Declan Devine is a risky appointment by Bohemians at a time when the club needs to kick on.
I’ve worked on TV games with Declan and he’s a great fella. He won an FAI Cup with Derry City and, to be fair, I felt they were going quite well under him during his second stint.
For whatever reason, it just didn’t work out and Ruaidhri Higgins swooped in and, backed financially, has revived the club. But Bohs are a different beast and Devine has a hell of a job on his hands.
To me, this appointment suggests that Bohemians want a manager who will just pick up where Keith Long left off. But I’d have thought Bohs might have wanted to move into a space where they will be competitive for trophies.
The Gypsies are going full-time next season and training in the morning. Fans will expect them to be extremely competitive and that means one thing - lifting trophies.
After their European run last summer and getting to an FAI Cup final, you’d have expected that Bohs were the club to join but it hasn’t worked out that way.
We heard all the names linked with the job ahead of Devine and for whatever reason they didn’t materialise. Again, I’d have thought there would be bigger names in the hat for this job and I can’t escape the feeling that Bohs aren’t ready to drive on.
Michael O’Neill wanted Shamrock Rovers to go to the next level in 2012 but the club said no and they parted company.
Rovers will argue it was a good decision because of where they are now, but I’d counter argue they could have been in that situation six years ago. And if so, where would they be today?
Does appointing Devine represent a lack of ambition? To be honest, I don’t know what that means any more.
Outside of Shamrock Rovers I don’t see the ambition this league needs to jump forward as we’re centuries behind other European nations. Derry have the potential to show it, but are not there yet.
Everyone points to the great crowds and there’s an attitude of ‘job done, isn’t it great’ but they’ll fall off a cliff unless the league is competitive.
Thankfully, we’ve belatedly got a title race but the three tiers of clubs in our league was highlighted again this season. We’ve those who want to win the league and have a right crack at Europe and Rovers are the only team in that space.
Then there’s the cohort who just want to qualify for Europe and know fourth place might be enough. But if you target fourth, you’ll finish fourth - or below.
Those clubs are in no man's land, not really pushing to win a title but are good enough to hang around in the shadows. And the rest just want to survive, which is the single biggest reason why the league is not competitive.
Bohs are in that middle bracket and next season they will probably hope to snatch fourth or go on a cup run. But Devine is going to find out pretty quickly that the fans want more than that having been stuck in precisely that space for long enough.
Juggling yes, but struggling?
Shamrock Rovers looked bunched and the finishing line cannot come quick enough.
But juggling a title push with high-level European football is a demanding business that most of their rivals haven’t a clue about.
Rovers are getting flak for not being competitive in their European group but it’s a difficult thing to manage. Unless you’re accustomed to doing it year on year, it’s going to take its toll.
There’s a lot more at play here than just pointing the finger and saying ‘Rovers have an ageing squad’.
Until you’re in that position of juggling a title tilt with European demands - and I was with Shels - you’ve no idea how mentally draining it is. And that’s part of our problem.
It’s an ongoing vicious circle in this league that a team in group stage football isn’t prepared because of the sub standard competition they face on a weekly basis here.
Showcasing games must take centre stage
I’m disappointed that a League of Ireland XI won’t get to play a Premier League club in the Aviva, as had been floated this week.
I realise there are plenty who think those games are Mickey Mouse and couldn’t stomach seeing Irish Premier League fans packing out the ground. But it’s an opportunity to showcase our players.
And if it’s possible that money generated could be funnelled back into our clubs and the development of the league - rather than lining someone’s pocket - even better.
At the risk of repeating myself, we need to use Aviva Stadium more to showcase the League of Ireland as one day out at the FAI Cup final isn’t enough.
Pick one weekend in the calendar and stage a Friday night league game at the Aviva and then double-headers on Saturday and Sunday and promote the life out of it.
No ordinary Joe
I’m thrilled to see Shels in the Cup final and thrilled for people behind the scenes like Joe Casey.
Guys like Joe deserve medals. For the best part of 15 years he has done everything at that club to stop it from drowning. He was holding a bucket and horsing water out of the boat to stop the place from going under.
Shels are in calmer waters now because of him and others, but it’s not enough to just get to the cup final. Shels need to go and win it and prove they are back.
Caught in a storm
The state of my good pals Alan Cawley and Richie Sadlier at the FAI Cup semi-final last weekend. They were like Mary Poppins with their umbrellas turning inside out as we went through our match analysis on RTE.
Plus, what sort of idiots were suede shoes in a storm? My umbrella never budged. Why? Because I’m not an attention seeker.
