http://www.football365.com/faves/742...e-Not-Scotland interesting article on football 365 if anyone hasn't seen it. There has been some ridiculous bargains when you think of it
http://www.football365.com/faves/742...e-Not-Scotland interesting article on football 365 if anyone hasn't seen it. There has been some ridiculous bargains when you think of it
" When Doyle came to England, he had already played in more European matches for Cork City than Jelavic has managed so far at Rangers.."
Love that line, sums up how shite that league is!
No mention of Fahey. What a dope of a journalist.
No it doesn't. It just means we've entered earlier. Rangers were in the UEFA Cup final 3/4 years ago. We're doing cartwheels if we reach the 4th qualifying round. Bit of perspective lad
Funniest bit of the article is they mention Conor Sammon as a reason not to buy from Scotland, as opposied to a reason to buy from Ireland...
Hope Stevens does well
"We've seen you come, we'll see you go"
Does anyone else think we should be using our "exports" in a advertising campaign to publicise the start of the 2012 season? Eg people like Fats and James McClean on posters or on TV ads telling people to get out and support their local team. Even saying how LOI helped them develop in their careers.
If the FAI ran a campaign with recognisable faces, it would catch people's attention and raise awareness about the standard that actually exists in our league if people gave it a chance!
It would be great if we could do something like in Australia with marquee signings. Wouldn't have the finances for it though I'd imagine
Christy Fagan - He scores big goals
I see what you mean, that would be the risk alright. But at the same time, our league is showcasing young exciting talent and letting these players develop and mature. And punters can see these future stars live, week in week out, for 15quid. Could just be a different approach to giving people an incentive to go and check out at least one game (which could create return customers)
I'm with you matz, I'd empasise the 'star of the future' angle. if there's someway you can make popel think they'll see the next best thing before anyone else. OUr crowds are so poor, that we really can't be too precious about how we advertise ourselves.
"We've seen you come, we'll see you go"
Yeah that's what I meant, you don't know what future Irish international you're watching and you could have the privilege of spotting them first. We wouldn't lose any crowds by it, but could gain some.
Brian McDermott is quoted in the Indo today. Can't find a link but he says (re Sheppard): "There was a lot of interest in him as a youngster; he went over to Everton for decent money. Sometimes at 16 coming over from Ireland it can be difficult to settle. I believe they're better off playing in Ireland for a while like Kevin (Doyle) and Shane (Long) did. There's others. Keith Fahey was at Villa early and is back now at Birmingham."
I think he's right because not many would go over at 16 17 and play straight away. While staying here you can grind your teeth and gain experience playing week in week out would also help build you up. Stevens for example is much bettter prepared than if he went over at 17. Playing here has significantly improved his game
I'm pretty sure Conor Salmon went for less than 10,000 to Scotland if he went for anything at all. I'm also pretty sure he went for several hundred thousand from Scotland to Wigan. Point is if Wigan had bought Salmon direct from Ireland they could have saved a lot of cash. Argument is still valid, but probably undermined.
If you look through the top 2 tiers you have aload of ex loi players (more than I ever remember- most who went in the 90's came back pretty quick)
Keith Fahey
Wes Hoolihan
Kevin Doyle
Shane Long
Stephen Ward
Keving Foley
Noel Hunt
Connor Salmon
Gary Dicker
Seamus Coleman
James McClean
Dave MacAllister & Stephen Quinn
There are of course a few in scotland as well with the likes of McCourt, Dillon, Murphy & Mannus - I'm sure I'm forgettings some
but all in all - we've an impressive haul in teh top 2 divisions in england all things considered- does show that we are a very tenable option for players looking to step into the professional game cross channel.
If I had to choose between marketing ourselves as a competitive league with bright young talent ("the future stars"), even at the risk of making us seem like just a stepping stone to better things, and marketing ourselves the way we are now (ie. basically no marketing of the league), I would go with the former.
The list just shows how we're a tenable option as Caolan says. And I hope more and more players do stay home for longer and learn their trade before going cross channel. Both they, and us as a league, will be the better for it.
I was told there is a new Commercial Director with responsibility for the League starting next week, so hopefully he will be good and want to actually market it. ie. do his job
He's irish and used to work to head up the NBA's European office. marketing background
Forget his name...
"We've seen you come, we'll see you go"
Ah just looked it up, Max Hamilton is his name. Hopefully he'll be full of new job enthusiasm!