how to fix our league! - Mod Warning in OP

dsmythy

People will be as interested in watching Bray play Dundalk as they will Bray play Crusaders. Doesn't do anything.

Also small numbered leagues work well enough in Switzerland among others. Again not overly helpful.

K-9

legendary.xix wrote: »

An 8 or 10 team league is not workable. Teams playing each other 4 times a year is too much.

A bigger division means more meaningless games, it isn't going to help the likes of Harps or Athlone.

legendary.xix

dan1895 wrote: »

Shels were founded in 1895. They are one of the oldest football clubs in the country and one of the founding members of the League of Ireland. Bohs are the only other founding member still playing in the league today. As the table stands at the moment, Shels are the 4th best team in Dublin. Should they just pull out of the league and give up in order to facilitate some regional franchise? The same could be said of clubs like Bray Wanderers and UCD.

In a perfect world there would be a nice geographical spread of clubs playing LOI football but alas, there is not. However, the fact that most of the Premier Division clubs are concentrated on the east coast is nothing to do with favourtism or anything like that. That's were the population is and those are the clubs who have earned their position in the league on merit. If people in the regions with no LOI clubs want LOI football so bad, they can work hard to develop clubs that are already in the area and work their way up rather than hope for some super club to be parachuted into the region and the LOI.

Where's the pathway to the league for clubs to work with? Clubs were working within the A Championship but that has disappeared.

People looking for a super club is ludicrous as you say. What is needed though is a regional league to get clubs involved at a certain level. These clubs should be the focal point of the development of the game within their regions, giving more kids access to the game and people in general a local club to follow at some level.

dan1895

legendary.xix wrote: »

Where's the pathway to the league for clubs to work with? Clubs were working within the A Championship but that has disappeared.

People looking for a super club is ludicrous as you say. What is needed though is a regional league to get clubs involved at a certain level. These clubs should be the focal point of the development of the game within their regions, giving more kids access to the game and people in general a local club to follow at some level.

Your not wrong there but we've all heard the whole "there's no LOI club where I live" argument. Its a pity the A championship didn't realise its potential.

bohsman

PRAF wrote: »

You don't have to have every county involved to make it a national league. You would have an IPL with about 8 teams (10 max) representing all of the main population centres on this island of ours. The idea would be to have viably large populations in order to attract enough fans to watch top flight soccer.

What we have now isn't working. The clubs are too small and have too little fans. We need to start thinking bigger. I've no problem with lots of other small teams continuing to play, but they should be in a lower division.

The current LoI is a joke:
- doesn't offer professional football to enough footballers. A new IPL could offer real jobs to lots of players, managers, etc.
- doesn't make the most of itself. It needs to start winning back the hard earned euros that the "barstool fans" are spending on their sky sports packages, Man U jerseys, expensive trips overseas to watch 'their' EPL teams, etc.
- doesn't stop the needless flow of hundreds of Irish kids over to England to get chewed up and spat out by the EPL
- doesn't bring very many players through to the national team

We need radical change

Where is the money going to come from? If you want to alienate all the people that currently go to games and spend money on local football who is going to support it? Man U fans will continue to support Man U etc. One of the main lessons the LOI should have learned over the last 10 years is that tripling all the wages in the league doesn't make the players 3 times better.

legendary.xix

K-9 wrote: »

A bigger division means more meaningless games, it isn't going to help the likes of Harps or Athlone.

The Premier of 12 this season seems to be running ok bar Monaghan's withdrawal. 3 series isn't ideal but we're not the only league to settle for it. Denmark have a similar 12 team top tier over 3 series. It's better than the split.

A side, I was doing a quick check on regions which could be brought into a regional league:
North-west
Fanad
Galway United (GUST)
Castlebar
Monaghan Utd (The return!)

