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THE reintroduction of a cross-border competition would be of major benefit clubs in the north – but Michael O’Neill has warned that money coming into the local game must be used wisely.
O’Neill won the Setanta Cup during a successful spell with Shamrock Rovers, that led to his first spell in charge of Northern Ireland. The landscape, however, has continued to evolve both north and south in the time between.
Yet, despite the money poured into clubs like Larne, Coleraine and Glentoran, a considerable gap remains at the top – with Larne swept aside by Shamrock Rovers last year, before Shelbourne got the better of Linfield in Europe this year.
And the Northern Ireland boss feels a cross-border competition would be a strong starting point to help bridge that gap.
“I would love there to be.
“Look, I won the Setanta Cup and, with all due respect, I was able to win it with my subs. That’s what we did, we had a strong squad at that time in Rovers, we were able to win that competition quite easily.
“Certainly there’s a lot of talk here in NIFL about a change of season, which is necessary… to have any meaningful cross-border competition, probably the seasons would need to be aligned, which I think would be positive.
“If it’s not, you’ve got to find space in the calendar, which is difficult to do. I think the game in the north would benefit from that type of competition. There is money coming into the game here as well, which has to be spent wisely.
“You guys who’ve been around the League of Ireland for years know that the League of Ireland went through a phase where they didn’t spend it very wisely and clubs got into trouble.
“It’s nice to see money coming into the game, but it can’t just be to win a trophy... the real money is in Europe, so you’ve got to try and make your league as strong as possible so that your clubs get the best opportunity to perform and get access to that money.
“I also think it’s the only way your league can grow. It’s how you get respectability and that then increases. Maybe that helps in terms of players stay a little longer.
“The situation with the younger players in the south, with Brexit, means that there are more younger players around the league as well, which is a good thing.”
The emphasis, though, should still be on producing quality players, rather than relying solely on imports from other leagues, according to O’Neill.
“I wouldn’t like to see the money coming into the league here mean that we don’t develop as many young players, because our league has helped us produce players for the international team.
“We don’t just want to import players from the lower levels of English football or Scottish football to win our league. There is a place for those players and that’s fine, but I think we also have to keep one eye on the development of our own players as well.
“If it just goes into wages, it will have a ceiling point. It always does and the League of Ireland knows that. It’s not about just investing in wages, it’s about investing in the infrastructure of the club, the development of the club, the development of players.
“Yes, you can afford better players and pay them better money, but there is a balance to getting that right. That would be the primary focus.”
