Irish players in Lower Leagues a waste?

**AustinoAsprilla** · 24/01/2006, 3:24 PM

Cork supposedly aren’t going to make any signings from below the championship in England as they don’t feel they could improve the team. This reminds me of an opinion I’ve had for a while that Irish players should not be playing in the lower leagues of England and what are their motivations for playing there and not the EL. Surely a chance of a couple of games in europe is more of a reward then hoping for an FA cup tie against a big team. Surely players like Mark Kinsella and a whole host of youngsters would be better off plying their trade in Ireland. If it’s a big move or international recognition they’re after, Doyle, Weso and Daryl Murphy proved a lot this year in regards to recognition...

**pete** · 24/01/2006, 4:02 PM

Reason for playing in lower leagues - Money & currently better chance of progression to bigger club. The value for money for quality eL players has been vastly overlooked by english clubs.

A lot of scandanavian players move back to their homeland for last couple of years of their careers so can get into coaching or move into other areas. e.g. Larsson next summer, Repka leaving West ham to return home. This is virtually unheard of amoung irish international players.

**A face** · 24/01/2006, 4:13 PM

Originally Posted by pete

This is virtually unheard of amoung irish international players.

Is there an industry here to sustain it though ??

**finlma** · 24/01/2006, 4:19 PM

Money is the main reason. I know Michael Reddy is getting more money at Grimsby in League 2 than he would if he came back to play in Ireland.

He's getting a good bit of recognition too and some Championship clubs are showing an interest.

**pete** · 24/01/2006, 4:29 PM

Shels would probably pay better than a lot of average Championship clubs but thats not sustainable.

**AustinoAsprilla** · 24/01/2006, 4:56 PM

I would have thought the better players in the EL would be on better money then most of the players in league one. And essentially if Kinsella or Reddy or even players like 'Dave Savage' had moved back they would be considered the better players of the league.

**Rory H** · 24/01/2006, 5:03 PM

Originally Posted by AustinoAsprilla

Cork supposedly aren�t going to make any signings from below the championship in England as they don�t feel they could improve the team. This reminds me of an opinion I�ve had for a while that Irish players should not be playing in the lower leagues of England and what are their motivations for playing there and not the EL. Surely a chance of a couple of games in europe is more of a reward then hoping for an FA cup tie against a big team. Surely players like Mark Kinsella and a whole host of youngsters would be better off plying their trade in Ireland. If it�s a big move or international recognition they�re after, Doyle, Weso and Daryl Murphy proved a lot this year in regards to recognition...

just because cork dont do it it doesnt mean the rest of us dont[we signed 2 so far for championship and league 1]

**AustinoAsprilla** · 24/01/2006, 5:16 PM

Yeah, but Sligo aren't in Europe and don't look like challenging for the league just yet this year. When you are champions or challenging (sniff, sniff, the memories) it is your responsibility to push on and represent the league in europe to the best of your talents. But Cork won't be good enough next season in Europe unless they bring in the 3 or 4 players that become available to the winners, with the CL carrot to dangle in front of the quality players Im hoping for. Sligo, Pats and the likes should be doing their best in bring in such quality but the better players will only be available to the likes of Cork, Shels and maybe Derry for next season. As laughable as the link of "Poborsky to Cork" was, players like him wounldn't be linked to the weaker teams in the league so therefore is it not the responsibilty of Cork et al to improve the league substancially?

**ThatGuy** · 24/01/2006, 11:41 PM

I think that's just talk from Cork trying to hype up the league here. Though fair play to them.

The reality is that most/all players that return home from England can't hack it there. This is not always down to a lack of ability though, it could be purely circumstantial. It is difficult playing in a foreign league etc.

Kevin Hunt and Glen Crowe are probably two of the best players to have ever played here, certainly in recent years anyway, and both were "rejects" from England. In saying that I don't doubt that there ability surpasses many in England.

**A face** · 25/01/2006, 12:13 AM

Originally Posted by ThatGuy

The reality is that most/all players that return home from England can't hack it there. This is not always down to a lack of ability though, it could be purely circumstantial. It is difficult playing in a foreign league etc.

Cant hack it .... i dunno about that at all, alot of guys are brought over to English clubs because they can, i.e. Don Givens and Co. sell them on for a song and the English club doesn't turn them down, but they dont feature in the clubs plans, they are surplus. I have heard of a fair few of those stories, (another reason why if players cost a decent price, they would be treated better) but its also player brought in, manager changes and then dont feature under new manager. Alot of players dont see 'success' but not through and fault of their own (or lack of ability) its just the luck of the draw.

The 'Poborsky' thing was a p�ss take that alot of people fell for, papers included (lazy hacks

) but i agree with AustinoAsprilla, players that are good enough should see that the league is viable to play in. Its the powers that be in running this league need to effect change to highlight its attractiveness to potential 'higher profile' players, the thing is though, you have guys like Pat Devlin whooring players all over the place with no regard at all for the merits of the league, that doesn't exactly help things either. I mean that guy’s actions are akin to fill up slave ships and sailing them off to market across the water for 30 pieces of silver.

**bigmac** · 25/01/2006, 2:45 PM

the older players are probably very settled in UK by now though, and it's a lot easier to drive down the road for a league 2 game and be home to your famiily that evening than to relocate your whole family to ireland just for a year or two of playing EL football.
In saying that, I think that young players who are released from the top clubs should be more inclined to come back - hopefully the transfers of players recently will show that it might be a better option than dropping down a division or three.

**AustinoAsprilla** · 25/01/2006, 3:29 PM

True, they might have young families settled down, but the appeal of moving home to be with the rest of their family etc and bringing up their children at 'home' should mean a greater number of players should have returned in recent years to the EL. The likes of Liam O'Brien, Farrelly and David Kelly (briefly) were great for the league in my opinion, but I just feel more of the same calibre should have returned rather than play in the lower English leagues.