LOI Talk, Rumours, Gossip, Transfers etc 2018

joeysoap

Captain Havoc wrote: »

Knowing the FAI: three up, one down.

Cape Clear

Any players from the league likely to make Noel King's Under 21 squad? I assume the likes of Hoare, O'Connor and Maguire would be overage by now.

A_Sober_Paddy

In relation to a 10 team league, personally I don't like it...But it works in Austria, Croatia and Switzerland

Ragnar Lothbrok

A_Sober_Paddy wrote: »

In relation to a 10 team league, personally I don't like it...But it works in Austria, Croatia and Switzerland

Two ten-team divisions makes far more sense than a 12-team Premier and 8-team First Division.

I'm not a big fan of 10-team divisions either, but we don't have any other realistic options in Ireland. There doesn't seem to be any junior team willing or able to make the step up to the LOI, so we're stuck with the 20 teams we have right now (assuming no more go bust) for the foreseeable future. The 8-team First Division was a joke.

topmanamillion

joeysoap wrote: »

General consensus on SR last night is that a 10 team league wouldn't solve anything, been tried twice before and too many repetitive matches in a 36 match league. Anyone know from 2018 what the promotion/relegation situation is?

Based on the last time it was tried, it will most likely be one automatic and one play off.
Personally, id like to see 2 automatic relegations and one play off, I think it would make the PD an absolute wolf pit and give FD teams a lot to play for.
The top 2 FD sides would get automatically promoted with the next 2 in a play off.

johnnyryan89

Ragnar Lothbrok wrote: »

Two ten-team divisions makes far more sense than a 12-team Premier and 8-team First Division.

I'm not a big fan of 10-team divisions either, but we don't have any other realistic options in Ireland. There doesn't seem to be any junior team willing or able to make the step up to the LOI, so we're stuck with the 20 teams we have right now (assuming no more go bust) for the foreseeable future. The 8-team First Division was a joke.

But what happens when a club goes bust or even two clubs go bust? Will they rearrange the deck chairs once again to a 9 team league each or a 10 and a 8?

Iceland is a country with a population less than Cork and have a 12 team premier division, first division, second division and a ten team third division with a fourth division below that consisting of 27 clubs broken up into four groups. If the FAI had any interest in Irish football they'd overhaul the whole system here from top to bottom and not just rearranging the deck chairs on the titanic. But then again that will involve a lot of money leaving none for the piss up abroad with the greatest fans in the world.

topmanamillion

johnnyryan89 wrote: »

But what happens when a club goes bust or even two clubs go bust? Will they rearrange the deck chairs once again to a 9 team league each or a 10 and a 8?

Iceland is a country with a population less than Cork and have a 12 team premier division, first division, second division and a ten team third division with a fourth division below that consisting of 27 clubs broken up into four groups. If the FAI had any interest in Irish football they'd overhaul the whole system here from top to bottom and not just rearranging the deck chairs on the titanic. But then again that will involve a lot of money leaving none for the piss up abroad with the greatest fans in the world.

I like the Icelandic structure and I think it is something that could be applied here but you have to remember the Icelandic league is heavily Reykjavik based.

Captain Havoc

johnnyryan89 wrote: »

But what happens when a club goes bust or even two clubs go bust? Will they rearrange the deck chairs once again to a 9 team league each or a 10 and a 8?

Iceland is a country with a population less than Cork and have a 12 team premier division, first division, second division and a ten team third division with a fourth division below that consisting of 27 clubs broken up into four groups. If the FAI had any interest in Irish football they'd overhaul the whole system here from top to bottom and not just rearranging the deck chairs on the titanic. But then again that will involve a lot of money leaving none for the piss up abroad with the greatest fans in the world.

I don't think it's money but politics stopping the much-needed overhaul. The FAI should tell everyone to tow the line or f-off.

topmanamillion

peteeeed wrote: »

gerry mulvey now owns 80 % of the club so bray are in a much better financial situation but people around here don't like to see that

What is the level of debt at Bray at the moment? Is it less or more than E1.3M (the figure at the end of 2015)?
Gerry Mulvey and O`Connor are directors in the holding company of Milway Dawn ltd.
According to the solocheck.ie website:
"Milway Dawn Limited was set up on Monday the 27th of April 2015. Their current address is Co. Wicklow, and the company status is Normal. The company's current directors Gerry Mulvey and Denis O'Connor have been the director of 25 other Irish companies between them; 12 of which are now closed"

Suppose that gives Bray a little better than a 50% chance.

johnnyryan89

topmanamillion wrote: »

I like the Icelandic structure and I think it is something that could be applied here but you have to remember the Icelandic league is heavily Reykjavik based.

