Greatest League in the World 2024 [new thread available]

Here's the post match analysis on the decision

Think it’s the same old story; everyone saying it was obvious pen after multiple angles and replays. On first viewing I didn’t think penalty straight out.

That scramble in the box was also a save by Maher, followed by him batting the ball away with his hand when he was on his knees.

He earned us the win last night, and probably why he celebrated so strongly at the final whistle (having given away a stupid goal in the Rovers game).

Quite. Bad decisions have always been part and parcel of the game. Have just seen the Bohs claim now and it definitely looked like a penalty. However, how many times have we seen people disagree on such calls? Even with VAR in England there are still debates and criticisms. I’m glad we will probably never have the option to go down that road. To be honest I’d rather just suck it up when a call goes against us (and gratefully accept when it goes the other way 😛). Not saying we shouldn’t require refs to be as good as they can, but it’s always going to be imperfect. Also think Alan Cawley was overstating it when he says “these are the calls costing managers their jobs”. Not really Alan. If you are at the bottom end of the table or consistently losing matches it can’t be the ref all the time.

That’s possibly it. Did think it was a little soon for us to be playing Rovers again. We’ll have played them three times before May is even out.

Was hoping for a draw to keep you both a distance behind us. Dundalk now only 3pt behind.

On the Bohs Rovers game .Did they analyse the incident in the first half when Talbot took down Towell but ref gave a free out for offside when it looked from where I was sitting that he was onside?

I'd guess he's waiting till you sort the pitch out 😎

He's on 98 caps is he not?

So do you believe he is going to try to find another club in England to attain 2 caps, or do you think perhaps he'll be in the next 2 squads for ireland?

I'd think more likely the latter.

As for the pitch, there is a high chance this is it's last season. Chairman already said he'd cover cost of getting it ripped up. Just need the council to agree now

Is there any full-time referees in Ireland?

That's a starting point to the critique and it's extremely hard to improve unless you are doing it on a full time basis.

These guys get told on Mon or Tues where they are officiating. If travelling far e.g. from Dublin to Cork/Limerick they need employer to give a half day Friday.

Up at 7am. Family stuff. Drive to work.

Drive directly from work to game.

Try to get to ground 615pm.

FT 930pm. Writes Report. Lucky if home before 11pm.

Ref and Lino are all mic'd up and there is communication between them all of the time.

The bigger issues are.

1.The gargantuan FAI “legacy JD debt”

& Still in debt - €63.5m of it as of July '22

3.CEO of FAI lives in England. Why? He gets paid €207,590 (plus "attractive cuts from any new sponsors deals"??)

4.30 months into the job and we are still waiting for the financials on a new kit sponsor for National team.

5.FAI looked for another Government bailout in March. €2.5m.(Aviva licence fee worth for 2023)

6. Is there a lack of government support?

For the LOI there is a lack of support FULL STOP

Government funds (Betting tax and/or portion of 16.0 billion surplus) could go directly to LOI clubs to help improve stadiums, academies and club budgets.

e.g. the average loi club budget is €3.5k/week that's for ALL the players, coaches, medics etc.

A good loi player 28 years of age is only on €1,200/week

If government funds were increased & went directly to the clubs and the FAI actually do what there supposed to do (oversight and governance) MASSIVE improvements could be achieved.

e.g. that average loi club only has 1 Full-time administrator with players, coaches and the rest of the staff are part-time, amateurs and volunteers.

Without a sound league structure you cannot drive and maintain standards for refereeing and coaching.

A debt ridden FAI is the elephant in the room.

how would you address the issue then?

(and I don’t mean that in a smart arse way)

I’ve outlined the challenges for referees who are not full-time. And the fai who are effectively broke.

also outlined an idea/concept as to how you stabilise the league first and foremost. and in fairness I didn’t say ignore.

im just fed up of hearing from managers and so called ‘pundits’ bitch and moan and go for the easy targets.

you always from these managers (the world over) taking pot shots at referees. It’s a blight on the sport.

And as for loi pundits you never hear an idea from them. Never (excl S.Byrne). Why? Because they are all in the game and scratching each others back. Plus it requires too much actual thought and work to provide an idea as to how to actually resolve it.

Was over in Galway for my stag party over the weekend and a few of us popped out to the match, never been in the home end in Terryland but it's a great setup for a First Div side with the various food stalls, the bar with a DJ was also a nice bonus with the beer tent! Bit mad that the away fans were rammed into one section of the stand when there was loads of space over there. Lomboto caused a lot of threats, great bit of pace and foot work. Decent game overall.

After the popularity of the Dublin Derby Virgin are going to show 5 more games this season.

Former Sligo Rovers and Pats forward Marcus Hallows is performing in Sligo tonight 😄

He's an Elvis impersonator in retirement.

In no way was that a 3-0 result performance. We were awful for at least 70 minutes of that match. Forrester scored twice at the end with a mix of great skill and woeful defending. Mason Melia came on as a sub, 15 years old, he's very well regarded.

Whoever UCD have commentating is woeful.