LOI XI .... right or wrong?

celtictiger32

just wondering what people think about the tournament that takes place this year with inter, man city etc. they are selecting a loi xi again, personally i think one club should represent maybe the league champions. i feel we are at a disadvantage from the off as most of this xi dont play together regularly. ( look at the game against man u). i love the idea of these big name teams coming over and squaring off with our lads but dont go down the road of just being there to make the numbers and fill the coffers, give the league champions a shot at the big boys and give them a yard stick as to where they need to improve for european competition. and maybe if we are there competing it might have a knock on effect and see a few more bums on seats.

Ebbs

We'll get hammered again.

Considering it's timing I would hope it wasnt the League Champions, unless there is some serious money and players actually insured.

Obviously the FAI will feck it up again and you'll have only those looking to make the jump across the pond playing... ditching their own clubs ambitions. No comp will be given to the clubs at all and some summer camp will be offered instead.

GLaDOS

The league's best players playing a friendly tournament in the middle of the season is a bigger problem imo... But I do agree, an XI will never function as well as an actual team who have been playing together.

celtictiger32

i suppose its one of the cons for the summer season these profile friendlies with english teams will fall mid season. bad timing but i suppose nobody can blame clubs taking these games for much needed funds

GLaDOS

celtictiger32 wrote: »

i suppose its one of the cons for the summer season these profile friendlies with english teams will fall mid season. bad timing but i suppose nobody can blame clubs taking these games for much needed funds

Yeah but if it's a club who organises it ye can just stick out your reserves and nobody will notice

Pauleta

Very wrong. How can people take LOI clubs seriously if they allow their players to swan off on these pointless exercises. Fair enough if its an amateur player but pro's and semi pro's being allowed to play in football matches for another team that isnt a UEFA/FIFA game is just amateur beyond belief. The clubs should be ashamed of themselves. I will not argue with anyone who calls the LOI a joke anymore because of last year and thats nothing to do with the performance. The clubs dont respect themselves so why should others respect them. Its unlikely that any Shels players will be in the team but i would be a very angry man if one of our semi-pro players were involved. Its up to supporters of LOI clubs to protest about players being released.

TangyZizzle

Ridiculous concept, imo.

celtictiger32

TangyZizzle wrote: »

Ridiculous concept, imo.

the whole comp. or the loi xi?

stovelid

There was a big row about it last year and my views haven't changed.

The LOI XI team will get a slapping and it looks bad for the league and is just more ammo for the haters. An actual LOI team would perform better than a bunch of all-stars.

No other organization would organize a tournament that directly pits its own league negatively against the nearest rival league every year.

The main point though is that it's in the middle of the LOI season, not to mention Europe. It's one thing for LOI clubs to arrange their summer friendlies out of financial necessity but it's an insult to press-gang them into a vanity tournament for little financial gain.

The deeply patronizing argument was put forward last year that it was a golden opportunity for the LOI players. Well, fuck that. They're paid to play for a club and that's the priority. Would love to see the same people who make that argument agreeing to let Rooney or Suarez fuck off and play a mickey mouse friendly mid-season because "it's always been my dream to play against xyz".

gimmick

It should be the league champions playing in this, end of story. Add that as a further incentive for prize money. LOI XI is crazy. I would not support it ever.

stovelid

The FAI are also muscling in on the summer friendly trade which is vital for most clubs. Having this tournament lessens the chance of one of the LOI clubs landing a financially lucrative friendly with a big foreign club.

Chardee MacDennis

in an xi team heads will drop quicker and players will give up quicker so thats not as entertaining and doesnt look good for the league.

sending out bohs or st pats with the risk of getting a 7-0 hammering to Inter could be quite detrimental to their league campaign though.

rock and a hard place really, if we didnt have summer football i dont think this would eb a problem.

TangyZizzle

celtictiger32 wrote: »

the whole comp. or the loi xi?

The LOI xi of course. The champions playing in it would be a much better concept although whether the champions would want to participate in it given the amount of games they already have is debatable.

Gillington

How does money handouts work do you's know? As in,do the league get a certain amount from ticket sales etc and divide it out to the clubs or what?

stovelid

BastardPrince wrote: »

rock and a hard place really, if we didnt have summer football i dont think this would eb a problem.

Put out an Ireland international XI instead.

Virtually no LOI supporters whatsoever care about the tournament anyway.

If you're going to take a spanking from a big foregin team in the middle of your season, at least it should be during a lucrative friendly of your own organizing - not in a vanity tournament with no finanical incentive and the for the amusement of people who don't support the domestic league.

In general, domestic teams don't do too badly in friendlies but putting out a hastily assembled XI in front of a crowd with zero LOI support usually just spells a hiding.

dreamers75

Gillington wrote: »

How does money handouts work do you's know? As in,do the league get a certain amount from ticket sales etc and divide it out to the clubs or what?

