Bohemians reckoned they were onto a winner when Preston North End sent him on loan to Dalymount Park for the first half of last season.
The left back was 19 and coming towards the end of his deal at the Championship club. He’d made 13 appearances at that level, was an England U19 international, and seemed like the ideal type of short-term signing.
Best was young, with an impressive level of experience already under his belt, and most of all he had good reason to impress whoever might be watching considering he would be out of contract in a few months.
Other than 71 minutes of action against Derry City in the first month of last season he did not kick a ball for Alan Reynolds’ side.
“He struggled to settle in. If you put the two on paper you’d say this fella (Best) is going to work here,” the Bohs boss said, citing another loan arrival in Sean Grehan at the same time who then joined Doncaster Rovers, ahead of his side’s opening Premier Division game with St Patrick’s Athletic at Aviva Stadium on Sunday.
“It just didn’t work here [for Best],” Reynolds added.
So where is he now?
Chelsea.
When Preston did not offer Best a new deal he ended up getting a two-year contract with the Premier League’s club development squad. If that helps re-launch his career then maybe he’ll look back at his time in Dublin as helping to forge the resolve required to persevere in an industry that moves quickly.
Best’s time at Bohs is a cautionary tale but also one of the obvious examples of the risks that are involved in all deals.
The transfer window for League of Ireland clubs remains open until 22 February and already we’re getting a sense that the stakes – and fees – have never been higher for all involved.
Shelbourne broke the transfer record that had stood for 20 years when they paid Cliftonville over €100,000 for defender Odhrán Casey.
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Waterford didn’t have to come near that amount to take Conan Noonan on a permanent deal from Shamrock Rovers but the Blues’ willingness to offer cash for the player who impressed on loan enticed Stephen Bradley to sanction the sale.
“I think that’s the trend and I don’t see that going the other way any time soon. I think it shows growth, I think it’s something that we should be happy with, it shows growth within the league and within the clubs,” Bradley said of the transfer activity.
“Clubs are willing to do that and spend money within the league, and I think that’s all part of the league growing and becoming better. I welcome it and I think it’s here to stay and get bigger, and I think you gain more respect as well because it’s common obviously in most leagues around Europe. I like it, I like to see it happening, and I think it’s something that’s here for the long haul.”
Brandon Kavanagh’s move from St Patrick’s Athletic to Drogheda United also boosted the Saints’ coffers as they received money up front with a second installment due later in the season.
James McClean is the headline arrival for Derry City’s ambitious recruitment but the Candystripes also worked out a deal with Sligo Rovers for brother Patrick after an initial bid was rejected by the Bit O’Red.
Scottish Premiership club Dundee were also usurped by Derry for the services of James Clarke from Bohemians once he became available. Rovers and Shels, of course, earned seven figures from their European exploits in 2025 and the other eight LOI club in the Premier Division will collect around €325,000 next month as a result of Uefa solidarity payments.
For context, the FAI’s prize money for winning the top flight remains €125,000.
The Virgin Media TV deal and Off the Ball radio agreement provide the kind of important broadcast consistency that is a necessity and the hope ahead of another new season is that the cultural transformation that has been taking place will also eventually lead to those partnerships becoming far more lucrative – as is the case elsewhere.
Attendances are strong and remain vital to club’s finances.
Over 18,000 will be at Aviva Stadium on Sunday for the Dublin derby between Bohs and St Pat’s. That won’t be broken for the rest of the season unless another fixture is moved there.
Last season, Sligo, Waterford and Galway United all battled to avoid a place in the promotion/relegation playoff and their average attendances compared to 2023 dropped by 55, 155 and 229, respectively.
Dundalk’s promotion provides a fresh impetus, too, and there is no doubt that the business Shels – who saw over 100,000 fans come through the turnstiles at Tolka Park during 2025 – did over the last week gave their fanbase a boost ahead of tonight’s visit to the RSC.
It’s understood that a League One side came in strong for Harry Wood and that Shels were able to rebuff a bid around the €250,000 mark for the player.
