League of Ireland 2015 quick preview The Northern Clubs

   There are 12 Premier clubs fighting for the glory of the Championship of the League of Ireland. Here is a quick look at the 12 clubs broken into my 3 geographical areas. The Dublin Area, the Northern clubs and the Southern Clubs.  I am listing them as where I think they will place at the end of year.

The Northern Clubs			Capacity	Avg attendance (2014)
1	Dundalk F.C	Oriel Park	4,500	2,534
2	Sligo Rovers FC	Showgrounds	5,500	2,087
3	Derry F.C.	Brandywell	7,700	1,298
4	Drogheda United	United Park	2,000	1,023

        

                League of Ireland 2015 –a quick view of the Northern Clubs

                Well we have the defending Champions of 2014 Dundalk. This was Dundalk’s 10^th Championship. They are one of only 4 clubs that can put a gold star -to represent 10 Championship’s after their name.  The other 3 clubs reside in the Dublin area. The Lillywhites will again be led by the 23 year old Richie Towell. He was the catalyst in the middle...pictured below. Dundalk has a young team and management spent the biggest budget of any club. Since they will be playing internationally this summer and collecting participation money (about 120,000) I again see Dundalk opening their purse strings and challenging for another title.

Richie Towell will be back in 2015.

Sligo Rovers won the league as recently as 2012. Sligo has also won the FAI Cup 2010, 2011 and 2013. Sligo has had the added bonus of the international prize money to support the club the last 4 years. This year will be different. Sligo missed out on the very desirable international play, so will not have the money from that participation. Sligo Rovers are spending big on their continued development of the Showgrounds. They are owner by their supporters and incorporate their entire community. They have built their stadium one stand at a time. Their stadium is installing a state of the art full weather pitch, and all grass pitch and 2 5 vs 5 playing surfaces within the Showgrounds facility. The total cost is close to 500,000 Euro's.

Derry City is the only club from Northern Ireland. They play in Brandywell Stadium and which was recently granted 5M in funding from the government. (Northern Ireland).  The money will revamp the entire stadium which will be something every supporter will look forward to. Derry has been in 2 of the last 3 FAI Cups. Winning one of them. The candy stripers will be looking for success and their new stadium.

Drogheda United does not have a long history of success however their success is most recent. In the 2007 season the Drog’s won the trifecta….winning the League of Ireland, the FAI Cup and the Setanta Cup. These Northern Clubs add great competition to the League.

League of Ireland Preview 2015 -A quick look The 4 Dublin area clubs

The League of Ireland 2015 season

            There are 12 Premier clubs fighting for the glory of the Championship of the League of Ireland. Here is a quick look at the 12 clubs broken into my 3 geographical areas. The Dublin Area, the Northern clubs and the Southern Clubs.  I am listing them as where I think they will place at the end of year.

The Dublin Area			Capacity	Attendance (2014)
1	Shamrock Rovers	Tallaght Stadium	6,000	2,319
2	St. Patrick’s Athletic	Richmond Park	5,340	1,359
3	Bohemians F.C.	Dalymount Park	3,191	1,480
4	Bray Wanders	Carlisle Grounds	7,000	855

            The Dublin Clubs

 These are the most famous clubs since they been around longer and have more Championships than the other areas. I will not be including Shelbourne only because they will be playing in the First Division.       
                                                                          

The Shamrock Rovers play in the newest stadium in Southern Dublin, Tallaght. They have the most Championships (17)and the most FAI Cups with an astonishing 24 Cup titles. They usually place 1 or 2 with attendance since their new stadium has been built in 2009. They are the only club to advance to the group stage of the 2011-12 Europa League. This made the hoops a big pay day and great exposure to the league.  The hoops are looking for more success with in the league and on the international stage. Advancing brings badly needed money to the clubs. The Shamrock Rovers are always a threat to win the League, the FAI Cup, the Setanta Cup and tghe EA Sports Cup. They can and will always have one of the top budgets in the league. 

The Saints Finally winning the FAI Cup!

St. Patrick’s Athletic (The Saints) can play without that chip on their shoulder which was the FAI CUP voo-doo. The Saints finally won the FAI Cup after 53 years. They boast of 8 LOI Championships and  will again represent the League in international play this summer. They have played in the international tournaments for the last 4 years....this will be their 5th consecutive international invite......gyfThis should be a fun year for the Saints faithful.  Their attendance is about the leagues average. Their fans light flares in the stands and they are always a threat to win everything.

Bohemians FC are the oldest club in the league and can claim 11 LOI Championships. Unfortunately they are trying to get out of financial difficulties and do not have the budget of the other clubs. They will again struggle with younger players however they will again have a strong fan support at the famous Dalymount Park. Their is chatter from the FAI to referbish Dalymount.

The Saints Finally winning the FAI Cup!

 Bray Wanders are located in Bray which is just 40 minutes south of Bohemians's Dalymount Park.  They were just taken over by the Royal hotel. Their players were told they can use all the Royal hotel rooms and facilities on away trips. This will boost the spirit of all the Seagull players.

League of Ireland Budgets (2014) estimate

        The League of Ireland does not have full time players. The clubs can only pay their players a weekly salary then lay them off at the end of the year. This way the player can collect another pay check or try to collect unemployment . This is bad for the league since there is a huge turn over year to year.


Another problem are  the league budgets that are very unfair. The top 4 clubs budgets are twice as much as the bottom 4. This gives the richer clubs a huge advantage. Since the top 3 clubs can get more players or better players.  The top clubs will also get international (Champions League and Europa League) invitations and get badly needed money. (120,000) at a minimum.

I think that the international money should be distributed not to the club but to the entire league. The present arrangement in all leagues is that the same top clubs get this extra money year after year. The league does not grow but only a few teams get rich.


The League of Ireland Budgets

Well I have a proposal to try to make the league grow in interest and attendance. First there should be a distribution of the international money that the clubs get from playing in these leagues. The money should be rewarded to the clubs based on attendance in a sliding scale. The clubs that bring in the biggest crowds get rewarded with more money. We want to reward the clubs that have interested fans but still give money to the clubs that need to make their club grow.


Shamrock Rovers and Cork City are two of the clubs that have tremendous fans support. We need these clubs and fans to do well and reward then for their support. they would get money of the international money than UCD and the lower attended clubs.

What do you think of this "distribution idea"

I am only trying to help the entire league and make it grow.