Wesley Hoolahan

KdjaCL

Wes Hoolahan and Paul Dalglish wasted chances for Livi before Gabor Vincze levelled with a fantastic strike.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/scot_prem/4629934.stm

Yay hes a proper footballer now:rolleyes:


kdjac

MrJoeSoap

They're live on Setanta on Wednesday night if anyone wants to have a goo.

MrJoeSoap

Shambolic, awful, dreadful, woeful, First Division material - pick an adjective to describe Livingston FC. Here's my personal thoughts on todays 3-0 humbling by old rivals Caley Thistle...

I don’t get to many Livi games. This is due mainly to the fact I live in Inverness and only get every 1 weekend in 3 off work, so today’s game at Caledonian Stadium was a home one for me. Now I’ve read all the doom & gloom from the hardcore faithful but perhaps a little naively refused to accept most of it, deciding instead to stick to a blind faith that it’ll all come good in the end.

However, after 90 minutes of watching Caley Thistle rip my team to pieces with great ease, I’m afraid my wee bubble has burst.

Never before in the 10 years I’ve been watching Livi have I seen a worse team than I did today representing the club. It was frankly embarrassing, and the chorus of “SPL, yer having a laugh” resonating from both home AND away support was completely justified, for the players in amber I watched today do not deserve to be in Scotland’s top flight. The entire team stood about like statues as opposition players breezed past, and the word teamwork was as alien to them as the word goal.

Only new lad Wes Hoolihan played his heart out, chasing every ball and covering every blade of grass on that pitch. And the sad thing is that unless he gets snapped-up by another SPL side, this league is unlikely to witness his obvious skills much longer as relegation is wearing a badge, and that badge has “LIVI” written on it. And you know what? None of us can have any complaints about it, for if the team plays like a First Division team then that is where they belong.

I’ll leave it to others to chew the fat of the match report, but the bottom line for me is unless things change, and change fast, we’re certainties for the drop as my reservoir of blind faith is now dry. 10th anniversary eh? Aye, one to remember all right.

http://www.livingston-mad.co.uk/news/loadroll.asp?cid=ED11&id=262005

Literally switched the TV on this morning whilst lying in bed and Hoolahan was putting in a cracking cross vs Rangers (on the highlights). Still hasn't really sunk in. I still have hope he'll come back...

GuanYin

Just reading through the thread I think the loss of WH to the SPL is a tragedy for the eL but I think that its the symptom of an overall bigger problem in Irish soccer and indeed, Ireland.

Firstly addressing WH - yes its terrible from Shels PoV but look at it from Hoolahan's.... Livingston are a financially better club playing in a full professional league. His money is better, his standard of living is better and he has a far better opportunity to progress to a bigger club.

As much as soccer is about loyalty and as true as it is that Livingston probably play no better quality of football than Livingston - as an employer and a club, Livingston simply have far more to offer and sometimes you have to do whats best for you and your career.

Now, the big question should be "Why don't we compete with the scottish league" and many people have asked it on this thread.

There are plenty of reasons. We don't have a full professional league is the first and foremost issue - clubs don't have the money to compete with scottish teams, we don't have the same level of support for players and our football association is, by and large a shambles. We don't have quality stadia, facilities or resources - we don't even have a national stadium.

That aside, there is more to it than just money. Look at the geographical distribution of teams from the Irish league. 11/20 teams come from the "Dublin Commuter Zone" - with the remaining 9 teams covering 3 provences. Look closer and see that most of those 11 teams are in the top flight. How do create a level of community support more than 5,000 fans strong when there aren't that many soccer supporters in the locale? How does a 15 year old from Nenagh or Youghal get to a match? So these kids pick another sport, or watch the PL on tv and so do their friends and the eL loses fans by the thousands like this.

In Dublin, you have the opposite problem. Too many clubs competing for too few supporters. Lets not forget the large amount of soccer fans in Dublin that don't come from Dublin, so you only have the local community. Unlike the rest of Ireland, communting to matches isn't a problem. Someone from Stillorgan could quite easily make it to Dalymount for a match. But as it is, the area is saturated with maybe 3-4 teams he/she could go to. *IF* there were only 2-3 teams in Dublin, then *perhaps* we might see more support at them, we may see them financially sound enough to build something akin to Celtic Park and yes maybe Irish clubs as big as Celtic or Rangers. As it is, geographically, to few fans spread to thin.

Soccer is built on the fans, the fans make communities, the fans support communities and soccer teams are part of communities. In Ireland you either have soccer clubs that cover too wide an area or too small an area. Although I don't think at this stage it would work, the only way Irish Soccer will ever compete is if the league was expanded, professionalised and financed. Hell, even sell the rights to sky if it improves the game (or is that already done?).

