In part one of this report, I gathered a view from two Irish football enthusiasts on why we are seeing Irish players swap their homeland for League One and Two and had a little look at those who have made the journey and those we should be keeping our eye on.
Part two is going to look at this from the angle of the English club and I am delighted to say that Lincoln City CEO Liam Scully joined me for a chat this week to discuss his club’s approach to the Irish market. I would just like to say a massive thank you to Liam for taking time out of his schedule to join me. His club have and have had a string of players from over the Irish Sea and so I was delighted to get an insight from him.
I started by asking Liam about what has taken Lincoln to the Irish market and moved to asking how the club go about signing players and why they send young players to Ireland on loan.
What is it that has attracted Lincoln City to the Irish market?
Liam Scully: It’s not a single thing, it’s quite a number of components. The team at the FA of Ireland have done a really good job with the changes they have made to the league and it’s a very competitive division. To compare it to English football, you would have teams that range from bottom end Championship to National League North level. Equally, economically, despite being comparative to the Championship, players in the League of Ireland aren’t on Championship money so there are players in your reach who are top end League One/Championship level players.
How do the football club identify these players? Do you have a scout who are permanently based in Ireland?
Liam Scully: It is certainly an area that we are actively scouting in. We have a number of good relationships there and with the league playing on a Friday night, it allows Jez George, our Director of Football, and other members of the scouting team to jump on a plane on a Friday and still be back to watch either Lincoln City or other English games on a Saturday. We have a scouting network and systems in place, which I am sure many teams do. The changes that the people who run the league have made have helped from a logistical point of view.
Who is it that identifies the players – is it part of the scouting team or Director of Football or solely the manager?
Liam Scully: The model at Lincoln City is that the Head Coach has the first and last word on players. We work on a profile, we look at the attributes required and it is then the recruitment team’s job to go away and find players who fit that criteria. Then, when it gets down to a shortlist that is when Mark and the coaching team come back involved in that by watching the players themselves, watching clips and maybe even getting involved in conversations with people they know in the game. You can’t say there is an A Typical approach, but the model is attribute led and when it comes down to the small details that is when Mark and the coaching team will be back involved.
The club recently sent players out to Ireland on loan, why have they been sent there as opposed to, for example, the National League system?
Liam Scully: There are a couple of reasons really. If you were to enter the loan market in England that would likely be National League, National League regional divisions or League Two whereas in Ireland you get that breadth of games right from Shamrock, who are probably Championship equivalent right through to perhaps Drogheda where we have done a lot of our loan moves. In the same breath, they get to play with and come up against players like Rory Gaffney or Gary Deegan who have played 200 to 250 games in England and we know with Freddie Draper being a teammate of Gary Deegan at Drogheda that high standards are being set. It’s a great opportunity and it gives them such a broad range of experience. Also, logistically again it helps as we are able to watch our players on a Friday night- it isn’t a massive decision making factor but it certainly helps.
Do the club have, or would they consider having, a link with a specific club in Ireland?
Liam Scully: It’s very difficult to look forward in football and say with absolute certainty but there are no plans at this moment in time to do that but that being said we have a really good relationship with the people at Drogheda. First of all, it’s a really nice club with really nice people and equally we have good relationships elsewhere. Drogheda have looked after our young players really well and that is important to us- the wider pastoral element. For a lot of the younger players at Lincoln City it might be the first time abroad or the first time abroad without parents, so it is very important that they are not just seen as footballers but that they have that wider support element. I think the people at Drogheda would be disappointed if we were to refer to them as a feeder club, they are their own club but hopefully the relationship we have with them, and others, is a win win for us all.
The League of Ireland would appear to tick a lot of Lincoln City’s boxes, both when looking to bring players and when wanting to send out young players to gain experience. When the club have narrowed down the list of attributes they are looking for in a player, the League of Ireland is potentially housing the next unearthed gem who would fit the price brackets the club are operating within.
The breadth of competition that the league offers, the types of player at the clubs and the way the clubs are run with a view to the pastoral side of the player’s welfare all play a role when looking to send a young player on loan.
So, I have had views from Irish fans and the English boardroom so I wanted to gain the view from some English fans. Sticking with the Lincoln City theme, I spoke to Lincoln City fan site The Stacey West and also Fleetwood Town fan Cods Chat about their clubs and the way they use the market. A big thank you to these guys for their time and opinions.
Your club has a strong contingent of Irish players, why do you think they look to that market?
