LOI in Europe 2022

[EatYerGreens]

Three in the 2010's?

Good correction. My brain was saying 2008, 2012 and 2016, when really it was 2012, 2016 and 2020. So the intervening decade is even better than the 2000s, which it's being claimed was the high-water-mark for LOI in Europe.

[Nah Nah Nah Nah]

The problem is that Sligo is a small town of 20,000 people, with no larger town within a two hour radius either. Spending a lot doing up their stadium to a standard required just for Europe wouldn't make much sense, and would be a white elephant really. Especially as qualifying for Europe is still a fairly rare event for Sligo. Surely a better option would be a decent stadium in a much larger place like Galway or Derry that Sligo could access on the very rare occasions that they get to a 3rd round stage in Europe ? 4-5,000 seats is about the max that Sligo could feasibly justify, and they just don;t need loads of car parking, high-end media facilities etc.

We have a plan for stadium development. I’m sure you know about this already. Will satisfy Europe Q3 but also grounds need to be maintained / updated in general.

The best part of when we had our good spell 10 or so years ago is that we have ground improvements to show for it

[pineapple stu]

Merely the two group stage qualifications for the LOI in the 2010s, versus one in the 2000s

You are aware it's a lot easier to qualify for a group stage now?

We were 29th in the UEFA rankings in 2010, had dropped to 43rd four years later, and have been low 30s/high 40s ever since

[legendz]

Surely a better option would be a decent stadium in a much larger place like Galway or Derry that Sligo could access on the very rare occasions that they get to a 3rd round stage in Europe ? 4-5,000 seats is about the max that Sligo could feasibly justify, and they just don;t need loads of car parking, high-end media facilities etc.

https://www.connachtrugby.ie/connach...-sportsground/
"The the capacity will be in the region of 12,000 spectators."
"The facilities will also be made available to other sporting bodies and community groups where such demand arises."
I haven't seen any detail on the seating capacity. Hopefully the Sportsground redevelopment will suit any Connacht team qualifying for the UEFA group stages.

[EatYerGreens]

You are aware it's a lot easier to qualify for a group stage now?

We were 29th in the UEFA rankings in 2010, had dropped to 43rd four years later, and have been low 30s/high 40s ever since

You are aware that European club football is much more compeititve now than it was even just a decade ago - with previous whipping-boy category clubs and leagues now significantly reduced in number ?

Was it easier to qualify for the group stages in 2012 than it was in 2010 btw ?

You seem to have adopted a position that Irish clubs are worse in Europe now than they were a decade-plus ago, and will defend it to the hilt no matter what the results suggest. The rankings are important but cover a 5yr period, so are slow at reflecting changes in fortune. Let's see where the league finishes up at the end of this European campaign, and then compare that to individual years in the 2000s.

[pineapple stu]

I'm happy to hear arguments to the contrary, but when you ignore the fact that Dundalk's most recent Euro qualification wouldn't have happened because (a) they wouldn't have dropped into the EL and (b) the draw they got (Andorra, Moldova, Faroes) was almost uniquely lucky, then it's hard to feel your point has value.

Similarly, Drogheda might have made the groups in 2008 but transfer to the EL wasn't a thing for them, even after winning a round. Or Rovers can reach the groups this year by beating a Maltese and a North Macedonian team; in 2008, Bohs lost to an Austrian team (narrowly) but had no second (or even third) bite at the cherry.

Like it or not, this impacts on the comparison of Euro performances between the 00s and the 10s, and is why I'd value the rankings - even though not perfect - over the number of times we've achieved something that is now demonstrably easier to achieve.

If lower European teams have caught up on us significantly as you suggest, then that's the same as saying we've gone backwards (relatively speaking).

[Real ale Madrid]

Analysis of the last 20 odd years here. If we could break 2.000 it would be the first time to do that consecutively which would be a milestone of sorts. No doubt our country ranking of 29 back in 2010 stands out. Years are to end of a particular season therefore 2023 is this season ( 2022- 2023 )

[joey B]

https://mobile.twitter.com/stpatsfc/...89627094585348

CSKA/Pats live on the RTÉ news channel on Thursday…..

[pateen]

Is Sligos' game live?

[pineapple stu]

Analysis of the last 20 odd years here. If we could break 2.000 it would be the first time to do that consecutively which would be a milestone of sorts.

I think a qualification there has to be that more chances for the CL side and easier games for the non CL sides are both going to see coefficients rise over time.

