Where to now?

[geezer]

it was on waterford local radio that they have got the results already of their application to the new premier before everyone else and that they are in the premier next year regardless, wonder has it anything to do with the now ceo of the fai being from there and the former president of the fai. from utd point of view maybe another year is what we need in the 1st you couldnt fault the effort of the last half of the season. good news on the new stand front is that its nearly ready to go and will be better than the original plans,
next year hopefully we will canter the division. gutted today though

[JC_GUFC]

I wouldn't be so pessimistic geezer. Only 50% of criteria are based on league tables and only 50% of that on this year. Had we won the playoff we'd have been ranked 11th this season as it is we'll be ranked 13th - I think it was only 20 points out of 1000.

Waterford were not in danger of going down anyway. Realistically it's between ourselves, Dundalk, Bray and UCD for 2 places in the Premier.
I'd be confident that we'll be ranked higher than Dundalk regardless if they win the playoff or not.

It's a pity we didn't get up on the pitch but we picked up 16 points more than last season and got as many points as Sligo did last season so it's hard to fault anyone.

[eamo1]

about that "goal" that harps got earlier in the season to deny us all 3 points.we have been screwed by refs in recent times and it could end up costing us our place in the premier league.like that playoff final vrs drogs-if that goal had been allowed and we had won we would have went up.yes we would probably have come straight back down but we would have more "on the field" IAG points then we do now and might be over the line as reguards going up.also as i said that pi** poor decision by the ref at the harps game which cost us 2 points-this isnt me just moaning because these are facts that im pointing out.so as i said sooooooo frustrating if we dont go up because it was poor ref decisions that might cost us.i know every team gets decisions going against them but weve had 2 huge ones which could be so costly.

[Terry]

it is a pity about the rough start we had, the amount of games we ended up drawing instead of going looking for the killer goals..etc,etc,etc but the main thing is that we still only finished 3rd in the first division. Do we deserve to go up? IMO no. Would we be good enough in the premier next season wih our current squad? IMO no. As someone else said maybe one more year in the first, and win it outright this time wouldnt be all that bad?

[geezer]

show me a league in europe that doesnt reward a team finishing 3rd with at least a play off spot in loads of cases outright promotion. anyone finishing 3rd in my opinion in a marathon like we have been thru is essential in a successful league. the fai/league policy of trying to protect a core group of clubs from being demoted has not worked in the past and wont work in the new fancy league. a fluid system of promotion and relegation is good for crowds and good enough for all the other leagues in europe.

[Terry]

The scottish league would be one of the top of my head, along with the north, wales, .... and Im sure there is plenty more leagues that are playing at our level of football too, as there is no point in comparing our league to the ones in the larger countries as they have a huge amount of teams playing in them.

[GUISAUltra]

the biggest question for us now, is can we keep the majority of the team that we have now. if we can keep the main nucleus of the team and sign conor gethins properly i could easily see us beating our points total this year and wining the league. to sign conor gethins permanently and keep tony cousins have to be our main priorities.

[JW.]

The clubs almost unanimously agreed for the new set-up and they all knew that it was 50-50 on- and off-field after that. Off the pitch is exceptionally important and we've effectively led the way in this regard in recent seasons - in the entire league. We're doing a small bit now for a long-term future, rather than a lot now for a short-term future. We deserve our place in the new league accordingly.

[GUISAUltra]

i dunno about the new league now. saturday everyone was buzzing with the hope that we were going up but now with dundalk getting the 3 points and secod place, i dont think we deserve to go up

[JW.]

Because it's based 50-50 on off-the-field and on-the-field criteria, and because the clubs agreed that this would be the case, we deserve our place in the new league (it's not a case therefore of 'going up' in my view).

[gufct]

Dundalk know they are not going up as there four year record has them in 15th place and they have still some financial and infrastructure problems to sort out .

[Conor H]

Agree but who'll be shafted for us?it's a toss up between UCD and Bray.For the league to move forward it can't have 6 teams from Dublin.4,5 top is adaquete.However UCD will go ape **** if they're removed.I'd say Bray would be more likely to get the chop really but technically they're not from Dublin.....even though we all know they're just as good as.I don't like the way Wahurford are so **** sure of themselves.Why do they know they're in it and nobody else does?