Sean Boyd is believed to have been on the radar of another club in the third tier of England although the figure involved was not in the same ballpark as Wood.
As reported by The 42 on Monday, Mipo Odubeko came close to a move to Cercle Brugge in Belgium before a late hitch.
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In the background, while all of this was going on, Shels were also working on a deal for Will Jarvis to return for a third spell at Tolka Park. He landed last night and once international clearance is finalised he will be involved.
York City wanted the Notts County winger to help them secure promotion to League Two while both Rovers and St Pat’s were in the mix for the 23-year-old.
The 42 understands that the overall package for Jarvis will make him one of the highest earners in the Premier Division, even if the five-figure transfer fee is a fraction of the amount that Wood might have left for.
For a league that has been burned in the past by boom-and-bust economics, the type of wages now on offer around the league, as well as the increasing transfer fees, won’t sit easily with some as the new season begins.
Concern is understandable, especially when the League of Ireland itself calculated accumulative losses for clubs between 2022 and 2024 at €20 million as part of its pre-budget submission to government for the academy investment proposal.
Risk is par for the course with player recruitment and now there will be greater responsibility to get it right as transfer fees become the norm.
“That’s football, that’s life, you’re going to get some right, you’re going to get some wrong, that’s in every walk of life, and signing players is no different,” Bradley said.
“That will never change, you just need to look at everything around the signings and the decisions we’re making, and hopefully you get more right than wrong. But you have to accept that I might go to the board tomorrow and want to spend X amount on a player coming in, in terms of buying him, and there are no guarantees that it works.
“That’s life, that’s football, and it happens at every level. No one in this league will be immune to getting some wrong in some way. That’s part of the trade and that’s fine.”
Bradley speaks with the authority and confidence of a man who goes into the new season aiming to win a sixth title in seven years.
This summer will mark 10 years since he was placed in interim charge, and Rovers took a calculated risk by appointing him permanently just a couple of days before his 32nd birthday in November 2016.
The rewards have followed, and now the stakes are as high as ever for those trying to keep up.
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Stakes never higher in League of Ireland's game of risk and reward
REMEMBER KIAN BEST?
Bohemians reckoned they were onto a winner when Preston North End sent him on loan to Dalymount Park for the first half of last season.
The left back was 19 and coming towards the end of his deal at the Championship club. He’d made 13 appearances at that level, was an England U19 international, and seemed like the ideal type of short-term signing.
Best was young, with an impressive level of experience already under his belt, and most of all he had good reason to impress whoever might be watching considering he would be out of contract in a few months.
Other than 71 minutes of action against Derry City in the first month of last season he did not kick a ball for Alan Reynolds’ side.
“He struggled to settle in. If you put the two on paper you’d say this fella (Best) is going to work here,” the Bohs boss said, citing another loan arrival in Sean Grehan at the same time who then joined Doncaster Rovers, ahead of his side’s opening Premier Division game with St Patrick’s Athletic at Aviva Stadium on Sunday.
“It just didn’t work here [for Best],” Reynolds added.
So where is he now?
Chelsea.
When Preston did not offer Best a new deal he ended up getting a two-year contract with the Premier League’s club development squad. If that helps re-launch his career then maybe he’ll look back at his time in Dublin as helping to forge the resolve required to persevere in an industry that moves quickly.
Best’s time at Bohs is a cautionary tale but also one of the obvious examples of the risks that are involved in all deals.
The transfer window for League of Ireland clubs remains open until 22 February and already we’re getting a sense that the stakes – and fees – have never been higher for all involved.
Shelbourne broke the transfer record that had stood for 20 years when they paid Cliftonville over €100,000 for defender Odhrán Casey.
Waterford didn’t have to come near that amount to take Conan Noonan on a permanent deal from Shamrock Rovers but the Blues’ willingness to offer cash for the player who impressed on loan enticed Stephen Bradley to sanction the sale.
“I think that’s the trend and I don’t see that going the other way any time soon. I think it shows growth, I think it’s something that we should be happy with, it shows growth within the league and within the clubs,” Bradley said of the transfer activity.
