Greatest League in the World 2024 [new thread available]

trashcan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120090609#Comment_120090609

Such a shame the Council wouldn’t go for the St Michaels plan. A lost opportunity. Would be nice to see Richmond improved, but how much can feasibly be done with the site is open to question. It’s hemmed in by the river, factories, apartments and the road.

kksaints

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120091867#Comment_120091867

It's a tricky one alright but I do think there's some wriggle room on the Camac side even with the river behind it. Ideally you'd like a roof over the stand behind the goal as a bare minimum.

GLaDOS

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120091865#Comment_120091865

Are Shels not supposed to be buying Tolka from the council and developing it themselves?

https://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/league-of-ireland/shelbourne-pull-out-of-dalymount-deal-and-propose-to-buy-tolka-park-from-dcc-instead-41360119.html

"Dublin City Council officials met with Shelbourne Football Club Board members today and a proposal submitted by the club to purchase Tolka Park Football Stadium from the City Council and redevelop it into a multi-sport stadium was discussed," DCC said in a statement today.

artanevilla

That is their plan, how they plan to raise funds without heavily mortgaging the ground I'm not sure.

I told ya

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120094455#Comment_120094455

Already mortgaged. We've been down this road before

Gavin "shels"

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120094455#Comment_120094455

Sports Grants, etc... it seems. The plan long term I assume it more on par with the Save Tolka Park proposal costings of around €10 million mark but I can't see anything on that scale happening anytime soon.

tastyt

All these plans and reports crop up every few years and nothing ever happens

kksaints

We've signed Estonian midfielder Vladislav Kreida on loan from Flora Tallinn for the season. 21 caps but some are domestic league only squads I think.

Oat23

John Mahon is on his way back to us apparently. St Johnstone wanted him to stay in Scotland on loan somewhere but he wanted to go back to Rovers. Contract mutually terminated is the result.

Mad that we sold him for €125k a year ago next week and he could be back on a free.

Kenny & Mahon's Scottish moves were both a disaster in the end. You could easily predict it happening to Kenny at Celtic, but Mahon's failure makes less sense. He got into the team at the end of last season for an important playoff game which they won. He played great and was widely praised by fans and even the manager who said they were lucky to have him...then he wasn't given another minute outside of the cup back in the summer when they fielded a youth team. Maybe there was a falling out with the manager due to that. I can imagine it would be fairly frustrating if your manager praised you in the media for your effort but refused to give you a chance to play.

https://twitter.com/StJohnstone/status/1613892931437449218

artanevilla

Could be homesick if he didn't want to stay in Scotland.

Oat23

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120104153#Comment_120104153

Probably. Or maybe he's just sick of the s**t he's had to put up with over there and wants to go back to where he knows he'll be first choice every week so he can rebuild his career. A loan to presumably a Scottish Champ club might set him back further if it's a bad fit.

I was having a read of the St Johnstone forum and this doesn't seem to be the first case of the boss signing someone and the manager refusing to play him. They aren't happy with the manager on there.

Back to Rovers on a 2 year deal.

Oat23

Interested to see how that Scottish forward does for Dundalk. Not coming from a great level (Lowland league, 5th tier) but scored plenty of goals there this season (15 in 21) and according to a user on twitter he scored over 20 for East Kilbride last year which Transfermarkt haven't got listed. Looks like he only scored 4 in 52 games at League One level (3rd tier) and 1 in 9 in League Two before joining East Kilbride in the 5th tier but sometimes forwards find form and go on a run.

Bit of a risk though unless they plan to sign another forward as he's the only alternative to Hoban right now.

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/cameron-elliott/profil/spieler/544136

Did you smash it

https://www.the42.ie/conan-byrne-praise-for-thomas-byrne-4025771-May2018/

I wonder where this guy is at in his life now, dropped out of the game after Drogheda let him go “in the interests of both parties” which is an interesting phrasing. The lads we had over in Brighton then or shortly after with Connolly, Mandroiu, molumby and this lad all were slightly touched in one fashion or another.

Ohmeha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120108960#Comment_120108960

Few months back:

https://www.independent.ie/regionals/louth/news/courts/talented-louth-footballer-turned-to-drugs-because-of-pain-but-couldnt-afford-habit-on-an-apprentices-wage-42019632.html

joeysoap

Of the 4 cross channel signings Dundalk made he is probably the ‘chanciest’ .the centre half guy is probably the best bet as Dundalk don’t have a centre half and haven’t replaced Connolly ( I know he was only on loan- before Derry bought him)

Hoban isn’t getting any younger either.

irishmanmick

Not sure if it's been mentioned here already but the new FAI Connect App is well worth checking out for LOI fans. Has all the pre-season friendlies listed & has the line ups, scorers etc for the matches.

You can even go back to last seasons results & see lineups, changes, scorers. FAI don't get a lot right but this looks like a real positive.

Amirani

https://bohemianfc.com/?p=18827

Interesting appointment for Bohs. He's obviously had a lot of success at the club, and a director of football has seemed like something needed for a while (it was 1 or 2 bad recruitment windows that really did for Keith Long in the end).

eire4

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120115462#Comment_120115462

Looks like a good appointment on the face of it. Time will tell of course but looks like a good move.