South-west
Ennis
Tralee
Clonmel
Killarney
Cobh

East
Navan
Kilkenny
Carlow
Newbridge
Portlaoise
Mullingar
Tullamore

The U19 league successfully implemented an Elite division with a North and South league below it. The FAI should look to get clubs/regions listed above involved in the league. Maybe have your top flight with the established clubs and then have a regional league below it. 8-10 clubs in a northern league and similarly 8-10 clubs in the south.The league needs a solid platform to move forward.

AgileMyth

legendary.xix wrote: »

Is a soccer AIL needed if they have the attitude below?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/18715825

Colin Coates is the only decent player they have and he can't be arsed turning up for the game.

I'm sure they'll all be back for the away trip though..

legendary.xix

dan1895 wrote: »

Your not wrong there but we've all heard the whole "there's no LOI club where I live" argument. Its a pity the A championship didn't realise its potential.

The disappointing thing was the failure to merge the First Division and A Championship. It was on the table for discussion when they were revamping the league but it was knocked back. As you, currently there's only 19 clubs. If it's a 12 team Premier next year, will they have enough clubs for a viable First Division?

Clubs in the First Division if they want to compete might have to come around to an idea of a regionalised First Division with the like of Tralee Dynamos, FC Carlow, Cobh and Fanad being brought in. If a regionalised First Division is in place, it should be more appealing to other clubs/regions than the A Championship.

K-9

legendary.xix wrote: »

The disappointing thing was the failure to merge the First Division and A Championship. It was on the table for discussion when they were revamping the league but it was knocked back. As you, currently there's only 19 clubs. If it's a 12 team Premier next year, will they have enough clubs for a viable First Division?

Clubs in the First Division if they want to compete might have to come around to an idea of a regionalised First Division with the like of Tralee Dynamos, FC Carlow, Cobh and Fanad being brought in. If a regionalised First Division is in place, it should be more appealing to other clubs/regions than the A Championship.

That might be a better proposal than a 16 team league. A regionalised First Division should also reduce some of the traveling costs involved, hopefully helping to reduce the financial burden plus getting more geographical coverage.

CiaranC

PRAF wrote: »

Mere tinkering with the LoI will get us nowhere. The situation needs radical change. If that means p***ing off the few hundred LoI hardcore fans then so be it.

There are about 15000 regular match-going fans in Ireland. Please explain how alienating these will help senior football. Who will support this new football structure? All the excuses used by barstoolers not to go to matches will still apply, except you wont have LOI punters going either.

legendary.xix

CiaranC wrote: »

There are about 15000 regular match-going fans in Ireland. Please explain how alienating these will help senior football. Who will support this new football structure? All the excuses used by barstoolers not to go to matches will still apply, except you wont have LOI punters going either.

Being form a region not in the LoI, I take in a few games. Those from regions with a club keeping away are missing out. I took in a game last week and it was god craic. Sure enough there was a bit of hoofing at the start. At all levels games can be cagey at the start. Fair play to the home team as they got into the game, they got the ball down and passed.

Being from GAA background, clubs accept their level be it Senior, Intermediate or Junior. I go to county and provincial games at all level. People get behind their team no matter the level. I fail to see how some what I'll call soccer people seem to fail to do the same.

PRAF

legendary.xix wrote: »

An 8 or 10 team league is not workable. Teams playing each other 4 times a year is too much.

They only have 12 teams now! 8 or 10 would not be too much less than the current situation.

Good point though. That is probably the biggest problem with an IPL type concept. You would need to have some strong cup competitions to keep it interesting. Perhaps you could link in with Scotland in order to have an Irish-Scottish Cup or something like that.

You would also need to ensure the standard of the IPL was strong enough so that the teams would have a good chance to have extended runs in the Europa League

PRAF

bohsman wrote: »

Where is the money going to come from? If you want to alienate all the people that currently go to games and spend money on local football who is going to support it? Man U fans will continue to support Man U etc. One of the main lessons the LOI should have learned over the last 10 years is that tripling all the wages in the league doesn't make the players 3 times better.

