Let's lay off Adam hughes. He is a professional footballer player and because he is a good professional it is likely that bigger clubs will want him and it would be daft to suggest that a man with a family wouldn't take up an opportunity to better his family's life. If it was Cardiff City or Dunfermline that came for him we'd be delighted for him, so why not be pleased that he has bettered himself at the Showgrounds and wish him well. He certainly owes us nothing.
As to the developers buying clubs and the money that some clubs are borrowing against, well that merely mirrors what is happening in every league in the world. A couple of teams dominate except for the occasional time when Harry McLoughlin chips a keeper. In my time, I have seen LOI dominated by Waterford, Shams, Dundalk and Shels. One thing they have in common is that they all went burst because the fundamental finance does not exist in Ireland to supoport a succesful club as fans can become sated with success and drift away in complacency.
The Rovers model is much more interesting in that a decision, which I support, has been made that the club will not bankrupt itself for success. Unfortunately, I feel that this decision must be supported by a commitment that the club will play a certain style of football which is attractive and this mantra has to go the whole way through the club. So for starters, we need a pitch upon which this style of football can be played. Then we will get the respect and admoration of the football world and people like Adam Hughes and Chris Turner will continue to want to come and play for Rovers. It's not by accident that Man Utd and Liverpool have sent players on loan to Dario Gradi at Crewe.
Be assured that if we don't take this course, we will be overtaken by Galway United and/or Finn harps who are already on that road.
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