Cult of Stephen Kenny

US3

Ferguson only seems to get injured just before international breaks and recovers just in time for the club games again. This is the 3rd in 3 months.

JeffreyEpspeen

Andrew Moran's assist for Szmodics's goal the other night was filthy. Browne's touch for his goal was similarly filthy. Moran could be as good as Wes from what I've seen. Browne, like McGrath, is someone who will never get the credit he deserves because he was actually born in RoI and isn't a granny ruler; not world-beaters either of them but largely haven't put a foot wrong at Intl level.

Fotish

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121362858#Comment_121362858

The GAA aren’t up to their eyeballs in debt.

Did you smash it

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121365010#Comment_121365010

easy not to be when you don’t have to pay the guys actually generating all of the income

Fotish

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121365014#Comment_121365014

Yes, huge salaries bandied around the place alright, €250,000 to Robbie Keane for sitting at home.

Also €100,000 being paid every month to Sports Direct !

bullpost

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121365264#Comment_121365264

FAI are amateurs operating in a professional sport. The GAA are professionals operating in an amateur sport. At least that's how it looks like to me 😀

Peter Flynt

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121365902#Comment_121365902

Very easy for the GAA to call themselves professional when the government shovels our money into their coffers.

Gusser09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121364329#Comment_121364329

I'm not bought on McGrath though. He failed to make it in League 1. Browne is a good honest player though and an addition.

I do feel that Moran is playing at a high enough level and performing well enough to come into the seniors at this stage. Kenny can rant on about the players he has brought through but I think the new manager will look to settle a team with the likes of Moran and Ebolese being key players.

On the Evan Ferguson injuries they are becoming a bit coincidental at this stage with the international breaks. Regardless of the fact that we can't qualify a result against the dutch and a win v New Zealand are important. We can't just keep losing games.

I bet a certain poster will blame Ferguson's injuries on the GAA.

Schorpio

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121365902#Comment_121365902

Easier for the GAA to look professional when they are their own sport's judge, jury and executioner.

There is no international body or 'Ireland' GAA teams to represent us on the world stage.

Did you smash it

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121365902#Comment_121365902

No, the truth of it is that if Irish football was a normal business it would have closed down in the last 10 years. It is not profitable and the only revenue stream it has is the men’s senior international team, that’s not viable as it requires the men’s senior international team to be both very successful and very marketable and in a country like ireland that has no football industry it is unlikely that our senior men’s team will be very successful.

it’s not really viable for a business to have one undependable revenue stream to support all its other nationwide initiatives, plus underage national teams and plus the national leagues plus its staffs’ wages plus sizable debt interest repayments

you can blame the present FAI all you want but the main problem is a business model that if it was presented to independent investors in a dragons den scenario it would be laughed out the door.

I could go on all day but most people have no clue just how dysfunctional and underfunded Irish football is and I’m probably wasting my time trying to explain it.

You can’t generate consistent money from something that historically only generates money when there is a successful senior team.

Did you smash it

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121365919#Comment_121365919

I can’t say this enough but the idea that the GAA is propped up financially by the government is one of the great bollocks narratives in Irish sport

Whetherfleet

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121366012#Comment_121366012

The GAA is propped up nationally by everyone around the country.

Every **** GAA club in the country seems to be building new clubhouses, new pitches, new gyms etc.

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121365919#Comment_121365919

The government gives money to all sporting organisations. The main source of funding is the sport capital grants. Every club and organisation can apply to same for funding to develop there grounds or for sporting equipment.

Locally we have a soccer and a GAA club. Over the last 15 years the GAA club has done three projects, it's has put in dugouts, developed a ball wall with a 30X50M lighted all weather area around it and got it's grass mower replaced.

During the same period what has the soccer club done.......SFA. they pay for busses for the children to go to matches so it's a baby sitting service they are running. They did not even fund a mower for there field, a local landscaper started cutting there field when there mower broke down and could not be repaired.

I live near Limerick city. It's an open secret that several clubs in there pay players. There is a few locally that play for them. It the same with professional soccer in this country all the money goes into staff and players.

When the local GAA club did it development Sport capital grants worked out at about 60-80% of the project. The GAA contribute about another 10% and you fund the rest. But the difference between the GAA and Soccer is the structure of the organisation's. Everything at club, county, provincial or national level is open and transparent from financials to the way organisations are run.

The GAA never had a situation where a CEO was handing out cheques when he was visiting clubs so he could control the organisation. The president is elected every three years, the general secretary ( CEO) is a paid fulltime recruited position.

Gusser09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121366032#Comment_121366032

Yes propped up through fundraising and membership. That's the whole idea behind your local club.

Whetherfleet

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121366062#Comment_121366062

Leeches

Jack Daw

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121366032#Comment_121366032

Because it's members work tirelessly to fundraise.

Clubs only get grants if they raise specific amount of the money themselves.It's not a free lunch for them they actually have to put in a lot of effort in order to be eligible to get grants.