That's the main benefit Iceland have but I think it could work here too, Ireland isn't that big of a country. One thing is for certain they really need to entice more clubs to take the step up to senior ranks cause we are goosed if one or two clubs go bust and it wouldnt surprise me if it happens before the 2018 even starts.

CantGetNoSleep

In Belgium there are 16 teams in the first division and 8 more in the first division B (e.g. second division).

After two rounds of matches, the top 6 go into a playoff group for the title (points halved) and European places, the winners of the first half of the season and second half of the first division B playoff over two legs for promotion. The last placed team in the first division is relegated, the other 9 teams in the first division, and the top 3 from the second division go into two 6 team groups - the winners of the groups playoff for a Europa league place.

There is also a relegation playoff among the last 4 teams in first division B - one team is relegated to an amateur league (this brings licensing and stadium problems with the team being promoted too - you need an 8000 all seater for the first division B as you could end up playing biggish teams - Gent and Genk are both in Europa League last 16 but not in the Belgian top 6 at the moment so will be playing second division teams in a few weeks).

Personally I hate it - mainly because of the complications in working out what the fcuk is going on but I also think it ruins the regular season (you can be 10 points clear but then the points are halved - lose one game and draw another and suddenly your lead is wiped out after a great season). A lot of fans like it though as other than the teams coming last and going up, they have something to play for late in the season.

Just another option of how smaller leagues are organised.

johnnyryan89

I like the way the MLS is done but couldnt do that in Ireland as you need promotion and relegation for UEFA.

PhilipsR

The LOI structure is broke and will never be fixed. People need to accept that, and I say that as a fan of the LOI.

The LSL/MSL will never become the regionalised second divisions that they should.

Wilberto

PhilipsR wrote: »

The LOI structure is broke and will never be fixed. People need to accept that, and I say that as a fan of the LOI.

The LSL/MSL will never become the regionalised second divisions that they should.

Yes, but surely we are all allowed to dream?


:pac:

topmanamillion

PhilipsR wrote: »

The LOI structure is broke and will never be fixed. People need to accept that, and I say that as a fan of the LOI.

The LSL/MSL will never become the regionalised second divisions that they should.

The LSL/MSL and to a lesser degree the USL wouldn't be the second division. They are glorified Dublin, Cork and Donegal leagues.
If we were creating a pyramid structure it would need to be from scratch and not based on outdated concepts like county or provincial lines.

Pablo Escobar

PhilipsR wrote: »

The LOI structure is broke and will never be fixed. People need to accept that, and I say that as a fan of the LOI.

The LSL/MSL will never become the regionalised second divisions that they should.

You couldn't regionalise the MSL anyway as it's just made up of 34 Cork sides.

civis_liberalis

PhilipsR wrote: »

The LOI structure is broke and will never be fixed. People need to accept that, and I say that as a fan of the LOI.

I always said that a pyramid structure in Irish football would be implemented before an underage League of Ireland structure like we have now would ever be implemented, meaning neither were ever likely to happen, but certainly not the underage reforms... but here we are.

Omackeral

Ragnar Lothbrok wrote: »

The 8-team First Division was a joke.

That was a joke. The punch line was having Shamrock Rovers 'B' as the 8th team.

joeysoap

topmanamillion wrote: »

I like the Icelandic structure and I think it is something that could be applied here but you have to remember the Icelandic league is heavily Reykjavik based.

The population of Iceland is around 350,000

Kilkenny, Navan, Tralee, Ennis, Portlaoise, Mullingar,Carlow, Swords, Naas and Newbridge are all in the top 20 population centres in Ireland and all have populations greater than 20,000. Excluding all towns under 20,00 (Cavan,Monaghan,Leterkenny, Clonmel Castlebar etc ) that is a big enough list to get 4 teams from to create two 12 team divisions.

Affiliation fees are too high (I wonder how high -or low - they are in Iceland? ) and the prize money is poor, €110,000 for LOI winners after a long slog of 33 matches. By all accounts some clubs have better sponsorship than that.

Bottom line is the FAI may tinker with the league but are not really interested in developing it.

Captain Havoc

Kilkenny and Newbridge both had their chances. First division is crap as there's no fresh blood and there's no incentive not to be crap either.

civis_liberalis

joeysoap wrote: »

Affiliation fees are too high (I wonder how high -or low - they are in Iceland? ) and the prize money is poor, €110,000 for LOI winners after a long slog of 33 matches. By all accounts some clubs have better sponsorship than that.

KSÍ agreed to give 1/4 of the prizemoney the national team recevied for reaching the Euros to their domestic clubs. When they reached the 1/4 finals, the KSÍ decided to also give them 1/4 of the extra €6m they for that. The whole amount distributed to clubs was around €5m, IIRC.

