6
European analysis too pessimistic
The recent failure that greeted National League clubs in their European endeavours has fuelled much frustration from several sectors. In prior summers, the involvement of NL teams in Europe was treated with inappropriate apathy by all concerned and achievements such as scoring a goal could be deemed a moral victory.
However, recently, after an embarrassing period of gloom, which surfaced due to repeated failure in European competitions, NL clubs apparently grasped that huge moral and financial benefits existed if the clubs started to win games in Europe. Hence in recent summers, the clubs here got their acts better together and consequently looked set to make the breakthrough in Europe; this breakthrough being a rather modest achievement of merely winning a tie.
Last year, Saint Patrick's Athletic and Shelbourne came extremely close to advancing past the initial round, with the former especially performing admirably. Confidence emanated from these "moral victories", as the two clubs were paired with high quality teams in the context of the Preliminary round. Also, Shels pushed Kilmarnock very close just a season earlier.
Thus, many could scent a breakthrough. It had become apparent that National League clubs were realistically improving in European competitions, which prompted some analysts to predict that this year would be the one that saw NL clubs making the aforementioned breakthrough. Further confidence greeted the huge hints of professionalism in the preparations of St. Patrick's Athletic particularly, for their Euro task. The Saints seemed ready, and Pat Dolan's assertion that NL clubs should be judged on Europe results looked set to trigger a major morale-boosting victory for the much-maligned National League.
However, the Inchicore club, along with us all, were guilty of completely underestimating their Moldovan opponents, who were of course 10-0 victors on aggregate. Despite the flattering nature of the scoreline, the Supersaints looked far from super when compared to the technically superior Zimbru. The emphatic nature of the scoreline sent shock waves around the League and Saint Pat's were slated in certain sections of the media for their enormous failure.
Since, Cork City and Bray Wanderers played the first legs of their respective European ties as I write, with both apparently doomed after comprehensive defeats. And thus, remembering also Shelbourne's hugely disappointing exit against Neuchatel, the four entrants from the National league made no actual progress this year unless Houdini inspires Cork or Bray. In actual fact, they have yet to score a goal and have results wise performed worse than last year. After gradual forward movement, results suggest that we have taken a step back.
However, much of the recent pessimism would have been non-existent had NL fans proceeded with cautious optimism in their predictions this summer, rather than with the unfounded expectance.
Firstly, Saint Pat's locked horns with a side visibly better than that Celtic team last summer, and because of the technical class of sides in that region, Pat's had huge trouble dealing with FSC Zimbru. If the Saints were playing a side closer to home, the technique of their opponents would be more similar to that of the Supersaints. Zimbru as I write, are one game away from the Champions League, having comfortably disposed of Dynamo Tiblisi in the previous Round. Cork City played a team who have a full time set up. True, Cork lost 3-0, but they more than matched IFK Gothenburg for the main part of the match. And, truth be told, Bray are a Division 1 side, and in realistic terms, they did well to hold a side who can boast of possessing the talents of Stephane Chapuisat in their ranks to 4-0.
National League clubs are continuing to make positive forward steps and despite the poor results this year, progress is still being made. Obviously, moral victories are useless, but the over-expectance, which many of the media men were guilty of, is also of little positive good. Of course, National League clubs are still lagging behind and steps may need to be taken. However the clubs are improving and, despite the relative insignificance of friendlies, the results of NL clubs against foreign clubs was impressive this year in non-Europe battles.
Yes, NL clubs must improve in Europe. But Rome was not built in a day and clubs should continue to make the progress they are making. The quality of the NL is improving slowly but surely and this trend must not be reversed. Continuous professionalism will eventually, sooner rather than later, yield positive results in Europe.
Patience must be endured to determine whether or not the current set-up in the NL militates considerably against our Euro entrants. If it is established that this is the primary reason for our failure, radical reform of the structure must occur accordingly. However, until then, we must continue to put positive professionalism to the test.