echo suggests letting LFC rot

[tiktok]

lads,

there's a thread on the city board at the moment entitled 'spillage has been outdone" referring to a report in todays 'evening echo' which attacks the eircom league. i haven't seen it myself but trax has offered the bones of it

Originally posted by Trax
...basically he had a pop at the 1st div said it was a waste of time,and to a lesser extent so is the prem,also Limerick's plight was completely there own fault and we should just let 'em rot to death...

the echo is looking to extend it's circulation into limerick. i think it's be good to have a look at the article and if you share the opinions expressed on the other thread complain to the editor, so that irresponsible uninformed 'journalism' like this doesn't continue to detract from the league.

[pete]

Does Limerick deserve an eL club?

Clearly their crowds are so low that barely anyone in the city could give a damn anyway.

[deise deserter]

Originally posted by pete
Does Limerick deserve an eL club?

Clearly their crowds are so low that barely anyone in the city could give a damn anyway.

Whose fault is this? There are a number of possible culprits IMHO.

(a) The media - nationally (as you point out above) and locally (Limerick Leader). Our own local newspaper refuses to give senior soccer a decent write-up. Day after day I see junior soccer given a couple of pages while Limerick gets half an inch to an inch of column space buried at the bottom of the page if anything at all. Yesterday's paper even had the Limerick branch of the Man Utd Supporters' Cub get higher billing than Limerick. How can you get around this type of media blackout?

(b) Ineffectual Committees - We definitely have this problem, and from talking to others around the country, it seems to be quite widespread. We for example have no AGMs, no membership, no published accounts, all operated around a closed shop policy.

(c) A disenfranchised public - although there seems to be some small movement in the FAI, many people feel that the organisation as a whole is being run in a very poor way. Standards of referreeing for example was brought up at a number of the fan forums that took place last year. The poor standards of organisation and referreeing have led me to stop bringing school soccer teams to FAI run competitions over concerns I have in regards children's safety.

Does anyone agree/disagree with any of this? Please discuss.

[Ref]

Originally posted by deise deserter
(c) A disenfranchised public - although there seems to be some small movement in the FAI, many people feel that the organisation as a whole is being run in a very poor way. Standards of referreeing for example was brought up at a number of the fan forums that took place last year. The poor standards of organisation and referreeing have led me to stop bringing school soccer teams to FAI run competitions over concerns I have in regards children's safety.

how does the standard of refereeing at schoolboy level in Limerick affect attendances at National League games?????

[deise deserter]

It doesn't. I didn't say that. I was refering to the lack of professionalism shown by the FAI, as an organisation, in all aspects of their work.

(I can understand you taking point with this as I was told that you run these competitions in Cork, so don't worry I'll exclude you from allt his! )

[sadloserkid]

Originally posted by deise deserter
(a) The media

(b) Ineffectual Committees

(c) A disenfranchised public

It's a cop out to blame the public. A disenfranchised public is the result of and not the cause of Limerick's problems. Likewise the media is a catch 22 situation, if I wanna sell my paper then I've got to report of what people want to read and regardless of cause... it ain't Limerick FC.

Limerick's decline has been caused exclusively by mismanagement (it'd be stretching it to call it board-room shenanigans, more back-door shenanigans). This has led to all of the other problems we nw face - media, junior football, no business interestes etc. The club was effectively asset-stripped in the latter Pat Grace years and then turned into a community outreach project by a well-meaning but doomed to fail Joe Young. People lost interest because the club took its eye of the ball and once the glory days went and took a large chunk of our fan-base with them the club seemed happy with mediocrity (and that's dressing it up a bit!). The club hasn't progressed. Attendances have improved in the last 3-4 weeks because the team is doing well. The crowds we got for the Rovers and Derry League Cup games testify to the potential support Limerick could have.

Limerick won't have it easy if they want to make a serious effort to progress as a club. First off they need to establish proper off-field structures. Realistic goals need to be set and met. Then we can look at sustaining and building on Mike Kerley's excellent start as Limerick boss. As the structures improve so too will the team and this will start to attract people back. If the crowds grow so too will the media coverage. It's all about snowballs!