The Premier League has changed out of all recognition even over the last 10-15 years, let alone from what it started as three decades ago.
To what extent is the current lack of Irish participation in the PL down to our inability to produce players of a high quality, and to what extent is it a consequence of the standard of that league having improved to the degree that we, as a football nation, have simply been left behind by it?
Obviously both factors contribute to the outcome, but I believe the latter point to be much the more dominant reason.
The PL has been flooded with a tsunami of foreign capital, often from highly questionable sources (all absolutely fine, of course, so long as it's not Russian), to the point where medium-sized clubs like Man City and Newcastle are now two of the wealthiest in world football. It's completely crazy and something, as someone who grew up enamoured with the English game, I find unseemly and extremely alienating.
How much all of this damages the fortunes of the Ireland team is open to interpretation, but Roddy Collins suggests in the article linked below that it doesn't matter all that much, that blaming a lack of PL players is an 'excuse', that the Championship is of a high enough standard in itself, and that Mick McCarthy and Kevin Moran, for two, would not be up to playing in England's top tier today.
https://www.buzz.ie/sport/stephen-ke...mpact-27281274
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