Where is the money going to come from? I'm not sure but I would suggest something like a consortium of tv and radio stations is established and seeks other sponsors to put together a pool of money. They would be promised really top class football in Ireland for the first time ever. There would be 8 or 10 really good sides playing off against each other. This would be backed up with intense marketing to win over the barstool fans and the kids in schools. The payoff would be something like 10m guaranteed to support the league. Anything the teams then make in matchday revenue is theirs to keep.

Will Man U fans continue to support Man U - maybe. However, you could start by winning over the next generation of fans. They would get their dads to take them to the new matches. Over time you'd have less barstool fans and more real fans.

Current fans need to get over themselves and lose the attitude. This is the same type of mentality that means we have 166 TDs supporting a country of 4.5 m. We need to think bigger than the local parish. The current structures are failing everybody

doncarlos

PRAF wrote: »

Where is the money going to come from? I'm not sure but I would suggest something like a consortium of tv and radio stations is established and seeks other sponsors to put together a pool of money. They would be promised really top class football in Ireland for the first time ever. There would be 8 or 10 really good sides playing off against each other. This would be backed up with intense marketing to win over the barstool fans and the kids in schools. The payoff would be something like 10m guaranteed to support the league. Anything the teams then make in matchday revenue is theirs to keep.

Will Man U fans continue to support Man U - maybe. However, you could start by winning over the next generation of fans. They would get their dads to take them to the new matches. Over time you'd have less barstool fans and more real fans.

Current fans need to get over themselves and lose the attitude. This is the same type of mentality that means we have 166 TDs supporting a country of 4.5 m. We need to think bigger than the local parish. The current structures are failing everybody

Pie in the sky stuff. You really believe all this nonsense?

Where are all the fans going to come from after you have just burned every single fan that supports the local game?

Where are these new teams going to play their football? Who is going to fund stadia big enough to facilitate all these new fans that are going to materialise?

TV companies are really going to rush to support a brand new league with new teams when they largely ignore the current setup? What is going to change for them to become interested?

PRAF

legendary.xix wrote: »

The Premier of 12 this season seems to be running ok bar Monaghan's withdrawal. 3 series isn't ideal but we're not the only league to settle for it. Denmark have a similar 12 team top tier over 3 series. It's better than the split.

A side, I was doing a quick check on regions which could be brought into a regional league:
North-west
Fanad
Galway United (GUST)
Castlebar
Monaghan Utd (The return!)

South-west
Ennis
Tralee
Clonmel
Killarney
Cobh

East
Navan
Kilkenny
Carlow
Newbridge
Portlaoise
Mullingar
Tullamore

The U19 league successfully implemented an Elite division with a North and South league below it. The FAI should look to get clubs/regions listed above involved in the league. Maybe have your top flight with the established clubs and then have a regional league below it. 8-10 clubs in a northern league and similarly 8-10 clubs in the south.The league needs a solid platform to move forward.

I see this as being an excellent setup for the lower tier leagues. However, does it address any of the following:
- Supporting more professional footballers and therefore creating more jobs in football
- Providing solid structures so that the best of our kids do not have to go to England to get chewed up and spat out by the EPL
- Providing a sufficiently strong level of football so that the best young talent in Ireland does not have to go abroad in order to continue their football education
- Generate enough interest in order to winover the barstool fans

IMO it can only do that if it is backed up by an IPL type setup with 8 or 10 top teams

PRAF

doncarlos wrote: »

Pie in the sky stuff. You really believe all this nonsense?

YES

Where are all the fans going to come from after you have just burned every single fan that supports the local game?

HOW MANY FANS ARE THERE. ACCORDING TO WIKI THE AVERAGE GATE IS < 1700 PER GAME. THATS ABOUT 10K FANS WATCHING LOI EVERY WEEK AND A MINISCULE AMOUNT MORE WATCHING IT ON TV. SO YOU TURN OFF SOME OF THOSE. BIG DEAL, THERE ARE PROBABLY 1M+ WATCHING MATCH OF THE DAY OR SKY OR SCOTTISH FOOTBALL EVERY WEEK. THERE ARE 2M PLUS FOLLOWING IRELAND IN THE EUROS

Where are these new teams going to play their football? Who is going to fund stadia big enough to facilitate all these new fans that are going to materialise?

