Home thoughts from abroad

Whatever way you look at it, the National League has got itself into a right mess over the past few months.

First there was the Marney affair, which saw St. Pat’s being docked nine points for playing a player who wasn’t registered – only to have the penalty withdrawn after months of bickering. Now they’ve had fifteen points docked for playing Charles Mbabazi Livingstone before he was registered for five games at the start of the season – handing Shelbourne the title. It’s been an undignified saga, from start to finish.

Shelbourne obviously think they have a genuine grievance, but all this rowing about players’ registrations, and going to court to have points docked off the opposition, is another example of Irish football shooting itself in the foot.

I know exactly what the British media are going to say – “Look at the stupid Paddies and their Mickey Mouse league.” Besides everything else, what sort of message does it send out to the Sky Sports’ schedulers, who are wondering how much of our new summer league they’re going to cover?

Not only that, but if I was the Irish minister giving out sporting grants, I’d be thinking, “Jesus, are they the best people to give the money to?” Instead of washing their dirty linen in public, the different boards should’ve got together and worked out a compromise.

The fact is that there’s a huge amount of potential in the league right now. For starters, having the season run from March to October is an excellent idea. The first benefit is that for two or three months there’ll be no competition from televised games cross-channel, which should boost the crowds somewhat, and improve the earnings from television.

From the players’ perspective, you’ll have the benefit of the temperature generally being above freezing. Going down with hypothermia takes the shine off even the best game of football!

I haven’t been at an Eircom League game for a while, but I caught Bohemians and Shamrock Rovers recently on the TV, and the standard was fantastic. We tend to look upon ourselves as the poor relation but, seriously, I’ve seen First Division Nationwide matches that are of a far lower standard. There were half-a-dozen Bohs and Rovers players, at the very least, who could walk into a Norwich City or Wigan Athletic. Which is why you get scouts at places like Dalymount week in, week out.

Ideally the domestic game would be developed to the point where, instead of going off to England, our talented youngsters serve their apprenticeship here. As I’ve said before in hotpress, 14 or 15 is too young for a lad to be leaving his friends and family behind, and living in digs.

You need people of vision to turn things around, which is where the likes of Pat Dolan come in. He’s really hammered home where he wants St. Patrick’s Athletic to go, and generally put the club on the map. Another dozen of him and there’s no telling what could be achieved.

I was nominally a Shamrock Rovers fan as a kid – the name had a lovely ring to it! – but having started my professional career there, it’s the Pat’s’ results I look for first. It was a wonderful place for a raw youngster, like I was, to learn his trade. The man who brought me there, Charlie Walker, the goalkeeper Dave Henderson and the centre-back, Joe Malone, were by far the biggest influences on my career.

When I eventually went to centre-back myself, they were the ones who told me what to do – and who kept my feet on the ground when my name appeared in the paper. Even if it was on the back of some country rag, I’d look at it and go, “Oh my God, I’m a superstar!”

I actually had arguments with the likes of Norman Whiteside at Man U – we’d get into a session and I’d start going on about how Dave Henderson, Joey Malone and Fran Gavin would walk into a First Division team. I still believe today that if the right scout had spotted them at the right time, they’d have been alongside me at Old Trafford or Villa Park.

Believe it or not, one of the best games I ever played in was away in the league to Athlone. I remember doing something that involved keeping the ball up as I was running, and thinking to myself, “This is so much fun.” It was like being in a circus!

Jonathan O’Brien has a bit more to say on the subject in Foul Play but I still think that United can do it in the Champions League. People are saying that meeting Deportivo La Coruna again is a disaster, but Alex and the lads will relish the chance of getting their revenge against the Spaniards. My only fear is that the defence will have one of their off days. Even against West Ham, when they were awesome upfront, they conceded three very soft goals. If they get themselves organised at the back, I honestly believe they can go on to win the competition.

For that to happen, I think they’ll have to beat Liverpool in the semi-final. I wasn’t sure that it was wise for Gerard Houlier to make his come-back in such a highly charged atmosphere, but him being there contributed to one of those magical Anfield nights and a convincing victory against a very, very good Roma side. The only disappointment is that Arsenal aren’t slugging it out with them in the quarter-finals. It’s one of the great footballing mysteries that they’re so outstanding in the Premiership and so inconsistent in Europe.

Finally, I’ve been asked to adjudicate on a difference of opinion that’s almost brought Stuart Clark and Liam Mackey to blows this week. Whose was the better goal – Pires’ for Arsenal against Villa, or Beckham’s for United at West Ham? They were both superb but, sorry Liam, I’m going to go for Pires. Firstly because he made a complete mug out of George Boetang, who’s a class defender, and secondly because he had the audacity to lob Peter Schmeichal from close range.

No wonder the Frenchman is being tipped for ‘Player of the Year’.