Worrying trend of being sold short by English clubs

Whatever about the debate on the merits of the National League the protracted saga of Richie Baker's proposed move to Bristol City has served to illustrate yet again the fact that few people with cheque writing powers in the English game appear to take Irish football seriously.

It is likely that the young Dubliner could cope rather comfortably at a higher level than that currently watched by City's fans at Ashton Gate but despite having had ample opportunity to size up the winger and repeated expressions of interest nobody there seems willing to take anything approaching a gamble on whether the teenager fulfils his obvious potential.

Instead the small fee now plus more later if he turns out to be the next Ronaldo approach, seems to have been adopted with Shelbourne, to their credit (but presumably to the growing frustration of the player) refusing to let their brightest young star leave on the cheap.

Having dragged on for so long it now seems likely that Baker will still be playing his football at Tolka Park at the end of the season. That is not good for anybody concerned because, much as they must be keen to hang on to him, Shelbourne's bottom line, like that of any other club, must be that every player has his price.

The worrying aspect of Baker's problems is the reluctance of Bristol City's management to put their money where their mouth is appears to be a pretty fair reflection of how English clubs view the game here.

But the fact that managers from the lower leagues in England seem prepared to write off the league completely is, in some ways, almost as worrying.

Every summer a steady stream of decent English and Scottish outfits come to Ireland to play pre-season friendlies. The country is awash with scouts, the language barrier doesn't exist and there are any number of informal ways in which a manager can hear about a decent player. Yet it is generally the case that if a player hits 17 or 18 in this country his chances of moving to Britain have all but passed.

Now there have to be mistakes made, of course. The case of Ger Crossley, though not strictly applicable, is interesting because any number of National League clubs would have happily snapped up a player who, having been released by Celtic went on to make the the UEFA All Star team from last summer's European Youth Championships in Sweden but the young Belfastman had to travel the length and breadth of Britain before finding a Scottish second division outfit interested on having him on their books.

Now Crossley appears to have felt that moving back here would be a step backwards even by comparison with signing for Hamilton which is a cause for some concern but then he has presumably taken advice on the matter which is a cause for even more.

The opportunity for clubs to make serious money from the sale of players are rare and becoming more so by the day. The Bosman ruling, which has meant that players out of contract can move between EU states for free, has not helped.

But there is little doubt that, for all of that, Irish clubs are being sold short when they do have a player of genuine worth. The fact that Michael Reddy was out of contract at Kilkenny City makes the club's case for more than the £50,000 they are rumoured to have made so far and the further £50,000 they are believed to stand to make if things go well for him, rather flimsy under the current regulations.

But it's interesting that even when the rules were more favourable Roy Keane was allowed to leave for £30,000 and it took Steve Staunton becoming a Liverpool and Ireland regular and a transfer to Aston Villa before Dundalk, who initially got £20,000 for the player, got over £250,000 for him.

Four years ago Steve Finnan, the Limerick-born winger now playing with Fulham, moved from Welling United to Birmingham City for £100,000 at the age of 19. There may have been some add-on clauses but that much was paid up front to the non-league outfit.

Had he come from his home town club there is, of course, no question that a six-figure sum would have changed hands up front. Like Baker it would have been a case of a pittance now and some real money if and when the player effectively proves himself.

It's a hell of a system and the worst part is that it only looks like getting worse.