So what are we left with? I'd say the way to go is to ivest heavily at grass roots level, expanding the leagues, maybe by another division or two and having more clubs outside the Dublin area. To be honest, I think there are too many Dublin based clubs - if one or two were to re-locate, perhaps Dublin soccer would have a better chance.

Finally, Irish infrastructure would need to change, people would need means of getting to and from stadia, we'd need better stadia, better facilities, and more money inthe game itself.

The League of Ireland Soccer is set up to fail

Töpher

MrJoeSoap wrote:

Apparently there will be a presentation to Wes before the Glentoran game. He'll get a huge reception I'm sure.

That will be amazing. Any chance we could present him with the ball on the left wing for 90 minutes?

TwistsAndTurns

Talked to other Livi fans on other forums and they think Wes is looking like one of the best signings they made in a long time, even though he`s not played alot for them he is being noticed up there. He must have though that this was a good move for him and I`am sure he`s clever enough to have a get out clause if Livi go down. Watched him for Shels and for Livi and he always stands out for his endless running and passing so best of luck to him in the early days of his new adventure may be a loss to EL but this is what he wanted to do.

MrJoeSoap

Anyone watch the game tonight?

Only saw the last bit of it, absolutely awful stuff, have the rest taped so I'll have to give it a watch later. Wes looked more determined than any other player on the field, on more than one occasion he picked the ball up well within his own half and drove forward with it. A couple of poor touches but with the state of the pitch we can use it as an excuse.

They lost 1-0 btw.

Roddy23

Ye watched the game last night. One of the worst games I have ever seen. Dunfermline played the better football. Hoolahan was taking the corners and free kicks. He wasted the majority of them, but did manage to whip one lovely corner in which Daglish should have scored from. Livingston look like a team who are destined to go down. I know this was a cup game, but there is some serious discontent among the players. Every time a pass went a stray from the Livingston players ye could see the frustration and the anger on their team mates faces. They don't look like a team who are going to pull together to get out of relegation. The sad thing is, is that when livingston do go down, it could be a step backwards for Hoolahan, or that other one time Irish hope - Graham Barrett. (Co-incidentaly what is wrong with Barrett these days, injured?)

The_B_Man

ye hes injured but bak to full training as far as i know.

hes only on loan from coventry but the Livi boss sed he wants to sign him in hte summer.

Nuttzz

he better hope someone buys him in the summer......


http://www.livingston-mad.co.uk/news/loadrprt.asp?cid=MTCH&id=266387

MrJoeSoap

Nice to see he is still playing well anyway, got a 7 rating on that link, which is around what most of the Hibee's got. Lets hope he comes home in the summer, just in time for Europe!

blu_sonic

MrJoeSoap wrote:

Nice to see he is still playing well anyway, got a 7 rating on that link, which is around what most of the Hibee's got. Lets hope he comes home in the summer, just in time for Europe!

wes said "its a step up"
ok i'll disprove it in 4 simple steps
he left the 3rd placed (and by some accounts) the strongest EL club
he moved to livinstone a struggling scottish club
hibernian a strong scottish club trounced livinstone 7-0
shamrock rovers a relegated EL club held hibs to a draw in dublin


now does this mean SRFC are better than livi? No
it just points out that the lower element of the EL was trounced like the lower element of the SPL, pointing out IT IS NOT A STEP UP IN CLASS

Nuttzz

MrJoeSoap wrote:

Nice to see he is still playing well anyway, got a 7 rating on that link, which is around what most of the Hibee's got. Lets hope he comes home in the summer, just in time for Europe!

it is good to see him play well, and I do hope he moves on quickly

Wes was right to say it was a step up, the SPL is a step up from the EL however Livi are not a step up from Shels imho

Töpher

Nuttzz wrote:

it is good to see him play well, and I do hope he moves on quickly

Wes was right to say it was a step up, the SPL is a step up from the EL however Livi are not a step up from Shels imho

^^ In a nutshell.

However, he'd wanna hope to Christ he gets out of there, signed a 2.5 year deal IIRC...

blu_sonic

the old firm is a step up end of, the SPL and the EL are pretty much on a par outside of the old firm

20 Times 20 Times

Former Shelbourne players Richie Foran and Wes Houlihan enjoyed differing fortunes yesterday with Foran netting twice for Motherwell while his former clubmate limped off as Livingston slumped to another defeat.

