A RECENTLY RELEASED book on Mo Salah by Melissa Reddy provides a stark reminder of how the powers that be at the top level of European football operate.
Before Salah, Egyptian footballers, for the most part, played in their domestic league.
Some exceptions ventured to Europe but rarely succeeded.
Hossam Hassan, now Egypt’s head coach, is widely regarded as one of the country’s greatest footballers. In the early ’90s, he had brief stints with PAOK in Greece and Neuchâtel Xamax in Switzerland before coming home.
It is one reason why, when Salah emerged, despite his phenomenal talent, no club bigger than Swiss outfit Basel were willing to place faith in the attacker and also why he was promptly dismissed after barely getting a look-in during an ill-fated spell at Chelsea.
The perception was that Egyptian footballers were home birds who couldn’t cut it at the top level in Europe.
It required a trailblazer like Salah to eventually change this narrative, despite significant hurdles along the way.
Since then, more Egyptian footballers have tried their luck at a higher level abroad, including Tottenham’s Omar Marmoush, Nice centre-back Mohamed Abdelmonem, new Celtic signing Haissem Hassan and 18-year-old Barcelona starlet Hamza Abdelkarim.
These developments culminated in an impressive World Cup showing earlier in the summer, as the team were only narrowly beaten 3-2 in the round of 16 by eventual finalists Argentina.
The perception of Irish footballers among Europe’s power brokers is likely akin to Egypt in the pre-Salah era.
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Mohamed Salah initially struggled to attract interest from top European clubs in the early stages of his career. Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
It is also reflected in the lack of Champions League involvement among Boys in Green stars for a long time now.
The well-documented paucity of financial support/resources is the primary reason League of Ireland clubs have never had a real impact or threatened to qualify for the group stages since its inception.
And not since the days of Roy Keane, Denis Irwin and John O’Shea at Man United, or Damien Duff at Chelsea and Steve Finnan at Liverpool have Irish players thrived in Europe’s premier club competition.
The FAI, in their strategic reports, have targeted 35 players competing in the top five leagues in Europe (England, Spain, Italy, Germany and France) and playing at least 1,400 minutes per season. Achieving this feat would be a good start, but the reality remains some way off this figure.
Over the last decade, seven Irish players have competed in the Champions League proper.
In that period, Liam Scales, Adam Idah, James McCarthy and Eoghan O’Connell have all done so for Celtic.
Meanwhile, Matt Doherty, Alex Murphy, and Caoimhín Kelleher have featured for Tottenham, Newcastle and Liverpool respectively.
But many of those appearances were fleeting – Scales and Idah are the only ones to get into double figures in terms of appearances and compete in the knockout stages during this fallow period.
Liam Scales is one of the few Irish players to pick up substantial Champions League game time over the last decade. Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
Earlier this week, the Bhoys’ dramatic loss to LASK ruled out Scales and Johnny Kenny for this season’s competition, and Armstrong Okoflex also missed out owing to Levski Sofia’s 4-0 defeat to AEK in the playoff round.
It means Troy Parrott will almost certainly be the only Irish representative in this season’s Champions League, after his Betis side clinched a fifth-place finish in La Liga last year.
This unfortunate fact is a grim indication of where Irish football is at.
The Champions League is undoubtedly the highest level of football – last season’s final between Arsenal and PSG was widely regarded as pitting the two best teams in Europe against one another.
For Irish players to be rendered virtually irrelevant on this stage for over 10 years is a real concern.
You can also trace it back to why the international team has struggled for that period.
Even Ireland’s best players can be prone to underperforming in big qualifiers – the World Cup playoff against Czechia last March being the most recent example.
Whereas if Ireland can produce several players regularly competing at the highest level of club football, big games become second nature, and they are less likely to freeze amid high stakes.
Troy Parrott's Real Betis have two wins from two in La Liga this season. Alamy Stock Photo
Alamy Stock Photo
It is why so much is riding on Parrott having a strong season in Europe, even if the 24-year-old may need some time to adapt to his new surroundings in Seville and adjust to a higher level of football than the Eredivisie.
The Dubliner will be competing with attackers such as Colombia international Cucho Hernández, ex-Man United star Antony and promising 20-year-old Pablo García for a place in the starting XI, so regular game time is hardly guaranteed.
A Salah-esque effect could be achieved by a successful campaign, inspiring other Irish stars to reach similar levels and persuading bigger clubs to gamble on footballers from these shores.
Yet failure would only consolidate biases and perceptions about the ability of the Boys in Green’s stars to perform at the highest level.
