The 2019 Season so far

Missed the last couple of weeks of the Blog.  Sometimes I just get fed up with the way the league is “Run”, the people who “Run” it or maybe I should say RUIN our League. I seem to be banging on about this for a lifetime and nothing seems to change.  It gets to me and I have to take a step back. I have to take myself out of the bubble that is the L.O.I. for me.  I am not going to let the John Delaney payoff get to me. 

I am going to try to be really positive about THE BEST LITTLE LEAGUE IN THE WORLD.

Congratulations first of all to Shelburne on their return to the Premier Division. I really do believe that they are returning to their rightful place in the big time.  Obviously the injection of cash from investors was vitally important to them. But I’ll have to say that without the work of Joe Casey and his band of dedicated workers there would have been no club around to inject cash into. These people were around in 2007 when the club was on its knees and within days of going out of football. Without their efforts the Club would have died. I think it is important to remember that the past creates the future.  I hope they can raise the necessary Capital that the Club will need to compete in the Premier Division.  It is going to be a steep learning curve for all involved.

What about my beloved Dundalk.  What a season,  what a job Vinny Perth and his staff have done. I was worried at the start that there were too many Chiefs and that  might hamper the decisions being made. I am glad to admit that I was totally wrong on this. This team and the Management are on the way to a record breaking year no matter what happens. A League Cup already won, a League Win with 4 matches to spare and a place in the Cup Final. What a Season.

The task of following Stephen Kenny was daunting.  Most new Managers would have tried to “put their stamp” on the squad.  It takes a huge amount of belief and confidence in your own ability to leave well enough alone.  He knew he had a really good squad and he managed them magnificently.  Unlike most managers it was not about him, it was about the team.  He put his faith in them and they have repaid his confidence in them. We have seen what has happened in clubs where a really good manager has left.  It has taken years and many managers to get back to where they were.  Dundalk are lucky that they had an assistant big enough and brave enough to carry on the mantle of Stephen Kenny and still do it his way. Well done Players, Staff and you Vinny Perth.

All eyes now on Cup Final Day.  I have been impressed with Rovers every time I have seen them this year.  I thought they performed better in Europe than the other League teams.  Because of their history in the Cup playing Rovers in the final will add spice to an already great occasion.  They will be disappointed that they could not push Dundalk in the League.  They will see this as their chance to prove that they can compete with the best Dundalk Team in history.  For Stephen Bradley it is important that the Club win some silverwear.  It will give them the belief that they can go and compete to win the League next year.  It is going to be a fantastic occasion, with two huge clubs involved, Clubs that have a huge fan base. The two top teams playing, lets pack the Aviva. What a TV showcase for our League that would be.

I have purposely stayed away from commenting on Gardens, Gardening Leave, Pension Funds, Grotesque Salaries, Rent Allowance and Pay Offs.  I will be back on that horse next week

Our National Broadcaster

What a joke, Dundalk played a quarter final of the major Cup Competition in Waterford on a Monday night with less than 1,000 people attending.  Why? I hear you ask.  The answer–because the tie had to be re-arranged to allow Waterford pay Hearts Colts on Friday.  What a joke.  What a way to treat the League’s most prestigious competition.  How can the F.A.I.  Cup be treated with so little respect.  I am sure the sponsors of the Cup were not best pleased.  But hey it’s run by our glorious F.AI. it has to be a joke.  I’m sure John Delaney is in his garden laughing his socks off as the F.A.I. lurch from one farce to another.  Only good thing about it is that Dundalk won.

This leaves Shamrock Rovers, Dundalk and Sligo Rovers through, to be joined by the winner of Crumlin Utd v Bohs.  Again due to the “magnificent” work of the F.A.I. the draw will be live at 8.30am on RADIO. Most prestigious Cup competition – I don’t think so

Potentially a great weekend ahead for Shels in the First Division.  Surely the time has come for them to claim a place in the Premier Division.  Hopefully they will win the match against the Drogs and clinch the title.  I’ll be glued to the phone looking at their results.  I know to my cost the feeling of Last Match Blues.  To all the people travelling, get behind the team and enjoy the game, if that is possible.