(It'd also be nice to see the ranking scaled more usefully than 25-95! )

[Real ale Madrid]

I think a qualification there has to be that more chances for the CL side and easier games for the non CL sides are both going to see coefficients rise over time.

Definitely for the CL teams across the boards - but I'm not sure the non CL teams fixtures are going to be easier than previous years, it will very much depend on seeding.

[Martinho II]

Is Sligos' game live?

Dont think so Pateen unless its on loi tv perhaps?

[A N Mouse]

Analysis of the last 20 odd years here. If we could break 2.000 it would be the first time to do that consecutively which would be a milestone of sorts. No doubt our country ranking of 29 back in 2010 stands out. Years are to end of a particular season therefore 2023 is this season ( 2022- 2023 )

This is nice, thank you.

Can you do requests? If so would it be possible to drop the cumulative and show actual points earned alongside points per year (so number before and after averaging for number of teams).

Also, and this is probably a separate graph. But our cumulative (as bars) with lines tracking 30th and 40th place cumulative values.

[pineapple stu]

Definitely for the CL teams across the boards - but I'm not sure the non CL teams fixtures are going to be easier than previous years, it will very much depend on seeding.

I think it is - no preliminary round and only 60 teams in round 1 as against 94 in the 2019/20 EL.

So that's seven weak teams added and 41 strong ones removed, which can only translate to easier ties. (Except for Pat's this year, who started in round 2, another indication of the relative weakness of round 1)

[Olé Olé]

https://mobile.twitter.com/stpatsfc/...89627094585348

CSKA/Pats live on the RTÉ news channel on Thursday…..

Rte are looking for some form of award for showing the match. It's carried on radio sports news bulletins (Radio One and 2fm), it's rolling on their news channel and Declan McBennett has tweeted about it.

[Real ale Madrid]

I think it is - no preliminary round and only 60 teams in round 1 as against 94 in the 2019/20 EL.

So that's seven weak teams added and 41 strong ones removed, which can only translate to easier ties. (Except for Pat's this year, who started in round 2, another indication of the relative weakness of round 1)

Yes that is correct alright. I'd like to see average co-efficient per round but the first round is absolutely objectively easier as you point out. Still think getting to 2.000 would be a good step forward for the league - our three year average as it stands is over 2 - over 5 years if we could get to approx. 10.000 as a country that would bring us to roughly 33nd place - still 4 off our best ever achieved with a cumulative total of 9.499 (2010) which again shows the relative difficultly of winning ties. I think we are starting to trend towards that type of 32 / 33rd place overall which would be a good start. We ranked 32nd last year and 34th the year before so again shows an upward trend.

[Longfordian]

Rte are looking for some form of award for showing the match. It's carried on radio sports news bulletins (Radio One and 2fm), it's rolling on their news channel and Declan McBennett has tweeted about it.

Nobody ever watches RTE News Now otherwise so they have to make people aware somehow.

[Shinkicker]

Rte are looking for some form of award for showing the match. It's carried on radio sports news bulletins (Radio One and 2fm), it's rolling on their news channel and Declan McBennett has tweeted about it.

LOI isn't good enough for RTE but when you get to Europe the GAA hugging vultures start to circle and suddenly they think LOI is brilliant. We have got by for 2 years with LOI TV albeit we had to pay. As far as I know and I can be corrected the away team get international TV rights and the home team only get national TV rights.

[Real ale Madrid]

(It'd also be nice to see the ranking scaled more usefully than 25-95! )

Only reason I did that was to keep them separate, but on one handy glanceable table!

Plus values are in reversible order as higher = better in most people's brain ( not mine tbf ). In this case the higher up on the secondary axis = lower ranking which from a rankings standpoint is obviously better.

[Real ale Madrid]

This is nice, thank you.

Can you do requests? If so would it be possible to drop the cumulative and show actual points earned alongside points per year (so number before and after averaging for number of teams).

Also, and this is probably a separate graph. But our cumulative (as bars) with lines tracking 30th and 40th place cumulative values.

If you just multiply the Points per year by 4 you get the total. I think people here are more familiar with the average number so put that in.

Also, and this is probably a separate graph. But our cumulative (as bars) with lines tracking 30th and 40th place cumulative values.

I'd have to create a data set with the 30th and 40th team each year - will take a while - I'm not sure what you would get out of it though - average 30th is roughly 11-12 points - 40th is probably 7-8 ish?