Quoteyes, a season long of enduring the "10-0 to the refugees" chant. They scored the first one while Ian Gilzean was off getting treatment, think that was what breached the hull .. before we sankOriginally Posted by ColinR
We don't.
Bohs semi-do. Depends on the player I guess, some have one some don't!
God
yes, a season long of enduring the "10-0 to the refugees" chant. They scored the first one while Ian Gilzean was off getting treatment, think that was what breached the hull .. before we sank
Didn't you and Pats used to have them but then reverted back to not having them?
Derry have them, don't they?
Have Boot Disk, will travel
Pat's humilliated by Zimbru
Bohs thrashed by Rosenborg
Shels clobbered by Steau
Whats the common denominator...
Colin Hawkins
FACT.
The guy who scored the winner in that game must definitely hold the record for the fattest player ever to score in any stage of the Champions League
I'm what? I'm ants at a picnic?
Go and check out how much co-efficent we have got this season and last season and compare it to 3 years ago you muppet
Steady now.....
Yep, I'd noticed that - he's dangerous at the back!
What the hell, I'm off work tomorrow and up all night so here goes (again):
I think the bottom line here is that the clubs need to become professional OFF the pitch before what happens on the pitch can be taken seriously by the great unwashed, who will always take the easier option of watching a well-produced, glossy TV version of football above the match-going experience. It's like trying to sell bowls of locally-produced wheat germ to people who devour Coco Pops, or a plate of salad and beans to a die-hard Burger Monster. It's a hard sell. Let's face it: people watch Big Brother and ignore their neighbours!
While the advent of full-time football offers a veneer of professionalism to the game here, the simple fact is that most clubs are run very badly. Players' contracts are a legal and tax-compliant minefield, budgets are largely works of fiction, while the vast majority of clubs operate on a season-by-season, survival-at-best path and far too much optimism rather than savvy. There's no future in that; just Groundhog Day every season. We need to begin development at a grassroots and fundamental level.
First off, get kids in and coach them properly: if you can produce your own talent you're not relying on over-paid cynics rejected by English or more far-flung clubs at an early age.
Then, work to realistic budgets and achieveable 5-to-10-year development plans. Spend whatever can be afforded on improving facilities and developing marketing ploys above anything else that costs money, including players but not excluding the development of young players. Make your games events. Develop strategies.
If anything, all that's not sexy; it's hard work. But going to football isn't sexy (even the Almighty Premiership is full of crap teams and fat-******* fans in replica shirts paying ridiculous money to watch what's almost always mundane football), it's the TV image of football that looks sexy, and that image is purely for a massive TV audience that's there to be sucked in to buy cans of Coke, rubbish beer, belly-busting pizzas, the latest mobile phones and Playstation consoles.
I've been to football in many countries, and the way clubs thrive or survive is by encouraging locals to identify with them, giving them a club that they feel is worth supporting, with a hardcore fanbase that provides a focus for the (more sedate) rest of the crowd.
Our clubs need to study how football works in similar-sized countries rather than hopelesly trying to compete with Real Madrid, Man U, Milan, etc. It's the cornershop against the multi-national and there can only be one winner in that kind of battle.
Research, analyse, develop. And stop whinging. Nobody outside the committed care so we need to get our thinking caps on and throw away our blinkers. We know going to EL is a great experience but it needs to improve on all levels in order to attract outside interest.
Oh, and BTW: Pat's were a better side than Zimbru - but Zimbru were smarter. I was at the first leg and it was an astonishing result that hinged on the injury to Gilzean and the by-passing of midfield to release two nippy strikers against a hesitant and unsure back three that did include Colin Hawkins.
But it proved the bottom line that we aren't making the most of our players because the coaching is rubbish. That has to change. And from an early age, when learning is fun rather than hard work and adaptibility is interesting rather than fearful.
Top post above and the gaurdian article was also spot on. Clubs in this country have to be a lot smarter. You have to plan ahead and not just spend whatever money you have willy nilly. I think you'll find that that's the reason Pat Dolan got the boot from CCFC at the start of the season. Success just can't be bought unless you have a bottomless pit of money like Chelsea do. Football is a business and smart people run busness', people that are severly lacking in the EL. Dumb a$$es running a lot of clubs.
Thanks Vitruvian Man! I've been carrying around the pain of that Zimbru result for years but it all makes sense now. I can finally let go now that I know a big-nosed Galwegian freak was to blame. He's like the Stonecutters - everytime anything bad happens in Irish football he's always lurking around pulling the strings. Has anyone else noticed that Doncaster Rovers had a terrible European record while he was there!
On a related point, can anyone confirm Trevor Molloy's involvement in this sinister conspiracy, seeing as he was involved in both Pats-Zimbru and Shels-Hibernians games...?
SIGNATURESCOPE
He was also involved when Bohs were beaten by Halmstad.
Have Boot Disk, will travel
[QUOTE=Billy Lord]Oh, and BTW: Pat's were a better side than Zimbru - but Zimbru were smarter. I was at the first leg and it was an astonishing result that hinged on the injury to Gilzean and the by-passing of midfield to release two nippy strikers against a hesitant and unsure back three that did include Colin Hawkins.[/QUOTE)
Pats were indeed the better side for the first twenty minutes of that game, even hit the post. Once the first goal went in however we just caved. What really let us down was the preparation for that game. I think the players had only been back training for something like a week, and Paul Osam admitted after the game that he was injured to such an extent that he shouldn't have started. That was amatuerish in the extreme and of course we were found out. Liam Buckley, and to a lesser extent Pat Dolan must carry the can for that. The previous year when we played Celtic and did quite well seemed to have lulled people into a false sense of security, and they thought we just had to turn up to win. Actually I think that defeat acted as a wakeup call to clubs here. Whatever people say there has been a steady improvement in results that can be traced back to that result (with some notable exceptions of course) It's no surprise that teams going full time and switching seasons has meant our teams are in better shape to take on these games. The Cork performance the other night was probably the best I've ever seen by an Irish team at this level. This was no plucky backs to the wall effort a la Pats at Parkhead. Cork were much the better side, against the Swedish league leaders, and the only thing lacking was the goals to prove it. I'd love to see them make the group stages.
I'm drunk, but must reply: Pat's played five across the middle in a game where Zimbru by-passed midfield by playing long diagonal balls to their front two, who zipped all over the final third and split Pat's back three. Pat's failed to cope with that and, as a result, looked like conceding every time Zimbru had the ball.
The fact that Bucko played a six-man midfield in the away leg (with Molloy on his own up front) only opened up a congested Pat's even more and showed the naivety of Irish football. That's how a better side loses 10-0 to inferior opposition. Fitness is one thing, but organisation is they key to development and genuine progress. We have to learn to play football.
It's much easier to defend against superior opposition that to successfully attack inferior sides.
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