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These are strange times for Shamrock Rovers. They are at a crossroads and I’m fascinated to see which direction they turn.

The club has been in a state of flux ever since Michael O’Neill left them at the end of the 2011 season.

They remain without a permanent manager, although the soundings suggest an appointment is on the way before the end of the season.

Perhaps it will be Stephen Bradley, the caretaker, although there are still red tape issues to negotiate. Considering the route the club is going in terms of promoting youth, it’s an obvious one right now.

I played with Stephen and I like him. But whoever the new manager is, they can’t afford to throw everything into youth. It would be dangerous to ignore the bigger picture.

Adopting a youth policy and developing those structures is all fine.

After all, Rovers are not doing any better or worse with these young lads than they were when signing so-called big name players.

Since O’Neill left, they have finished fifth, fourth and third. With three games to go this season, they are fourth with hopes of collaring Derry City for third.

(Image: ©INPHO/Tommy Dickson)

But there must be a reason they are consistently off the pace and I don’t think it’s anything to do with whether you’ve younger or senior players – more so the structures of the club itself.

The League of Ireland is different. I don’t think any football club in this league has ever been run to its potential and probably never will be.

There are good people involved behind the scenes throughout the league, but not enough of them have the experience to run a club on a full-time basis.

It’s simply not an industry in this country, and that’s the point. Quite often it seems there are too many people calling the shots and the structures get smothered.

If you ask me, the success of various clubs down the years has been solely down to the manager. They are the ones driving everything.

Take Stephen Kenny at Dundalk. He’s been brilliant. Same with Michael O’Neill at Rovers and Pat Fenlon at Bohemians and Shelbourne.

(Image: ©INPHO/Tommy Dickson)

Were the foundations underneath them always rock solid? No. Again, we don’t have that industry in this country.

Promoting youth is great but first and foremost, you need to get your first-team right. One entity, driven by the first-team to give young lads something to aspire to.

If the first-team is successful, it will drive the rest. This idea that you can compete for trophies with a load of young lads is a huge risk and I don’t buy it.

There are a couple of things happening at Rovers which will define the next few years for them. Firstly, they have to get their managerial appointment right.

The senior team has to be successful for Rovers to thrive and young lads being promoted need guidance. Rovers need experienced heads in their ranks to do that.

I see Killian Brennan followed his brother Gavin out the door last week.

(Image: ©INPHO/Ryan Byrne)

That suggests there’s a big overhaul on the way, but who is making these decisions? Is it Bradley? Is the board?

Secondly, Rovers need more engagement between their fans and the team. Tallaght Stadium is not the place is used to be and the crowds are very poor.

Supporters seem disillusioned with the team and there’s very little engagement there. To alter a famous quote slightly, I’m not saying you can’t be successful with kids.

But if you pursue a youth policy from top to bottom, you run the risk of completely disengaging with fans.

It’s fantastic to see the national U19 and U17 leagues, but if the Shamrock Rovers first-team are not where they should be it’ll have a knock-on effect throughout the club.

Daryl Horgan has a big decision to make

(Image: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile)

A good Championship player in England could earn up to €8,000-10,000 a week and nobody from this league would turn their nose up at that.

daryl Horgan, above, has a massive decision to make come the end of the season but I don’t think it’s as straightforward as counting the zeroes on a paycheck.

dundalk as a club will heavily influence what daryl does next. The same applies for Stephen Kenny and some of the other players.

The people running dundalk have to decide if they want to develop oriel Park – and yes, I appreciate it’s a complicated one – or get the hell out of there to another site.

If they do that, and they’re genuinely ambitious about becoming a group stage regular in Europe, that will give daryl a real headache and it could tempt him to stay.

Unfortunately, I don’t see dundalk doing anything about their stadium any time soon.

The champions should be capable of driving on and at least matching what they’ve done this season for the next three, four or five years.

History has proved that Irish clubs cannot sustain the financial aspect of attempting to do it, but dundalk have banked a small fortune.

But for me, they need to invest that in a stadium – be it oriel Park or moving somewhere else, perhaps with the council or another benefactor.

Now, I said daryl’s decision is unlikely to be based on money alone. But of course it’s going to be a massive factor. He has a young kid after all.

It's not just cigarettes being smoked by fans

(Image: ©INPHO/Ryan Byrne)

Do you remember the game at Oriel Park when – live on air – the RTE studio filled up with smoke from flares?

Well, it happened again on Tuesday at the Dundalk – Cork City game. Myself and Brian Kerr were in the studio gantry above The Shed.

“Here we go again!”, I said.

Luckily, the cameras cut to the teams as they walked out and we just chatted over it. The smell off those flares is something else.

But it hasn’t been the only aroma wafting into that gantry of late.

I’m not sure where it’s coming from but let’s just say it’s not your standard cigarette smoke that we’ve been smelling, if you get me.

It was like a college dorm. Myself and Brian were nearly hugging each other by half-time!