LOI in Europe 2023

[ger121]

KA not impressed with Oriel - a pigsty with an awful pitch apparently.

They probably have a point too.

https://www.balls.ie/football/a-shoc...-pigsty-566322

Geysir will probably be on to correct me, but nearly sure KA play or did play in the same stadium as Thor. It was a Kip. The Oriel of Iceland. Bit rich coming from them if their own ground is not up to much.

[Nesta99]

No excuses? What's he excusing them from? they won - or maybe it just hasnt quite sunk in that they have progressed, the drilled default answers of a team expecting to lose.

The dressing rooms under the stand are fantastically awful, good old fashioned discomfort for visitors (that are commonplace for the home side), not that long ago there werent even showerheads in the showers, just a pipe to stand under.....there has been progress in that regard so never let it be said the place is never upgraded! Never cared what anyone said about the pitch until the recent O'Donnell comments.

[Yossarian]

Geysir will probably be on to correct me, but nearly sure KA play or did play in the same stadium as Thor. It was a Kip. The Oriel of Iceland. Bit rich coming from them if their own ground is not up to much.

While there is no doubt Oriel is in a terrible state, it’s a bit rich the criticism coming from KA when they couldn’t host any European games in their own ground and had to travel 5 hours to Reykjavik. I dread to think what their home ground is like.

[ger121]

While there is no doubt Oriel is in a terrible state, it’s a bit rich the criticism coming from KA when they couldn’t host any European games in their own ground and had to travel 5 hours to Reykjavik. I dread to think what their home ground is like.

Oh it is a bit rich. I was in the ground in 2012 and it is amazing it got permission to host a European game.

[geysir]

Geysir will probably be on to correct me, but nearly sure KA play or did play in the same stadium as Thor. It was a Kip. The Oriel of Iceland. Bit rich coming from them if their own ground is not up to much.

Yes I will correct you. Thor a mid table 2nd div club (did I ever mention they hammered Bohs 5-1), their football grounds are basic, open seating for a few hundred, but showers/dressing room are clean, appropriate and definitely fungus free. Thor are a multi multi sports club, their indoor facilities are thoroughly modern, complete with indoor pitch. It was their handball team that merged with KA. KA football team play in midtown, their ‘stadium‘ is much bigger, although about 50 years more modern than Oriel, it is being totally rebuilt and that's why KA's euro games were moved to Reykjavik.

It is not just the danger of picking up diseases in Oriel pk, there is also the threat of aquiring brain/nerve damage on the pitch. Dundalk’s primitive football is a potential heath hazard.
One local sports journalist noted that a KA central defender had to head the ball out over 40 times.

[geysir]

Football in Iceland isn't always a bed of roses, sometimes the basic subs bench is not for the faint hearted, no one ever expects the sudden onslaught of the arctic blizzard!!

[pateen]

KA not impressed with Oriel - a pigsty with an awful pitch apparently.

They probably have a point too.

https://www.balls.ie/football/a-shoc...-pigsty-566322

Screw Balls.ie.
They don't give two hoots about the League of Ireland.
Not one report this week on Euro games and never any match previews or results

All they're interested in is bad news stories like crowd trouble or the one above for the league.

Complete tat news stories like 'Watch Roy Keanes reaction to ... '
Lowest intellect of sports journalism on line. Don't fall for their click bait or ****e for that matter.

[joey B]

Screw Balls.ie.
They don't give two hoots about the League of Ireland.
Not one report this week on Euro games and never any match previews or results

All they're interested in is bad news stories like crowd trouble or the one above for the league.

Complete tat news stories like 'Watch Roy Keanes reaction to ... '
Lowest intellect of sports journalism on line. Don't fall for their click bait or ****e for that matter.

All of this,utter pish that site.....

[pateen]

Balls.ie gave St Pats' unusual goal in Europe plenty of highlights.
Miked the Bradley story down at Cork when he was targeted by 3 supporters about his son.

If anything, Balls.ie does its best to run down the league beyond normality. Absolutely pathetic

[MichaelCherrito]

For those of you crazy enough to watch an extra 90 minutes of Sunday football, follow the link to watch Tobol’s home game against FC Kaysar. It’s live and free. You only need to sign up.

https://onefootball.com/en/match/2363414

[Philosophizer]

The talented winger who played for Midtylland youths against Bohs a few years ago is about to sign for Lazio for 17m.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Lazio are set to sign top talented winger Gustav Isaksen, here we go! Deal being sealed with Midtjylland around €17m package ??? <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Lazio?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Lazio</a><br><br>Medical tests booked on Monday and one more signing after Daichi Kamada. <a href="https://t.co/zR6HjYtpXP">pic.twitter.com/zR6HjYtpXP</a></p>&mdash; Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) <a href="https://twitter.com/FabrizioRomano/status/1687866611280269312?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 5, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[CorribsideSteve]

What is actually needed to bring Oriel Park into the 20th Century? There is a 99 year lease, but what does that mean practically? Is the only benefit of that nominal rent? Do Dundalk have to wait on the whim or wish of the leaser to do anything worthwhile to the ground, as it appears that they have very little say as things stand.

