LOI Talk, Rumours, Gossip, Transfers etc 2018

Lovely Bloke

Stuey's little salute to Dundalk's management, I'd say that stuck in his throat a bit.

dan1895

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

Stuey's little salute to Dundalk's management, I'd say that stuck in his throat a bit.

I'm sure he's over it at this stage.

Pighead

Definitely seems to be over all that. He's been one of Dundalk's biggest cheerleaders for a couple of years now. Regularly sings Kenny's praises.

Mahony0509

Good on Brian Kerr. 5000 for strategic planning is bull when Athlone and Waterford can barely attract more than 150 people to each game.

fullstop

SantryRed wrote: »

But if things were flipped the other way, you cannot say that there'd be no spitefulness to have Cork and Rovers have gotten off scott free in comparison to us?

And Derry...

dfx-

The crux being that a 5-year strategic plan is utterly pointless, who knows where any club will be in 5 years time. Where will Waterford, Athlone, Shels, Cobh, Longford next season, nevermind 5 seasons. How will a strategic plan make any difference?

It's a fruitless exercise indicative of an distant, out-of-touch FAI. When you combine that with daring to claim credit for creating an atmosphere where success takes place, there's anger..

topmanamillion

pablomakaveli wrote: »

You're absolutely right. It is a good idea but they've gone about it arseways. Ideally they should have hired a team of professionals or consultants to go to each club and help them put together a viable strategic plan. That may end up costing more than €100,000 but we'd get better results. Instead they've tossed each club €5,000 and said put it together yourselves.

But the frustration with the strategic plan is most clubs are living hand to mouth.
There's a fair old chance the likes of Athlone, Waterford, Shels, Longford, Cabinteely etc won't see 5 years or if they do strategic planning will be the last of their concerns.
If the FAI had concerns about Athlone & Waterford they shouldn't have been let into the league. Let them follow the lead of Cobh Ramblers or Galway who stepped away from the league for a couple of seasons and came back on a better footing.
Instead, these issues are swept under the table instead of being tackled head on.

UnleashTheBeast

fullstop wrote: »

And Derry...

And Galway United, and Limerick... and a good few other clubs that people conveniently forget about.

I've found a lot of Shels fans to be the most embittered in the league. It's strange, because as a club, we've never had any issues with them. Their fans spent more time chanting "you let your club die" at our games than they did actually supporting their own team. It was pretty cringeworthy to be honest.

Personally, I wouldn't wish it on any club in the league, but that's just me. It was quite enjoyable hammering them over two legs in the 2014 Playoff, and I can't say I'm too bothered that they're languishing in the First Division.

Paz-CCFC

Fair play to Fran Gavin on the role he's played in getting Dundalk to the playoffs.

major bill

Fran Gavin quick to point out how much debt was in the League when the FAI took over but fails to mention how many clubs folded!!

kksaints

FAI are obsessed with debt reduction,its always their goal to either reduce their debt or be free from debt by 2020, their debt must have been at high interest rates.

The_Kew_Tour

It would be nice to have bit of money available to maybe produce our own Gareth Bale or Ramsey.

Welsh FA are way ahead

Darkglasses

pablomakaveli wrote: »

You're absolutely right. It is a good idea but they've gone about it arseways. Ideally they should have hired a team of professionals or consultants to go to each club and help them put together a viable strategic plan. That may end up costing more than €100,000 but we'd get better results. Instead they've tossed each club €5,000 and said put it together yourselves.

Completely agree on this one. Spending a pittance on 20 different strategic plans is not an efficient way to deal with league-wide issues.

topmanamillion

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

It would be nice to have bit of money available to maybe produce our own Gareth Bale or Ramsey.

Welsh FA are way ahead

What? Both of those players were solely produced in England. Gareth Bale joined Southampton when he was 10 and Ramsey joined Cardiff when he was 8. Cardiff are part of the English league system/structures.

The Welsh FA can't take an ounce of credit for producing either player.

LuckyLloyd

Brian Kerr. ****ing legend.

The idea of each club producing their own strategic plan is actually kinda hilarious.

Surely the obvious approach would be to produce one overall plan, with clubs making submissions. That would not prevent any club developing their own plan for their own purposes anyway.

It's the FAI abdicating any semblance of responsibility. In a few years, no doubt any problems will be met with a "sure the clubs were allowed to prepare their own plans", and any success will be "that's because the clubs were allowed to prepare their own plan". It's just putting distance between what the CEO has already labelled a "difficult child", now they are giving the child the ability to decide what happens itself but obviously to say "don't blame us" if it goes wrong.

CSF

[Deleted User] wrote: »

The idea of each club producing their own strategic plan is actually kinda hilarious.

Surely the obvious approach would be to produce one overall plan, with clubs making submissions. That would not prevent any club developing their own plan for their own purposes anyway.

It's the FAI abdicating any semblance of responsibility. In a few years, no doubt any problems will be met with a "sure the clubs were allowed to prepare their own plans", and any success will be "that's because the clubs were allowed to prepare their own plan". It's just putting distance between what the CEO has already labelled a "difficult child", now they are giving the child the ability to decide what happens itself but obviously to say "don't blame us" if it goes wrong.

