“What difference does it make how much you have? What you do not have amounts to much more.”

These are the words of Roman philosopher Seneca the Younger and he could very well have been speaking about the League of Ireland when he was speaking them.

I have not spent as much time tapping away at my keyboard this season sharing stories and tales of a football fan in Ireland as I would liked to have done. My mind was a little more occupied with thoughts of whether my club, Waterford United who ply their trade at the second level of Irish football, will still be in existence come the next round of fixtures. Our predicament of having less than a couple of pennies to rub together is all too familiar to the League of Ireland and it is quite distracting, to a point where is it now almost considered part of the package.

(Finn Park – pic: Ian Clancy)

Money dominates football now. From the very top to the very bottom. Whether clubs are counting the tens of millions of pounds spent on transfers or the couple of hundred of euro collected from the sales of Golden Goal tickets in the stands the final total is of equal importance but what is very evident too is that the industry that is modern day football has been set up and designed to make the rich man a little more plump with a longer cigar and the small guys gradually lose their weight until they no longer have the energy or resources to keep afloat and continue. Those who need the stability of balanced books the most are being starved by an ‘entertainment’ industry which has taken the heart and soul out of football and replaced it with the need to make more money. What happens on the pitch is now secondary to how much money the television companies pay, advertising hoardings, shirt sponsors and the companies that were once clubs in their communities.

In Ireland, when money and football are spoken of, the narrative is always that of not having enough. The clubs just do not generate enough income to support a league which can grow to a level where the attention of the ‘football fans’ in Ireland can be diverted away from the glamour and glitz of the Premier League across the water with its media coverage which appears to be increasingly closer every year to round the clock, 24 hours a day coverage. The Premier League would gladly fix matches throughout the night if meant that there was money to be made. The clubs would have no problem at all opening up their stadiums and playing under lights at 4am if it satisfied the Chinese ‘market’ and raked in the cash. The stands may be half empty for a late night/early morning match on a Tuesday but the level of consideration for football fans, the real true fans who attend matches and love their local clubs through thick and thin, has long been lost. I am not even sure if they are considered at all any more. Just their wallets.

The FAI recently offered the 20 League of Ireland clubs €5,000 each to put together a strategic plan for the next five years. This is a start. That I will admit. However, the real strategic plan that needs to be put in place is not one that should fall at the feet of the member clubs here in Ireland. It should rather be developed by the well paid folk in the FAI who in my opinion could not be more distant from our domestic game. They need to develop a strategic plan on how to catch up on the years they have wasted by ignoring the ‘problem child’ they see the League of Ireland to be. As I mentioned the €5,000 gesture is a starting point but that start is two decades too late. Once the Sky Sports signal was switched on and the Premier League in England was beamed into living rooms all around the world the alarm bells should have started ringing. I have a sneaky feeling that the timing of the €5,000 payments was done to maximize positive publicity for the FAI. Dundalk had just qualified for the group stages of the Europa league and a shot at the elusive Champions League group stages awaited.

(Writing on the wall – pic: Peter Clancy)

The payment in my opinion was rushed out the door and news of it into the palms of the media to generate a feel good factor. It was an effort to jump on Dundalk’s fine achievements and fool the public and the League of Ireland clubs into thinking the FAI care about our league which has gained more respect in recent times from the countless volunteers who make the tea and collect the paltry gate receipts than from the FAI.

The dawn of Sky Sports was a turning point. It was at this point that our young talent were no longer towards the front of the queue containing players the clubs in England were willing to develop into future stars, stars who would one day line out for our national team.

Our young talent lost their places in the queue to the players from the continent and the world over who had already gone through a great phase of development in their home countries where unlike in Ireland, the eye was kept fixed on the ball we had dropped completely and let roll away into the distance. The Sky TV money made sure of this and as that money grew the English clubs, who the FAI depended on to ‘sort out’ our national side, widened their horizons and our youthful talent travelled home dejected in greater numbers on ferries to Ireland with their hearts broken with a feeling inside that they had no future in the game.

With a little bit fo effort it could all be so different.

Dundalk have taken the finances of a League of Ireland club to new levels this season. They have banked the jackpot with their fantastic run in European football. Some will argue that it is not healthy for our league that one club will be in a much stronger financial position to the rest. I would argue differently. All clubs should aspire to reach those heights and with one club there already the clubs themselves and the FAI should work together to see that each and every League of Ireland team are given a platform to develop an environment which is financially healthy with competitive and exciting teams on the pitches dotted around Ireland.

The previously mentioned €5,000 is a start but in all fairness if I were responsible for developing the ‘5 year strategic plans’ of every League of Ireland club I would simply photocopy the sentence “We need more involvement and financial support from the FAI because the future of the national side you bank on to make you the big money is coming from this league” twenty times over, purchase twenty stamps, stick the copies into envelopes and mail them back to the FAI. This would cost about €20. Report this and report that. In my opinion these ‘strategic reports’ are a load of nonsense or “Bunkum” to quote Brian Kerr. Action is required. Action from the FAI. Action that is long overdue. Action that is of a much more importance now than it ever was before. Action our future national sides rely on.

Dundalk will learn from the failings of Shamrock Rovers after their European windfall, albeit a much smaller sum, following their historic qualification for the group stages of the Europa League. At least I hope they will. I can see them putting the treasured prize money to much better use than the Dublin side have done. I am sure that Stephen Kenny will be afforded the resources to fine tune his squad further and push it to another level but for me the most important investment Dundalk FC can make is that of improving their infrastructure. A new home? A brand new stadium linked in with the local Institute of Technology? This could be ground breaking for the club and the making of something very special indeed.

(This league means so much to so many but so little to the men at the top – pic: Peter Clancy)

The FAI should learn from Dundalk’s achievements this season. This week, four years ago, they were rock bottom of the Premier Division and had players packing bags in local supermarkets to keep the club up and running. In the few intervening years, with modest financial backing which provided stability to the Lilywhites, they have made strides forward that should be mapped out and followed by all clubs. I can only dream of such a turnaround at Waterford United. The FAI should take control, as is their duty, and actively enhance our much maligned but very much loved league by those who ‘get it’.

The €100,000 offered to the League of Ireland clubs would be much better spent by the FAI in trying to figure out how they can help every club in the league to follow in the footsteps of Dundalk. Simple steps can be taken. The FAI needs to start that journey. It is up to the FAI to generate cash for league. The clubs struggle every year to fund themselves. That is enough of an ask as it is. They can’t be expected to fund the league too! If the FAI can get their act together and their finger out our league could grow to a level a fan like myself could only ever have dreamed of. A day when the crowds return to watch the exciting action on the field but with the added bonus of Irish teams competing in Europe year in and year out.

It can happen. It is just a matter of whether the people with the right shoes on their feet are willing to take the right steps. Those people are the FAI. The clubs are walking barefoot as it is. There was no way I could write this article without including the following much discussed subject. If the FAI were to implement a plan and the likes of my own beloved Waterford United and the League of Ireland’s oldest club Athlone Town were assisted to a point where they know that their long term futures are secure then John Delaney, the top dog, might be able to justify being paid a salary which amounts to more than the League of Ireland Champions are awarded.

As it stands, Waterford United and Athlone Town don’t know if they will be about in the next few weeks due to their financial uncertainty.

John Delaney’s future is very secure though.

Maybe that is the problem.

Seneca was right on the money. What the League of Ireland clubs and the league itself do not have is most important right now. Proud, strong and honest leadership would go a long way to changing this.

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