WHO CARES FOR NOW. BUT A LOGICAL IDEA WOULD BE FOR A TEAM IN LIMERICK TO USE THE RUGBY STADIUM AND FOR BOTH OF THE DUBLIN BASED TEAMS TO USE THE AVIVA. NEED TO GET CREATIVE HERE.

TV companies are really going to rush to support a brand new league with new teams when they largely ignore the current setup? What is going to change for them to become interested?

WHATS GOING TO CHANGE:
- BETTER PLAYERS
- BETTER PRODUCT
- MORE EXCITING GAMES
- BETTER MARKETING

dan1895

doncarlos wrote: »

Pie in the sky stuff.

My thoughts exactly.

doncarlos

PRAF wrote: »

WHATS GOING TO CHANGE:
- BETTER PLAYERS
- BETTER PRODUCT
- MORE EXCITING GAMES
- BETTER MARKETING

How How How and How?

If there is some magic wand out there to achieve all of the above do you not think it would have been already waved?

doncarlos

PRAF wrote: »

WHO CARES FOR NOW.

:rolleyes::rolleyes: FFS
Great start for your super duper league

PRAF wrote: »

BUT A LOGICAL IDEA WOULD BE FOR A TEAM IN LIMERICK TO USE THE RUGBY STADIUM AND FOR BOTH OF THE DUBLIN BASED TEAMS TO USE THE AVIVA. NEED TO GET CREATIVE HERE.

Logical?????????

You have a few kids that have pestered their fathers to bring them to games sitting in an empty Aviva stadium? 200-300 tops in a 50k stadium. That'll look great on the telly

I think you should just stop as you're embarrassing yourself.

dan1895

Without too much thinking a start would be the following.

FAI to lower or waive participation fees to the league. €19k is a joke.

FAI to raise the prize money. It was going in the right direction but was then slashed because of the financial mess the FAI made of selling Vantage Club tickets.

Sponsors to be pushed into doing some proper marketing of the league. I don't know how you'd force them though but look at Guinness and the Hurling, O2 and Rugby, 3 and the national team etc. When have you seen airtricity or previously Eircom mention the league other than tacking their own brand onto the name?

Clubs to lower the price of a ticket. I had a few people from work about to go to Tolka a few weeks ago until I told them how much it cost. I also have a friend who's gone twice this season but can't justify €15 every other Friday.

PRAF

doncarlos wrote: »

How How How and How?

If there is some magic wand out there to achieve all of the above do you not think it would have been already waved?

Simple really, MONEY! Which of the following is likely to generate more interest:

Bohs vs Shels

or

Dublin vs Belfast

In order to make this happen you would need vision, hard work, creativity, negotiation, etc. Do the FAI have the skills to make it happen - perhaps not. Doesn't mean its not a good idea though.

So tell me, what is your solution on how to 'fix this league'?

dan1895

PRAF wrote: »

Simple really, MONEY! Which of the following is likely to generate more interest:

Bohs vs Shels

or

Dublin vs Belfast

In order to make this happen you would need vision, hard work, creativity, negotiation, etc. Do the FAI have the skills to make it happen - perhaps not. Doesn't mean its not a good idea though.

So tell me, what is your solution on how to 'fix this league'?

There was a Dublin and there was a Belfast. Their both dead!

PRAF

doncarlos wrote: »

:rolleyes::rolleyes: FFS
Great start for your super duper league


Well if you insist:
Derry / Donegal - Brandywell (8k)
Belfast - Windsor (13k)
Limerick - Thomond (26k)
Cork - either of the GAA stadia (43k or 18k depending on which you go for)
Dublin (x 2 teams) - Aviva (50k)
Waterford - RSG (5.5k)
Galway - Sportsgrounds (10k)

dan1895

PRAF wrote: »

doncarlos wrote: »

:rolleyes::rolleyes: FFS
Great start for your super duper league


Well if you insist:
Derry / Donegal - Brandywell (8k)
Belfast - Windsor (13k)
Limerick - Thomond (26k)
Cork - either of the GAA stadia (43k or 18k depending on which you go for)
Dublin (x 2 teams) - Aviva (50k)
Waterford - RSG (5.5k)
Galway - Sportsgrounds (10k)

Where are Sligo in all of this? They've gone from first division to challenging for the title and playing in Europe regularly in the space of a decade and are building a great little stadium in the town. Are you saying that all the work done by many people down there should be stepped on by the governing bodies?