Clubs in Iceland also do not pay affiliation fees and do not pay referees fees.

joeysoap wrote: »

Bottom line is the FAI may tinker with the league but are not really interested in developing it.

This messing about with structures is an incredibly transparent attempt at making it look like they are doing something, without actually doing anything.

flas

joeysoap wrote: »

The population of Iceland is around 350,000

Kilkenny, Navan, Tralee, Ennis, Portlaoise, Mullingar,Carlow, Swords, Naas and Newbridge are all in the top 20 population centres in Ireland and all have populations greater than 20,000. Excluding all towns under 20,00 (Cavan,Monaghan,Leterkenny, Clonmel Castlebar etc ) that is a big enough list to get 4 teams from to create two 12 team divisions.

Affiliation fees are too high (I wonder how high -or low - they are in Iceland? ) and the prize money is poor, €110,000 for LOI winners after a long slog of 33 matches. By all accounts some clubs have better sponsorship than that.

Bottom line is the FAI may tinker with the league but are not really interested in developing it.

The thing you are forgetting is the vast majority of people in these places dont actually like going to watch football matches,they like going to the pub where its on in the background and can have pints or going once/twice a year on a piss up weekend to see a chosen team in England somewhere,standing in the cold watching a match every week has little or no appeal to them!

Zebra3

flas wrote: »

The thing you are forgetting is the vast majority of people in these places dont actually like going to watch football matches,they like going to the pub where its on in the background and can have pints or going once/twice a year on a piss up weekend to see a chosen team in England somewhere,standing in the cold watching a match every week has little or no appeal to them!

Also The Ban maybe gone but there's still the looking down the nose at soccer types attitude.

MD1990

A problem is many of the best players outside the Premier Division play in the LSL as they can make a bit of money & don't have to travel long distances. Apart from Waterford much of the first division in a an u23 league.

topmanamillion

Prize money remains the same for this season as last year at €475,500

Prize money breakdown

Premier Division (€371,500)

Champions: €110,000
Runners-up: €55,000
3rd: €35,000
4th: €25,000
5th: €21,000
6th €19.500
7th: €18,500
8th: €18,000
9th: €18,000
10th: €17,500
11th: €17,000
12th: €17,000

Premier Division affiliation fee: €17,000

First Division (€104,000)

Champions: €30,000
Runners-up: €17,500
3rd: €12,000
4th: €10,500
5th: €9,500
6th: €8,500
7th: €8,000
8th: €8,000

First Division affiliation fee: €8,000

Darkglasses

Athlone have announced Marc Formeaux as their new Director of Football. It would appear that like Ricardo Monsanto, he does not arrive with a good track record - https://whatahowler.com/failure-and-losing-in-lithuania-7ce58a9c7bf2#.hsf0xbclx

Maybe I'm showing my inexperience, but I've seen such an eclectic mix of personnel at an LOI club arrive all at once. I'm so curious to see what they're like at Ferrycarrig this Friday.

civis_liberalis

Darkglasses wrote: »

Athlone have announced Marc Formeaux as their new Director of Football.

The same lad that was accused of operating as an agent?

civis_liberalis

topmanamillion wrote: »

Prize money remains the same for this season as last year at €475,500

Prize money breakdown

Premier Division (€371,500)

Champions: €110,000
Runners-up: €55,000
3rd: €35,000
4th: €25,000
5th: €21,000
6th €19.500
7th: €18,500
8th: €18,000
9th: €18,000
10th: €17,500
11th: €17,000
12th: €17,000

Premier Division affiliation fee: €17,000

So you basically have to quality for Europe to get prizemoney.

The cherry on top is that, referees fees would exceed the affiliation fee for most clubs as well.

SEANoftheDEAD

Derry's first game in Buncrana this weekend...
Not ideal.

What is the situation with the Brandywell does anyone know?
Will it look like this in time for the 2018 season?

CHealy

Think the revised version shows the new stand being about a quarter of what it is in that render. Remember Derry fans being disgusted with it.

Sue Pa Key Pa

civis_liberalis wrote: »

So you basically have to quality for Europe to get prizemoney.

The cherry on top is that, referees fees would exceed the affiliation fee for most clubs as well.

And the way it's done is that, at the end of the season, the FAI deduct your affiliation fee and your fines for red & yellow cards from your prize money and give you the difference. Not much money ever changes hands. Jokeshop

Cape Clear

CHealy wrote: »

Think the revised version shows the new stand being about a quarter of what it is in that render. Remember Derry fans being disgusted with it.