NIMAN

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120114689#Comment_120114689

Looks like a decent app, but Derrys first preseason friendly tomorrow night not listed.

joeysoap

great appointment by bohs.(His replacement at Linfield is interesting)

The Golden Miller

Embarrassed myself last season saying Shels would challenge for the league in the coming years. The ambition not there clearly with mainly inexperienced signings, despite investment. More of the same this season it seems, losing matches and leaking goals from lack of experience and poise.

I'll give them one thing though, they try. Once you see your team give it their all, you can't complain. Few poor performances last year when they were off the pace, but the following game they always upped it to try and make up for it, even if they lost again. Shels a very honest, if naive team, in the main.

One thing not talked about enough though is the hole Shels pulled themselves out of. The big 4 in Dublin was very close to being a big 3 at one stage, which would of been disastrous for Irish football. It doesn't get the media attention it should, but Shels being competitive and stable today is a huge feat in itself, let alone getting to the showpiece final, is not really recognized or acknowledged as it should.

Annd9

Any Shels fan thinking past staying in the division for the next couple of seasons is living in fantasy land. You need to stabilize the club before being overly ambitious .

The investment was for the whole club not just the men's first team . The women's team obviously runs at a loss and that was before the new contracts situation for this season , will be interesting to see how clubs cope with this with Rovers being the exception .

Shels academy is possibly the biggest in the country with teams from U8's all the way to u19's in both boys and girls (multiple teams at some ages) so depending on how much was invested it doesn't last long in this game .

Agree they have done well to even exist at this point in time , however that can all come crashing down very quickly as we have seen on so many occasions in this league .

CSF

Can assure you that Shels fan mentality is definitely not with short term aspirations towards a title challenge.

I mean I’d f*ckin love it, but eh no.

Oat23

This Neil O'Riordan article talks about LOITV at the bottom. Expects the price to be €120, but unknown at the minute if that's for the full service with every game or just the games from a team of your choosing.

Sounds a bit too cheap for it to be every game. Guess we'll find out soon.

https://www.thesun.ie/sport/football/10117949/league-of-ireland-retrospective-red-cards/

Ohmeha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120158941#Comment_120158941

I don't think any Shels fan have had any recent expectation that will be challenging for the league soon especially in this era of massive European money and billionaire backers. Things are going in the right direction on and off the pitch with the new board, investment and Tolka secure, always hope the club will break back into that top 4 to push for a league again in next few seasons but definitely no expectations from what I see from anyone in the club it's a long-term strategy to put foundations in place. I take it as a good sign Shels may be labelled unambitious for not repeating mistakes of the past by now sticking to it's budget with a developing young professional squad in a league of balooning wages

Ohmeha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120160879#Comment_120160879

I would also guess the €120 is for your chosen club, 36 games at that price would be decent

rahenyrover

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120162442#Comment_120162442

I’d be surprised if it was for just one team as it would mean more revenue for teams with a larger fan base while teams with a smaller fan base would lose out and potentially see their away gates drop a little. It could also lead to issues whereby the away team potentially make more money from the home teams production. Unless of course revenue is split evenly across the league but if that’s the case they may as well just give the lot.

My feeling is their data showed that supporters of other clubs rarely paid for a match not involving their club so a PPV model didn’t work. I would expect it to be for all games and the article doesn’t suggest otherwise but agree 120 seems pretty cheap for that compared to what they charged before but with the rise of IPTV and illegal streaming maybe they feel it’s at a price point that will entice more people in and keep them away from the other streams. Will be interesting to see what it is when launched anyway. Either way a season pass is a positive step forward.

NIMAN

Derry to sign Adam O'Reilly later today, he has flown out to hook up with the team in Spain.

Was on loan at Pats last season, and a very good player by all accounts.

Also have Man City U23 player Rowan McDonald out with the squad.

Oat23

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120162768#Comment_120162768

You could price it at €50 and the people who are willing to pirate it will still pirate it, honestly. We are the tightest nation on earth relative to our wealth.

kksaints

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120163672#Comment_120163672

Lots of energy from O'Reilly and he was very good for us last season. Does have flaws, he isn't the greatest on the ball and loves a sliding tackle which can be both a positive and negative. Still would have liked him back for this season.

joeysoap

€120 js good value to support your team.

Kelly was senf off against Sligo, as he was 'the last man back'. He was 10 yards in the Sligo half at the time. So much for O'Donnells 'high line'. 🙄He's a young manager, hopefully he'll learn from his mistakes.

The Golden Miller

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120162419#Comment_120162419

Just to clarify, no Shels fan thought that, it was just me alone. Felt investment started to come in from a few different sources, big crowds back, and big name manager to attract players, thought they might of been a dark horse to surprise people in the coming years.

As I said, what they bought showed otherwise. Which isn't a bad thing, just staying up and stabalising is fine. Just making the point I got it wrong. Wouldn't like to see them overstretch and end up back in square one either. Shels have lost over a decade already, and a decade of new fans.

