In fairness, if the FAI were able to sell that concept to Uefa for €10m, hats off to Delaney or whoever did the deal.
"if"Originally Posted by elatedscum
the source for that story is Con Martin
New interim CEO announced - Gary Owens, formerly of down syndrome Ireland, and athletics Ireland
Delaney should never have been more than an interim now perhaps he should be interned !
Delaney gone from his UEFA post too.
Niall Quinn in as Interim Deputy CEO
Bring Back Belfast Celtic F.C.
It does seem like things are moving in the right direction.
There seems to be some cynicism over Quinn, and the group he was involved in recently, which included Barrett and Owens. I don’t see it. Quinn might be seen as a bit wet but he’s got diplomacy skills, much needed if the FAI is to get closer to the state machinery. He is 100% right about football getting a pitiful share of sport spending and 100% right that football needs a stronger lobbying relationship with government. He has identified both the LOI and youth structures as critical areas needing investment and improvement. I think this is a positive step & I hope he does well.
His heart's in the right place, he's got a good business brain, was chairman of Sunderland so he knows a bit about top-level football administration, and he's likeable. Under the old regime, I'd have said he was destined to fail! I'm really optimistic about this - I don't expect miracles, but I do think good things will come.
Hello, hello? What's going on? What's all this shouting, we'll have no trouble here!
- E Tattsyrup.
Is it though?
Quinn never did anything imo except for his personal gain.
https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soc...ment-1.3760308
Looks like Quinn wants to harvest our best talents to England - will our clubs gain from this or will it be same old story. I'm v wary of him and the incompetence of his "Visionary" group presentation is already well known.“Where it’s gone to now is: ‘the problem doesn’t just stop with a national academy, it needs a radical change in the League of Ireland around helping those clubs establish a system that can lead to players going over to England better prepared for top level careers or, if they don’t go, to make the League of Ireland more competitive.”
I don't see any problem with that tbh. The LoI has to expect to be a selling league. At the moment, too many of those transfers are (a) for free, or next to nothing and (b) ultimately not very successful. Transfer income is huge for similar-sized leagues and we can't keep ignoring it.
A system where youngsters stay at home, progress through the LoI and then move is essential, to player and club (except the schoolboy clubs of course)
I've no problem with those comments - especially as you didn't flag the bit where it says that players would be at least given the practical choice of staying here as well. The league loses too many players because it's just not worth it for many once they get a regular career
You didn't' answer my question though - Will the clubs themselves benefit from transfer fees and not a third party like Red Strike? Why would someone invest €40m into Schoolboy academies for no return? I'm not saying I'm right or wrong in any case I'm just questioning the assertion that Quinn's heart is in the right place. It may well be but It may well be not either.
I don't see anything in what you quoted that indicates anything other than helping clubs in this.
Third party contracts are illegal. I know football and money will always try find a way around rules, but for now I don't see why if Cork sell a player, Cork wouldn't get fees
In that he was proud to play for Ireland, is one of the few ex-internationals to have expressed any kind of interest in the league, came back to live here, runs his business here, seems to have a geniune interest...? Yeah, I'd say so. I could be biased because I've always liked him as a player and person.
If he has the business acumen to help LoI clubs develop players for sale, and, alone or with a consortium of investors, benefit with a percentage of the sale, once it's legal and not like some amateur clubs' trade in kids, or the obscene power of a Raiola or Mendes figure, I don't have a problem. As Pineapple Stu says, transfer fees here are something we can't ignore for much longer. Ask a club: would they rather have 100pc of a free transfer all by themselves, or 50pc of €100k where a third party gets their cut from having invested in the academy that helped develop the player (rather having dodgy joint ownership)?
Hello, hello? What's going on? What's all this shouting, we'll have no trouble here!
- E Tattsyrup.
If Niall Quinn had any interest in the LOI he would have got involved at club level years ago. I'm not lambasting him for that because he is a businessman and there is no money in the LOI but lets get real here. He has no interest in the league in general - or at least he has shown no interest thus far.
Now we are getting to the crux of the issue. I don't really disagree with what you say - but from the outside this seems to be his motivation ( to make money for a 3rd party ) and its not a good starting point for a governing body to take, which he is now part of. Id rather a governing body lobby for government funding and be fully recompensed for players they develop. If investors want to get involved in clubs fine but I'd be wary of going down the road of an academy structure funded even partially by a third party. Significant investment will require significant returns.
Maybe his interest is Irish football generally - so no interest in getting involved at club level, but recognises that the LoI is important in the overall scheme of things?
That'd be a big improvement on recent regimes...
I know there were issues with his Visionary Group - when you lose out to Lucid, who seems to have nothing, then that doesn't reflect well - but I don't think you've shown any grounds for legitimate concerns in your posts tbh.
You think "Maybe" is ok with regards his interest in the league despite there being no actual evidence that he does.
But I have no grounds for legitimate concerns surrounding a 3rd party football academy which Quinn represents that wants to invest large sums in the game here for no return.
Right.
You're beginning to sound a bit like SkStu in the politics forum now.
All I can say is that the quote you highlighted gives me no concern at all. It is entirely logical that the FAI would want to facilitate Irish players moving to as high a level as possible, and that's not the LoI. That would benefit the LoI as well. He doesn't need to have any specific interest in the LoI to act in its benefits, if his interest is in helping football in Ireland in general.
There may well be issues of concern here - but you've not really shown them. You argued against your own point (Quinn has no interest in the league), so you can hardly give out to me for arguing against it too. Everything else is just supposition on your part based on one connection.
If ever there was a Que to shut up! That is it.You're beginning to sound a bit like SkStu in the politics forum now.
Fixed that for you.
Its more than just supposition in fairness. He went to Lobby the government no more than a year ago accompanied by Redstrike and Brian Kerr - its not some sort of outlandish connection.
https://www.dublinlive.ie/sport/nial...-over-15699216
Anyway - point made. Hope Quinn does a great job but I'm not holding out any hope of this being a watershed appointment.
It’s that kind of thinking (generally, not you, RAM) that holds back the league. This Corinthian amateurism that wants a pure game, unsullied by money and materialism – almost a Ron Manager with his small boys (hm!) and jumpers for goalposts. It's not money on its own, it has to be the right money.
The league has been starved of money for my entire life (I’m mid-forties).
I’m fed up seeing players go to clubs in the UK for nothing or next to it, and our clubs getting ripped off by UK clubs who could afford to pay proper fees but have us over a barrel. If someone can professionalise player marketing (from development to finished product) for a fee that means our clubs profit, I’d be all for it – once there are proper legal and regulatory controls in place (that much we agree on, I think). The kind of stuff Delaney and his gang never bothered to implement.
I don’t think that necessarily means a third party on its own. Of the two proposals for the league, Lucid’s got a little traction, Quinn’s didn’t. Who’s to say that Quinn in his new role can’t work for a joint FAI, LoI, state and third party initiative? Or hasn’t been brought in for this exact reason?
A centralised governing body that lobbies and develops players here is a great idea, but it would need to be a national academy along the lines of a Clarefontaine or a George’s Park (the latter cost over £100m to develop) or have a draft and contract system like the MLS. Both are outside our football culture, and I’m not even sure that centralised contracts would work under EU rules.
I want to be optimistic. Following Ireland and the LoI these last few years … it’s like being 3-0 down in a cup final heading into injury time. But I still want to believe that our lumbering veteran centre forward can shank one in and start the mother of all comebacks. Don’t take that hope from me, RAM!!!
Hello, hello? What's going on? What's all this shouting, we'll have no trouble here!
- E Tattsyrup.
Posting Permissions
Quote
Bookmarks