QuoteI agree. They've dealt with a few challenging situations pretty well.
FAI making progress, future looks bright...
FAI agree IAG process, supporters & media moan about the result but the FAI don't budge.
Dundalk Madman hijacks FAI offices but the FAI ignore him & he goes away.
Licencing process means Limerick can't get 1st division licence. Fans and media request exception, FAI don't budge, rules are rules.
FAI come out publically to back Shamrock Rovers in Tallaght offering partial legal financial backing. I can only because of sensitivity of Croke Park but good decisive move at last.
Move eL matches on tv. New sponsor for the FAI Cup (can't be any worse than Carlsberg). 1 million plus eL prize fund.
Must say its easy to criticise the FAI but recent signs show good progress & while most people will have concerns seems to be a lot more interest in the league from Merrion Square.
I agree. They've dealt with a few challenging situations pretty well.
No one expects the FAI to actually budge, that's hardly a sign of progress or success. The media criticism of the IAG process is not about how it was implemented as such but more to do with the process in itself being needless nonsense. The FAI committed themselves and the clubs to a bizarre process and now have to face the music. The increased prize fund also comes on the back of increased entry fees and won't benefit very many clubs. More eL matches on TV is as much to do with the initiative of the TV channels, Setanta particularly. There's been no details of the cup sponsorship so we don't know if it's actually any improvement.
How can you praise them for ignoring Maxi? Did you expect them to add Dundalk to a 13 team Premier and send him on his merry way?
Bizarre? Anything but I would say. You clearly misunderstand the background to the merger.Originally Posted by Poor Student
Clubs (by this I mean the majority) have failed miserably to organise a sustainable domestic league amongst themselves (under their previous self-management), they saw they writing on the wall and handed it over to the FAI to see if they can do any better.
Your UCD-centric view of the world seems to be purely based on the fact your own club is well-run, ergo the League has nothing to worry about.
The increase is partly due to the increase in fees, but also due to the FAI investing their own cash, and as for rewarding success with more money, I really struggle to see this as a problem.Who negotiated the deals?
I'm reserving judgement on the FAI for at least a year or two, but to argue that we should have continued with the status quo is frankly mindblowing.
I don't think I've seen anything like it except in places like Australia where they ripped up clubs and all in the process. We've had neither a radical change nor something normal, the end result is one club fast tracked over another. I absolutely commend Galway on being well run but they should have earned their right to contend in the Premier on the pitch. The basic licencing should be enough to decide whatever off the field matters must be dealt with. If it didn't work then fix it rather than coming up with the bizarre formula that isn't washing with the media.
That's a very simplified view of the process. The FAI made the overtures as far as I remember. Some clubs wanted the radical change to benefit themselves as they believed it would rid the league of clubs with low attendances and replace them with larger supported clubs. Jim Roddy told me as such. These are also the clubs who would actually significantly benefit from the increased prize fund. Some clubs grabbed it as they felt it gave them a better chance of being in the Premier next season than they would on the pitch and others felt intimidated into doing so for fear of being the only ones to object and being left out in the cold, particularly at a time when some of these clubs were on the verge of securing grants. It's nowhere near as black and white as the situation above.Clubs (by this I mean the majority) have failed miserably to organise a sustainable domestic league amongst themselves (under their previous self-management), they saw they writing on the wall and handed it over to the FAI to see if they can do any better.
As far as I remember if you subtract the prize money from the newly inflated entry fee very few clubs will come out with a surplus. Superficially it looks like a great financial boost but apart from the clubs at the top (where the prize money increases exponentially) it won't be much of a plus.The increase is partly due to the increase in fees, but also due to the FAI investing their own cash, and as for rewarding success with more money, I really struggle to see this as a problem.
TV3 had FAI Cup rights in the past and the FAI never managed to get them to show anything. Do I recall one year RTÉ had to take the right to show the final because TV3 couldn't even be bothered? I think the improvement of the standard of play and Setanta coming onto the scene has created an initiative on behalf of the tv channels. Perhaps the FAI have something to do with it but I don't see any evidence of that. If you're going to laud them because they allow hungry paying channels to show their football then they deserve a great slap on the back.Who negotiated the deals?
I didn't argue for the status quo, but change for change sake is silly too. Like yourself judgement will have to be reserved for some time before seeing if the change was worth it.I'm reserving judgement on the FAI for at least a year or two, but to argue that we should have continued with the status quo is frankly mindblowing.
By any definition Galway are one of the smaller clubs in the country but they got off their collective arses & have been rewarded for it. Over recent years its been proven that the FAI will help those that help themselves.
The FAI negotiated the new tv deals. Its head in the sand stuff to suggest Setanta have pushed this as they showing less than half the games.
UCD fans see change as a threat as they know that they cannot improve on or off the pitch so are happy for the status quo to remain. This attitude has held the league back for years.
I would have liked some more radical changes but maybe in hindsight the FAI realised the clusb would never vote for this.