Stacey West: it depends on which part of Ireland the player comes from. Clubs in the UK can sign players from Northern Ireland without restriction, but that’s not the case in the Republic anymore. When we left the EU it closed a lot of markets, for instance, the Netherlands. We’d signed Lewis Montsma from the Dutch second division and just beat Brexit, but we couldn’t sign a player from there now as they’d have to meet certain points criterion. The same goes for the Republic of Ireland, but not Northern Ireland. I think that’s why we’ve found ourselves shopping in Northern Ireland.
Indeed, when we brought young Oisin Gallagher over, he was playing in the Republic with Derry City but they’re based in Northern Ireland, which meant we had to appeal to FIFA to get the deal done.
Cods Chat: We used to look for hidden gems within the English league system, however, lots of English clubs so we’ve gone further afield to try and find potential. I also believe the cost of players from Ireland plays a significant role.
Your clubs have signed players such as Stephen McMullan and Sean Roughan who have been linked with clubs higher up the pyramid, do you think the aim is to sign cheap, develop and sell on?
Stacey West: I think that’s the aim for every club in the division. Peterborough United have done it in the past with players from the National League, and we’re just trying to do it to better ourselves. I don’t think that’s an Ireland thing, I think it’s a football thing. There’s talent in Ireland and a lot of their players want to move to England to make it, so it fits both parties.
Cods Chat: It’s a bit of a club ethos to help younger players develop and sell on. It’s worked with the likes of James Hill, Billy Crellin and Jay Matete and I have no doubt an Irish player will follow this route soon.
Do you have a favourite Irish player to have played for your club?
Stacey West: My all-time favourite Irish player to play for the Imps was Paul Morgan, but he didn’t come from Ireland, he came from Preston. My favourite Irish import is probably Gareth McAuley, he had a decent career after coming over from Coleraine. We had Jeff Hughes as well, another player who played high up in the English league. We also had James McClean, albeit for three days! He was going to sign from Derry, spent a couple of days training under Chris Sutton and went home not long after.
8️⃣4️⃣ appearances.
8️⃣ goals.That was just beginning for Gareth McAuley! 👏
— Lincoln City FC 🇺🇦 (@LincolnCity_FC) September 30, 2019
Cods Chat: Simple, Paddy Madden. How he never got anymore caps is beyond me, the man is a bagger!
🌟 𝙍𝙀𝘾𝙊𝙍𝘿 𝘽𝙍𝙀𝘼𝙆𝙀𝙍 🌟@Paddymadden has become #ftfc's highest ever EFL league goal scorer after scoring his 4⃣2⃣nd against Doncaster tonight! 👏#OnwardTogether pic.twitter.com/iZIwN5YRnG
— Fleetwood Town FC (@ftfc) February 9, 2021
Not necessarily linked to your club, but if you could have signed any Irish player of the last 30 years who would it be and why?
Stacey West: Damien Duff, without a doubt. I love a winger and, on his day, there were few better. Roy Keane would be in with a shout too. Those two stand out for me as the best Irish payers of the modern era, although I’m not sure either would want to play for Lincoln.
If I am being realistic, I quite like Gavin Whyte, who came to Oxford and then Cardiff. He’s always looked tricky on the ball and could do a job for the Imps.
Cods Chat: This might not be a common answer but I’d go for John O’Shea. A serial winner and versatile player whose incredible career doesn’t get the credit it deserves.
Fleetwood Town have taken exploring the Irish market a step further with their link up with Waterford FC with the two clubs using each other for friendly matches and sharing training experiences. According to Cods Chat, a few players have already crossed between the teams and you would imagine this would be something that the two clubs have in mind as they move forward with their partnership.
📢 Waterford FC can confirm young forward Phoenix Patterson has joined English League One side Fleetwood Town for an undisclosed fee.
More Info 👉 https://t.co/I8f5xPiiQC#WaterfordFC pic.twitter.com/JxbiYniNB3
— Waterford FC (@WaterfordFCie) December 19, 2022
Paddy Madden: The one cap Republic of Ireland international played for Fleetwood Town for just over 3 years after joining them from Scunthorpe United in January 2018 and went on to score over 50 goals in almost 150 appearances. He started his career at Bohemians in his native Ireland before joining Carlisle United. He has played for Yeovil Town, Scunthorpe and Fleetwood and is currently with Stockport County, who he helped fire into the Football League.
Gareth McAuley: Having joined Lincoln City from Coleraine in 2004 McAuley would go on to have an excellent career, one that saw him represent Northern Ireland 80 times and play in all of their games at Euro 2016. From Lincoln he would play Championship football with Leicester City and Ipswich Town before making the move to Premier League outfit West Bromwich Albion. Upon leaving The Baggies, he finished his career in Scotland with Rangers Football Club and was awarded an MBE in 2019 for services to football in Northern Ireland.