Scaled back version of the above IIRC

joeysoap

civis_liberalis wrote: »

So you basically have to quality for Europe to get prizemoney.

The cherry on top is that, referees fees would exceed the affiliation fee for most clubs as well.

Rovers were 4th last year. €25,000 prize money, less €17,000 affiliation fees, less fines for flares and disciplinary fines, less referee and officials expense = very little left if not a minus figure. That would encourage new clubs alright. For the past 4 years the 4th club have qualified for Europe, but only the first 3 are assured of Europe.

irish_goat

CHealy wrote: »

Think the revised version shows the new stand being about a quarter of what it is in that render. Remember Derry fans being disgusted with it.

Pretty much.

At the minute the either wall on the side of the where the new stand is going is gone and the pitch is completely dug up. No idea how well we're progressing timewise.

civis_liberalis

joeysoap wrote: »

Rovers were 4th last year. €25,000 prize money, less €17,000 affiliation fees, less fines for flares and disciplinary fines, less referee and officials expense = very little left if not a minus figure.

All told, referees fees cost as much as the affiliation fee. You have to finish in Europe to negate having to pay the FAI, rather than receive prizemoney.

Zebra3

http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/league-of-ireland/comment-silence-on-leagues-prize-fund-tells-its-own-story-35494621.html

Good piece on the sly behaviour of the FAI re prize money.

No surprise to be honest though.

topmanamillion

SEANoftheDEAD wrote: »

Derry's first game in Buncrana this weekend...
Not ideal.

What is the situation with the Brandywell does anyone know?
Will it look like this in time for the 2018 season?

This is the plan now :pac::pac::pac::pac::pac:

Alfa Quadrifoglio

http://www.derryjournal.com/sport/football/derry-city/derry-city-stands-by-council-on-brandywell-redevelopment-1-7697455

Article from the Derry Journal, the Derry City boys not too happy with a Phased approach and rightly so, while the builders are in get it finished otherwise it will never be done

pablomakaveli

Seems that between the fees and fines as well as the money from the streaming company, the FAI are are putting next to nothing in the prize fund.

No wonder so many clubs go to the wall when they have to gamble on pushing for Europe as thats the minimum needed to make some sort of a profit.

joeysoap

topmanamillion wrote: »

This is the plan now :pac::pac::pac::pac::pac:

At least the number of trees didn't change

Seriously though if this is costing £7m how much is Oriel going to cost to modernise? And unlike Derry it won't be the council picking up the tab.

Zebra3

Alfa Quadrifoglio wrote: »

http://www.derryjournal.com/sport/football/derry-city/derry-city-stands-by-council-on-brandywell-redevelopment-1-7697455

Article from the Derry Journal, the Derry City boys not too happy with a Phased approach and rightly so, while the builders are in get it finished otherwise it will never be done

Who cares if the "Derry City boys" aren't happy with it? How much are they contributing towards it?

Reminds me of some Rovers fans moaning about the seat colours at Tallaght.

ItsHoggie

Don't know if this is the right place to post, but was looking for Soccer Republic in the RTE Player section on Sky Go on my PS4 and couldn't find it, is there anyway to watch it on my PS4?.

SEANoftheDEAD

Zebra3 wrote: »

Reminds me of some Rovers fans moaning about the seat colours at Tallaght.

In fairness I think we are all entitled to moan about that eye sore :pac:

SEANoftheDEAD

topmanamillion wrote: »

This is the plan now :pac::pac::pac::pac::pac:

Seriously? 7million queen quids for a mini stand?
Insanity.

The new South Stand in Tallaght is costing 1.9 and will double the size of that "main" stand going in at the Brandywell.

Vanolder

Any games in danger of being called off?

SEANoftheDEAD

Vanolder wrote: »

Any games in danger of being called off?

Cork tweeting a pitch inspection at 4pm...

I'm hoping Tallaght is in good shape. Leaving straight after work today to get up. Better not be called off!

hufpc8w3adnk65

SEANoftheDEAD wrote: »

Cork tweeting a pitch inspection at 4pm...

I'm hoping Tallaght is in good shape. Leaving straight after work today to get up. Better not be called off!

It hasn't stopped raining here in (cork) in 24 hours

SEANoftheDEAD

MrMac84 wrote: »

It hasn't stopped raining here in (cork) in 24 hours

Aye, Dublin the same.
Poxy miserable day out there.

MD1990

Pitch Inspection at Tallaght at 4pm.

https://twitter.com/ShamrockRovers/status/837670735611060224

gimmick

I'm open to correction here, but I think the last time a CCFC home game was postponed due to weather was in 1999 or 2000. Id be very surprised if that record ended tonight. But the pitch will be like a bog.