Got 2 LOI (LoveOurIrishness)
The sacking of Pat Fenlon has stirred up a debate within the League of Ireland. However, my question is why were the Shamrock Rovers club so upset to lose to a Finnish side. The Finnish league are four places above our own league. The RoPS club which were second in their league have nine foreign nationals in their side. The club that won the league have seven and the club that came third have eleven.
It is clear that if League of Ireland clubs want to progress they have to invest in foreign players outside of bringing in some British players. No one wants to see whole teams of foreign players but five or six good foreign players a side would help the likes of Shamrock Rovers, Cork City and Dundalk to progress in Europe.
A lot of those foreign players in the Finnish sides were African and we all remember what Joseph N’Do brought to the league. Irish soccer might not have big budgets for scouting systems but do have links to African football. Johnny McKinstry has managed Sierra Leone and now manages Rwanda. Sean Connor managed a Zimbabwean club side. Maybe the biggest club sides have already exhausted all possibilities regarding these options or maybe not. That is a question I would like to know.
If they have what were the problems and if not, why not.