Ireland’s dismal decade: Can ‘The Boys in Green’ get back on track after growing tournament drought?

Heimir Hallgrimsson was officially presented to the press as the new manager of Ireland’s men’s team on July 11. Before he’d even had a chance to speak, though, Football Association of Ireland (FAI) interim chief-executive David Courell had to address the unfortunate timing of what was a celebratory news conference.

After a painfully protracted process, Ireland had finally found a new permanent coach – the sense of relief was palpable – but Hallgrimsson’s unveiling arrived just days after the FAI had apologised to female footballers who claimed to have been sexually harassed and coerced by two former national team coaches during the 1990s, and that needed to be acknowledged.

Courell also had to intervene after Hallgrimsson had been understandably caught off guard by a request for his response to comments made by former Ireland star and assistant coach Damien Duff, who said that he would “raze” the FAI’s headquarters at Abbotstown “to the ground” and “probably sack 90 percent of the workforce” because he believed that the organisation required a complete overhaul.

As first days go, it was really quite something. But it felt fitting – and necessary. Hallgrimsson had been given an immediate insight into the enormity of the task ahead of him as he attempts to revive the Republic of Ireland after decades of decline caused by incompetence on a colossal scale.

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  ‘Fail to prepare, prepare to fail’

  The gross mismanagement of Irish football has been evident for decades. Even when they were qualifying for major tournaments, the set-up was a shambles.

  Roy Keane’s dramatic decision to walk out on the national team before the 2022 World Cup is usually attributed to a personal clash of epic proportions with manager Mick McCarthy (a movie is currently being made about the most infamous incident in Irish sporting history and will star Steve Coogan), but it was really rooted in the amateurish way in which the FAI was run – and had been run for many, many years.

  As captain of Manchester United, Keane was accustomed to preparing for each and every game in the most professional manner possible. His motto was “Fail to prepare, prepare to fail”, while the FAI were routinely mocked on Irish TV and radio for being unable to “organise a p*ss-up in a brewery”.

  An independent enquiry into ‘Saipan’ exposed many of the FAI’s fundamental flaws, but while Keane eventually returned to the international fold after McCarthy’s exit, little changed behind the scenes.

  Indeed, Saipan effectively provided the launchpad for John Delaney’s ascent to power, propelling him from an Honorary Treasurer treated with serious suspicion to the FAI’s undisputed ruler, a CEO that was allowed to treat Irish football as his personal fiefdom for 15 years.

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    The name’s Delaney, John Delaney

    Delaney’s spell at the helm of the FAI, between 2004 and 2019, was a tale of shocking excess and staggering malpractice, perhaps best illustrated by the opening chapter of the book ‘Champagne Football’, which reveals that €30,000 (£25,000/$33,000) of the organisation’s money went towards paying for the then-CEO’s lavish, James Bond-themed 50th birthday party.

    Shortly after Delaney was finally forced to step down, the FAI published revised accounts that revealed what then-Oireachtas (the Irish parliament) committee chair Fergus O’Dowd called a “financial black hole” caused by years of utterly bizarre corporate practices, missing records and shambolic governance. The FAI’s liabilities were more than double (€55m) the previous stated figure (€21m).

    The full figures were shocking and rightly enraged everyone within the Irish game, particularly those working at grassroots level. Governmental funding was even suspended, and while it was eventually restored, what little faith remained in the FAI had been shattered, meaning securing more much-needed investment in the already under-funded youth sector had just become even more difficult.

    As Stephen McGuinness, the general secretary of the Professional Footballers’ Association of Ireland (PFAI), told reporters in 2019, “A generation of players are going to feel the pain for what’s gone on here… The mismanagement has led a generation of players, now and in the next 10 years, to pay for this.” Those words have proven sadly prophetic.

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      ‘Lack of Irish players at the top level’

      When Ireland hosted England in Dublin in February 1995, the Boys in Green were ninth in the FIFA world rankings, their visitors 18th. Ahead of Saturday’s clash at the Aviva Stadium, Ireland have slumped to 58th, while the Three Lions have risen to fourth on the back of their run to the final of Euro 2024.

      Consequently, while England have arrived in Dublin without the likes of Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden and Cole Palmer through injury, Lee Carsley will still be supremely confident of getting his interim reign off to a winning start, given the obvious gulf in class between the two teams. Indeed, according to Transfermarkt, England’s squad is worth just under €1.2 billion (£1bn/$1.3bn) – and Ireland’s only €180m (£150m/$200m).

      During a recent episode of ‘Stick to Football’, Gary Neville asked Keane about Ireland’s decline, pointing out that 20 years ago Ireland were able to call upon Premier League stars such as Shay Given, Duff and Robbie Keane – and his former United team-mate agreed that “the lack of players playing at the top level” was a “real problem”.

