Cult of Stephen Kenny

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.

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.

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?

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?

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

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.

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.

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.

Maybe they need to cut their cloth to fit and accept they can't be full time professional.You don't deserve to be professional as a club if you don't generate enough revenue to sustain it.

“ 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.”.

I’m not sure that statement is true. The FAI made a total dog’s dinner of marketing their 10 year tickets.

Also the IRFU we’re marketing a product that was regarded as superior to the FAI product.