Problem is, what works for Dundalk probably isn't what works for Cabinteely.

ShamoBuc

CSF wrote: »

Problem is, what works for Dundalk probably isn't what works for Cabinteely.

They would actually have a lot of similarities, as would all clubs.
Develop ground, how pr/social media could be better developed or expanded, what wage structure is sustainable, income from sponsorship over the foreseeable future etc there is a broad list or even a Generic outline that clubs could agree on as being necessary to have outlined. The figures would obviously be different for each club. Their aims and ambitions would be different. Each club could follow a generic outline with figures suitable to them and develop their own strategy from their. Some clubs might end up with a 7 page 15 point strategy, others a 15 page 30 point strategy but all would have a base core of 10 agreed points.

Surely the FAI could have organised a base generic document that all clubs could agree would be a mandatory feature in aiding them plan for the future. But they don't give a shít which is a pity, because the leagues would certainly benefit from Proper involvement from the FAI, but that will not happen.

Darkglasses

CSF wrote: »

Problem is, what works for Dundalk probably isn't what works for Cabinteely.

What do you propose instead?

johnnyryan89

ShamoBuc wrote: »

Surely the FAI could have organised a base generic document that all clubs could agree would be a mandatory feature in aiding them plan for the future. But they don't give a shít which is a pity, because the leagues would certainly benefit from Proper involvement from the FAI, but that will not happen.

That would be too easy for the FAI. A generic strategy like you suggested would benefit all clubs but more so smaller clubs living hand to mouth like Waterford and Athlone but would also help clubs who would look to join the league by giving them a plan to follow and help bring senior back to places like Kilkenny, Kildare and establish teams in places like Tipperary, Mayo and Kerry.

CSF

CSF wrote: »

Problem is, what works for Dundalk probably isn't what works for Cabinteely.

Oh absolutely.

Hence the idea that each would go off and produce their own strategies, and then lob them in together for consideration, is farcical. It amounts to avoiding making any decision really, and just kicking the issue back to the clubs and shelving the issue of what needs to be done. The problem is with the club game in this country, not with Dundalk or Cabinteely as individual clubs.

CSF

Darkglasses wrote: »

What do you propose instead?

Team specific strategic plans with a strategic expert employed by the FAI to oversee it all.

Gael85

The FAI collected 61k in fines. That is ridiculous. Where is that money gone to? How much was Delaney fined for calling the league "problem child"?
Fair play to Kerr for speaking out

topmanamillion

The cold reality is some clubs are moving ahead with developing modern infrastructure, youth development and growing while others are stuck in the 80s.
We probably only have 8-10 decent senior clubs with good fan bases.
If you take Limerick, they've sorted out their ground and people have come out to support them.
They are in the upper reaches in terms of attendances for the entire league despite he fact the are a first division and we're promoted about 2 months ago at this stage,
Waterford and Athlone have quality facilities yet literally neither could organise a raffle. These are the kind of clubs that are being asked to draw up 5 year strategic plans!

Captain Havoc

I think the idea is that Waterford and Athlone don't have to organise the five year plan on their own and get accountants or whoever is capable of organising a raffle to help them or even do it for them. I've actually come to see the logic behind the 5k, it's to force clubs like Athlone and Waterford into coming up with a plan to survive/ get going by forcing them to consult with experts. I have a feeling it's too late for Waterford though.

johnnyryan89

topmanamillion wrote: »

The cold reality is some clubs are moving ahead with developing modern infrastructure, youth development and growing while others are stuck in the 80s.
We probably only have 8-10 decent senior clubs with good fan bases.
If you take Limerick, they've sorted out their ground and people have come out to support them.
They are in the upper reaches in terms of attendances for the entire league despite he fact the are a first division and we're promoted about 2 months ago at this stage,
Waterford and Athlone have quality facilities yet literally neither could organise a raffle. These are the kind of clubs that are being asked to draw up 5 year strategic plans!

The sooner we get back into Premier though the better. While being relegated hasn't turned out as bad as people first thought the away attendances have been shocking bar the cup game versus Galway. The ground is looking well topmanamillion just a pity the club don't actually own it. Hopefully the training base in Bruff is completed by next summer, there has been investors sounded out about helping raise the cash to get it completed but nothing signed off yet. The club has a solid plan in place and only thing stopping it from getting into that top three in the next five years would be the management, while I like Russell and he does try to play attractive football I don't think he's the man to bring Limerick to that elite level in Irish football.

topmanamillion

johnnyryan89 wrote: »

topmanamillion wrote: »

The cold reality is some clubs are moving ahead with developing modern infrastructure, youth development and growing while others are stuck in the 80s.
We probably only have 8-10 decent senior clubs with good fan bases.
If you take Limerick, they've sorted out their ground and people have come out to support them.
They are in the upper reaches in terms of attendances for the entire league despite he fact the are a first division and we're promoted about 2 months ago at this stage,
Waterford and Athlone have quality facilities yet literally neither could organise a raffle. These are the kind of clubs that are being asked to draw up 5 year strategic plans!