 I see that RTE, our national broadcaster are now showing a few League of Ireland matches as the season draws to a close.  Well Whoopee and thanks for that.  I don’t know what they have been doing since May.  I understand the L.O.I. is a niche sport.  I understand that it does not compete with GAA or Rugby as far as viewing figures are concerned, but Soccer is still the biggest sport played in Ireland and is a market that can be tapped into.  Again it is up to the F.A.I. to negotiate a deal that includes the L.O.I. when they do a deal for the International team.  But will it happen, you tell me.

What a debut for Jack Byrne, fantastic performance and showed what a L.O.I. player is capable of. He looked completely comfortable playing in the National Team.

Congratulations also to Stephen Kenny on his brilliant start to the U21 Euro qualifiers, showing that the L.O.I. can produce top class Managers as well as top class players.

SAME OLD.  SAME OLD.

I missed last week’s blog because I feel I’m commenting on the same things I have been banging on about for the last 20 years.  I stupidly believed that we were in a time of change. A time of openness and transparency. A new look F.A.I.  Alas the John Delaney cloud looms large over this organisation.  It is now a case of Nero fiddling while Rome burns.

What is the current position of the F.A.I. with regard to John Delaney?

What is the position with the numerous enquiries set up to get to the bottom of the sordid mess that he left behind?

Are we as usual going to let the whole affair disappear like a puff of smoke, nobody will found culpable and the old system will be put back but with new faces and no new ideas.  We will do it the Irish way.  We all know how the various tribunals ended. 

Same Old, Same Old.

We have had the situation in the last couple of weeks where we had a draw for the ¼ finals of the F.A.I.  Cup at 8.30 in the morning.  This is bad enough, but it was on RTE, a station that ignores the League of Ireland.  Why would you allow a station that will not show L.O.I teams playing in Europe let alone in our League host the draw.  Easy way out.  No thought needed, no work needed, just let the bus trundle on with no driver.  Same Old Same Old.

Where was Donal Conway? The good man, who is overlooking the changes needed to make the F.A.I.  fit for purpose.  Allegedly he didn’t go on air because he was going to be asked questions about the Johnny Giles Foundation.  If this is true I ask you what has changed.  Why is the F.A.I. afraid of allowing reporters to do their job?  No, anything difficult comes up – don’t answer questions openly and honestly retreat behind the John Delaney well tried and trusted method of not allowing people to do their job.  If questions can’t be asked the answers don’t have to be given. Same Old, Same Old

With their every action the F.A.I. demean the L.O.I.  We now have the ¼ finals of our most prestigious competition being re-arranged so that teams can play a Mickey Mouse competition.  Actually, to call it a Mickey Mouse competition is an insult to Mickey Mouse.  Same Old, Same Old.

In the last blog I slated UCD for the sacking of Collie O’Neill, which I believe showed UCD in a very poor light.  But just like clubs, Managers and Players must have standards. 

Neale Fenn’s move from Longford to Cork City baffled me.  Neale has done a great job with Longford.  How can he up sticks and leave with Longford still in the Cup and more than likely in the play-offs to get into the Premier Division.  Did he not owe it to Longford to stay until the end of the season and then move, why move with 3 matches to go. So why would Clubs treat a Manager correctly if this does not work both ways.

Talking of the First Division, Shels are a step closer to returning to the top flight, a place where I believe they truly belong.  I can only hope that next season I will be watching Shels v Bohs and Shels v Shamrock Rovers on TV, that’s if anybody in the F.A.I. gets of their ass and does a proper deal that promotes our League, and is not dependent on crumbs from the table of our National Broadcaster.