PRAF

dan1895 wrote: »

Without too much thinking a start would be the following.

FAI to lower or waive participation fees to the league. €19k is a joke.

FAI to raise the prize money. It was going in the right direction but was then slashed because of the financial mess the FAI made of selling Vantage Club tickets.

Sponsors to be pushed into doing some proper marketing of the league. I don't know how you'd force them though but look at Guinness and the Hurling, O2 and Rugby, 3 and the national team etc. When have you seen airtricity or previously Eircom mention the league other than tacking their own brand onto the name?

Clubs to lower the price of a ticket. I had a few people from work about to go to Tolka a few weeks ago until I told them how much it cost. I also have a friend who's gone twice this season but can't justify €15 every other Friday.

Is this a serious post? If it is, how exactly does it address any of the following:
- Supporting more professional footballers and therefore creating more jobs in football
- Providing solid structures so that the best of our kids do not have to go to England to get chewed up and spat out by the EPL
- Providing a sufficiently strong level of football so that the best young talent in Ireland does not have to go abroad in order to continue their football education
- Generate enough interest in order to winover the barstool fans

smackbunnybaby

PRAF wrote: »

WHATS GOING TO CHANGE:
- BETTER PLAYERS
- BETTER PRODUCT
- MORE EXCITING GAMES
- BETTER MARKETING

Cheerleaders
naked wimmins
overtime if there are draws
fights
naked wimmins
bigger goals
multi-ball powerplays
naked wimmins

dan1895

You'll notice the word "start" in the first line. Its also a more realistic idea than your crazy all Ireland super franchise championship. Dublin v Belfast ffs!

PRAF

I was listening to Off the Ball last night and there was a piece on developing Irish footballers. A lot of the gist of it was about having a national football philosophy, better training for youngsters, better training for coaches across the country, etc. Very difficult to argue with that as it all sounds very logical.

However, the big hole in all of this is not have a proper league for our top players to play in. Ok, you can never really compete with the top leagues in europe, we're too far behind them to ever complete on a level playing field.

But what we do need is a pro league to support the best of our young talent (say 18 - 23) who haven't already been snapped up by the biggest EPL teams, to support untapped talent from south america, africa, etc, and to support a few top Irish pros who are looking to retire and move back to Ireland (e.g. maybe the likes of Duff in a year or two).

That is what my suggestions are trying to address. Pie in the sky? Perhaps. I'm sure lots of luddites said the same when the Rugby guys were dreaming of an Irish team winning the Heineken Cup or when the Golf guys were dreaming of 4 Irishmen winning 6 majors in 5 years.

dan1895

PRAF wrote: »

I was listening to Off the Ball last night and there was a piece on developing Irish footballers. A lot of the gist of it was about having a national football philosophy, better training for youngsters, better training for coaches across the country, etc. Very difficult to argue with that as it all sounds very logical.

However, the big hole in all of this is not have a proper league for our top players to play in. Ok, you can never really compete with the top leagues in europe, we're too far behind them to ever complete on a level playing field.

But what we do need is a pro league to support the best of our young talent (say 18 - 23) who haven't already been snapped up by the biggest EPL teams, to support untapped talent from south america, africa, etc, and to support a few top Irish pros who are looking to retire and move back to Ireland (e.g. maybe the likes of Duff in a year or two).

