ITV Digital collapse good for eL

[Shelsman]

McCarthy said that the ITV collapse was bad for Irish soccer because there would be less players going across the water.

He is wrong. This is good for Irish Soccer -more players will join eL clubs ( both from the youth leagues and coming back from across the water ). The result - a stronger and healthier league:

-> better players
-> more entertainment
-> better results in Europe
-> more crowds
-> more money
-> better facilities
->more money for eL clubs selling players to English clubs rather than the current situation where players leave when they are 16
-> better for the players ( they can stay at home AND finish their Leaving Cert ).

[pete]

Originally posted by Shelsman
McCarthy said that the ITV collapse was bad for Irish soccer because there would be less players going across the water.

It depends on what 'irish soccer' is.

He may think its bad for the international team but then again when has Mick last played a player from the lower english leagues.

Unless the FAI & eL can provide a fulltime professional football career for irish players then it probably will be bad eventually....The next say 5 years will make or break the eL.

[A face]

will have to do something that will retain the young in the system for longer and also provide full time football for the premiere league. This will have to happen soon, hopefully summer soccer or the ten team league will do this (i personaly think the ten team league is bad for the league.)

[eoinh]

when mccarthy talks of irish football the nl doesn't even come into his head. sad but true. hes talking about irish based players in england. don givens has the same attitude but maybe hes more extreme. look at his comments recently aimed at his players when they they didnt perform about getting unfit and ending back in ireland. personally im glad that there were no nl players in the under-21 squad that went to Toulon. maybe their yerrible performances will make him think again. the way forward for the nl is to model ourselves on the norwegian and danish leagues. if they can be relatively successful in club competitions and have domestic players in their national teams then so can we.

[Jaime]

I think the collapse of ITV Digital cannot be anything but good news for the eL, ergardless of the International team. I am not saying I don't care about the international team, but for the moment its a completely different argument. Ideally, the eL and the international team would be part of the same argument.

[Shelsman]

Originally posted by eoinh
personally im glad that there were no nl players in the under-21 squad that went to Toulon. maybe their yerrible performances will make him think again. .

Yes, and if you remember the last Toulon Tournament the two best players out of a crap U21 side were Michael Reddy and Greg O'Halloran.