0 for the clubs, all money goes to FAI. I wouldnt mind if the players were paid for it but they aint.

Should be the league champions playing in this and they should get a cut.

stovelid

dreamers75 wrote: »

Should be the league champions playing in this and they should get a cut.

Wouldn't want the club to unless the cut was very decent.

Zebra3

I think it'd be a great idea if the LoI XI consisted solely of players from our promotion rivals.

celtictiger32

dreamers75 wrote: »

0 for the clubs, all money goes to FAI. I wouldnt mind if the players were paid for it but they aint.

Should be the league champions playing in this and they should get a cut.

i heard the same last year aswell when they did the man u thing that the players didnt get paid for it, if that is really the case then the fai are really trying to humiliate the league. i can see them now "come on over and fill our coffers and sure we'll get 11 eejits out to play yez and they wont cost us a penny we'll tell them its a privelige". aaaaaargh its so annoying the way they treat this/their own league:mad:

OhNoYouDidn't

There is a lot to be said for the Champions getting this slot as a prize for winning the league like the old Carlsberg tourney. Money, experience against foreign teams and a day out for the fans. However its bang in the middle of Europe, and the pig headed culchie teams objected to the league winners getting all the loot. Remember, Longford tabled an official motion that Rovers should be made give half their Real Madrid earnings to the rest of the league. Thats what you are dealing with.

If the league champions aren't around, let the Irish U21's play. Would be entertaining to see the barstoolers cheer for random team x versus the boys in green.

Ferris_Bueller

LoI XI in my opinion is never going to work, I presume they get a day or two training together as a team? Which is highly unfair considering some players at City, Inter and Celtic will have been playing together for a few seasons amongst many other obvious reasons. It's unfortunate for the LoI teams because while for the big european clubs it's a "pre-season friendly" tournament, for our clubs it's a "smack bang in the middle of our vital european qualifiers" tournament. But the foreign clubs are the ones pulling the crowd, so we have to play it then.

If there was no LoI represtentation all us LoI fans would probably complain even more, plus I'd imagine it's a great opportunity for the players as how often would some of them get to line out against world cup winners and co. Maybe putting the League Cup winner or something into it would be better and might also make teams want to win the League cup a bit more (or less!?) if they got this opportunity.

strawberryb0y

Ferris_Bueller wrote: »

If there was no LoI represtentation all us LoI fans would probably complain even more, plus I'd imagine it's a great opportunity for the players as how often would some of them get to line out against world cup winners and co. Maybe putting the League Cup winner or something into it would be better and might also make teams want to win the League cup a bit more (or less!?) if they got this opportunity.

Sligo Rovers won the league cup last year, we could do without this nonsense tournament. Hopefully there will be clashes with our European games and we can have our players miss this game entirely

stovelid

Ferris_Bueller wrote: »

plus I'd imagine it's a great opportunity for the players as how often would some of them get to line out against world cup winners and co. .

So what? I'm sure Wayne Rooney would love to go on the piss to Barbados halfway through the season if he was let.

They're paid professionals (or semi-pros) with a job to do at their clubs. Whether or not they are fanboys of xyz isn't an issue.

And I think most LOI sup[porters couldn't care less if there was no LOI representation.

OhNoYouDidn't

stovelid wrote: »

They're paid professionals (or semi-pros) with a job to do at their clubs. Whether or not they are fanboys of xyz isn't an issue.

Not sure about that. All pro's want to test themselves. LoI players want to play against the best like everyone else. I think its harsh to suggest that they Ken Oman (for example) shouldn't have the ambition to see how he gets on against Rooney, Tevez or Etoo.

stovelid wrote: »

And I think most LOI sup[porters couldn't care less if there was no LOI representation.

I disagree. This is where the FAI are damned if they do and all that. They would be slaughtered if they ran that tourney without domestic representation. The clubs whined last time that they were being excluded when only the champions played.

It would be far more lucrative to ditch the LoI XI and bring over another English side. They didn't. So fairs fair, We are a long way from the FAI head stating he was a fan of one of the teams and wanted them to win it. And that team was Liverpool, not Pats.

OhNoYouDidn't

strawberryb0y wrote: »

Sligo Rovers won the league cup last year, we could do without this nonsense tournament. Hopefully there will be clashes with our European games and we can have our players miss this game entirely

None of the Sligs would be selected, so its a moot point....

stovelid

OhNoYouDidn't wrote: »

Not sure about that. All pro's want to test themselves. LoI players want to play against the best like everyone else. I think its harsh to suggest that they Ken Oman (for example) shouldn't have the ambition to see how he gets on against Rooney, Tevez or Etoo.