That is what my suggestions are trying to address. Pie in the sky? Perhaps. I'm sure lots of luddites said the same when the Rugby guys were dreaming of an Irish team winning the Heineken Cup or when the Golf guys were dreaming of 4 Irishmen winning 6 majors in 5 years.

And again. Where will the money come from?

PRAF

dan1895 wrote: »

You'll notice the word "start" in the first line. Its also a more realistic idea than your crazy all Ireland super franchise championship. Dublin v Belfast ffs!

ok so how many new fans will your fantastic ideas win over? zero

dan1895

So more marketing and lower admission prices won't result in higher gates?

CSF

PRAF wrote: »

doncarlos wrote: »

How How How and How?

If there is some magic wand out there to achieve all of the above do you not think it would have been already waved?

Simple really, MONEY! Which of the following is likely to generate more interest:

Bohs vs Shels

or

Dublin vs Belfast

In order to make this happen you would need vision, hard work, creativity, negotiation, etc. Do the FAI have the skills to make it happen - perhaps not. Doesn't mean its not a good idea though.

So tell me, what is your solution on how to 'fix this league'?

Oh my holy Christ. These 'I don't follow the league but I know it all' types seem to get worse with every thread. You have the Premiership, enjoy that instead.

CSF

To be honest, as long as you're in here talking about doing away with our clubs and our league, your opinions will be about as welcome as an eggfart in an elevator with no aircon.

This is a thread about how to fix our league, not how to do away with it.

PRAF

dan1895 wrote: »

And again. Where will the money come from?

Ireland is a sports mad country Dan. Look at the GAA, look at the recent Irish Open Golf, look at the Rugby, and more importantly look at the crowds that are generated when the likes of Man U and Liverpool come over to play. Sport is a multi million euro industry in Ireland.

There is a lot of money being spent in Ireland every single week. Unfortunately most of that goes on Sky Sports subscriptions to watch the EPL, pints in pubs to watch the EPL, replica shirts for EPL teams, etc.

It doesn't take a genius to work out that you need to win the hearts and minds of current EPL fans and soon to be EPL fans in order to start increasing the money available to support Irish soccer.

The shame of it is that the hardcore 10k who watch LoI think that they are the only soccer fans in Ireland and look down their noses at the 1-2m other soccer fans who are so underwhelmed by the quality of the product on offer that they have to turn their attentions to the EPL.

Offer these people a good product and watch them switch over. Will you win over them all, of course not. Can you win enough of them to make Irish professional soccer viable - I think so.

PRAF

CSF wrote: »

To be honest, as long as you're in here talking about doing away with our clubs and our league, your opinions will be about as welcome as an eggfart in an elevator with no aircon.

This is a thread about how to fix our league, not how to do away with it.

I never suggested doing away with the LoI. I've suggested that you layer on top of it an Irish Premier League (of 'IPL') which would be an all Ireland league with 8-10 teams representing the main population centres on the island.

The eggfart loving LoIers would be more than welcome to continue their love affair with the worst league in Europe. A league that fails miserably on all of the following criteria:
- Supporting more professional footballers and therefore creating more jobs in football
- Providing solid structures so that the best of our kids do not have to go to England to get chewed up and spat out by the EPL
- Providing a sufficiently strong level of football so that the best young talent in Ireland does not have to go abroad in order to continue their football education
- Generate enough interest in order to winover the barstool fans

PRAF

dan1895 wrote: »

So more marketing and lower admission prices won't result in higher gates?

You're thinking too small Dan. It's akin to rearranging deck chairs on a sinking ship. There are some gaping holes in your strategy as well

dan1895

In fairness its something I thought about in ten minutes this morning reading through the thread. I also said its a start.

You never answered where the money to market this new league and the money to entice young African and South American youth will come from.

CSF

dan1895 wrote: »

In fairness its something I thought about in ten minutes this morning reading through the thread. I also said its a start.

You never answered where the money to market this new league and the money to entice young African and South American youth will come from.

Better off just ignoring the lad

PRAF

dan1895 wrote: »

In fairness its something I thought about in ten minutes this morning reading through the thread. I also said its a start.

