Top 12

[Conor H]

sorry if i touched a nerve conor H, and im not an idiot im intitled to my opinion. ya galway do get results but they arnt playing very good football. the game last week was shocking and ye got a few lucky breaks to beat a weakened ramblers side as the tg4 cameras showed. galway had very good teams before, but a few wins against ramblers and rovers doesnt make ya as good as some of ye galway supporters think.

Never called you an idiot.I'm aware a few wins over Rovers and yourselves don't make us a very good team.But 25 out of 30 points means we beat more than a few of teams.Whatever you say you can't argue that's the sign of a good team.i've watched most UTD games this year.Up until we got knocked out of the Cup we were playing awaful football.Ironically our run of good results and good football started against Cobh.

[CollegeTillIDie]

Ack, I can't see the league losing 3 members this winter, maybe one or two but not 3!

Anyway, my ideal premier would be:

Harps, Derry, Sligo, Shels,
Bohs, Shamrock Rovers, Longford, Waterford,
Cork, UCD, St Pats, Drogheda,
Dundalk, Galway, Bray, Athlone.

Yes, that's 16 rather than 12, but it's what I'd like to see. I left Limerick out as they're in a bit of a mess at the minute, jumped Athlone over Cobh because of their new ground which is probably harsh.

I like the 16 team top Division Idea. It's League football in it's purest sense.
Two rounds home and away 30 games ideal. I'd even find 18 teams and 34 games acceptable. Decent Leagues like Serie A and Primera Liga have had these numbers in the recent past.

Brings me back wistfully to 1984/85 last time we had one . Incidentally the 16 clubs in the League at the time were
Athlone Town,Bohemians, Cork City, Drogheda United, Dundalk, Finn Harps, Galway United, Home Farm, Limerick City, Longford Town, Shamrock Rovers, St.Patrick's Athletic, Shelbourne, Sligo Rovers, U.C.D., Waterford United.

But we have moved on from there. If the FAI can find four or six more clubs to join the EL and make a decent sized First Division.

Cork City could in a worst case scenario disappear; Shelbourne could also in a worst case scenario disapper; and Limerick are currently teetering on the brink.

[Schumi]

I like the 16 team top Division Idea. It's League football in it's purest sense.
Two rounds home and away 30 games ideal. I'd even find 18 teams and 34 games acceptable. Decent Leagues like Serie A and Primera Liga have had these numbers in the recent past.

Ideally I'd agree but I don't think there's enough quality in the league to have a premier division that big. No offense intended but the fourth team in the first division (16th overall) would likely get hammered regularly by the top teams.

[depor]

Never called you an idiot.I'm aware a few wins over Rovers and yourselves don't make us a very good team.But 25 out of 30 points means we beat more than a few of teams.Whatever you say you can't argue that's the sign of a good team.i've watched most UTD games this year.Up until we got knocked out of the Cup we were playing awaful football.Ironically our run of good results and good football started against Cobh.

agreed. ya ye went on a run after beating us in galway, and i think the same happened dundalk we beat them 3-1 in cobh and then they went unbeaten for 20 or something.

[CollegeTillIDie]

Ideally I'd agree but I don't think there's enough quality in the league to have a premier division that big. No offense intended but the fourth team in the first division (16th overall) would likely get hammered regularly by the top teams.

Maybe we need an all-Ireland League with 16 teams in the Top Division then !

[Poor Student]

I wouldn't be for a 16 team league. There'd be so much meaninglessness between the European spots and relegation. The smaller the league the less clubs that have nothing to fight over in the last third of the season. It's different in top European leagues where European places can extend down to 7th or 8th given the right circumstances.

[CollegeTillIDie]

I wouldn't be for a 16 team league. There'd be so much meaninglessness between the European spots and relegation. The smaller the league the less clubs that have nothing to fight over in the last third of the season. It's different in top European leagues where European places can extend down to 7th or 8th given the right circumstances.

Do you not agree that playing the same teams 5-6 times a season( League and Cups ) becomes boring?

[1 9 2 8]

I like the 16 team top Division Idea. It's League football in it's purest sense.

I like to see the top division with 16 teams too but at the moment their isn't enough clubs in Ireland, maybe in few years when this 3rd tier of Irish football is up and running more clubs will be able to make the step up. But at the moment it's not workable