The best brand of football is winning
Credit:
Before I start, let me say that this is in no means a retaliation to Conan’s article this week. I
understand completely and agree to an extent with what he was trying to express in his column this
week. In order to attract ‘new’, and let me emphasize ‘new’ fans to come out and watch League
of Ireland games, the football on show needs to be entertaining in order to gauge their initial
interest. This will in turn perhaps make them want to watch another match and hopefully continue
thereafter.
I also understand his comments about the wealth of talent at Shamrock Rovers disposal and at times they may not utilise that fully. However, this is where we possibly differ; in my opinion, and that’s the beauty of football (everyone has and is entitled to their own opinion), football is about winning! No matter how you do it, winning is the most important thing. Even if you may have the players to play attractive football, as long as the results are positive, that’s all that matters. If people have different opinions, I would be interested to hear.
I would love to get feedback here from supporters but in my opinion, it is better to win games ugly than lose games playing beautiful football. What would a supporter prefer, to see their team win a league playing football that is at times not the prettiest to watch or play lovely football, be a joy to watch but never win a league?
I remember when I was at Drogheda the year we won the league in 2007. We had a huge squad full of top League of Ireland talent. The same comments were thrown at us week in week out about our style of football. People were saying that with the team we had we should be not only walking the league, but be playing attractive exciting football at the same time. At times, we played some lovely football but the main thing was to win every game no matter what and come the end of season when we were crowned champions, that’s all that mattered. No one remembers how you won the league; it doesn’t say 2007 league champions who played unattractive football at times. No, it simply says Champions, winners, and that’s all that matters.
Funnily enough, I was going to write an article last year on the positives and negatives of playing nice lovely yet ineffective football as I felt at Sporting Fingal last year, the football on show was a joy to watch without being too effective. However, as I was still at Fingal at the time, I felt it was best to not comment in case I got into a bit of trouble. My basic argument was that it’s all well and good playing eye catching football but football is a results business. At Fingal, I felt that we were playing the best football in the league along with Sligo Rovers but it was not us who was challenging for the league. And to be honest, I don’t think we would ever have challenged properly for the league as we weren’t effective enough in our style of play. We were kind of similar to Arsenal in the Premiership in so far as they play lovely football, better than Chelsea and Man United but yet they fail to win the league year upon year.
We would all love to play the kind of football that Barcelona play but let’s be realistic, we are playing in Ireland not Spain. Don’t get me wrong now, I encourage football on the ground and admire attempts to play the beautiful game the way it should. We have some very, very talented players here in Ireland who love playing football on the ground, none more so than Ronan Finn at Shamrock Rovers, but as long as your effective, successful and winning games, well then surely that’s the main thing.
Shamrock Rovers are league champions and deservedly so. They reached the final of the FAI cup last year as well. They are currently in the final of the Setanta Cup and sit top of the Airtricity Premier Division League Table. That’s the most important thing in my opinion and if I was a supporter of Shamrock Rovers I wouldn’t complain one bit about what kind of football they are or are not playing. Speaking of football and success, I want to congratulate an ex-team mate of mine Shaun Williams who recently earned a contract with MK Dons. The league has lost one of its best young players but I wish Shaun the best of luck in his endeavours to make it big across the water. I had the experience of playing with both Kevin Doyle and Keith Fahey who have made it already over in England and I have no doubt Shaun will quickly follow suit. Ability wise he is just as good as either of those names mentioned and mark my words, future Irish International. All the best Shaun.
I also understand his comments about the wealth of talent at Shamrock Rovers disposal and at times they may not utilise that fully. However, this is where we possibly differ; in my opinion, and that’s the beauty of football (everyone has and is entitled to their own opinion), football is about winning! No matter how you do it, winning is the most important thing. Even if you may have the players to play attractive football, as long as the results are positive, that’s all that matters. If people have different opinions, I would be interested to hear.
I would love to get feedback here from supporters but in my opinion, it is better to win games ugly than lose games playing beautiful football. What would a supporter prefer, to see their team win a league playing football that is at times not the prettiest to watch or play lovely football, be a joy to watch but never win a league?
I remember when I was at Drogheda the year we won the league in 2007. We had a huge squad full of top League of Ireland talent. The same comments were thrown at us week in week out about our style of football. People were saying that with the team we had we should be not only walking the league, but be playing attractive exciting football at the same time. At times, we played some lovely football but the main thing was to win every game no matter what and come the end of season when we were crowned champions, that’s all that mattered. No one remembers how you won the league; it doesn’t say 2007 league champions who played unattractive football at times. No, it simply says Champions, winners, and that’s all that matters.
Funnily enough, I was going to write an article last year on the positives and negatives of playing nice lovely yet ineffective football as I felt at Sporting Fingal last year, the football on show was a joy to watch without being too effective. However, as I was still at Fingal at the time, I felt it was best to not comment in case I got into a bit of trouble. My basic argument was that it’s all well and good playing eye catching football but football is a results business. At Fingal, I felt that we were playing the best football in the league along with Sligo Rovers but it was not us who was challenging for the league. And to be honest, I don’t think we would ever have challenged properly for the league as we weren’t effective enough in our style of play. We were kind of similar to Arsenal in the Premiership in so far as they play lovely football, better than Chelsea and Man United but yet they fail to win the league year upon year.
We would all love to play the kind of football that Barcelona play but let’s be realistic, we are playing in Ireland not Spain. Don’t get me wrong now, I encourage football on the ground and admire attempts to play the beautiful game the way it should. We have some very, very talented players here in Ireland who love playing football on the ground, none more so than Ronan Finn at Shamrock Rovers, but as long as your effective, successful and winning games, well then surely that’s the main thing.
Shamrock Rovers are league champions and deservedly so. They reached the final of the FAI cup last year as well. They are currently in the final of the Setanta Cup and sit top of the Airtricity Premier Division League Table. That’s the most important thing in my opinion and if I was a supporter of Shamrock Rovers I wouldn’t complain one bit about what kind of football they are or are not playing. Speaking of football and success, I want to congratulate an ex-team mate of mine Shaun Williams who recently earned a contract with MK Dons. The league has lost one of its best young players but I wish Shaun the best of luck in his endeavours to make it big across the water. I had the experience of playing with both Kevin Doyle and Keith Fahey who have made it already over in England and I have no doubt Shaun will quickly follow suit. Ability wise he is just as good as either of those names mentioned and mark my words, future Irish International. All the best Shaun.
