The Eircom League- A Microcosm of Where It All Went Wrong.

I wasn't sure if I should write this post because I didn't think I knew enough about it. Then I thought why not- how much is there to know? Plus it's been bugging me, playing on my mind which is really the only criteria of coming up with a subject.

First things first. How can Drogheda's players demand anything from their contracts. They were awarded contracts on the basis that either the money would be generated to pay them or someone else would. The public certainly spoke and decided that Drogheda's players weren't worth the sort of money they were being paid. The way in which businesses work (as far as I know in my limited experience) is that employees pay for themselves. Some weeks can be quieter than others and that's when overdrafts kick in and if you keep delving into the overdraft you quickly go out of business. On liquidation staff are paid as much as possible out of what's left and they can claim the remainder from a social insurance fund.

If the club is broke which it is, then the players haven't got a leg to stand on and should take their share of the responsibility for running the club into the ground in the first place.

Mind you, whoever refused Drogheda permission for their stadium has a lot to answer for. I don't know the exact deets but it sounded like a fine idea which would have generated business, investment and would undoubtedly been good for the morale of the place. I don't know why it was refused, Drogheda isn't exactly a UNESCO world heritage site is it? The only thing the refusal has done is ruined the club and any hope they had of making this ambitious project work.

Let's get back to business for a second. A budget is based on your projected earnings. Your expenditure has to be at least the same as income or else you need a sugar daddy to make up the difference. A lot of Eircom League clubs have had that in this decade. The assumption being that they could sell the grounds for massive sums and everyone would make a profit.

The League of Ireland has existed for a long time. Senior soccer has been in Limerick since 1937 (hence the name) and yet they and most other clubs have absolutely nothing to show for it. Around Limerick they boast of getting crowds of 15,000 in the Market Fields in the 70's and 80's. They still don't own their own ground, Jackman Park would test the loyalty of any fan and they've managed to pare those attendances down to the 500 mark. I don't mean to single out Limerick, nearly every other club is as bad or worse.

Cork City, the best supported club in the league don't own their own ground either and almost every club has managed to squander whatever cash has come their way, whenever and however it came their way. There was no attempt to invest in the infrastructure of the stadiums, instead all the money went to players in the form of wages.

How come Rugby clubs up and down the country have decent bars attached, training pitches, stands, don't make headlines for financial irregularities...you get the picture. Even the GAA have their house in better order.

Alan Matthews is demanding that his contract be paid off and this seems to be preventing Cork City appointing a new manager. Alan Matthews is employed by a bank and took a career break to manage Cork. I have to assume that now that he is no longer manager of Cork, he is free to return to his cushty job at the bank. What is going through his mind when he tries to extort money out of Cork for work he hasn't done when he already has a job?

Essentially he would be getting paid twice and yes, I realise that he is under contract and so legally bound to be paid. I suspect the league of Ireland weren't smart enough to put any restrictive clauses, covenants or conditions into his contract to ensure this situation wouldn't arise.

As the league itself goes, the games couldn't possibly be on at a worst time if attracting crowds is the aim. Friday evening at 7.45 is incovenient because most people with lives are doing other things at that time. It's difficult to make games because of trying to negotiate rush hour traffic. Most people are too tired after a weeks work to want to stand around in the cold and rain (usually) for two hours at the end of a tough week. It's near impossible for away supporters to travel unless they take half days. It beggars belief really.

What was wrong with 3 o'clock on a Saturday again? It doesn't interfere with the Premier League because the big games are always either early kick offs or on Sundays. Do we even have a tradition of Saturday games in this country? I can't remember it.

As far as I can see, stadiums in the league of Ireland are shitholes (I've been to Dalymount, Richmond Park, Terryland, Jackman Park, Tolka, Turners Cross, St. Colemans and Belfield), the players are signed up to contracts for monies they can not and will not generate and the clubs are complaining about being in financial difficulty. I'd just love to know the mentality of the people in charge of the clubs. What goes through their minds? What goes on at the meetings? Isn't there anyone there with an education or common sense?

I can see why the players were paid so much and the stadiums weren't developed. The developers in charge wanted to sell so there was no point doing them up and the profits would have been so big that whatever they paid the players would look like small change in that context. That doesn't explain Cork's situation mind.

How could the league have seen the benefit of the players being paid high wages and no effort being made to improve the stadiums? It just doesn't make sense. Surely all overheads should have been paid first, the stadiums worked on to at least bring them into the 21st century thus securing the future of the league and then you can divide whatever is left (if anything) between the players. Instead it would appear that just the opposite was done. There is a whole lot more to building a football club than just having overpaid, overrated players on the field.

In fairness what has happened is just a microcosm for the money which was swindled and squandered by our friends in Dail Eireann for the last ten years with their Quangos, pay agreements and absolutely nothing to show for it right now. We need business people and professionals in positions of authority in both the Government and the League and we have neither of either.