Surprised nobody has posted about this yet but I thought the League Fixtures were due out today? What good is a brand report if the governing body of Irish Football, can't even deliver the fixtures on the due date. Amateur hour again!
Journalists at the brand launch thing on Thursday were told FAI Council are meeting tomorrow (Tuesday) to 'ratify league structure for 2017'. I assume fix can't be announced until after that. However, some twitter accounts in the know tweeted that it would be today........
Where was it announced the fixtures were out today? The banter pages?
https://kesslereffect.bandcamp.com/album/kepler - New music. It's not that bad.
Yeah lot of talk on Twitter & FB that they would be out today. Maybe I should stop sourcing my media from these sources!
This whole situation would have been avoided if an official date was actually announced in advance, similar to other leagues. Leaving it up to unofficial sources is not good enough from those heading the league.
To be honest, I'm more worried that we're set to end up with three teams relegated this season coming.
https://kesslereffect.bandcamp.com/album/kepler - New music. It's not that bad.
You and me both.Originally Posted by nigel-harps1954
Not claiming to be in the know in any way but the vibe form the bigger clubs is for a ten team league so that's it imo
No surprise there really. If it isn't definitely in for 2017, it surely will by 2018.
Just had great craic reading the public outcry on the banter pages of the lack of fixtures today. People should really stop believing what they read on those pages.
https://kesslereffect.bandcamp.com/album/kepler - New music. It's not that bad.
Because tinkering with the size of the divisions is the magic bullet to solve all the League's many challenges, and has never been tried before.
Nobody thinks it is. It's just a handy way for them to appear to be affecting change, when at best, they have done nothing but damage one league in favour of another. The First Division will not benefit from having even more teams with nothing to play for outside playoff sports with no relegation.
They usually do let people know in advance
They've said nothing at all this year
I've been told that 5 of the 10 Premier Division clubs (excluding Drogheda and Limerick) are in favour of a 10 team league from 2018. I'd say we could safely guess who the five clubs are. These same clubs are the ones complaining of fixture congestion but are now happy to fit in an extra three league games in 2018 (probably making five rounds of midweek fixtures). A 36 game season instead of a 33 game season. First Division will increase from a 28 game season to a 36 game season also.
What it means is that this season the League will see the bottom three in the Premier Division relegated and the top team in the First promoted. No play-offs. Next season (2018) it will be one up, one down with the potential of 2nd last in Premier playing 2nd in the First (but this is far from a given).
The FAI Board are meeting today to ratify these changes. To make this point again, this is the TOP clubs in the Premier Division pushing for this change. Not the First Division clubs and not the clubs who traditionally would be seen as bottom half Premier Division clubs.
What other League would see a quarter of their clubs relegated in the one season?
It hasn't worked twice before and it won't work again.
Up the Harps!!
Who actually gets to vote on the structure of the league. Is it the clubs or FAI Council ?. If its the clubs then 5 for change as opposed to 13 against.
Could we? The three Dublin clubs, plus Dundalk and Cork maybe?
And, excuse my ignorance, can five clubs out of 20 effectively decide the structure of the league?
I do get the thinking behind balancing up the number of teams in both divisions, but it's rubbish playing teams four times a year, and that's just in the league. You'll likely be playing a few clubs five times, after you add the FAI and League Cup.
You'd presume that the Premier fixtures will be out some stage this week. Been years since they were released after Christmas. Still don't understand why they can't be announced in November.
You really think a Cabinteely or Athlone Town are going to have a bigger voice than Shamrock Rovers or Dundalk?
Bigger clubs always have the bigger say, and that's exactly what's happening right now.
Swings and roundabouts here, this is a horrendous decision by the big clubs who only care about having more games against the other bigger clubs rather than working together to improve the league overall. Simple case of looking after themselves again.
Relegation this season could kill Finn Harps I'd fear. And not in a Drogheda/Waterford sort of "could kill us", as in, it could actually kill us.
https://kesslereffect.bandcamp.com/album/kepler - New music. It's not that bad.
How do we know any clubs are pushing for it? This was one of the terrible recommendations in the terrible report that the terrible FAI had produced last year.
FAI Council / Board are meeting today and this is one of the items on the Agenda so they will have make the ultimate decision. However, the top 10 Premier Division clubs at the end of last season were 'consulted' about what they thought was the best set-up for the Division. 5 want a 10 team top flight, 5 want to remain as it it (or even increase the numbers). Drogheda or Limerick weren't asked for their opinion or were the current 8 First Division clubs.
However, the influence of the 'Big Five' along with the Conroy Report will see a 10 Team top flight introduced for the 2018 season. In order for this to happen, 3 teams will be relegated this season with 1 promoted from the First Division.
Because of the FAI running the League, the club's don't have a massive say in the structure of the League - it's certainly not put to a vote of the 20 clubs. But, there has been a 'proposal' tabled (pushed by the Big Five I have no doubt) and this is what the FAI is considering today. If the 20 clubs were asked to vote on it, you can be damn sure that there would not be a minimum of 11 voting to decrease the number from 12 to 10.
The delay in the fixtures being issued is because of the FAI Board / Council meeting taking place today. It will probably be tomorrow before the fixtures are announced at this stage.
At no point so far have the FAI announced any fixture release date - they usually give a 24 hour notice of when they will be released, so expect that today and fixtures released tomorrow.
Up the Harps!!
Where are you getting this information from. Who are the "big 5". Why are they considered "Big", is it because they have finished near the top? Is it because they are pushing for this?
Not a single source has been quoted here, people are taking rumour as fact. If we have a ten team league it will be because the FAI want it.
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