[jebus]

I reckon the FAI will keep the eleven Premier clubs already in place and add Rovers into the mix and that will be that. Really only Rovers have a right to say that they deserve to be in the Premier next year, and only Dundalk can have a grievence with this year's set up given that in years past their playoff with Waterford would have decided if they got up or not.

I think Rovers winning the league has given the FAI a get out clause of the shamble they created this year regarding promotion and relelgation. I thought all along that the FAI would prmote two teams max, and that Rovers would be promoted next year regardless of where they finished, and also that the FAI would have promoted Galway/Dundalk had they won the league, but only if they won the league. Since neither did I think ye'll be still in the First Division come next season, and to be honest any football fan on here would agree have to agree that a team finishing third doesn't deserve to be promoted on the basis of Galway being a bigger place than Bray

[sconn]

i wonder would dundalks plastic pitch have any affect on the basis on if they should go up or not???id say we have a slight chance of been picked

[eamo1]

Jebus and others:its not just based on this seasons placings in the leagues,its 50% on the placings over the last few seasons,not just the one just finished.its a unique situation this season and normally third wouldnt be good enough.so please try and remember that its not just this seasons results that count because this seasons are just added together with the last 4,ok???????
Fellow g.u fans:so according to the offical site we are outside the top 12 for on the field stuff but surely we are well inside it for off-the-field and that will more then make up for the on-the-field points total,yes???

[Patrick Dunne]

If it was solely down to the IAG, I would be confident that GUFC will be
in the top flight next season. However, in reality the FAI will pick the clubs,
which means whatever top twelve is politically expedient at the time will be selected.

[Tir Oilean]

If we go up on the criteria then we deservse it full stop I'm sick of of the attitude we dont deserve it if we don't do it on the pitch. It was agreed by all the clubs to live by the sword die by the sword so to speak. So take the decision on the chin. Its a popular thought that we'll attract more people winning in 1st division than losin in the premier. I think this is true but also think we'd have the ability to attract the players to stay up there too!

[jebus]

If we go up on the criteria then we deservse it full stop I'm sick of of the attitude we dont deserve it if we don't do it on the pitch.

This is why the Eircom League is a joke, someone said earlier that it's a joke that a team that finished third doesn't qualify for a play-off (this stupid statement has been dealt with by Terry I believe) but any league that puts teams up on whether or not they could be a big club is a joke in my opinion. By that statement Wigan, Blackburn, Reading, and Sheff Utd would be chucked out of the English Premiership in favour of Leeds, Birmingham, Sheff Wed and Notts Forest for no reason other than they are bigger clubs. And we wonder why non Eircom League fans think we are a pack of jokers? Truth is Galway finished outside of the top two and so do not deserve to go up, end of story

[Conor H]

This is why the Eircom League is a joke, someone said earlier that it's a joke that a team that finished third doesn't qualify for a play-off (this stupid statement has been dealt with by Terry I believe) but any league that puts teams up on whether or not they could be a big club is a joke in my opinion. By that statement Wigan, Blackburn, Reading, and Sheff Utd would be chucked out of the English Premiership in favour of Leeds, Birmingham, Sheff Wed and Notts Forest for no reason other than they are bigger clubs. And we wonder why non Eircom League fans think we are a pack of jokers? Truth is Galway finished outside of the top two and so do not deserve to go up, end of story

Why is that the truth?50% is for the off the field criteria.What i don't get is why people keep saying yee finished 3rd therefore yee don't deserve to go up.Any other year-yes.BUT it operates differently this year Jebus as you well know so don't come on here saying we don't deserve to go up.If we go up we won't make any apologies to anyone especially considering we'll probably get awarded an A license and half the premier clubs will fail.Also our squad is just as good as Rovers and we would definitely add a few players to compete strongly next year.

[Terry]

I understand where jebus is coming from, put as ConorH is saying this year means nothing about where we or anybody else for that matter finishes because of this screwed up system in place by the FAI.

We could have finished last in the first, but going on the points system we would still have a chance of going up. I know its not right but that is how its going to be and we have to live with it.