The Don's respect is never easily won. Having soldiered as Ireland's U-21 manager for over a decade, prior to stepping into the equally important role of FAI chief scout, Don Givens has seen more Championship football than is advisable for a man his age.

And what he witnesses on a week-by-week basis is a world away from The Beautiful Game.

"Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of good players in the league and some impressive matches. But you wouldn't believe how many rubbish games I have been to as well," said Givens.

"People go on about how it is a hard league to get out of, but is it really that tough? A good side will always prosper because there are so many bad teams around them."

It's hardly a great selling point for players considering a move there. Yet despite Givens' reservations, an increasing number of Irish internationals have headed in that direction -- Richard Dunne, Shay Given (albeit on loan), Stephen Hunt, Stephen Ward, Keith Andrews, Simon Cox, Stephen Kelly, Kevin Doyle and James McClean have all dropped down a level (or in Doyle's case, two divisions) since Euro 2012.

Worse again, the number of Irish making the journey in the opposite direction is decreasing, with a recent BBC survey revealing that the amount of game-time Irish players get in the Premier League has decreased by a third in the last five years.

HIGHLIGHTED

The Christmas period highlighted the extent of the problem -- just 12 Irishmen tasted Premier League football over the festive season.

And out of those 12, just two -- Seamus Coleman and James McCarthy -- played for a top-six side. The rest were either battling relegation, or if we are being generous, settling for mid-table mediocrity.

"When we went to the Euros, the memory of our relegation was still with us," said Doyle of his 2012 experience. "Being in the Premier League can be fantastic at times but the endless scrap to stay up can also be mentally draining."

For Doyle, Hunt and Ward, the depression caused by Wolves' failure to survive clearly hindered their performances in Poland -- and by extension, Ireland's. Now, Martin O'Neill has to contend with the reality that the bulk of his Premier League players are carrying mental baggage into his set-up.

An exaggeration? Well, bear in mind that with the exception of his Evertonian pair, every other Irish Premier League player has experienced more league defeats this season than victories.

"You do your best to park it and concentrate on the international team," Doyle reflected a year after coming back from Poland, "but it isn't easy."

These days, Irish players are getting nothing easily. As the Premier League continues to expand in a global context, its multi-cultural make-up is helping make it a close cousin of international football, with 61 different countries providing representatives, and thereby tactical diversity, to the 20 different clubs.

The trouble is that it is at Ireland's expense.

"In my era, Manchester United selected their players from Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales," said former Irish international Kevin Moran, now a player agent. "Now, they pick them from the four corners of the world. From the moment the Premier League started, the shift has occurred.

"At the start, 90pc of the players in the league were from the British Isles. Now it is under 30pc. There are less English and Irish players around."

And the upshot is that Irish players are now plying their trade in England's sub-standard, lower leagues.

"It isn't a similar style to international football by any means," said Givens.

If historic trends remained in place, this wouldn't be an issue because a glance back at the country's golden era -- from Euro 88 to USA 94 -- brings a reminder of how Jack Charlton's squads were filled with late-bloomers, men who worked their way up the ladder from either the League of Ireland or England's lowest two divisions.

There was Tony Galvin -- once of Goole Town in the Northern Premier League before he lifted the Uefa Cup with Tottenham in 1984; Kevin Sheedy, a graduate of Hereford United and then a two-time First Division champion with Everton; John Aldridge and Ray Houghton, former employees of Fourth Division clubs, who became heroes in Stuttgart just weeks after winning the title with Liverpool.

In fact, just five of Charlton's Euro 88 panel emerged straight from the academies of top-flight clubs to play for their first team, the rest taking a circuitous route to the top, a trend which continued for the next 15 years.

Andy Townsend started off with non-league Welling United before making it to England's top flight -- a similar journey taken by Steve Finnan, who ended up with a Champions League medal in his pocket.

And the list goes on -- Paul McGrath, Roy Keane, Liam O'Brien, Doyle, McClean, Shane Long, Damien Delaney, Wes Hoolahan, Ward, Coleman, David Meyler, Keith Fahey and David Forde are the most notable graduates of the League of Ireland who went on to claim international honours.

And, if it wasn't for England's lower leagues then it is certain that Denis Irwin, Phil Babb, Jason McAteer, Terry Phelan and John Sheridan wouldn't have made it to the 1994 World Cup, or Robbie Keane, Kenny Cunningham, Matt Holland, Mark Kinsella and Kevin Kilbane to the 2002 finals.

Euro 2012, too, was an example of how Irish football owes its living to the divisions below the Premier League -- with every squad member, bar Aiden McGeady, having spent some part of their career there.

But within the last decade, and particularly the last five years, there has been a distinct policy change by England's top clubs.

Whereas once they scouted their lower leagues for uncut gems, now they are increasingly shopping abroad.

"I don't know why but foreign players seem to be cheaper than English or Irish ones," said Ian Taylor, the former Aston Villa midfielder. "Are they better suited to the Premier League? Some are but clubs make a lot of bad foreign signings as well."

It could well have been different had Taylor's Villa side, which contained 11 English players, stayed the course during the 1998-99 season and held onto the first place they had claimed at Christmas in that campaign.

Instead, they faltered, finishing sixth in the end.

"And it was really after that year that clubs all around the Premier League expanded their scouting networks abroad," Taylor said. "I've no doubt our national team is suffering because of that."

OPPORTUNITY

And so is the Irish one. England's difficulty has not been Ireland's opportunity.

"In a different era, I might have made it to the Premier League," said Sean St Ledger, whose entire career has been spent in either the Championship or League Two. "I'm 28 now and the chance may have passed me by. But I'm still hopeful."

The rest of us have less to be hopeful about. The fact that just 6pc of transfers into the Premier League in the last decade have come from England's lower divisions is a statistic which carries a health warning.

Ireland's Premier League population is dwindling and, while the Championship is offering a safe home for them to go to, the standard remains dubious there.

NUMBERS GAME

Happy New Year?

10 The number of Irish players who started Premier League matches yesterday.

29 The number of Irish players who played for Championship clubs over the Christmas period.

9 The number of Irish players from Giovanni Trapattoni's Euro 2012 squad who have dropped down from the Premier League to the Championship or League One since the finals concluded.

6 The percentage of transfers into the Premier League in the last decade from England's lower divisions. The remaining 94pc of players have come from foreign clubs.

3 The number of Irish players -- Gibson, McCarthy and Coleman -- who have played for a top-six side this season.

Young guns hoping to make the breakthrough

Sean Murray (Watford)

Exceptionally gifted midfielder whose attacking threat has enhanced Watford's play this season, as well as catching Harry Redknapp's eye at QPR. At only 20, he is clearly ready for the step up.

Ian Lawlor (Manchester City)

City's third-choice goalkeeper, Lawlor will evidently have to leave Eastlands to get his break. Yet time is on his side. Still a teenager, the physicality he already brings to his game will improve with age. Dominates his penalty area and shows fine reflexes.

Jeff Hendrick (Derby County)

A midfielder who has already won four senior caps, Hendrick has been linked with moves to Aston Villa and West Brom. An ankle injury interrupted his season but he has since broken back into a Derby side who are gearing up for a Championship promotion push and is one game away from a century of appearances for the Rams.

Richie Towell (Dundalk)

The idea of a League of Ireland player acting as a national saviour may seem ridiculous to some but it is worth remembering where Seamus Coleman was earning a living in 2008. And before Coleman there was Kevin Doyle. And before Doyle, Roy Keane. Is Towell in the same class? It's unfair on the midfielder to say he is. But as a wild-card option, he is worth keeping an eye on.

Irish Independent