Dermot Keely: Rovers are building for the future but cannot afford to ignore the present

SHAMROCK ROVERS are building for the future and good luck to them.

But right now, it seems like they have abandoned the present.

Tonight they host an open night at the Roadstone Sports and Social Club which is to become the first team’s training ground and home to their youth academy.

Building work begins shortly and God knows the league has been crying out for proper infrastructure, so that’s a positive step.

But it’s hard to imagine that the mood among ordinary Rovers fans is too celebratory at the moment.

To their credit, they didn’t turn on their team when they were being beaten 5-0 by Cork City in the FAI Cup last Friday.

It was their heaviest home defeat since they lost 6-0 to Manchester United in the European Cup in 1957. You have to go back 80 years — when Sligo Rovers won 6-1 at Milltown — since they were beaten so badly on their own patch by another Irish side.

But the supporters are clever enough to realise there is little point in blaming the players because throwing youngsters into the first team is the club’s strategy.

And there are coaches in their youth set-up earning more than most league managers.

I wonder would those fans be as forgiving towards the board who decided upon this path? I suspect not.

In the past 29 years, the club has won the league just three times — and their hierarchy seemed happy to see the back of Michael O’Neill, who had won two of those — and failed to win the FAI Cup.

Most of that time they were without a home to call their own and they’ll argue that the structures they are putting in place now will increase the chances of success down the line.

But they cannot afford to ignore the present.

Right now, their chances of qualifying for Europe hinge on St Pat’s not winning the Cup because they will not finish high enough in the league to do it off their own bat.

Crowds have dropped alarmingly and will continue to do so if the first team is not competitive.

They’ve won five, drawn two and lost two of Stephen Bradley’s nine league games in charge but, in their next six, they face Dundalk twice as well as Cork and Derry City.

Their display against Cork on Friday does not bode well for how they will fare against sides above them.

Stephen seems like a good fella but when I read him saying he wanted to play 3-5-2 because he had seen Belgium’s Under-21 side do it, I despaired.

You are talking about chalk and cheese.

Sure enough, John Caulfield prepared his side to exploit the obvious deficiencies in Rovers’ approach and punished them ruthlessly.

Football happens on a pitch, in reality, not in theory in a coaching seminar room.

Instead of trying to keep it tight against Cork, a better side, Rovers threw their one chance of silverware this season out the window.

Again, much was made about how many young players they used.

Aaron Bolger, 16, was put on the pitch for the last 19 minutes having started and finished for Ireland Under-17s on Tuesday and Thursday. He then played 76 minutes for Rovers’ Under-17s on Saturday.

That’s the equivalent of three full matches in the space of 96 hours.

I don’t know much about youth development but I know you’re not supposed to burn young lads out.

And if they can get something as basic as that wrong, you’d wonder about the whole project.