That's the thing that irks me most, seeing the size of the Bohs and Rover's support, and even now Pats. They all picked up a next generation of fans over the last 10 years, while Shels didn't, infact lost most of what they had. They were the biggest at one stage, have alot of catching up to do in that regard.

But once a fallen giant reawakens the fans do start to come back, and I've noticed alot of new young kids in Tolka too. Shels have alot of lapsed support, and the final would of been the first match back for many. So hopefully that incentivises them to start coming regularly again. Huge lapsed support. Shels need all the backing and support they can get

Hammer Archer

https://twitter.com/WaterfordFCie/status/1618992411677712386?t=oAp7IWQ_ZpW8hMUoocBKew&s=19

Sunny, warm weather training camp not going exactly to plan.

Oat23

Keena reported to be heading to Cheltenham in L1. No idea what the fee is (it's a release clause).

Big loss for us. Whatever player Russell brings in to replace him could make or break our season.

Oat23

The LOITV website is up now. €120 for the season pass which includes every game. Premier, First Division and WNL.

https://www.loitv.ie/en-int/page/home

Really surprised at the price considering it includes the FD as well. Not going to complain as I'm just happy the service is back.

Looks like the first TV game is Cork v Bohs.

Pawwed Rig

Great news. Last years idea was hair brained imo

deisedude

They don't make it easy to purchase a season pass do they! Had to go into a fixture and go through the process of wanting to buy that to bring up an option to purchase the season ticket

irishmanmick

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120180798#Comment_120180798

Yeah it's not very easy to navigate. It's even worse for Bohs / Cork fans - they don't give you an option to purchase the first game as it's on TV. Had to pick a random fixture & purchase the season pass from there. I've seen absolutely nothing on their social media about the season passes either.18 days till start of season and not a peep. Do themselves no favours

Moaning aside, €120 is incredible value.

Oat23

It hasn't officially launched yet so they can still add a better sign up page and probably will. The social media links at the foot of the site also need updating.

deisedude

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120181286#Comment_120181286

You were right. Much easier now

Delighted to get full access for €120. That's a great deal and glad to see common sense after last season

Oat23

Some of the figures released in the past few days RE: streaming and betting have been a bit of a shock.

184k registered accounts on LOITV for 2022 according to the FAI. 66k of those "purchased a subscription", which I presume means the account bought at least 1 game. Obviously we can attribute a few thousand of those accounts to fans of teams we played in Europe as several games were only available on LOITV, so there's a 0% chance any of those accounts purchase again.

But if even 25% of that 66k figure bought a season pass this season that's a gross revenue of €2m for the site. Is 16k season passes doable?

As for the gambling, UEFA have supplied the FAI with figures on how much betting turnover there was for the average LOI game last season. Neil O'Riordan published the info:

For your average men’s Premier Division match in 2022, turnover for gambling companies was €9.1million.

For First Division games, it was €3.25m. FAI Cup matches bring in €3.85m.

For WNL matches last year, bets worth €363,062 were placed.

In the figures supplied to the FAI by Uefa, there was no breakdown of how much of that betting took place within Ireland and how much outside of the country.

I knew gambling on the LOI was popular, especially over the summer when the addicts have few options....but f**king hell.

ShamoBuc

I remember reading before that Asia is where most of the money put down on LOI games comes from.

kksaints

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120188581#Comment_120188581

We need to be getting some of the betting tax revenue instead of it going to JP McManus and Michael O'Leary via Horse Racing prize money. Something like an infrastructure fund for clubs would be the dream.

Oat23

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120188895#Comment_120188895

O'Riordan talks about that in his article. If you add up the betting turnover for the PD, 1D and WNL it comes to €2.26b for the 2022 season. In his example he estimated 1/3rd of those bets being made in Ireland (think that might be a little high..) and if you were to add a 1% levy on those Irish bets it would generate €7.5m for the league.

Definitely something the FAI will continue to make noise about.

https://www.thesun.ie/sport/football/10145275/strict-rules-gambling-league-of-ireland-players/

artanevilla

Next time your team loses, take a look at the comments under the social media post. The amount of pissed off degenerate gamblers commenting can be frightening.

ben.schlomo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120195916#Comment_120195916

Ya the Galway Utd Facebook would regularly be full of random African gents saying how shite we are, how the games are fixed etc after we don't oblige their poorly thought through idea.

Beagslife

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120195961#Comment_120195961

Wait till they catch sight of Ollie!!!

Oat23

Cork v Bohs on Feb 17th and then nothing until Paddy's day.

But then they'll complain about ratings when there's a month break between the coverage of the 1st and 2nd games.

https://twitter.com/LeagueofIreland/status/1621508928059371520?t=lYUDitVs-DIr1B5nZxmxFA&s=19

Cape Clear

Cork City takeover funded by recent transfers!

Ohmeha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120195916#Comment_120195916

Twitter can be very funny for this on Friday nights, UCD/Athlone/Cobh etc. getting dogs abuse after a surprise loss from far flung places on the planet