Administrators determined to expand into disaster

SO they plough on, the good men and true of the National League. At last week's meeting of the league's management committee, supposedly representative of all 22 clubs and supporters, the consensus remained to expand the Premier League to 16 clubs from the 1998-99 season.

To that end, the inclination amongst those present was to abandon relegation next season and promote four from the First Division. This in turn hinges on the ability of the National League to identify four prospective new clubs from the junior ranks in time for ratification of this controversial proposal by next summer's a.g.m.

The league president, Michael Hyland, and the new executive secretary, Paul Walsh, have assumed this onerous responsibility, and onerous it is. For there simply aren't four junior clubs out there with the wherewithal - namely, financial structures, support base and facilities - to maintain existing National League standards, let alone improve them. If there were, we'd know about them.

The favourite options are teams from Kerry (perhaps Tralee or Killarney), the southeast, Newbridge and its environs, a second Cork club, and so forth - but no more from Dublin. Given that when last they looked, last summer, they could only find a Dublin one, St Francis, the whole proposal could therefore stall on the starting grid.

In any event, I'm innately suspicious of legislators taking it upon themselves to "expand" the base of any game, whatever it be. And not just because the likes of Newcastlewest and St James's Gate couldn't hack it.

The president of FIFA, Joao Havelenge, had this trick down pat: his decision to expand the game, ie, the World Cup, with additional places for Africa, went, coincidentally, some way toward expanding his power base.

At its core is a conflict of interests, for while the administrators' desire to expand the game may seem a worthy one, it does little to improve standards at the top. A league is only as good as its weakest club, and by expanding both the Premier Division and the League itself the management committee continue to ratify what is surely a backward step.

Here, of course, we're back to tails wagging dogs. It will be remembered that the majority of Premier Division clubs voted against an expansion of the Premier Division. But it is being foisted on them by the minority in that division and those of the First Division who can see only their own noses, and the short term.

The progressive and more successful clubs see this as a step toward replacing financially rewarding fixtures with loss making ones. Understandably, they remain up in arms about the whole issue.

It will do nothing to improve the standards of facilities (both playing and spectator), the football itself, marketing or TV coverage. To set those standards, we need a smaller top flight, not a larger one.

Running concurrently with this is the increasingly glaring need for a switch to summer football or more accurately a spring summer autumn season. Alas, in this as well there was a heavily negative response last Monday night.

In all of this, there is a chronic lack of imagination and vision, from the top and the bottom. It's depressing.

Meanwhile, the effects of the Bosman ruling are not merely confined to the close season, when players' contracts traditionally expire. Further evidence will be provided by this week's unexpected sale of Sligo Rovers' striker James Mulligan to Derry City.

Already having lost Gavin Dykes last summer to the Brandywell without any recompense, Sligo know full well that the same would happen if they retained the 24 year old Mulligan until the end of the season. Better, then, to suffer immediate and unwanted disruption to their squad by garnering a fee in the region of £20,000 now, especially after Mulligan's non appearance for Saturday's Cup win in Cobh.

Some consolation is the expected signing of the tall, ex Bolton striker Marcus Hallows (23), until the end of the season, and the former Birmingham midfielder cum defender Clint Browne (25), most recently with New Orleans.

Finn Harps have finally completed the signing of Andy Ramage on a two year contract, the midfielder having been released by Coleraine on a free transfer, though he will be ineligible until January 20th.

. As expected, the National League's management committee last night agreed to finalise the merger between the League and the FAI, although the decision was not quite unanimous. Eighteen of the 22 clubs voted in favour of ratifying the merger, while two abstained and another two were not present.

The two abstentions are believed to have come from Shelbourne and Shamrock Rovers, while the two clubs who were not represented at the meeting are believed to be Limerick and Sligo Rovers.