Foran helped himself to two goals as Motherwell defeated Dundee United 2-0 at Fir Park to move up to eighth in the Premiership table. However Houlihan’s nightmare season continued as he limped off injured in the clubs 1-0 loss to Dunfermline. The defeat left the West Lothian club 6 points adrift at the bottom with former Celtic midfielder Paul Lambert quitting as boss afterwards.

MrJoeSoap

http://www.livilions.co.uk/boards/showpost.php?p=304207&postcount=2

Scott M wrote:

Wesley Hoolahan: FAR too good for Livingston....hell, far too good for MOST spl clubs. would take him at Hibs as a replacement for Riordan in a heartbeat!

http://www.livilions.co.uk/boards/showpost.php?p=304066&postcount=20

Scott M wrote:

why oh why Hoolahan was taken off is beyond me!!!!

http://www.livilions.co.uk/boards/showpost.php?p=301747&postcount=6

andyk wrote:

Best Midfielder? still waiting but Hoolahan showing well so far

http://www.livilions.co.uk/boards/showpost.php?p=301783&postcount=12

livi_dragon wrote:

Best Midfielder? Richard Brittain, though Wes Hoolihan has shown why we paid money for him.

http://www.livilions.co.uk/boards/showpost.php?p=302106&postcount=21

captain lion wrote:

Best Midfielder? - Wes Hoolahan, a terrific prospect who can help us build on survival, or help us come back up, dependant on how the rest of the season goes!

http://www.livilions.co.uk/boards/showpost.php?p=296921&postcount=1

defoe wrote:

Who is this young lad??

When you visited Easter Road last wednesday, i have to admit i was extremely impressed with this laddy. Always looked to get on the ball and looked good when on it.

Range of passing was excellent and isn't afraid to have a pop. Only problem i could see was he doesn't have much strength on the ball but other than that an allround good wee player.

Is it true, you splashed out £150k on him from Melbourne (or something like that)? and if so how can you afford that whilst other SPL clubs can't? (no pun intended)

Rofl, Melbourne!

http://www.livilions.co.uk/boards/showpost.php?p=296932&postcount=2

calum293 wrote:

He is a good player but in recent weeks has been fighting a one-man battle in the middle of the park. Looked great against Falkirk but the only way we were going to take advantage of his play was if he ran into the box and headed in his own cross!

http://www.livilions.co.uk/boards/showpost.php?p=298137&postcount=7

Livi Kim wrote:

Awww, look on the bright side though; he's making us happy now! He's a cracking wee player!

And lots of other stuff that I'm not bothered to add.

blu_sonic

go on the melbourne

applehunter

Melbourne??

Is that some loophole conjured up by Ollie?:D

Serbian

Melbourne, that's hilarious. Also liked the comment about heading his own cross into the net.

KdjaCL

Blackpool have signed Livingston midfielder Wes Hoolahan on loan for the coming season.

The English League One side beat Inverness Caledonian Thistle to the Irishman's signing.

The 24-year-old only joined Livingston in January from Shelbourne but could not help the West Lothian side avoid relegation from the SPL.

Hoolahan joins his former Livingston team-mate, Paul Tierney, who joined Blackpool earlier this summer.

A move up or down?



kdjac

Seaneh

League one is on par for the most part with the Eircom league prem.

The top teams in league one would be as good as, if not better than everyone bar cork/shels/derry who are probably as good as mid level championship clubs.
that said there are players in league who are as good if notbetter than anyone in the eircom league.

KdjaCL

Sorry, he moved from the SPL to Div 1, a move up or down?



kdjac

Seaneh

erm, if he'd joined swansea/brighton/millwall from livi id say a step up clubwise. as it is i'd say stepdown...

The_B_Man

has to be seen as a step forward anyway. he'll be up in the championship soon enough i'd imagine. and then who knows wat'll happen.

galwaydude

Blackpool are going to do well this season so its a good move for him.They have new owners from eastern europe, think its latvia so they have money to spend.

They might suprise a few teams this season.

Nuttzz

champions league to english division 3 in 2 year, dropping like a bowling ball

Chucky the tree

Eh he was never in the champions league. He was in the qualifying. Huge difference.

Nuttzz

Chucky the tree wrote:

Eh he was never in the champions league. He was in the qualifying. Huge difference.

true, but he wont be anywhere near the CL 3rd quali round in blackpool.....

KdjaCL

Nuttzz wrote:

true, but he wont be anywhere near the CL 3rd quali round in blackpool.....

But hes trebled his wages in 3 moves. In the same league as Irish International Wonderboy Lee Trundle now.






kdjac

Zebra3

I beat Weso will be playing in much better grounds and in front of much bigger crowds at Blackpool than if he was still at Shels.