You never answered where the money to market this new league and the money to entice young African and South American youth will come from.

Yes I did actually. I said the following:

"I would suggest something like a consortium of tv and radio stations is established and seeks other sponsors to put together a pool of money. They would be promised really top class football in Ireland for the first time ever. There would be 8 or 10 really good sides playing off against each other. This would be backed up with intense marketing to win over the barstool fans and the kids in schools. The payoff would be something like 10m guaranteed to support the league. Anything the teams then make in matchday revenue is theirs to keep. "

glineli

What about letting oscar traynor teams into the FAI Ford Cup?

I think this is no link between junior and senior football in this country. This would give junior players something higher to aim for. The oscar traynors is not treated seriously by a lot of leagues and it needs a revamp, so if not all leagues maybe the last 8 into next seasons FAI Ford Cup

doncarlos

CSF wrote: »

Better off just ignoring the lad

I still haven't decided if he's slightly retarded or just a wum

dan1895

But what TV consortium? Setanta aren't exactly swimming in money and RTE and TV3 are too interested in showing Premiership and European games.

PRAF

CSF wrote: »

Better off just ignoring the lad

And what was your strategy again? The reality is that the LoI is a joke. It fails on all of the criteria I've set out:
- Supporting more professional footballers and therefore creating more jobs in football
- Providing solid structures so that the best of our kids do not have to go to England to get chewed up and spat out by the EPL
- Providing a sufficiently strong level of football so that the best young talent in Ireland does not have to go abroad in order to continue their football education
- Generate enough interest in order to winover the barstool fans

The status quo isn't working. Have you not heard that Ireland got destroyed in the Euros? Did you not hear that we have virtually no Irish footballers in the Champions League?

Tinkering around the edges of the current structures is not going to change anything. Ok, so if you are a Bohs fan, you'll be happy that you beat Rovers last week. But like it or not that means f*** all in the grand scheme of things

osarusan

PRAF wrote: »

They would be promised really top class football in Ireland for the first time ever.

It still wouldn't be anywhere near top class football.

The people who are not willing to watch Bohs against Rovers in the LOI with a few players who are decent and might someday be good are not going to watch Bohs versus Rovers (or Dublin versus Belfast) with a few players who are quite decent and might someday be really good.

The notion that there is going to be an explosion of interest from the media in covering something like this is laughable too.

PRAF

dan1895 wrote: »

But what TV consortium? Setanta aren't exactly swimming in money and RTE and TV3 are too interested in showing Premiership and European games.

Hmm, lets see here. We've already established that we have millions of football mad people in this country who spend millions every year on their favourite sport. We've also established that we have existing TV stations that are willing to pump millions into top class football. This is not to mention all of the potential sponsors, print media coverage, radio stations, etc.

As I said previously, we need someone with a bit of vision, someone with a radical strategy to shake things up. If you came to the likes of RTE, TV3, BBC NI, Setanta, etc and said I'm going to guarantee you a much better product, will you pump up the money? I'm sure there would be interest.

You might also have to rope in someone like JP McManus or Dermot Desmond to invest in it from the start. We already have a rich benefactor pumping millions into the FAI to pay Trapps salary. Why not get someone to invest in the league?

PRAF

osarusan wrote: »

It still wouldn't be anywhere near top class football.

The people who are not willing to watch Bohs against Rovers in the LOI with a few players who are decent and might someday be good are not going to watch Bohs versus Rovers (or Dublin versus Belfast) with a few players who are quite decent and might someday be really good.

The notion that there is going to be an explosion of interest from the media in covering something like this is laughable too.

Where there is a will there's a way. I heard Damien Duff recently say that he'll play until he literally can't do it anymore. All you'd need is a few guys like him. Maybe 2 in each team and you'll start winning over some fans. Would I pay to watch Stephen Rice in action? No offence to him but I wouldn't

Would I pay to see a 34 year old Duffer in action? You bet your ass I would. Same goes for Robbie Keane and lots more besides. Could we get these guys back to act as ambassadors for a new league? It was done in the past with Giles so maybe we could do it again.

