Stephen Bradley is an astute media operator. The Shamrock Rovers manager knows what message he will deliver before and after matches. Even when caught off guard there tends to be a thoughtful response.
Bradley adopted an acerbic stance following Rovers 1-0 defeat to Bohemians at the Aviva Stadium last Sunday and again on Wednesday evening before Molde’s visit to Tallaght for the Uefa Conference League play-off.
The FAI was the target of his ire, specifically international men’s manager Heimir Hallgrímsson’s attitude towards the League of Ireland and chief football officer Marc Canham’s supposed mistreatment of former woman’s assistant coach Colin Healy.
The route into these related controversies was meant to have been through Bradley’s programme notes from the Aviva. It turns out Bohemians accidentally failed to publish his considered 600-word piece. Naturally, conspiracy theories abounded.
Now in his 10th season as Rovers boss, the 40-year-old understands the power of his platform better than most orators in Irish sport. Hallgrímsson’s suggestion that Rovers players can use their Conference League odyssey to escape to a UK or European club, and thereby enhance their chances of being capped, caused enough irritation for Bradley to pick a fight with the Icelander.
“Put yourself in our position,” he said. “You are trying to recruit players and sign players and that is the message coming from the head of Irish football? Imagine you are an agent sitting there with your player, ‘You can stay here but if you go [abroad] you have a chance of getting into the international squad’.”
Hallgrímsson has some explaining to do when he announces the Ireland squad to play Bulgaria next month.
A quick fix would be to call up Rovers in-form wing back Josh Honohan, especially considering the Hoops just lost two wingers with legitimate aspirations of representing their country. Since Hallgrímsson made his remarks in December, Darragh Burns (22) joined League Two side Grimsby Town and Neil Farrugia (25) went to Barnsley in League One.
Both players were offered similar salaries by Rovers to what they are now being paid in England. This is believed to be about €150,000 a year or €3,000 a week. As Bradley noted, the Irish manager’s “out of touch” perspective did not help the negotiation process.
The League of Ireland’s top talent can command between €2,000 and €3,000 a week. The next tier earns about €1,200, with The42.ie recently estimating that the average salary is €700 a week or €36,400 a year.
Some clubs in League Two – the fourth professional tier in England – pay €5,000 a week for a striker, with wages rarely dropping below €1,000.
In 2022 the former Ireland manager Stephen Kenny stopped selecting players stuck on Premier League benches or in League One, which drove a flood of Irish talent into the EFL Championship (England’s second tier). Troy Parrott – 17 goals and counting for AZ Alkmaar this season – took a brave leap from the periphery at Tottenham Hotspur to play in the Dutch league .
Proof of the League of Ireland’s continued growth is evidenced by Irish midfielders in their prime, such as Dawson Devoy, Ross Tierney, Danny Mandroiu and Matthew Healy, choosing Bohs and Rovers over the lower rungs of English football and far-flung European clubs.
The silver lining of Burns and Farrugia leaving, along with Johnny Kenny returning to Celtic, was that Bradley fast-tracked 16-year-olds Michael Noonan and Victor Ozhianvuna into the first team. Nether teenager looks out of place.
Hallgrímsson did not intend to offend anyone but his comments do sound unambiguous, suggesting he thinks : the main benefit for Rovers players following their historic 16-match European campaign would be a golden ticket to somewhere better.
That convinced Bradley that Canham’s recruitment of the former Iceland and Jamaica coach was as misguided as his treatment of Healy. He believes that an “arrogance” exists among the senior management of the FAI, and even warned about a return to the “days of a dictatorship where people are afraid to speak”.
In 2014 John Delaney branded the league “the difficult child of the organisation” when explaining why central governance was needed. The child has grown up, with Bradley and his peers meeting their English counterparts in Dublin this week for advice on the formation of a league managers’ association.
“Setting an LMA up and making sure we have the respect of all stakeholders is important for me,” he said, “and I won’t stop until it’s done.”
Up Next: A rare Friday night without any Premier Division fixtures in Dublin has Virgin Media broadcasting live from Eamonn Deacy Park, where St Patrick Athletic’s Tottenham-bound teenager Mason Melia could make his first start of the season against Galway United.
Elsewhere, Shamrock Rovers have announced the contract termination of former Bohs and Shels winger Liam Burt in advance of Sunday’s visit of Cork City to a Tallaght pitch that will show the impact of the European tie against Molde on Thursday and Friday’s women’s international between the Republic of Ireland and Turkey.