“Clubs are willing to do that and spend money within the league, and I think that’s all part of the league growing and becoming better. I welcome it and I think it’s here to stay and get bigger, and I think you gain more respect as well because it’s common obviously in most leagues around Europe. I like it, I like to see it happening, and I think it’s something that’s here for the long haul.”
Brandon Kavanagh’s move from St Patrick’s Athletic to Drogheda United also boosted the Saints’ coffers as they received money up front with a second installment due later in the season.
James McClean is the headline arrival for Derry City’s ambitious recruitment but the Candystripes also worked out a deal with Sligo Rovers for brother Patrick after an initial bid was rejected by the Bit O’Red.
Scottish Premiership club Dundee were also usurped by Derry for the services of James Clarke from Bohemians once he became available. Rovers and Shels, of course, earned seven figures from their European exploits in 2025 and the other eight LOI club in the Premier Division will collect around €325,000 next month as a result of Uefa solidarity payments.
For context, the FAI’s prize money for winning the top flight remains €125,000.
The Virgin Media TV deal and Off the Ball radio agreement provide the kind of important broadcast consistency that is a necessity and the hope ahead of another new season is that the cultural transformation that has been taking place will also eventually lead to those partnerships becoming far more lucrative – as is the case elsewhere.
Attendances are strong and remain vital to club’s finances.
Over 18,000 will be at Aviva Stadium on Sunday for the Dublin derby between Bohs and St Pat’s. That won’t be broken for the rest of the season unless another fixture is moved there.
Last season, Sligo, Waterford and Galway United all battled to avoid a place in the promotion/relegation playoff and their average attendances compared to 2023 dropped by 55, 155 and 229, respectively.
Dundalk’s promotion provides a fresh impetus, too, and there is no doubt that the business Shels – who saw over 100,000 fans come through the turnstiles at Tolka Park during 2025 – did over the last week gave their fanbase a boost ahead of tonight’s visit to the RSC.
It’s understood that a League One side came in strong for Harry Wood and that Shels were able to rebuff a bid around the €250,000 mark for the player.
Sean Boyd is believed to have been on the radar of another club in the third tier of England although the figure involved was not in the same ballpark as Wood.
As reported by The 42 on Monday, Mipo Odubeko came close to a move to Cercle Brugge in Belgium before a late hitch.
In the background, while all of this was going on, Shels were also working on a deal for Will Jarvis to return for a third spell at Tolka Park. He landed last night and once international clearance is finalised he will be involved.
York City wanted the Notts County winger to help them secure promotion to League Two while both Rovers and St Pat’s were in the mix for the 23-year-old.
The 42 understands that the overall package for Jarvis will make him one of the highest earners in the Premier Division, even if the five-figure transfer fee is a fraction of the amount that Wood might have left for.
For a league that has been burned in the past by boom-and-bust economics, the type of wages now on offer around the league, as well as the increasing transfer fees, won’t sit easily with some as the new season begins.
Concern is understandable, especially when the League of Ireland itself calculated accumulative losses for clubs between 2022 and 2024 at €20 million as part of its pre-budget submission to government for the academy investment proposal.
Risk is par for the course with player recruitment and now there will be greater responsibility to get it right as transfer fees become the norm.
“That’s football, that’s life, you’re going to get some right, you’re going to get some wrong, that’s in every walk of life, and signing players is no different,” Bradley said.
“That will never change, you just need to look at everything around the signings and the decisions we’re making, and hopefully you get more right than wrong. But you have to accept that I might go to the board tomorrow and want to spend X amount on a player coming in, in terms of buying him, and there are no guarantees that it works.
“That’s life, that’s football, and it happens at every level. No one in this league will be immune to getting some wrong in some way. That’s part of the trade and that’s fine.”
Bradley speaks with the authority and confidence of a man who goes into the new season aiming to win a sixth title in seven years.
This summer will mark 10 years since he was placed in interim charge, and Rovers took a calculated risk by appointing him permanently just a couple of days before his 32nd birthday in November 2016.
The rewards have followed, and now the stakes are as high as ever for those trying to keep up.
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