Also, could we do something so that up and coming talent from South America and Africa could ply their trade in an IPL? Could we not do something to position ourselves as the league that gives these guys a chance? I think we could.

PRAF

A few other marketing gimmicks:
- Zero tolerance on diving and other forms of cynical cheating. Make the league a bit more physical than your typical euro league
- Total respect for referees. Dissent punished by immediate red cards
- Bring in video refs and allow each manager 3 chances to refer a controversial decision to the video ref per game

You'd probably get banned by UEFA which would be an even bigger gimmick and generate even more interest in the league

Prop Joe

My 2 cents..

12 Team Premier League...Play each other 1 at home,1 away & 1 overseas..Just to bring a bit of spice...Don't have to be anywhere exotic..Be a trip away for the fans,Players & Should add an interest if it was televised...Each round would have an Overseas Tie..

Venues would be small capacity to try and make an atmosphere cities could be

Isle of Man/Isle of Wight/Jersey
Glasgow
London
Cardiff
Birmingham
& Really anywhere Michael O'Leary has cheap flights to.

12 team Premier with a minimum of 7 under 23 players in each match day squad

10 team Div 1

and instead of an U-19 League have Div 2 with Bohs "B" & Sligo "B" etc like they have in Spain..

All Irish cup with Every Senior club in the country in the hat and maybe Oscar Traynor Teams

Plus stricter financial planning from ownership etc..Realistically its 4 or 5 pro teams..Rest Semi-Pro

Premier

Sligo
Pats
Drogs
Sham
Derry
Cork
Boh
Shel
Bray
UCD
Dundalk
Monaghan-Just for template purpose's

Div 1

Athlone
Harps
Limerick
Longford
Mervue
Galway
Waterford
Wexford
Fannad
Carlow

Div 2

Tralee
Cobh Ramblers
Bohs B
U.C.D. B
Cork B
Bray B
Pats B
Shels B
Salthill B
Drogs B
Sham B
Mervue B
Wexford B
Waterford United B

Regional League Winners i.e Munster Senior League,Leinster etc..Play-Off to get promoted..Bottom side rejoin there regional league

Hire a PR Company to promote each club and Fixture..Reduce admission E10 should be enough for Premier,E7 for Div1 and a fiver after that.

Juvenile Season tickets should be given out for free to local youth clubs.

No this may not create more jobs in Irish football but it should secure the jobs that are all ready there

It Provides structures so that the best of our kids do not have to go to England to get chewed up and spat out by the EPL


It Provides a sufficiently strong level of football so that the best young talent in Ireland does not have to go abroad in order to continue their football education

Generate enough interest in order to winover the barstool fans

**NO**
Maybe for the cup fixtures but the aim would be to have a loyal following from the next generation

The main problem with Irish soccer is the finance..Owners are budgeting poorly..

YOUR VIEWS ???

PRAF

Prop Joe - some really good ideas in there. In think the 3 match series would be a great idea. Not sure that the overseas match would be viable as you've suggested it. Perhaps you could have one series of matches overseas to see if it would work. Stage it in London and play 2 or 3 games at the same venue and see if the London Irish would support it and make it work?

I like the U23 part of it as well. Realistically this league would be based on lots of young players with perhaps 2 or 3 established stars coming back to their hom country to finish up their careers.

The markteing and ticketing ideas are good too.

However, to be honest I don't think teams like Bray and UCD belong in an Irish Premier League. Also, is Louth big enough to support 2 pro teams? My preference as I've pointed out would be to consolitdate the teams around the biggest population centres (dublin, limerick, galway, cork, etc.). That would also mean bringing in teams from Belfast and Derry / Donegal so that it would be a truly all Ireland league

PRAF

doncarlos wrote: »

I still haven't decided if he's slightly retarded or just a wum

Disgraceful post. Please think up some valid arguments if you want to contribute to this debate. Attacking the man and not the ball is cowardly IMO