Look, we have fundementally different weltanshaaungs here. You see no problem in rewarding teams for off the field criteria. It's not the game I grew up loving, it's not what attracted me to the game and it's not what I expect to see. I don't mind some criteria like the licencing to impose some sort of viability on clubs but this way above and beyond the call of duty.
If it's the initiative of the FAI in sounding out the channels then fair play to them, but I feel it's the channels sounding out the football. Wasn't it the eL who negotiated the major breakthrough deal of last season anyway? I still believe Setanta coming onto the scene has had the biggest impact in increased domestic coverage.The FAI negotiated the new tv deals. Its head in the sand stuff to suggest Setanta have pushed this as they showing less than half the games.
Indeed, we're only considered among the best off the field by the IAG and have finished in the top half of the league this season. If you don't agree with me then argue in kind but don't post silly nonsense.UCD fans see change as a threat as they know that they cannot improve on or off the pitch so are happy for the status quo to remain. This attitude has held the league back for years.
The Setanta Cup was Setanta/FAI initiative. The tv deals that followed were negotiated by the FAI.
I've already said many times that based on the criteria you deserve your place. However you are just doing well off the pitch now because the average standard is poor. I don;t want to go off topic but unfortunately UCD have no potential. Other clubs may be underperforming but i just don't see locals in south dublin coming out to support a university team no matter how well run.
This is the crux of the matter.
We all want to see the league and clubs progress, improve and increase support levels. But that will unfortunately not happen across the board - some of our existing clubs will be left behind, as they don't have the genuine potential to keep-up in terms of crowds, and therefore revenue. Sadly UCD is one of those. I'd love us to have successful and popular University-based sides, like in Latin America, but there is no thirst for it in football in this part of the world.
I therefore sense more than a degree of self-interested protectionism amongst the oft-aired grievances of UCD fans on this whole matter. An improving EL will inevitably leave UCD behind.
As for the FAI - credit where credit is due. It's a better start than most of us imagined, but too early to be writing the biography of their League involvement just yet....
Honestly can't believe there are still people out there who believe that this is a bright new dawn and that suddenly everything's going to be OK and that poor little UCD are going to be left behind, so we should do all we can to help them on their way.
Pete, remind me to dig up your classic post where you said that you never troll...
This is not trolling. As long as UCD don't get relegated I can't any way to get rid of yePete, remind me to dig up your classic post where you said that you never troll...
The new dawn has been good so far... I can't believe some people unable to rid themselves of old FAI prejudices.
It's getting very silly alright. Have I missed something or has the eL not improved significantly in standard over the past 5 years? We're no further behind at this point, in fact we've produced two U-21 internationals and seem to be attracting interest in our players from the upper reaches of the Scottish and English leagues. We're moving to a new ground and our fanbase is increasing slowly. It's not a bed of roses but we're moving along with the rest of the league. There's no proof to support absolute statements such as "an improved eL will leave UCD behind or "UCD can never attract a support. As DCFCSteve has pointed out other university sides across the globe haven't had trouble attracting a support. To say there's no appetite for a university soccer side is nonsense when there seems to be no appetite for domestic soccer itself. If that could be rectified then the other could follow. No, we'll probably never be the biggest club in the country but it's the same in any country, varying clubs of varying sizes, potential and capabilities.
No Irish club gets anything like a decent level of support, so on that basis UCD aren't far behind anyone. Off and on the field they have proven to be both competitive and progressive. Is it their fault that most other clubs are less capable of doing enough things properly?
UCD isn't the problem. Near enough to everything else is.
I agree with the first half of that, the FAI has been running itself well for the last five days or so. If they keep it up I'll be as impressed (and surprised) as anyone. I think it's much too early to ask people to rid themselves of old FAI prejudices. It's going to take at least a year of good management to win me over.
P.S. The UCD debate is a tired one. I'd be happy to repeat arguments I've made a hundred times before in these boards but we should probably split them into a different thread.
Yet again you justify maintaining the status quo on the basis that your own club are puttering along fine.
The rest of the League is not "moving along", at least not in any sustainable manner.
Did he? I've re-read his post and I genuinely can't see where he says that.
One word for the FAI are great lobby - Licencing. The FAI have always controlled this, and look what a success it's implementation continues to be, and how few fudges have been made.
If you attack me with stupidity, I'll be forced to defend myself with sarcasm.
Fair point Macy, but if Licensing shows anything about the FAI, its their naivety.
With the benefit of hindsight if it had been applied in full we wouldn't have had a League.
In the land of the blind the one-eyed man is king, the clubs (as EL administrators) have proven themselves over time to be blind, now its up to the FAI to demonstrate if they have any sight at all.
Good point.
Like everyone else I do not trust Delaney however the soundings from Merrion square on the eL have good recently. Even if it means giving Delaney more power the league & irish football needs a dictator who can enforce rules & rid the league of committees. i.e. someone who can look at the bigger picture.
Neither can I. All I said was that UCD haven't been left behind by the on the field progress of the last 5 years and I'm not afraid of further progress as we'll be able to keep up. Whether the recent progress is individually sustainable by the clubs off the field or not, the end effect is/will be progress on the field. What have we to fear? Nothing.
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