Omar's moving finger writes....

Its official then, the Irish Premier league has a new backer and in future it shall be called the ‘Carnegie’ Irish Premier league. Better late then never I say, but in my heart I had thought it would be never. What else have I come to expect from our wee I.F.A., it’s generally just ‘cock up’ after ‘cock up’. When England visited Windsor Park, didn’t they run out of programmes long before kick-off time. In all fairness it has to be said they did provide programmes for the England game to genuine supporters, when tickets were being collected for the Wales match. But as usual I digress; even though I’ve been told the reason Leeds University is backing the Irish Premier league, I still cannot see the logic in it. Any fool could tell you that the general run of ‘morons’ (and I include myself in that bunch), who attend Irish league games, don’t have the brains they were born with. So bang goes the theory that they hope to attract more students to their University. There is obviously some other reason behind it, but what it is, is anybody’s guess. The I.F.A. as usual just accepts any money thrown at them without worrying what the consequences might be. I can see their point of view also, £150,000 over three years is a tidy sum of money, one and a half weeks pay for Rio Ferdinand for example. I’m being somewhat facetious here, but for our wee league it is quite a tidy sum, all joking aside. We also have been told that part of the deal includes a new competition for Premier league youth teams. This is a great shot in the arm for youth football here and can only augur well for the future of the sport in our area. For far too long we have got by with just our local competitions, but now the youngsters will have something better to aim for. All in all, things are looking up and it is only a three year deal after all. I just hope in their ‘wisdom’ (and I use the word in its weakest form), Howard, Jimmy & Co have not tied themselves down with any ‘foolish’ conditions, like they did with the Daily Mirror. They couldn’t be that ‘stupid’ twice in a row, now could they!

Omar's moving finger writes....

At last it seems the Irish F.A. have got their collective fingers out and got a sponsor for the Premier league. The announcement was supposed to be made today, but I haven’t personally heard anything on the box or read anything in the papers or on Teletext, but I assume it’s a done deal. But maybe I’m wrong to assume that, as I also assumed the winners of this season’s C.I.S. cup were going to be the ‘fourth’ team in the money spinning Setanta cup. But in a somewhat more ominous statement the I.F.A. announced that Dungannon Swifts, the team that finished fourth in the league table last year would be our representative team. Why the change of heart I ask myself? Alas I can come up with no obvious answer, but it somehow smacks of ‘skulduggery’. The underhand methods of Jimmy Boyce and company have been well documented over the years and I can just see their ‘grubby’ little hands at work here somewhere. We are now told that this years C.I.S. cup winners will qualify for the 2007 tournament, that’s of course if there is one still going then. No harm to Distillery or Portadown, but most Irish league directors and managers, not to mention fans, will be hoping that the winner is either the Blues or the Glens, as even at this early stage, one wouldn’t bet against them filling two of the first three positions in the league at the end of the season. That should also mean then that the fourth placed team can waltz into next seasons Setanta cup, if they haven’t qualified already that is. At least I think that’s what it means, maybe that only happens when it’s a leap year or when Christmas falls on a Thursday, or some other ‘daft’ idea thought up by the I.F.A... It doesn’t matter which way I look at this, I still don’t like it, there’s definitely some hidden agenda here and until it comes out it’s going to leave a bad ‘taste’ in our collective mouths. Come on Jimmy, tell us the real reason, did somebody tramp on your toes or put one over on you? You know the truth will come out eventually, so get it off your chest now and let’s get on with the ‘farce’ that we call the Irish league!

Omar's moving finger writes...

There’s an old saying that ‘you shouldn’t kick a man when he’s down’, but there’s also one which contradicts that, ‘strike while the iron’s hot’. Maybe the man in question at this moment (well in reality it’s not a man, just an organisation), isn’t really down, but in my opinion they definitely should be. I refer of course to my old ‘chestnut’ the Irish Football Association. I have always believed that Jimmy Boyce and his band of misfits were the most incompetent bunch that one could hope to meet. I was of the opinion that the ‘way forward’ for the Irish league was to form a completely new organisation, which had no links whatsoever with the old. This of course didn’t ‘stand a snowball in hells chance’, why would a dictator like Jimmy Boyce relinquish his powers, of course it was never an option. But one of the proposals put forward by the Government, was for the executive committee to be five in number, four elected representatives, plus the chief executive. But no the I.F.A. chose to ignore this and instead went ahead with a top heavy thirteen man committee. How can a thirteen man committee be held accountable, I ask you? If it had been five men, then any ‘dead wood’ would have been plain for everyone to see, but with thirteen those ineffective participants can remain practically unnoticed. Take the ongoing fiasco of players’ registration. We have been told by our chief executive that all players’ registration would be computerised. This of course hasn’t taken place, if it had surely then clubs could be informed when purchasing a player from another club, which competitions they were eligible to take part in. How long can it take to set up a data base for sixteen Premier clubs? Is it going to take sixteen weeks, or maybe all season and until then we’ll continue to add mix-up after mix-up. A rumour is also doing the rounds at present that the I.F.A. is considering pulling out of the proposed new National stadium at the Maze, near Lisburn. This would of course be just like them, but why would they be even considering it? Could it be the fact that F.I.F.A. wants Windsor Park to be upgraded over the next couple of years and the I.F.A. feel it would be a waste of money to fund something they would get no further use of? This is of course what they’d like us to think, but in reality I’m afraid it has more to do with the executive committee’s ‘deep pockets’, a 25 year agreement with Linfield and a few ‘perks’ for Jimmy and the boys, is I feel, much closer to the truth. There’s another old saying that goes, ‘where’s there’s muck there’s brass’ and when Jimmy and the boys are involved, there’s usually plenty of both!

Omar's moving finger writes...

As this Saturday is a ‘rest’ day for Irish league teams (we don’t need a rest, we just need to start playing), I thought I’d air my views in the great debate about the ‘siting’ of the proposed national stadium. It seems a handful of Norn Iron fans have taken exception to it being situated outside Belfast. I can see their point of view, our antiquated roads system is at least a little better near the city centre, but is still a long way from ideal. If the ground was to be built in the Titanic basin (the old shipyard), one could possibly use the existing M 3, but it would still be a nightmare scenario, traffic wise. Public transport is also somewhat better in the city centre, but maybe by the time the stadium is erected, Translink could get its act together and run a railway siding from Lisburn, which is adjacent to the proposed site at the maze. But I wonder if it’s the aforementioned problems that are the ‘crux’ of the matter as regards Norn Iron fans. Is it not more to do with ‘laziness’? Over the years they have been spoiled with making the short trip to Windsor Park, where for the vast majority it is virtually within walking distance. Windsor Park does have a great atmosphere; it is an intimidating venue to visit for opposing teams and fans, but it is also a venue where some members of potential Norn Iron fans, feel decidedly unwelcome. I can well remember attending an International at Windsor back in the seventies, wearing a green woolly hat, only to be told that ‘green and white’ should be tramped in smelly stuff, by a so called Norn Iron fan. This sort of ‘sectarian nonsense’ still can be heard at Windsor, although it must be said it’s not as prevalent as it once was. But it is there just the same and if we are to continue to have an International team we need to be playing to bigger crowds than Windsor Park can accommodate. The maze, near Lisburn may not be ideal, but it’s the only ‘show in town’ at the moment, I believe we should embrace it with open arms. Linfield will lose their big ‘pay days’, but considering the sectarian nonsense that has gone on there for years, maybe that’s not a bad thing!