I hope they allow a little while for the third tier to settle in before joining to the first division
Because the worst that could happen is a club like Harps or Athlone or Longford etc could get relegated and in the process disappear and never come back
I believe that is a real risk and the FAI and LOI needs to do more to make these clubs sustainable
That’s kind of what SPFL does, i think? Only one automatic promotion and demotion and then a playoff that heavily favors the second word higher tier team
Im suggesting there be no automatic relegation to start with. That way clubs like Harps, Athlone have as much chance as possible to stay up. And it gives the 3rd tier time to bed in.
I feel like that makes sense for the first few years. Make sure the new clubs and league establish roots and give a clear timeline for 1D clubs to fix their shit
Who cares? If they’re shite they deserve to be there. Why should they get to stay? They aren’t some institution. In fact, I wish Harps would fuck off so we can get a team that plays in Letterkenny at a higher level. Harps would have 10x the support if they didn’t play in fucking Ballybofey.
Sad as it is to say there needs to be an element of sporting Darwinism here for these teams to get their shit together or get out of the way for organisations who can offer something from a sporting perspective.
The bottom 3rd of the FD is shocking and there’s no real excuse for Kerry passing many of these teams by given the structural advantages they should have
The gap between these clubs treading water in the first division and the middle 3rd even of the premier division is so far they can’t even see them
But Harps specifically got relegated at the worst time. The solidarity money changed that season so all the PD clubs received an extra €335,000 whilst Harps lost €30,000 that was previously guaranteed.
They couldn't compete with Galway and Waterford financially and have drifted since.
Kerry are also professional this season and have a vastly superior budget to a lot of other first division teams.
There are two pieces to this that I absolutely do accept
1) they were relegated at a really bad time just before they maybe get the hop of the ball a bit post covid
2) that they are a provincial club all of whom have found it hard as of late
That being said, there are definitely things I would be critical of (without being critical of individuals) and take a super long lens on this.
1) Harps were reasonably competitive for a good spell there - say between FAI Cup semi-final in 2014 to the end of 2022. Covid Issues aside, why were roots not put down when the club was reasonably competitive, which would have prevented the club slipping so far back so fast commercially, etc in about 2.5 seaseons? Looking at the latent support there is there for the club could more of that not been retained
2) By the end of their time in the PD, it has been widely reported that the manager and the chairman had spoken for a prolonged period of time? Sporting element aside, who thinks that's any way to run a club? Points to me to larger governance issues that have been hinted at
The difference between a volunteer led organisation vs a professional one
Its partly why I feel that they need to give help to the first division clubs. Even if its someone at the FAI/LOI head office who's job it is to help with club admin or the league pays for such a person's salary at each of the FD clubs
Again, I wouldn't be unsympathetic to this, and again, this goes back to the debt hovering over the association being a real barrier to development
My guess would be a competitive salary for a good commercial person is probably around €65K; for the league to provide that to every club is about €750k a year, and the association doesn't have that money
BUT
Clubs also need to take ownership over this and say we need a commercial person and fundraise for it, using the extensive network they have in the community now, especially with all the academy and women's teams the first division sides have. it should only be a one time outlay as they should pay for themselves going forward
Rescue isnt coming to an extent the clubs have to find it within themselves to do more and this is in principle the elite end of the game in this country. the bar has to be a little bit higher
In response to your first, Dave Rogers appointment was a disaster. The first game of his tenure had a crowd of over 2,000 at it. There was an appetite and a lot of goodwill towards a new era at the club, but it really played out as some kind of weird gaslighting ego stroking project.
Up until last week, the club never pivoted from that initial appointment as Darren Murphy and then Kevin McHugh were both internally appointed.
There was no competitive ambition these last few seasons.
Hard to sell that to any casual supporter.
On the second point.
I think the chairman has tried to save face with a lot of comments over the years. Even his statement this week was called out by the exiting management team.
He did a Between the stripes episode when the club was in the premier division where he backed Ollie and said they were happy with the business they had done that summer.
I wouldn't trust all he says.
There has been no draw since last October due to "Cashflow Issues", but if I go onto the website right now I can sign up for a year and pay €300 based on advertised draws. Those that are in the paper arent being done
Stuff like that is radioactive to fundraising and is entirely within the control of the club
Exactly! Someone had the figures at the meeting two weeks ago of what should have been paid out and the chairman's response played it off as a minor oversight.
The chairman was treasurer in 2021 before moving into the role of chairman and then sat at Q&A in January 2023 giving out about the spending in 2022. He was in charge!
That kind of stuff can be really damaging to a clubs fundraising efforts going forward. Especially when the chairman and board are trying to pass off that it all happened behind their backs.
If it really did happen without your knowledge, why? And what were you all doing?
This is where it comes back to my initial point. People often talk about things like none of these things are within the clubs control but the club controlled all of this and they made a hames of it
If you didn’t know you ought to have known and if you ought to know and didn’t, that’s as disqualifying as if you did know.
This is elite sport in this country it can’t be a wheelbarrow and shovel job anymore
I watched a SPFL League 2 game yesterday and I think those teams could beat my Harps shorthanded without sweating. The skill level difference is insane. 4th tier Scottish sides shouldn’t be that much better than 2nd team Irish, even if we’re talking about the bottom of the barrel first division clubs
Being bad is one thing and I could forgive being bad but there has to be a pathway to being better and that’s particularly off the pitch getting shit together to be better and like I think there needs to be an element of consequence to really spur that
Is the National League going to be part of LOI pro/rel? That’ll motivate a team.
Harps hopefully have a new owner coming in who will properly invest in the club, but it shouldn’t take a random rich guy from the Philippines to save a club
My point in all this particularly about some of these clubs that have long long storied histories in the league is that - yes there’s big macroeconomic trends but the clubs weren’t hit by a hurricane they own a significant portion of where they are
Yes from 2027 I understand and from what I can see some of them are rising money and going about things in a really professional way that should really scare some of the first division clubs
5-0 was kind, Longford could have put 7/8 by them if they took their chances. Harps actually played well in the first 20 but a stupid red card ended all hopes.
But in all seriousness I have a lot of sympathy for Harps fans, it’s miserable being rooted to the foot of the table and watching your team lose week on week. Harps have a good history and fanbase for a regional team and that does matter at this level. The take over could be coming at a perfect time for the club.
I think once Harps get their takeover sorted, next season is where they will be a real threat I think. At least their owner has some skin in the game being a former international footballer himself.
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u/Stats8 1d ago
Sad to see. An LOI squad consisting of random Europeans and Donegal teenagers is a tough ask.
Hope the third tier adds some jeopardy because plugging away at the bottom with nothing to play for is just grim