so its a bit 50/50 on which Rovers team shows up.
If Starnen score 1st it could be a squeaky bum evening for most in Tallaght

Hard work was done in Iceland, fully expect Rovers and Cork to go through tonight

It's reasonable to expect both Cork and Rovers to go through.

There is little chance of Cork getting caught out, but Rovers are unpredictable and tactically naive. A goal at any stage for the visitors could tip a nervous team and support over the edge

To curry favour with Stephen Bradley (and obviously to analyse and parse his interviews) I'll be in Tallaght Stadium to shout loud support/encouragement/abuse tonight

Lots of nonsense about being the biggest club in Ireland lads. Cork are at the top at the moment absolute no doubt about it and great attendances similar to ourselves in the Mick O Neill years. Dundalk have also shone a light on the league in recent years illuminating the fact that good football, the live product is available in this country and they definitely sparked interest in the league from people who did not previously reckon it. As for Rovers, historically the most successful team in the past with a rich history, how they kept going without a home ground for all that time was really something. To nights attendance at Tallaght around 3 k i would imagine and as for Bradley keeping his powder dry for Celtic, nah it will be a Rovers squad team with some U 19'S thrown in. Just to note a lot of the Rovers regulars that i stand with are not attending on Saturday. Tonight's game by the way is still very much in the balance.

Here is a Stephen Bradley pre-match interview from the Rovers website.


https://soundcloud.com/shamrock-rove...medium=twitter

As I'm on a strict abstention regime for today (at least until after the match) I have not listened to and will not comment on said interview (I swear)


KOH

Really excited for tonights game. Worrying that maybe we're getting a bit carried away - I've never seen this level of confidence from City fans about a European game. We have every right to be confident, but football is a crazy game and as Rangers showed this week surprises do happen. If they get an early goal it could really change the mood in the stadium, it would be horrible if the fans got on the teams back.

On the other hand, we've been so good this season and we have come back from behind a few times this season so I would expect just more confidence from the crowd if we do go behind - with the caveat that a sell out crowd tends to contain a lot of first timers that can dilute the atmosphere somewhat at times.

Tough to read, but are you saying ye'll play a squad team tonight?!

Originally Posted by El-Pietro

Really excited for tonights game. Worrying that maybe we're getting a bit carried away - I've never seen this level of confidence from City fans about a European game. We have every right to be confident, but football is a crazy game and as Rangers showed this week surprises do happen. If they get an early goal it could really change the mood in the stadium, it would be horrible if the fans got on the teams back.

On the other hand, we've been so good this season and we have come back from behind a few times this season so I would expect just more confidence from the crowd if we do go behind - with the caveat that a sell out crowd tends to contain a lot of first timers that can dilute the atmosphere somewhat at times.

I'd be worried too if I was you, but for different reasons.

Originally Posted by Kingswood Rover

Lots of nonsense about being the biggest club in Ireland lads. Cork are at the top at the moment absolute no doubt about it and great attendances similar to ourselves in the Mick O Neill years. Dundalk have also shone a light on the league in recent years illuminating the fact that good football, the live product is available in this country and they definitely sparked interest in the league from people who did not previously reckon it. As for Rovers, historically the most successful team in the past with a rich history, how they kept going without a home ground for all that time was really something. To nights attendance at Tallaght around 3 k i would imagine and as for Bradley keeping his powder dry for Celtic, nah it will be a Rovers squad team with some U 19'S thrown in. Just to note a lot of the Rovers regulars that i stand with are not attending on Saturday. Tonight's game by the way is still very much in the balance.

Any club is only as 'big' as the final league league table shows each season. This big club stuff crops up from time to time especially between Rover and Bohs in the days that both clubs were better than mid-table.

Good luck to City and Rovers tonight! .. Really hoping for two wins tonight so we have 3 teams in Round 2 action next week in Champions League/Europa League. (Scottish football might only have 2 teams left!)