Will we ever score a goal again?

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Posted by cavemeister

16 Comments

  1. I know we’re shite

    But I didn’t think we were this shite.

    There isn’t an international team in the world I’d be confident we’d beat

  2. One of the worst domestic leagues in Europe, with the idea of a player from that league playing in our national league almost laughable.

    1.3 Million people watched the Euro 2024 final on RTE. In 2023 roughly 826,000 people attended LOI games across all divisions. Bear in mind that that figure includes every game and supporters who attend multiple games are counted multiple times.

    The Irish national team is entirely reliant on Englishmen with Irish ancestry to be even marginally competitive. We are also completely reliant on the English to develop our senior players.

    Considering that Ireland were competing in the quarter finals of the World Cup in 1990, the fact that absolutely nothing has developed since then is beyond a disgrace.

    At least the government found 14 Billion down the side of the couch today so maybe that can go into our football…

  3. Did we ever actually win games? Wasn’t it always losing, late game long ball equaliser for a draw or a very lucky 1-0 via long ball to Keane.

    I don’t think we were ever good.

  4. This isn’t a recent occurrence. We’ve been shite for ages. No amount of #COYBIG and delusional fans is going to change that.
    The team is fucked with no indication of their being light at the end of the tunnel.

  5. Garlic-Cheese-Chips on

    You may joke but we are at the tier just above San Marino now. We’ve joined the ranks of Malta, Cyprus, Estonia, Latvia, Moldova etc.

  6. Significant-Roll-138 on

    They need to get rid of the whole team and stick in a bunch of Gaelic footballers, they might care and put a bit of effort in, may as well do something radical cos leaving the same old hasbeens in just isn’t working.

  7. For a country of our population, the amount of people who go into a domestic sport like GAA or into a much more internationally niche sport like Rugby leaves us on the back foot compared to many other countries where football often stands alone as the undisputed number one field sport.

  8. The Bosman ruling took away our main advantage.

    Historically, most teams players couldn’t go abroad. Only the best foreign players were really able to play in the best leagues.

    Ireland was different. Because Irish people aren’t treated as foreign in the UK, as many lads could go over as they wanted. This meant Irish lads played football in a top league having gotten the best training then available.

    Furthermore, large numbers of English players had Irish ancestry an we could poach them.

    Nowadays, English academies are full of young lads from all across the world, because they can sign nearly anybody. A small country like Ireland doesn’t produce as much talent as Spain, Argentina, etc.

    We never planned for the inevitable changes and maintain a fairly moribund domestic league with very little control over youth talent that often players for other teams.

    Thus our players are now badly coached and lack experience of top-level football.

  9. For all the faults of the FAI the problem goes much deeper.

    People are in a viscous cycle of using a “poor product” excuse and prefer booking package day trips to Manchester/Liverpool through Marathon/Champion Travel instead of going to local games, putting arses on seats and generating a bit of revenue for the club.

    That kind of money that goes a long way at that level of operation and is the only way that “product” will improve from the position it is in.

    The FAI and the clubs can’t magic money if people don’t turn up and rather buy merchandise from English clubs.

    – People start going to games.
    – People pay money to clubs.
    – People buy merchandise.
    – Clubs use money for better infrastructure, youth development and player transfers etc
    – Interest builds
    – Better sponsorship deals come
    – TV broadcasting comes
    – Clubs use money to further better infrastructure, youth development and player transfers etc
    – Interest builds further
    – Possible Foreign investment
    – Even better sponsorship deals come
    – Better TV rights
    – Clubs use money for better infrastructure, youth development and player transfers etc.
    – The National game improves

    That’s the general gist of it. Won’t happen overnight of course, or at all with the mindset of supporters.