Irish football is clearly in a state of decline
Such is the view of Robert Redmond in a piece well worth reading in the Guardian.
Back in the 1980s and early 90s, Irish players were common among England's elite clubs and formed the bulwark of the Liverpool side of the 80s. Now, Ireland sit close to 70th in the world rankings and have only one player in this Champions League, and he's based in Cyprus
Redmond glosses over the argument that Ireland spreads itself too thinly across four different field sports and dwells on the increased difficulty of breaking into the English club game and the inadequacy of coaching structures in Ireland.
He spells it our bluntly;
The current situation facing Irish football is either to improve the exported product or focus on being self-sufficent by developing a viable outlet for talent to thrive at home.
Ultimately, Redmond pins the blame on the lack of qualified coaches in Ireland (also a problem although they appear to be further down the road of grappling with it) relative to the continent, and the bad habits that are inculcated in players as a result.
He also has a swipe at the FAI, John Delaney and, this being the Guardian, Ireland's 'years of neo-liberalist subjugation and mismanagement.'
Read the piece here.