Not saying they should not or cannot per-se: just in the middle of the season unless it's a club organized frierndly. If you remember last year, one of the main justitifications from some of the non-LOI supporters was that it's a big thing for LOI players (read: a game against "real" players from a "real" league) so therefore should be plonked right in the middle of our season without complaint as if the wishes of the players should override the interests of the league/clubs/supporters.

celtictiger32

wouldnt it be interesting if the players turned around and declined their selection:cool:

dreamers75

celtictiger32 wrote: »

wouldnt it be interesting if the players turned around and declined their selection:cool:

1 did last year dunno who it was tho.

celtictiger32

dreamers75 wrote: »

1 did last year dunno who it was tho.

it'd have to be on a bigger scale than that though;)

paulcorr

There are no league of Ireland fixtures that weekend either funny enough.I wonder why?

Zebra3

Anyone read Who Stole Our Game? and can remember a now prominent FAI/LoI official being outraged at LoI players playing a prestigious friendly for free?

:rolleyes:

celtictiger32

Zebra3 wrote: »

Anyone read Who Stole Our Game? and can remember a now prominent FAI/LoI official being outraged at LoI players playing a prestigious friendly for free?

:rolleyes:

no never heard of it sounds interesting though

Zebra3

celtictiger32 wrote: »

no never heard of it sounds interesting though

Well, he was a PFAI rep for his team at the time and about an hour before k.o. he told the rest of the players not to set foot on the pitch unless they got an appearnance fee. There was a huge crowd in the ground and he threathened the club chairman with calling the game off.

The chairman relented and agreed to pay the players (and rightly so), but it seems the same individual is happy enough now for players to play for free. :rolleyes:

strawberryb0y

paulcorr wrote: »

There are no league of Ireland fixtures that weekend either funny enough.I wonder why?

This is the mid season break is it? Cant see that all the selected players would be too happy missing their weeks holiday

celtictiger32

Zebra3 wrote: »

Well, he was a PFAI rep for his team at the time and about an hour before k.o. he told the rest of the players not to set foot on the pitch unless they got an appearnance fee. There was a huge crowd in the ground and he threathened the club chairman with calling the game off.

The chairman relented and agreed to pay the players (and rightly so), but it seems the same individual is happy enough now for players to play for free. :rolleyes:

i actually do remember something like that happening alright, cant remember who it was though

DundalkDuffman

celtictiger32 wrote: »

i actually do remember something like that happening alright, cant remember who it was though

It was 30 years ago, Waterford against Manchester United I think, Waterford had the equivalent to €1 million today from it and were skimping on the payment to players!

Zebra3

DundalkDuffman wrote: »

It was 30 years ago, Waterford against Manchester United I think, Waterford had the equivalent to €1 million today from it and were skimping on the payment to players!

Think it was Pat's-Man U at Dalyer. Maybe a game linked to the sale of McGrath.

LuckyLloyd

It's obviously indefensible from a footballing perspective. The motivations for it are a million miles removed from football issues though unfortunately.

Personally speaking, it will be a week off for the UCD squad in the middle of the season so it's a positive for my league interests.
*Shrug*

celtictiger32

i wonder how much the fai are paying these teams to come over

paulcorr

strawberryb0y wrote: »

This is the mid season break is it? Cant see that all the selected players would be too happy missing their weeks holiday

Last seasons mid season break was from 12th to the 25th of june the season before was from the 20th june till 4th of july So obvious the FAI have arranged it so as there are no fixtures that weekend.No other league in the world would cancel games in favour of a friendly competition.They can say its a mid season break but why have it 6 weeks later than last seasons or the season before?

pablomakaveli

I wasnt supportive of the LOI XI last year and the problems of that were shown in the hammering they got. It did nothing for the league and just made it look bad. Given the FAI are supposed to be promoting the league it was a real shot in the foot.

Picking a team from the league instead would be the best solution but with the European fixtures around that time it means the league and cup champions are unavailable so deciding which team gets to play mighnt be easy.

Maybe the highest placed team in the Fair Play table who isnt in europe could play instead.

celtictiger32

judging by the responses so far and people ive talked to most loi fans dont seem supportive of this competition at all, well at least with the timing and format of it anyway. i suppose the stadium will just fill up with armchair supporters so, and give them more fodder to slate the league due to a badly organised event from our leagues point of view with a team that was probably thrown together a week beforehand.

DundalkDuffman

I would have no interest in it at all, I don't see how any good can come from it for my club, potential injuries etc. The really telling thing for me last year was that the LOI players didn't even have their names on their shirts. How basic is that for tryiung to raise the profile of the league. And of course it was all about that and nothing to do with the associated glory of having Manchester United coming over :rolleyes:

shanec1928

thank god Sligo Rovers wont be apart of it now! after the fai finally confirmed that were in round 3 of the europa league