At the moment a lot of our senior squad members are playing regularly with premiership clubs - a lot of these players are in their late twenties or early thirties and at most would probably have 3 - 5 good years left in them.
Realitically if we are to compete at international level we need players playing at this level - we have a few younger players breaking through namely Doyle and Long at Reading but at the other clubs who will make the breakthrough.
Another point is that we have always had more than one first team player at the likes of man. utd, liverpool, arsenal and aston villa - these days they are thin on the ground
Do you agree that the lack of players making the breakthrough with the bigger clubs is affecting us at international level (leaving aside the managerial situation)
I have a head only Snow White would love
Yes, but then again it's the same for all but the top tier countries.Originally Posted by greendeiseboy
It's a global game / industry and like any Irish exporter struggling to cope with intense foreign competition we should find new markets. A more competitive home market and other European markets are required to fill the gaps in my opinion.
Would a cap on the amount of foreign players be of help to us - that is if irish players are not classed as foreigners of course?
I have a head only Snow White would love
Why wouldn't they be? It'd be illegal in the EU anyway.
We're not arrogant, we're just better.
Yes totally agree with this and the with trend of our middle of the road lads moving to Scotland is not the right option for the good of the internation set up.
We need to start scouting out to middle leagues Europe like French Denmark and simular standard leagues.
When the champions league 1st started their was a cap on the amount of over seas players that a club could play in the starting XI. Irish players were considered as Over seas players. I remember one match in particular when utd had to play in Barcelona and had to field a very weakened team because of the rule, they got thumped 4-0.
This rule was then banned by the EU and had to be dropped by UEFA.
Same rule at the heart of the Irish clearout at Liverpool under Graham Souness.
" I wish to God that someone would be able to block out the voices in my head for five minutes, the voices that scream, over and over again: "Why do they come to me to die?"
Having a fully proffessional league is the only way forward. Its the most basic ingredient for any successful national team! It's actually nothing short of a miracle that we have ever qualified at all. In my opinion the most successful country with a very similar population to ours is Croatia. They have qualified for every tournament and have never lost a home game since independence. If you can name me one Croatian born player who hasn't come through their domestic league I'll eat my hat! It's the vital foundation from which success can be built. Any other theories about "scouting out" other european leagues (especially the Danish) is daft! Who the hell is going to do that?
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