Where now for Dundalk and Collie O’Neill 

Last Friday the beloved Jimmy Dainty was laid to rest.  Unfortunately circumstances prevented me from being there.  But I would like to extend my sympathy to Helen and all the family.  Jimmy was one of the English men who came to Ireland(Dundalk) and loved it.  Dundalk also loved Jimmy and like Ritchie Blackmore and myself took us into the Dundalk family.  I cannot put into words how it felt when I heard of his untimely death.  Jimmy was the most likeable of men and will be remembered by the people of Dundalk for a long time to come.  R.I.P. DAINT

Jimmy’s sad demise got me reflecting on Dundalk Football Club and its current owners – Peak 6.  I presume these are a group of venture capitalists who are looking  for a return on investment.  I have no problem with that but the failure to ensure the Wednesday night European match was shown on TV quite frankly deeply disturbed me.  I believe EIR made an offer to show the game, but this offer was turned down.  Now this could be because the T.V Company’s offer was so small that it could not be accepted or was it that the current owners wanted to ensure that people had to travel if they wanted to see the game.  Methinks this was the motive of the club.  They were able to stream the match for people outside of Ireland.  Keely’s Bar was one of the businesses to benefit from this.  But why can you watch the match if you are on holiday and not if you could not get time of work to travel to Dublin or if you genuinely could not get to the game.  The attendance was not I believe any greater than usual attendances for European matches.  Let me say that Dundalk people will travel to a European game.  They will not sit at home and watch it on television.  My own son who does not travel to games  but went to this one with his daughter.

The problem here is not supporters; the problem is that we haven’t got a stadium that is capable of showing a European game.  May I say to Peak 6 – you may own the infrastructure of Dundalk FC but you do not own the club.  It is owned by the people of Dundalk past and present.  So I understand your priority is to improve the standard of the players so that they can be serial winners of the League and hopefully in the near future progress to the knock-out stages of a European competition. But along with this we must also have a stadium that reflects this great club.  For too long we have been boom and bust.  My fear is that this will happen again to our great club.  If the owners cannot get a return on their investment, that they feel is appropriate then they could depart.  Leaving us with a load of memories and a stadium that is a disgrace in this day and age.

I repeat it is time for everybody to get together and put plans in place for a proper stadium to be built.  Let that be the legacy of Peak 6 NOT just the desire to get a financial return on investment.  We have already been down that road, and it was left to the ordinary supporters, the Maxi’s of this world, Andy Connolly and Paul Brown and all the people who put money in to save the club, let’s not let that happen again.  C’MON THE TOWN

UCD were beaten 10-1 by Bohs last Friday, what exactly does it mean for the LOI structure.  The people running our League have no interest in our League.  The First Division is a joke and teams that get promoted from it invariably go back down almost immediately.  I have long called for a larger Premier Division with a Regional League to back this up.  The winner of this Regional competition would then play off against the last team in the Premier Division.  But to play in the Premier Division you should have to meet a fixed set of criteria.

      1.  To have a ground available that is up to standard

      2.  To have the financial capability to survive the Premier Division e.g. Sponsorship, proper        budgets etc

      3.  To have a fan base or potential fan base that will allow the club to survive.

There are many more basic standards that could be applied.

So when we get results like the last weeks gone – Bohs v UCD and the recent result against Rovers what do we see? We see a club with one of the best coaches in the country struggling in the Premier Division.  So it is not his problem.  UCD are different to all other clubs, they use the football team to promote Academic excellence, it does not matter what division they are in.  Their model is not conducive to winning League and cups.  They do however produce fantastic players.  These players are then cherry-picked by League clubs.  If UCD were able to keep their promotion team together then they would not be in the position they are in now.  They had two 5^th year students and two 6^th year students in their team last week.  Alex Ferguson couldn’t coach this team successfully so having a brilliant young coach will not help when half your team wouldn’t get in to see an over 18 movie.

Since I wrote the above, events have overtaken me.  UCD took the decision to sack Collie O’Neill, a decision that defies logic and is an insult to a really good coach.  What do they expect to achieve by this outrageous decision.  Where will they get a coach who is prepared to build a team and have it whipped away from under his feet.  To the people who run UCD – shame on you.  I thought you were different. I thought you were smart.  I thought you had the education of players both academic and football at the heart of your club. You don’t, you have become just another second rate club.

To Collie O’Neill I say, you have performed a minor miracle with this team.  You will be appreciated over the next period of time. You are a man slight in stature but huge in integrity.  I have had the pleasure to work with you and see your ability and character.  You will be a huge loss to UCD and more importantly to our League.  Take a break, you will be back soon. Our League cannot afford to be without people as good as you.

