Stephen O Donnell

[Tis-smeee]

Not having a go at the player or the club here, so here I go.

A lot of people on this board would be of the opinion that the Scottish League is Brutal apart from from the Old Firm (sometimes even them) and that the top Eircom League teams could easily compete, and easily compete below the Championship.

No my point is that a player who has been a failure at a supposedly worse team (falkirk) is been seen as an improvement to one of the best teams in the league, as far as i could see nobody else was in for him so would his progress in the league be seen possibly as a litmus test for players going over and back?

Bobby Ryan , Noel Hunt to name two off the top of my head have been relative failures going over after being top players in the loi

What does this say about the standard of the League?

[sfc red]

Bobby Ryan wasn't a top player at Shels, never mind the LoI.

[Poor Student]

He's a handy player. I think he was at Arsenal and I thought he played often at Falkirk. Any particular reason you have him down as a failure at Falkirk?

[Tis-smeee]

He's a handy player. I think he was at Arsenal and I thought he played often at Falkirk. Any particular reason you have him down as a failure at Falkirk?

The fact that he aint there anymore and was not offered a new contract, and wasnt offered any contracts in scotland or england

[Schumi]

The fact that he aint there anymore and was not offered a new contract, and wasnt offered any contracts in scotland or england

Slightly circular logic there.

[Tis-smeee]

I said its not him in particular just trying to start a general discussion about the standard

[Sheridan]

It's based on a ludicrous premise, though. Aside from which, the Herald tonight states that Crewe and Stoke are in for O'Donnell, who was probably the worst and least fit player on the (sub-reserve) Bohs team against Sunderland.

Managers speculatively sign crap players all the time. I don't know whether O'Donnell fits that description, but to extrapolate from his signing a comparative standard of quality between any two leagues is nonsensical. I could rattle off any number of players who came back into the league with a big reputation amongst ROI followers and did sod all.

[pete]

I thought he played a good few games for Falkirk last season but no idea if he any good. Just because a player is released does not necessarily mean he is a failure as maybe the club needed to trip the squad & already too many midfielders?

Coventry released Roy O'Donovan 2 years ago but now Premiership sides are queuing up to sign him. Was he a failure 2 years ago or has he improved by such a huge degree?

[Ceirtlis]

Not having a go at the player or the club here, so here I go.

A lot of people on this board would be of the opinion that the Scottish League is Brutal apart from from the Old Firm (sometimes even them) and that the top Eircom League teams could easily compete, and easily compete below the Championship.

No my point is that a player who has been a failure at a supposedly worse team (falkirk) is been seen as an improvement to one of the best teams in the league, as far as i could see nobody else was in for him so would his progress in the league be seen possibly as a litmus test for players going over and back?

Bobby Ryan , Noel Hunt to name two off the top of my head have been relative failures going over after being top players in the loi

What does this say about the standard of the League?

This sort of thing has been done to death about where the league of ireland stands in relation to english and scottish leagues and to be honest it is hard to judge. The facts of the matter is though that players with similar previous careers in the uk to o donnell have come to the eircom league and been stand out performers ala most of the Cork team , O'Flynn, Gamble, Murray, O'Donovan.... and they have recently signed somebody from a Unibond League team and he is pushing for a starting spot.

[BohDiddley]

It's based on a ludicrous premise, though. Aside from which, the Herald tonight states that Crewe and Stoke are in for O'Donnell, who was probably the worst and least fit player on the (sub-reserve) Bohs team against Sunderland.

Managers speculatively sign crap players all the time. I don't know whether O'Donnell fits that description, but to extrapolate from his signing a comparative standard of quality between any two leagues is nonsensical. I could rattle off any number of players who came back into the league with a big reputation amongst ROI followers and did sod all.

Emmet Malone has him down as the pick of the new bunch.
Did you choose Bohs then?

[eirebhoy]

The fact that he aint there anymore and was not offered a new contract, and wasnt offered any contracts in scotland or england

He was offered a contract and rejected it. Anyway, he was an average Falkirk player. He was a first team player but one most at treat for his place.

[Sheridan]

Did you choose Bohs then?

It was on TG Catarrh.

[gustavo]

Heres Falkirk fans less than glorious opinion of him and our league
http://www.onefinfalkirk.com/phpBB2/...ic.php?t=14838
http://www.onefinfalkirk.com/phpBB2/...ic.php?t=14876

[NeilMcD]

I thought he was one of the better players the other night to be honest for us.

[Macy]

Bobby Ryan , Noel Hunt to name two off the top of my head have been relative failures going over after being top players in the loi

You'd have to go back to Bohs last league win for when Bobby Ryan was genuinely one of the top players in the league.

Noel Hunt was only a kid (17/18) when he went, and is still over there. He was nothing more than a good prospect when he went, and is still making it as a professional over there.

Some go and don't make it, other's do and are spectacular successes and vica versa. The fact that it's premiership clubs sniffing around the league says more than individual comparisons in my mind.

btw Ceirtlis, a lot of those players were released in England in the wake of the ITV deal collasping and English clubs reducing their wage bill. It made the league here competitive/ attractive in terms of wages. Wasn't necessarily that they didn't have options, just that the league here was a better one.

Oh, and using your logic re: unibond players pushing for a starting spot straight away, does that mean the League of Ireland is premiership/championship standard because Doyle went over and was immediately pushing for the Reading starting line up? Of course not, because using individual examples is bs either way.

[Ceirtlis]

You'd have to go back to Bohs last league win for when Bobby Ryan was genuinely one of the top players in the league.

Noel Hunt was only a kid (17/18) when he went, and is still over there. He was nothing more than a good prospect when he went, and is still making it as a professional over there.

Some go and don't make it, other's do and are spectacular successes and vica versa. The fact that it's premiership clubs sniffing around the league says more than individual comparisons in my mind.

btw Ceirtlis, a lot of those players were released in England in the wake of the ITV deal collasping and English clubs reducing their wage bill. It made the league here competitive/ attractive in terms of wages. Wasn't necessarily that they didn't have options, just that the league here was a better one.

Oh, and using your logic re: unibond players pushing for a starting spot straight away, does that mean the League of Ireland is premiership/championship standard because Doyle went over and was immediately pushing for the Reading starting line up? Of course not, because using individual examples is bs either way.

No what i am saying is macy that when eircom league teams go looking for players in england alot of the time it is players that are released or on a free from teams in league one or lower. Cork City are the perfect example of this, Gareth Farrelly was released/or you got them free from Blackpool and Colin Healy by Bradford and they are two of your most recent signings, your centre back O'Callaghan from Notts County. Rico can say what he wants about ye having a side as good as anything in league one/bottom half of championship but he gets alot of his players for free having come from that division. John O'Flynn and Dan Murray werent getting games for Peterborough either in the seasons prior to the itv yoke. Its not just Cork City i just picked you as the an example.