Best of luck to him though.

KdjaCL

Zebra3 wrote:

I beat Weso will be playing in much better grounds and in front of much bigger crowds at Blackpool than if he was still at Shels.

Where exactly? Belfield or Tolka in front of couple of hundred fans and a bloke walking his dog.

Hes a professional who gets paid every week and plays in a well run league.


kdjac

Chucky the tree

Nuttzz wrote:

true, but he wont be anywhere near the CL 3rd quali round in blackpool.....

Well if he stayed at shels he wont of gotten champlions league football this year anyway.



It definitly a step in the right direction for him. He will get alot more exposure in League 1. Also interesting to see that despite people claiming the big SPL club would be after him none of them were.

Zebra3

KdjaC wrote:

Where exactly? Belfield or Tolka in front of couple of hundred fans and a bloke walking his dog.

Hes a professional who gets paid every week and plays in a well run league.

My point was that regardless of the standard he's playing at, crowds in his new division in England are much bigger and the grounds much better than in our top flight.

What point were you trying to make?

Töpher

Chucky the tree wrote:

Well if he stayed at shels he wont of gotten champlions league football this year anyway.



It definitly a step in the right direction for him. He will get alot more exposure in League 1. Also interesting to see that despite people claiming the big SPL club would be after him none of them were.

Several were; Cali, Aberdeen, and Motherwell. None of them wanted to pay what Livingston were holding out for (he cost them over £100K in January, so God only knows what they want!), so he got sent out on loan - not surprisingly to a different league, perhaps the other clubs had only shown interest in buying, not loaning.

MrJoeSoap

SKIPPER HAILS WING WONDER HOOLAHAN

Blackpool skipper Michael Jackson has praised the recent breath-taking displays of winger Wes Hoolahan.

The 24-year-old Irishman has become a marked man after turning in a series of eye-catching displays and making the League One team of the week for his weekend performance.

And Jackson told the Blackpool Gazette: "I just hope someone doesn't hatchet him out of it because obviously the more and more press he gets, the more people are going to come and cast an eye on him.

"He can go past two or three at a time. If teams want to double up on him he will still be able to handle it and will still go past them, and it will also take other people out of the game for us as well.

"I don't think there's anyone else in the league who has got someone like Wes so he's a really big player for us.

"His ability to go past people when he's on the ball is a massive plus for us and you can see that teams are starting to worry about him now."

http://www.sportinglife.com/football/nationwide2/news/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=soccer_league_1_and_2/06/11/07/manual_170701.html&TEAMHD=nationwide2

Should at least be in the B squad.

Chucky the tree

scored again today didnt he?

MrJoeSoap

Yeah, another peno. Looks like being the winner...

applehunter

Big piece in todays Racing Post focussing on Wes's performance at the weekend.

I'm sure hell move up amother level soon.

MrJoeSoap

Blackpool boss Simon Grayson hailed the performance of Wes Hoolahan after the Seasiders beat Huddersfield 1-0.

Dubliner Hoolahan, on a season-long loan from Livingston, ran the show for the visitors throughout and netted an excellent spot-kick after 71 minutes to secure the 1-0 victory.

Grayson said: "Hoolahan deserved it (the penalty) as he helped us control a game played in difficult conditions. We tried to be as professional as possible despite all the wind and rain.

"It was vital for us to keep Hoolahan engaged in the action throughout. That's why we like to pass the ball around so much because if we do not keep the ball on the deck, the game will pass by a player like Hoolahan.

http://www.sportinglife.com/football/cups/facup/news/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=soccer_league_1_and_2/06/11/12/manual_180440.html

Midfielder Wes Hoolahan capped an outstanding individual display with a cheekily-taken second-half penalty as Blackpool progressed into the FA Cup second round with a 1-0 win at Huddersfield.

Hoolahan, on a season-long loan from Livingston, dummied his initial spot kick on 71 minutes and then planted the ball into the unguarded net after keeper Matt Glennon had already dived.

The penalty was awarded for Nat Clarke's innocuous looking handball in the area just seconds after referee Andy Hall played advantage following John McCombe's trip on Adrian Forbes inside the box.

The goal was just reward for Hoolahan, whose performance was the one highlight in an awful game played in torrential rain at the Galpharm Stadium.

Huddersfield, who have won only three of 12 league and cup games at home this season, have now been knocked out of all the cup competitions.