I have stayed quiet about Shels in the first division.  I have been afraid to say anything in case things went belly up.  But their win over Longford puts them in the driving seat.  I hope they can now finish off the job and get back to their rightful place in the Premier Division.  Shels tick all the boxes as far as eligibility for the Premier Division is concerned.  I hope this year they finally make it.

Why no TV coverage??

Dundalk, the last team standing, play tonight in Tallaght, a beautiful stadium, which I believe shows our League at its very best, but the match is not on TV.  WHY??  This match is very much alive and the winners will probably play AJAX - what a prize to play for.

You have to wonder what does a League of Ireland team have to do to get on RTE, our “national” broadcaster.  We’ve had the situation before this season, when the Rovers European tie was not shown, what do we have to do to get proper coverage of our game.  I believe there are only two reasons for the game not to be televised.

          1        RTE just don’t want to and don’t have to.

2    2          The owners of Dundalk for some reason don’t want it to be shown.

To deal with the first point you must look at what RTE are contractually obliged to broadcast every year. Easy you might think NO! Nobody knows details of the broadcasting contract because the FAI won’t tell us.  Part of the secrecy for which our great leaders are responsible.  We know already that the FAI have no interest in supporting our League, so it might be fair to assume that they sold the TV rights for International football and have not included the League in this deal.  But we don’t know because it is a SECRET.

We should be promoting League of Ireland.  There should a Friday night match on every Friday and probably a follow up on another night. The FAI should be able to ensure this happens, offering a package that includes LOI to RTE or another broadcaster. The belief in RTE is that viewing figures are too low for broadcasting the LOI, but we can only grow these numbers by showing our product every week.  RTE have not shown a League match for at least two months.  This is a public service station set up not only for major events but to help develop the Arts and Sports area.  Last Friday night there was no mention of the FAI Cup, our major Cup competition on the 9 O’Clock news – no mention!!.  Today while Dundalk is representing Ireland, we can instead watch a programme on Vitamin Pills and a British programme on cars.  I don’t imagine the numbers will go through the roof for these mouth-watering programmes.

The second scenario, the one I hope is not the case, is that the owners of Dundalk FC, Peak 6 are not allowing the game to be shown because they want people to go to the match in Dublin.  I hope this is not the case.  The people of Dundalk are the most generous people in the world.  They will go to see Dundalk whether the match is televised or not.  They love “The Town”, as much as they are generous and welcoming they are also capable of withdrawing their support if they think they are being used and abused.

We should have our own stadium, one to match our team.  Nothing has been said about developing a stadium.  It is now time for everybody to sit down and discuss how we go about getting one.  Or is it the case that Peak 6 invests in the team only, win the League year after year, simply for a return on their investment.  I hope not.  For someone who was adopted by the lovely people of Dundalk I would not like to be Peak 6 and incur their wrath should this be the case.

Tonight I will be watching the Dundalk game which we purchased and is available to supporters outside of Ireland. This is great for us but it is a shame that supporters in Ireland who cannot travel to Tallaght to see the match will have to listen to it on the radio like I used to do when I was a child 60 years ago, surely we should have progressed from this.

 Club Funding ( or lack of) 

A week on and Dundalk are out of the Champions League and Rovers are out of the Europa League.  Doom and gloom.  NO WAY.  These two clubs are improving year on year.  They have raised the bar for League of Ireland football.  Dundalk was beaten by a superior side in Qarabag.  A club with far more economic clout and most importantly better players.  Dundalk has exited the Champions League where they should have.  The important thing is, I believe, that they were competitive with a team that were superior to them.  They played like a team that believed in themselves and the way they play.  They are really up against it next round and realistically they should depart the scene.  This is not important.  What is important is that the team’s performance is improving every year, that means the standard in our League is also improving.

I felt the same watching Shamrock Rovers.  The days are gone when we can look down on a League like Cyprus.  Back in the day if you got a team from Cyprus you thought you were into the next round.  This is not now the case.  These “lower” leagues have grown and developed over the years and are now at the same level or higher than our teams.  This match was 50/50 and I think either team could have won.  The most important thing is that our League needs to improve.

This really brings me to the nub of the matter all of these “foreign” leagues have been helped by their own associations. 