Edit: 21st Century (honest mistake)

[Nesta99]

What is actually needed to bring Oriel Park into the 20th Century? There is a 99 year lease, but what does that mean practically? Is the only benefit of that nominal rent? Do Dundalk have to wait on the whim or wish of the leaser to do anything worthwhile to the ground, as it appears that they have very little say as things stand.

Edit: 21st Century (honest mistake)

A wrecking ball!


The lease isnt a major issue and the Casey Trust wouldnt obstruct ground development. Aside from funding, planning could be a massive hurdle to overcome. In particular traffic management issues on match night and potential limitations on attendances. Oriel is exempt from certain requirements for such facilities due to the length of time its there basically. Build 'New' Oriel and exemptions no longer stand so the impact of a new development is open to all the rigours, rejections, objections and appeals of the planning system. Parking and traffic are an issue though the change in attitude toward this may be of benefit. Some people in the area would object to a library being built for too much noise so there would be a battle on some level. All that said, the sooner plans are submitted the sooner these issues can be faced up to. We are also heading in to a period where the national purse strings have been loosened and there is less outrage at funding non essential projects - that wont last forever, Euro finals application is another reason to get going with plans immediately and be part of that 'legacy'. with some creative thinking a new build could tap in to the carbon neutral buzz, an interested FAI etc. Should not let another ship sail on this!

[DCWA]

For those of you crazy enough to watch an extra 90 minutes of Sunday football, follow the link to watch Tobol’s home game against FC Kaysar. It’s live and free. You only need to sign up.

https://onefootball.com/en/match/2363414

Watched this game. Standard certainly wouldn’t fill you with dread but looks like they changed the entire starting XI from the Basel game so quite probably none the wiser.

[DCSIL]

Screw Balls.ie.
They don't give two hoots about the League of Ireland.
Not one report this week on Euro games and never any match previews or results.

Balls.ie is a Celtic Blog.

Up there with Dublin Live and their group of clickbait web****es.

[ger121]

Watched this game. Standard certainly wouldn’t fill you with dread but looks like they changed the entire starting XI from the Basel game so quite probably none the wiser.

Lost 2 nil at home to the 7th place side. Are 6th in the table and their form is very up and down. As I said before it is one of the better teams to draw at this stage of qualifying. Due to be 22c at KO so even heat won’t be too much of a factor.

[CorribsideSteve]

A wrecking ball!


The lease isnt a major issue and the Casey Trust wouldnt obstruct ground development. Aside from funding, planning could be a massive hurdle to overcome. In particular traffic management issues on match night and potential limitations on attendances. Oriel is exempt from certain requirements for such facilities due to the length of time its there basically. Build 'New' Oriel and exemptions no longer stand so the impact of a new development is open to all the rigours, rejections, objections and appeals of the planning system. Parking and traffic are an issue though the change in attitude toward this may be of benefit. Some people in the area would object to a library being built for too much noise so there would be a battle on some level. All that said, the sooner plans are submitted the sooner these issues can be faced up to. We are also heading in to a period where the national purse strings have been loosened and there is less outrage at funding non essential projects - that wont last forever, Euro finals application is another reason to get going with plans immediately and be part of that 'legacy'. with some creative thinking a new build could tap in to the carbon neutral buzz, an interested FAI etc. Should not let another ship sail on this!

Hopefully something can be done over the next decade or three then. I've watched Tolka Park turn from a vibrant 4 sided ground to one that's half open/half condemned in just 20 years, and it'd be a shame to see Oriel head that way.

[DCWA]

Lost 2 nil at home to the 7th place side. Are 6th in the table and their form is very up and down. As I said before it is one of the better teams to draw at this stage of qualifying. Due to be 22c at KO so even heat won’t be too much of a factor.

I assumed it would be basically baking out there in mid August but today’s game was delayed by 50 mins due to torrential rain. Has to be said their pitch was in pretty horrendous condition so will be interesting to see what it is like come Thursday.

[thischarmingman]

If Derry go through, they'll play one of:

1: KAA Gent (BEL) / MKS Pogo Szczecin (POL)
2: Aris Thessaloniki FC (GRE) / FC Dynamo Kyiv (UKR)
3: LOSC Lille (FRA)
4: FC Viktoria Plze (CZE) / Gzira United FC (MLT)

[Philosophizer]

If Derry go through, they'll play one of:

1: KAA Gent (BEL) / MKS Pogo Szczecin (POL)
2: Aris Thessaloniki FC (GRE) / FC Dynamo Kyiv (UKR)
3: LOSC Lille (FRA)
4: FC Viktoria Plze (CZE) / Gzira United FC (MLT)

Lille would be very tough - could be a hammering.
Most of those teams (apart from Gzira) are a good step above our league, but that’s what happens when you progress in Europe. There is some hope though. Linfield scored a few against that Polish side and in recent years LOI sides performed admirably against Greek and Czech opposition.
Anyway, let’s try get past the Kazakhs first.