The closest the home side came was when Clarke hit the bar from the halfway line on 50 minutes following goalkeeper Rhys Evans' misplaced clearance.

http://www.sportinglife.com/football/nationwide2/news/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=soccer_league_1_and_2/06/11/11/manual_185440.html&TEAMHD=nationwide2

MrJoeSoap

Blackpool boss Simon Grayson says on-loan winger Wes Hoolahan has been offered a contract to stay at Bloomfield Road beyond the end of this season.
Hoolahan has been a revelation for the Seasiders since arriving on loan from Scottish outfit Livingston, and a permanent transfer has been agreed between the two clubs for next summer upon conclusion of the player's season-long loan.
Grayson has revealed he still has to agree terms with Hoolahan, but he has insisted no other clubs can steal him away:
"We've spoken to Wes in the last week or so, and hopefully he'll agree to the terms we've offered him.

"The deal is more or less done with Livingston, an offer has been made to Wes and we hope to conclude the matter quickly.
"Even if someone else were to come in for him we've got him until the end of the season, but I want him in the longer term, on a two or three-year contract.

"He's enjoying himself, playing regularly and doing alright. Hopefully that will continue and he'll become a permanent signing."

http://www.clubcall.com/index.jsp?storyID=299576

SEASIDERS IN SEVENTH HEAVEN

Blackpool have extended their unbeaten run to seven games following a 3-1 win over Huddersfield.

Goals from Keigan Parker and Keith Southern set the home side on their way and although Gary Taylor-Fletcher pulled one back for the visitors, Andy Morrell made sure Blackpool completed back-to-back wins over Huddersfield after last week's FA Cup triumph.

A fine pass from Adrian Forbes midway through the first half unlocked Town's defence and striker Parker scored from an acute angle.

Blackpool went further ahead four minutes later. Midfielder Wes Hoolahan set up Southern and he blasted home from the edge of the penalty area.

Slipshod home defending in first-half injury time allowed Taylor-Fletcher a simple tap-in to give his side some hope.

But Morrell speared home Hoolahan's cross after a five-man move out of defence on the hour-mark to restore Blackpool's two-goal advantage.

http://www.sportinglife.com/football/nationwide2/news/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=soccer_league_1_and_2/06/11/18/manual_180411.html

Great stuff altogether, a permanent deal and two assists in the space of three days.

Xavi6

Great news. Weso has been shortlisted for Four Four Two's League One Player of the Year award. Basically the fans get a say in who gets the award in March. Votes can be cast here....

http://www.fourfourtwo.premiumtv.co.uk/page/sub/Vote?Q3140=7261&QO3140=&Q3160=7307&QO3160=&Q3161=7423&QO3161=&Q3122=Neil+Sherwin&Q3123=neil.sherwin4%40gmail.com&Q3124=%2B353+86+3038+442

I've already and hopefully a few more of you will.

MrJoeSoap

And whilst yer all at it, vote Bale as well...

Xavi6

MrJoeSoap wrote:

And whilst yer all at it, vote Bale as well...

Meh I went for Nugent. Jermaine Easter in League Two. Come on the Wanderers!

eirebhoy

MrJoeSoap wrote:

And whilst yer all at it, vote Bale as well...

Paddy McCarthy just to make Stan look more of a fool.

Xavi6

10-MAN TANGERINES STUN SCUNNY

Scunthorpe's promotion hopes suffered a setback after they suffered their first defeat in eight games after being beaten 3-1 by 10-man Blackpool.

United dominated the early possession but could not make it count and it was the visitors who snatched the lead after 27 minutes when Andy Morrell squeezed home a shot at the near post.

They struck again to make it 2-0 in the 58th minute when Wes Hoolahan scored from the spot after Morrell had been brought down in the box by keeper Joe Murphy.

Hoolahan was booked for celebrating his goal and was then sent off in the 73rd minute for a second yellow card offence for kicking the ball away.

But Scunthorpe still could not break down the 10-man visitors and it was Blackpool who struck again in the 88th minute when Keigan Parker waltzed through the middle to score.

Substitute Ian Baraclough pulled a goal back for Scunthorpe in stoppage time with a glancing header but it was little consolation after a poor performance from the home side as the visitors moved to within two points of the play-off places.

Good result for Blackpool but very disappointing Weso got sent off.

MrJoeSoap

They're on some run at the moment, think its one defeat in 14 now. Farrelly will probably come in to replace Weso now.

MrJoeSoap

Delighted to see he made the League One team of the season, and hopefully Blackpool will get promotion so Wes can test himself at a higher level.

Zebra3

Congrats Weso!!

Xavi6

Well done Weso. Delighted for him.