The sooner we get back into Premier though the better. While being relegated hasn't turned out as bad as people first thought the away attendances have been shocking bar the cup game versus Galway. The ground is looking well topmanamillion just a pity the club don't actually own it. Hopefully the training base in Bruff is completed by next summer, there has been investors sounded out about helping raise the cash to get it completed but nothing signed off yet. The club has a solid plan in place and only thing stopping it from getting into that top three in the next five years would be the management, while I like Russell and he does try to play attractive football I don't think he's the man to bring Limerick to that elite level in Irish football.

Actually not a Limerick fan. Auto correct turned were into we're!
But ya, the future looks bright for Limerick.

A_Sober_Paddy

topmanamillion wrote: »

Actually not a Limerick fan. Auto correct turned were into we're!
But ya, the future looks bright for Limerick.

Hopefully we can get an average of between 1500 -1700 next season that would be where we were during our first season back in the prem under Taylor in Thomond park

Mushy

Bray v Dundalk game moved to tonight, probably to give Dundalk the time before next week. Hoping some players are rested for them, be nice to make a gap with Wexford.

johnnyryan89

Anyone know how the allocation for tickets for the league cup final is done. Do both teams get a 50/50 split or is it up to the home team?

SantryRed

Dundalk losing again.

Maybe Derry can take advantage instead of Cork :pac:

MD1990

Wouldn't be surprised if Dylan Connolly signs for Dundalk at the end of the season.

ShamoBuc

Bray the latest to beat Dundalk. Horgan opened the scoring but got himself sent off at the death. If city really believe they can win the league then a convincing win against bohs Friday night is needed, scrappy 1-0 win would do me though.

Mushy

Delighted with that win, anything to keep that gap between us and wexford growing is good.

Wilberto

ShamoBuc wrote:

Bray the latest to beat Dundalk. Horgan opened the scoring but got himself sent off at the death. If city really believe they can win the league then a convincing win against bohs Friday night is needed, scrappy 1-0 win would do me though.

Watch us bottle it again!!

The league is so there for us though.

Corholio

JoeyJJ

Alan Keane possibly joining Dundalk to sure up places for league.

joeysoap

One thing is certain: Paddy Barrett is no Brian Gartland, and with no Finn and no McEleney last night was always going to be a tough ask. These things happen, the reason a lot of previous Dundalk teams never retained the league was due to European matches at the 'wrong' time. This team went one better and retained the league but asking them to retain it again with an additional 12 European matches is expecting a lot, maybe too much. I notice too that Dundalk seem to plating a lot of away matches - so far Bohs, Rovers and Finn Harps home matches all postponed, though to be honest I think they would struggle at home now too. No coincidence that the only league defeat last year was when Gartland was missing.

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

GLaDOS

Patww79 wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Did he get much game time?

CSF

GLaDOS wrote: »

Did he get much game time?

Enough, but rumour is he pulled a strop when dropped and that was that. From what we seen, he's no major loss, and it's not as if there's anything to play for this season now anyway.

A_Sober_Paddy

CSF wrote: »

Enough, but rumour is he pulled a strop when dropped and that was that. From what we seen, he's no major loss, and it's not as if there's anything to play for this season now anyway.

Didn't even know he was with shells, what a way for your career to nose dive

rmchmufc

RTE are after announcing they will be showing Cork City v Longford Town & Dundalk V Cork City, they are both kicking off at 19:45.

That_Guy

rmchmufc wrote: »

RTE are after announcing they will be showing Cork City v Longford Town & Dundalk V Cork City, they are both kicking off at 19:45.

When are these games?

Pighead

That_Guy wrote: »

When are these games?

Cork V Longford is on the 26th August and the Dundalk V Cork game is a week later on September 2nd.

CHealy

What are Dundalk at losing again? I was looking forward to City v Bohs tomorrow night now I have to go and watch City crumble under the pressure for the second time in a week. Disaster.

ShamoBuc

CHealy wrote: »

What are Dundalk at losing again? I was looking forward to City v Bohs tomorrow night now I have to go and watch City crumble under the pressure for the second time in a week. Disaster.

I think city have their European hangover out of the way and I fully expect us to beat Bohs

CHealy

ShamoBuc wrote: »

I think city have their European hangover out of the way and I fully expect us to beat Bohs

I certainly hope so, if they dont win it this year, we can forget about it.

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

Omackeral

Saw this on Reddit for English and Scottish teams. Basically all fans of all LOI teams get to have a tongue-in-cheek pop at the others, much in the same vain as comedy roasts. Nothing too extreme and mostly in a 'banter' way (I hate that word). Could be a bit of fun.

So I'll get the ball rolling and when I'm done I'll nominate a club and someone come in and roast them. Then they nominate another club and someone else comes in and roasts them and so on and so on.


Athlone Town - Their greatest achievement of all time seems to be a scoreless draw in the 1970's.


I nominate Shelbourne next.