Ireland v Greece 10.09.2024 Match Thread - UEFA Nations League

It all depends on what you want to define popular as.

No matter how many people go to a FAI cup final or how many more people are going to LOI matches now than a decade ago the reality is the soccer fans in Ireland will spend more money on foreign soccer than they will on the LOI.

Getting on planes and staying in hotels and going to a premier league game featuring world class players in a 60k stadium for many is a lot more fun than freezing your ass off in Mounthawk Park on a February night watching guys who work in the local Centra.

"One swallow does not a summer make."

Judging the health of the LoI based on the cup final at the Aviva might lead to the wrong conclusion. A final between 2 Dublin clubs like last year will always have a higher attendance which was 43,881.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FAI_Cup

Average LoI attendances would be a better gauge and the numbers don't show any increase in popularity.

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/league-of-ireland-premier-division/besucherzahlen/wettbewerb/IR1/plus/?saison_id=2023

Top 5 attendances 2024

Top 5 attendances 2023

I would be worried about a manager who wouldn't put on Troy Parrott at all in two games but kind of went like for like with Idah and Ferguson - neither of them offer an ounce of agility or creativity.

According to this, an avg 5000 would rank us 23rd in Europe for attendances….

We are currently the 28th ranked team in Europe.

Funny enough for those saying 'we are not at this level' - the 27th ranked team is Greece and the 29th ranked team is Finland. So, yes apart from England this is definitely our level, we are just underperforming.

EFS Attendances (european-football-statistics.co.uk)

Check what the average attendances were like 10 years ago and you'll see a significant increase. Also if you notice in some of the cases especially the three Dublin clubs outside of Rovers the average attendance is very close to the capacity of the ground which suggests that we're losing out on spectators due to capacity constraints.

What have you got against Kerry FC out of curiosity? You keep using them as an negative example for some reason.

Also we've been told for decades that the accessibility of players to the general public is a great thing for the GAA, why are you so against it here?

It was - agreed. And also the complete lack of atmosphere in the England game, which should be massive. English fans were much louder. Public has completely disengaged.

Those asking how Ireland are still in League B.

They changed the format after the 1st Nations League so no teams were relegated from League B even when finishing bottom of the group as they changed it from 3 to 4 teams in a group.

2nd Nations league a draw against Wales kept them up as Ireland drew two games with Bulgaria and lost the rest. Bulgaria drew two games against Ireland and lost the rest, only 1 team from the group went down.

3rd Nations league a win against Scotland and Armenia kept them up finishing 3rd again in the group.

This current nations league will see Ireland if they finish 3rd again play in a play-off against a team that finishes 2nd in a League C group with the winner being in league B for the next league season and losers being in League C.

I've nothing against Kerry FC.

They are local to me, my wife and kids have season tickets.

I've been a few times, I'm actually going on Friday night.

I went to see them play Longford away this year*

I just use them as a real example because it's something I have experience of.

And yes the players are accessible, my kids have numerous autographs and the like from them, and my kids really love going to watch them.

The poster I was quoting was implying that following EPL teams was a chore because you had to get flights, hotels etc.

My point was that for many that's not a chore, that's a weekend away.

But my bigger point is that LOI soccer has a ceiling that's not very high because most of the people who say they are soccer fans in Ireland will always invest more time and money in foreign soccer than Irish soccer.

Even in our own house there has been more money spent in the last two years on EPL or European merch etc than on Kerry FC.

*Just a note on Longford Town. Very dismal experience, a very decent ground, all seater, good big stand, and only a few hundred there.

I know it was different back in the day when they were good, but it's really sad looking now.

I'd love to get a power hose to all those seats in the uncovered areas.

Fair enough, it just came across as if you were making jibes at them constantly. The LOI has a ceiling that's true but with a bit of investment in academies and stadium infrastructure, the height of the ceiling can be raised. It ain't going to stop people going to the UK for matches that's true but if we can get a bit more of the income that an increase in attendances and transfer fees would bring, then we can raise the standard of the league and then the standard of the national team. It's not going to happen overnight, in fact it would probably be the next decade before we'd even see much in the way of benefits but we would gain.

Two other points that I'm just going to mention off your post, 1- Do Kerry have much in the way of merchandise for sale? It just that I was in Elverys just off of Grafton Street in Dublin on Saturday and what did I see there but a number of Kerry FC home jerseys. Was surprised at that tbh and there was a reasonable range of LOI clothing in the place especially Pats and Rovers.

The second point relates to Longford, they're really struggling atm and it's a real shame. It's not necessarily a soccer issue solely as the town and indeed county seems to be in a downturn but you really see the effects in their stadium and attendances.

I wonder should Ferguson go on loan to a league 1 club or to Celtic, to get his confidence back?

He should go to a Championship club.

He's not going to get many minutes at Brighton.

Championship is a tough league, league 1 he will be banging them in, same as if he moved to Celtic, he needs a confidence booster.

You could take the best manager in the world and he won't make a success of those players. You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear as the saying goes. I think we have to start at youth level and bring them on. Many LoI clubs have good youth teams at U.17 to U.21's. Nurture these and also put money into the League of Ireland and build it up. It has always been neglected.

Ferguson needs to be let fully recover before he get any more minutes.

More minutes in his continual half-banjaxed state is the last thing he needs.

The government simply don't trust the FAI with any significant cash injection. They don't seem to have any solid plan at all. Only for Uefa cash the LOI would be no better than a Sunday league division

im sure he isn't injured now or Brighton wouldnt have let him go to play these games. he is just rusty and not match fit.

Parrot must have absolutely bombed in training not to get on ahead of Ferguson.

no

As long as that lay off isn't the start of a persistent injury problem I wouldn't worry about Ferguson. There were red flags to be found on Connolly's social media almost from the get go.

The way we are going we won't be at Euro 2028……………

Is he even a professional footballer anymore?

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