David Sneyd

THE POSITIVITY THAT is surging throughout the League of Ireland ahead of the 2025 season is almost disconcerting.

Can the problem child – as it was derided by former FAI chief executive John Delaney – really be the beacon of hope?

Damien Duff struck a familiar tune on a media engagement last week ahead of the curtain raiser against Drogheda United in the President’s Cup.

“I absolutely believe that it’s the most inspiring thing in Irish football at the minute, absolutely head and shoulders above our national team and I’ve no plans to go away,” he said.

The Premier Division champions face the FAI Cup winners at Tolka Park on Friday. It is a fixture that is not included as part of the new four-year television deal with Virgin Media.

The 42 detailed previously about how RTÉ took their eye off the ball and lost out to their rivals in Ballymount.

Confirmation of the new arrangement this day last week only increased the sense of positivity, and the belief that things are not just beginning to change for the better, but that a more assured and strategic way of thinking will lead to permanent change and not just the kind of short-term bump that the most desperate of politicians crave.

Those involved at National League Committee level who recommended accepting the Virgin deal did so for a few reasons.

Money had nothing to do with.

The fees agreed for clubs with Virgin are not understood to be drastically improved on what RTÉ provided. Clubs won’t all of a sudden be flush with an influx of cash over the next four seasons. Far from it.

Consistency and stability is the name of game. Culture is becoming another buzzword, and how the guaranteed four-year TV deal (there are no exit clauses relating to certain audience figures or thresholds needing to be met) as well as record season ticket sales can combine to help the League of Ireland get on the kind of stable footing that everyone has longed for.

“I can’t ask for any more from the league. If I retire tomorrow, I wouldn’t have a single regret. I love playing in this league, I love what the league is and I love where the league is at the moment in terms of it going in the right direction,” Shels defender Sean Gannon, winner of 11 Premier Division titles, said ahead of Friday’s game with Drogheda.

Gannon is from Ringsend and played a bit of GAA with Clanna Gael as a kid before going on to become the most decorated League of Ireland player in history.

“The GAA is well known for being… it’s a big cultural thing and the culture set at Dublin, what the likes of Brian Fenton and Mossy Quinn have achieved is unbelievable.

“It all comes from standards and culture, and that’s what we are trying to create here, and what other clubs are trying to create; having a set of principles and a culture that you stick to.

“We’re the proof, what we did last year, of what happens when you buy into something. You get your rewards at the end of it.”

The day after the Virgin TV deal was confirmed, League of Ireland director Mark Scanlon held a media briefing at Aviva Stadium. Naturally, the positives were extenuated. Even when he confirmed that prize money for winning the Premier Division would remain the same as last season – €125,000 – the reasoning and foresight seemed to make sense.

Just shy of €4 million is now flooding into the game here from UEFA, primarily through the renegotiated solidarity payments.

Of course, with Rockshore now on board as a prominent new sponsor and the main naming rights deal with SSE Airtricity up for renewal at the end of the upcoming campaign, continued growth will naturally lead to an expectation of it being capitalised on financially. And then distributed accordingly.

There is, though, one critical and crucial juncture approaching. At that briefing last week, Scanlon confirmed that he hopes to meet with the Minister for Sport and other prominent Government officials before this month is out.

Academy funding should be the top priority on the agenda now. It has been widely reported already that an ask of around €8m per year is the required amount to help transform the current structures.
The FAI had hoped for clarity by the end of 2024, although that was deadline suggested by Chief Football Officer Marc Canham.

Scanlon admitted there was no guarantee that funds could even be secured this year, despite the academy system getting a mention in the latest Programme for Government.

There will be further statistics to come from the FAI on the number of academy graduates forcing their way into senior team squads and earning minutes. They will shine a light on the work that needs to be done.

The Professional Footballers’ Association of Ireland are pushing for the introduction of a rule that makes it a requirement to have a minimum of three academy players in every matchday squad.

There has been pushback, and over the coming months it is crucial that tangible progress is made on not just securing funding from Government, but having the plan in place to utilise every cent.

This is an issue that needs to stay in the spotlight rather than stuttering to a halt.

There’s still two weeks until the really serious stuff gets underway on the pitch, and once the actual football gets underway so much optimism and positivity will be wiped away for some as their team falls short of expectations.

But what happens on the pitch is always the most unpredictable element of the game. Not relying on that to ensure the League of Ireland has a place at the core of the Irish sporting landscape is the long-game thinking everyone needs to get on board with.