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Blue In The Face . . . with Brian McDonnell



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Published Date: 13 August 2008
AFTER a few pints down his local David Shalko happened across the right idea. In reaction to the Austrian goal-scoring legend Toni Polster describing the national side as the 'worst team' in Euro 2008 Shalko, a filmmaker, decided to piece together a spoof documentary, The Miracle of Vienna, which depicted his beloved Austria lifting the Henri Delaunay trophy.
The mockumentary was set four weeks after the triumph and featured players, managers and pundits reflecting on a series of unlikely victories including a quarter-final win over Switzerland, a tense one-nil defeat of Germany in the semis and then an emphatic thrashing of the Dutch in the final.
You could see such a concept appealing to Drogheda's Australian midfielder Adam Hughes.
Poor old Adam missed a sitter in the last minute against Dynamo Kiev in the Valeri Lobanovsky Stadium which would have presented Drogheda with a place in the third round of the Champions League qualifiers against Spartak Moscow - given that the Spartak players are smack bang in the middle of their close-season the threat posed by the Russians might not have proven all that insurmountable; victory over Spartak would have propelled Drogheda into the Champions League group stages.
The 26-year-old was presented with an open goal when Ibrahima Iyane Thiam unsettled the Ukrainian keeper Taras Lutrenko and the ball dropped to Hughes who managed to scoop his effort over the bar. The enormity of what Hughes had done hit him with the subtlety of a sledgehammer: he had missed his chance to edge Drogheda 3-2 ahead and claim a famous away goals victory (the first leg finished 1-2 in Dalymount Park).
It's a terrible pity that Drogheda didn't work that oracle. Next season the number of clubs permitted to qualify for the group stages of the Champions League will be even smaller and with the Eircom League ranked 35th (the Moldovan league is ranked 34th) of the 53 leagues eligible to take part in the competition it is going to become progressively more difficult to make a breakthrough.

Needed some good news
God knows we needed some good news. With so many League of Ireland clubs in financial difficulty and even the league sponsor, Eircom, suggesting that they will not renew their relationship with the FAI at the end of this season the future looks a little dodgy.
At the association's AGM in Castlebar (July 26) the great and the good argued that the FAI was in rude good health, but the fact that the proposed All-Ireland League and financial difficulties that several clubs now find themselves facing did not make its way onto the AGM agenda is a little worrying. Surely the grave concerns of the clubs were worth airing at the national association's annual get together?
The FAI believes that all the problems with the clubs will be sorted out by 2012 when the clubs participation agreement with the national association comes to a close.
The FAI, as part of its licensing structure, insists that clubs are restricted to spending no more than 65 per cent of their income on player wages. However it was interesting to note the reaction to Karl-Heinz Rummenigge's, the chairman of the executive board at Bayern Munich and head of the European Club Association, recommendation that wages should not exceed 55 per cent of turnover.
The detractors were quick to slam the idea. The counter-argument goes that such a structure would not affect big clubs like Bayern since they operate with wages substantially less than half of their colossal turnover. But any team looking to break into the elite would never be permitted to do so e.g. Chelsea's wage bill is currently 70 per cent of their turnover. In time, if Chelsea succeed their books will balance, but restricting their spending essentially means that no one could gate crash the elite party.
The FAI have dressed up club licensing as a moral crusade, but could their worthwhile intention to protect clubs from financial disaster essentially destroy the league entirely with Bohs, St. Pat's, Drogheda and Cork City dominating proceedings indefinitely?
We could then see clubs like Cobh Ramblers opting to withdraw from the league altogether.
Oh wait that's already happening isn't it?

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  • Last Updated: 13 August 2008 11:34 AM
  • Source: n/a
  • Location: Limerick
 
 
  

 
 


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