blues six glens nil
13-04-08, 09:00 PM
JANUARY 2008
So, Howard Wells decides to hijack the press conference announcing the renewal of a contract of Nigel Worthington, to persue his own agenda, namely the whole stadium fiasco.
He's decided to try and blackmail the Northern Ireland public by comparing the opponents of Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland, who are both at home on February 6th. Northern Ireland play Bulgaria whilst the Republic get to play Brazil. However, Wells announces to the media that it could have been Argentina lining up to face Northern Ireland and not Bulgaria.
If I was the manager of Bulgaria, I would be pinning that up in the away dressing room as motivation. Not good enough for Northern Ireland, we'll show them. Not only is it disrespectful to Bulgaria, it is disrespectful to the Northern Ireland footballing public, implying that they are easily seduced by opposition players they see on TV. If Argentina won't charge an affordable rate for potential friendly opponents, stuff them. Friendly games are about experimenting and getting the team prepared for competitive games, in Northern Ireland's case, the trip to Slovakia in September.
Wells then talks about the sob story about how if Northern Ireland had a 27,000+ stadium, they could afford to get the likes of Argentina. This brings up two points :
1. If people are only turning up because the opposition have famous players, are they the type of supporter the IFA should be trying to attract?
2. Surely any profits from internationals should be ploughed back into the domestic club game in Northern Ireland, as opposed to making sure that Heinze, Messi, Mascherano, etc get a nice match fee and a stay in a 5 star hotel in Holywood?
It has been argued that Northern Ireland's improved performances on the pitch have seen their reputation rise where the likes of Argentina are willing to come to Belfast. What rubbish. The likes of Argentina, Brazil, Germany, France, Spain, Holland, Italy, England, etc will play anyone anywhere as long as the money is right. If I put up £1m, Brazil would play a friendly at the Ormeau Park against a team made up of me and the first 10 people I could find.
The case given that the reason Brazil are playing the Republic is because of their fantastic stadium. The stadium, Croke Park, is only being used as Lansdowne Road is unavailable. Not to forget that the decision is not unanimously supported by the GAA, who own the stadium. Delve into the archives and you will find that, in the pre Jack Charlton days, the Republic used to play internationals at League of Ireland grounds, including matches against many of the so-called "major nations"
Wether by accident or design, interest in the national team has reached levels not seen since the peak of the Billy Bingham era. The IFA should be concentrating on cashing in on this at all levels. There are 14,000 people at an international at Windsor Park on a Wednesday night, yet most of them are nowhere near an Irish League ground the following Saturday. The IFA should be looking to get these people to attend more than just internationals.
The announcement of the manager getting a new contract should be should be a PR opportunity to generate excitement over the forthcoming World Cup Qualifiers, instead, the papers were dominated by Howard Wells and his agenda.
The friendlies against Bulgaria and Georgia should be seen as an opportunity for the manager to experiment with tactics and personnel to make sure that Northern Ireland are ready by the time of the Slovakia game. Instead, the media will be dominated by who aren't playing against Northern Ireland, fed by one man's agenda.
If the 'Green and White Army' only care about watching their team play exhibition matches against high profile opponents whose star players will be half-hearted and eventually substituted at half-time at the request of their club managers for fear of getting injured, then quite frankly, they don't deserve to have a team in the World Cup Finals.
This could be the start of something special for football in Northern Ireland, but the IFA's lack of basic PR awareness seem to ensure that, once again, the talk of the football media will be non-football issues.
So, Howard Wells decides to hijack the press conference announcing the renewal of a contract of Nigel Worthington, to persue his own agenda, namely the whole stadium fiasco.
He's decided to try and blackmail the Northern Ireland public by comparing the opponents of Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland, who are both at home on February 6th. Northern Ireland play Bulgaria whilst the Republic get to play Brazil. However, Wells announces to the media that it could have been Argentina lining up to face Northern Ireland and not Bulgaria.
If I was the manager of Bulgaria, I would be pinning that up in the away dressing room as motivation. Not good enough for Northern Ireland, we'll show them. Not only is it disrespectful to Bulgaria, it is disrespectful to the Northern Ireland footballing public, implying that they are easily seduced by opposition players they see on TV. If Argentina won't charge an affordable rate for potential friendly opponents, stuff them. Friendly games are about experimenting and getting the team prepared for competitive games, in Northern Ireland's case, the trip to Slovakia in September.
Wells then talks about the sob story about how if Northern Ireland had a 27,000+ stadium, they could afford to get the likes of Argentina. This brings up two points :
1. If people are only turning up because the opposition have famous players, are they the type of supporter the IFA should be trying to attract?
2. Surely any profits from internationals should be ploughed back into the domestic club game in Northern Ireland, as opposed to making sure that Heinze, Messi, Mascherano, etc get a nice match fee and a stay in a 5 star hotel in Holywood?
It has been argued that Northern Ireland's improved performances on the pitch have seen their reputation rise where the likes of Argentina are willing to come to Belfast. What rubbish. The likes of Argentina, Brazil, Germany, France, Spain, Holland, Italy, England, etc will play anyone anywhere as long as the money is right. If I put up £1m, Brazil would play a friendly at the Ormeau Park against a team made up of me and the first 10 people I could find.
The case given that the reason Brazil are playing the Republic is because of their fantastic stadium. The stadium, Croke Park, is only being used as Lansdowne Road is unavailable. Not to forget that the decision is not unanimously supported by the GAA, who own the stadium. Delve into the archives and you will find that, in the pre Jack Charlton days, the Republic used to play internationals at League of Ireland grounds, including matches against many of the so-called "major nations"
Wether by accident or design, interest in the national team has reached levels not seen since the peak of the Billy Bingham era. The IFA should be concentrating on cashing in on this at all levels. There are 14,000 people at an international at Windsor Park on a Wednesday night, yet most of them are nowhere near an Irish League ground the following Saturday. The IFA should be looking to get these people to attend more than just internationals.
The announcement of the manager getting a new contract should be should be a PR opportunity to generate excitement over the forthcoming World Cup Qualifiers, instead, the papers were dominated by Howard Wells and his agenda.
The friendlies against Bulgaria and Georgia should be seen as an opportunity for the manager to experiment with tactics and personnel to make sure that Northern Ireland are ready by the time of the Slovakia game. Instead, the media will be dominated by who aren't playing against Northern Ireland, fed by one man's agenda.
If the 'Green and White Army' only care about watching their team play exhibition matches against high profile opponents whose star players will be half-hearted and eventually substituted at half-time at the request of their club managers for fear of getting injured, then quite frankly, they don't deserve to have a team in the World Cup Finals.
This could be the start of something special for football in Northern Ireland, but the IFA's lack of basic PR awareness seem to ensure that, once again, the talk of the football media will be non-football issues.