      “Too many Irish players now play in the Championship – or certainly not in the top end of the Premier League,” Keane said. “And when you’re playing week-in and week-out in the Championship then it’s very, very difficult to turn it on for the international team. It’s been sad to see but there’s not enough players at those giant clubs that always had an Irish connection.”

      The question, though, is why?

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      Ferguson the exception

      For an awfully long time, Irish football essentially relied on England to turn its promising players into professionals. Potential stars were scouted by top-flight teams while still in their early-to-mid teenage years, and many immediately moved to England. Some made it, some did not.

      But the point is that they were given access to facilities and a level of coaching that simply didn’t exist in Ireland, and still don’t, which is the major issue – because Premier League clubs are no longer picking up as many Irish players. Or, to put it more accurately, not as many are making the breakthrough at senior level because of their far greater competition for places at underage level.

      Over the past 10 years in particular, the Premier League has become a financial monster, fuelled by gargantuan TV rights deals. Consequently, its members have more and more money to invest in the recruitment of young players. The net is now cast much wider than it once was, meaning Premier League youth sectors are packed with top talents from all over the world, whereas once they were predominantly made up of English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish players.

      Talent can still rise to the top, of course. Evan Ferguson progressed from the League of Ireland (LOI) to the Premier League, but it’s worth remembering that he was 14 when he made his professional debut for Bohemians and had already joined Brighton by the time he’d turned 16.

      He still conformed to the old model in that his skills were developed in Ireland but refined in England. What’s more, not every young Irish footballer is as freakishly gifted as Ferguson and those that fail in England face a very uncertain future because they often end up returning to a sub-standard set-up back home.

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        ‘The difficult child’

        If Ireland were in possession of a well-organised and well-funded domestic league, it would be perfectly placed to take advantage of the fact that fewer promising players are being snapped up by elite English clubs. However, the League of Ireland has never been well supported by the FAI, with Delaney infamously labelling it the association’s “difficult child”.

        It must also be pointed out, however, that the LOI has also been let down by the government, which prefers to pump far more money into ‘sports’ like horse racing and greyhound racing, and the vast majority of Irish football fans, who would rather pay expensive subscriptions to watch Premier League teams on TV every week or even spend huge amounts of money on flights, accommodation and tickets to travel over to England to see them play live, than support their local side.

        LOI attendances have risen since the pandemic but empty seats remain a common sight in dilapidated grounds, making the local league an unattractive product for TV, as so shamefully underlined by the fact that the night after the meaningless UEFA Super Cup clash between Real Madrid and Atalanta had been shown on state broadcaster RTE, there was no live coverage of Shamrock Rovers’ historic Europa League win over Celje, which guaranteed the Irish champions a place in this season’s Conference League.

        It just begs the question: what might Ireland and its clubs achieve if it had proper support?

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        Hope with Hallgrimsson?

        Of course, Hallgrimsson is well aware of the importance of proper infrastructure. The former Iceland boss knows exactly what is required for a nation with a small population to compete in the international arena. Success is simply not attainable without top-notch facilities and full-time coaches at underage level, and the hope is that his arrival signals a drastic change of approach within Irish football.

        However, Hallgrimsson also faces the unenviable task of trying to achieve immediate results with a squad containing eight Championship players and only four men who could be considered certain starters for Premier League clubs.

        The pressure is very much off against England, then. Victory is unthinkable for a team that has won just two competitive games in the past two years (both against Gibraltar!), but the hope is that fans might see some small early signs of an end to Ireland’s descent into mediocrity; that they might just have a chance of qualifying for the World Cup for the first time since 2002.

        There are also some signs that things might soon improve at under-age level. Brexit has already resulted in more and more Irish youngsters being picked up by continental clubs, while the Under-21s are proving increasingly competitive (there were eight former LOI players in the starting line-up for Friday night’s crucial European Championship qualifying win in Turkey).

        However, the FAI remains the determining factor in a brighter future for Irish football. This may well be a time of great change within the national team, but it’s the same sad story at boardroom level. Just four months ago, Jonathan Hill, the FAI’s first permanent chief executive since Delaney, resigned in disgrace because of a financial scandal centred on holiday pay.

        So, the Irish game remains shrouded in scepticism. A new era is beginning, but will it be any different to the old regime? As Duff said ahead of Hallgrimsson’s unveiling, “I would like to think that the association is in a wonderful, wonderful place now with regard to everything – football, finances and safeguarding – but here, there is always doubt when it comes to the FAI…”