In our League all our clubs are left to their own devices.  5 years ago Dundalk was on the verge of going under.  Only local businessmen Andy Connolly and Paul Brown stepped in the club was dead and gone.  Rovers have also had a long time in the wilderness until they found their home in Tallaght.  They have a beautiful stadium and a wonderful team but have had huge backing from South Dublin County Council.  I don’t believe Dundalk have received any help from the council in Louth.  Let’s face it, Dundalk might be the best team in the country but they must have the worst stadium in the country.  The work the club do in the community, the love the people of Dundalk feel for their club is huge.  It must be the only town in the country where you see more kids with Dundalk tops rather than the English Premiership tops, this is all done locally.

This brings me to my Bete Noir – the FAI and John Delaney and all of the executives of whatever they were called in times gone by.  Their job is to promote our League, to seek government funding for our League teams, to develop our infrastructure.  I have been banging on about this for 20 years to no avail. I don’t believe the Government department responsible for sport even know there is a League of Ireland.  I have just read about John Delaney’s “Golden Handcuffs”, where it is alleged that he doubled his salary to close to €1M a year and nobody knew, it didn’t appear in the accounts.... Same Old, same Old.  Maybe if the old fashioned handcuffs were used for the guilty parties, whoever they are, we might get a change in culture, not a change in the status quo.

European Games and the FAI (again!)

What a good week for Irish Football.  Two great performances from the best 2 teams in the country – Dundalk and Shamrock Rovers.  Both teams showed their character and their self belief.  Both teams gave away really early goals and both came back to draw and win respectively.  These performances are great news for our league.  People have to remember that at the moment it is Dundalk and Shamrock Rovers representing our League, but it will not always be these two teams, other teams will get a chance..

I have been reading about teams complaining about matches being called off because of European games.  Two things strike me about this moaning.  One we are a national League.  The clubs involved are representing our League.  We are not the GAA; we are not based on the parish/county model.  We are National.  When our current teams do well, the teams that will represent us in the next few years will benefit.  So let’s get rid of Parish Pump politics and complaining.

My second point concerns the plight of the smaller clubs, in fact all of the other clubs who are not in Europe.  They lose out on gate receipts when matches are called off.  This is a huge problem for the clubs as regards week to week cash flow.  But clubs do not call off matches – the League does, hence the problem.  The FAI does not give a damn about our League.  There is no planning for Europe when they organise the fixtures list at the start of the season.  They know which clubs are involved and should be able to plan for the European games in their fixture list.

Secondly the League should be able to cover the loss of gate receipts. Maybe a small levy on European earnings could be applied.  This would have to be ring fenced and used only to help clubs which are affected by a European Campaign.  It obviously would have to be open and honest.  These are two words that you would not put in the same sentence as the FAI at the moment...

Part of the problem with the lack of interest the FAI have in our League was highlighted last week when Shamrock Rovers played Apollon Limassol in  a packed Tallaght stadium.  The Rovers performance matched the great crowd, but unfortunately our National Broadcaster chose to ignore this game completely.  You would have to wonder what deal is done with RTE.  Do they pay only for the right to show International football and then choose what they want when it comes to League of Ireland.If RTE want to show IRELAND playing they should have to show a number of LEAGUE OF IRELAND GAMES also.  Their lack of respect or interest is so disheartening for the league.

But we need an association that backs our League not ignores it.  Nothing that went on at the AGM convinced me that change is afoot.  Changes are being made to the structures but no changes are being made to the culture.  They were very quick to implement the change that allowed 2 Board Members to stay on for a year.  It also appears that people who were previously on the board can put themselves forward for election next year.  As I said in my last blog – NO!!! The two members who are staying on for a year should announce publicly that they are doing so for a year and then they will resign and not go forward for any position on the new board or for any of the subsidiary roles next year.

No one who has served under John Delaney should be allowed into a position of power nor should any of their acolytes, a clean sweep is needed.  The mantra that “we did not know what was going on” is not acceptable.  Ignorance is not an excuse

Wishing Dundalk and Rovers the very best of luck in their games tonight and tomorrow.  We will have a good LOI crowd in Keely’s Bar Lanzarote cheering them on.