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Can Troy Parrott change the narrative around Irish footballers and the Champions League?
A RECENTLY RELEASED book on Mo Salah by Melissa Reddy provides a stark reminder of how the powers that be at the top level of European football operate.
Before Salah, Egyptian footballers, for the most part, played in their domestic league.
Some exceptions ventured to Europe but rarely succeeded.
Hossam Hassan, now Egypt’s head coach, is widely regarded as one of the country’s greatest footballers. In the early ’90s, he had brief stints with PAOK in Greece and Neuchâtel Xamax in Switzerland before coming home.
It is one reason why, when Salah emerged, despite his phenomenal talent, no club bigger than Swiss outfit Basel were willing to place faith in the attacker and also why he was promptly dismissed after barely getting a look-in during an ill-fated spell at Chelsea.
The perception was that Egyptian footballers were home birds who couldn’t cut it at the top level in Europe.
It required a trailblazer like Salah to eventually change this narrative, despite significant hurdles along the way.
Since then, more Egyptian footballers have tried their luck at a higher level abroad, including Tottenham’s Omar Marmoush, Nice centre-back Mohamed Abdelmonem, new Celtic signing Haissem Hassan and 18-year-old Barcelona starlet Hamza Abdelkarim.
These developments culminated in an impressive World Cup showing earlier in the summer, as the team were only narrowly beaten 3-2 in the round of 16 by eventual finalists Argentina.
The perception of Irish footballers among Europe’s power brokers is likely akin to Egypt in the pre-Salah era.
It is also reflected in the lack of Champions League involvement among Boys in Green stars for a long time now.
The well-documented paucity of financial support/resources is the primary reason League of Ireland clubs have never had a real impact or threatened to qualify for the group stages since its inception.
And not since the days of Roy Keane, Denis Irwin and John O’Shea at Man United, or Damien Duff at Chelsea and Steve Finnan at Liverpool have Irish players thrived in Europe’s premier club competition.
The FAI, in their strategic reports, have targeted 35 players competing in the top five leagues in Europe (England, Spain, Italy, Germany and France) and playing at least 1,400 minutes per season. Achieving this feat would be a good start, but the reality remains some way off this figure.
Over the last decade, seven Irish players have competed in the Champions League proper.
In that period, Liam Scales, Adam Idah, James McCarthy and Eoghan O’Connell have all done so for Celtic.
Meanwhile, Matt Doherty, Alex Murphy, and Caoimhín Kelleher have featured for Tottenham, Newcastle and Liverpool respectively.
But many of those appearances were fleeting – Scales and Idah are the only ones to get into double figures in terms of appearances and compete in the knockout stages during this fallow period.
Earlier this week, the Bhoys’ dramatic loss to LASK ruled out Scales and Johnny Kenny for this season’s competition, and Armstrong Okoflex also missed out owing to Levski Sofia’s 4-0 defeat to AEK in the playoff round.
It means Troy Parrott will almost certainly be the only Irish representative in this season’s Champions League, after his Betis side clinched a fifth-place finish in La Liga last year.
This unfortunate fact is a grim indication of where Irish football is at.
The Champions League is undoubtedly the highest level of football – last season’s final between Arsenal and PSG was widely regarded as pitting the two best teams in Europe against one another.
For Irish players to be rendered virtually irrelevant on this stage for over 10 years is a real concern.
You can also trace it back to why the international team has struggled for that period.
Even Ireland’s best players can be prone to underperforming in big qualifiers – the World Cup playoff against Czechia last March being the most recent example.
Whereas if Ireland can produce several players regularly competing at the highest level of club football, big games become second nature, and they are less likely to freeze amid high stakes.
It is why so much is riding on Parrott having a strong season in Europe, even if the 24-year-old may need some time to adapt to his new surroundings in Seville and adjust to a higher level of football than the Eredivisie.
The Dubliner will be competing with attackers such as Colombia international Cucho Hernández, ex-Man United star Antony and promising 20-year-old Pablo García for a place in the starting XI, so regular game time is hardly guaranteed.
But if Parrott can build on a promising start and pick up substantial game time against sides of the calibre of Arsenal, Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, it can only aid his development and confidence.
A Salah-esque effect could be achieved by a successful campaign, inspiring other Irish stars to reach similar levels and persuading bigger clubs to gamble on footballers from these shores.
Yet failure would only consolidate biases and perceptions about the ability of the Boys in Green’s stars to perform at the highest level.
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