Jack Daw

The FAI have no excuses for not improving infrastructure apart from themselves.It's the world biggest sport with the world richest international sporting body.They have access to much bigger potential TV deals and sponsorship arrangements than any other sport in Ireland. It's the gross incompetence of the FAI over the years that has held it back not any other factor.

Fr Tod Umptious

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121366135#Comment_121366135

It may be a fact that soccer is the biggest sport with the world's richest international sporting body.

But that's no use to the FAI when all the money spent by soccer fans in Ireland is spent on British and European soccer.

As another poster pointed out the FAIs only source of income is the men's international team, and that all depends on how well they do.

Where do people expect the FAI to get their money from?

Gusser09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121366256#Comment_121366256

The FAI's woes aren't really the reason why local clubs struggle though. Local clubs can fund raise and apply for capital sports grant like any other sports clubs in the country.

One has to compare the FAI to the RFU. No point comparing it to an amateur organisation like the GAA. They would be more on a par with the RFU. They have to ask themselves what make the RFU so successful and how can we mirror that.

The RFU are professional with professional teams. A better comparison all round.

Patrick2010

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121366256#Comment_121366256

In fairness despite the results home crowds have been very healthy in the last few years, I would say averaging over 40 k?. They must have brought in significant revenue?

Fr Tod Umptious

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121366312#Comment_121366312

Not really, how much profit is there in 40k in a stadium 6 odd times a year.

After you take out the overhead, not a whole lot in the grand scheme of things.

bullpost

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121366283#Comment_121366283

Not sure its any better as a comparison ? Rugby demographic is completely different - A mostly well-supported middle-class game.

Gusser09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121366325#Comment_121366325

Ok. But there always seems to be excuses for why the FAI are such a cluster **** and why local soccer clubs struggle with grants and fundraising. It always seems to be everyone else's fault.

I'm absolutely all for local clubs and grass roots getting improved facilities. I think any sport or activity that keeps kids off the streets etc is great. I just don't understand why the FAI and clubs struggle when it comes to the fundraising models and securing grants. It's not the GAA's fault. Or the RFU's fault.

LOI clubs are professional. If they can't operate a professional business model then maybe they need to reassess their models. I'm sure they qualify for the same supports other businesses qualify for. One thing is for certain though they can't be lumped into the same category are the struggling local soccer club or gaa club.

Gusser09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121366322#Comment_121366322

Maybe we need another friendly match against Oman or Qatar. Utterly bizarre.

Gusser09

Andy Moran called up to senior squad.

Fr Tod Umptious

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121366283#Comment_121366283

This is not GAA bashing, but local soccer clubs will always struggle for local funding.

Take your average Irish family that like sports.

Most people I know are both soccer and GAA fans, so they share their interest and the money they spend between the two sports.

The soccer money they spend is usually on English soccer, be that merchandise or TV subs, the GAA money they spend is usually on local and county match tickets, local GAA lotto or other local GAA fundraising.

That leaves very little for the local soccer clubs.

Rugby is very different.

The IRFU have the benefit of exclusive private schools to develop their playing talent.

Plus it's always been a more affluent sport.

It's no surprise that international rugby tickets have always been more expensive than international soccer tickets going back years.

They were always able to support a stronger price point.

Remember when the Aviva 10 year tickets went on sale back around 2009.

The IRFU sold out their 10 year tickets immediately, the FAI struggled to sell theirs.

It wasn't because the IRFU ones were cheaper or better value, they weren't, they were more expensive, it's because they had a more affluent target market, and that was in the middle of a recession.

Gusser09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121366424#Comment_121366424

To be fair Todd there is a fair bit of GAA bashing going on around here.

Jack Daw

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121366256#Comment_121366256

They should be doing a better job to promote the LOI and make it a better league and a league that people from all over Ireland can support.

The Norweigan and Danish Leagues have average attendances of 2 to 3 times what we get in Ireland , no reason why if enough effort was put in by people involved in the sport in Ireland the LOI couldn't reach a standard similar to those leagues who regularly have teams in the group stages of European competitions.

I'd argue a bit more vision regarding what the LOI could be and perhaps start amalgamating clubs so there are fewer small clubs and creating new clubs so every region has a decent club with a large potential fan base.

BTW I know amalgamating clubs is probably considered heresy to a lot of fans but it's a common occurence across europe Copanhagen, AZ Alkmaar , Genk, Twente, Utretch,PSG are all newly created clubs due to mergers in the past 50 years or so.

bullpost

League of Ireland clubs have traditionally focussed the spending on players, not facilities.

Roddy Collins recently said facilities have not improved much since he started out in the '70s.

Waterford FC , who were very successful in the distant past, dont even have a ground. They play at a municipal sportscentre. That was voted one of the best league grounds a while back, which tells you a lot.

Did you smash it

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121366528#Comment_121366528

LOI clubs are mainly focusing on survival. The idea that they have a decent reserve money available to spend on facilities is a fanciful thought. They focus expenditure on players because as you may know, it is difficult to have a football team without football players.