Falastur Posted October 13, 2016 Report Share Posted October 13, 2016 (edited) Just read an article from the Irish Independent suggesting that we are scouting a player called Daryl Horgan who currently plays as a winger for Dundalk. I'm trying to wrap my head around this one as I'm sure we currently have all visa positions filled and I'm not aware of him having any Australian citizenship or way around the rules, but apparently the journos think the club are weighing up a bid all the same. He's another Irish recruit - and the article specifically references Damien Duff straight away - but on the plus side, he's actually 24 rather than a mid-30s player looking for a good retirement platform. No indication in the article of whether he is actually interested, it's all very early-stages. http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/league-of-ireland/exclusive-foreign-club-preparing-to-make-offer-to-dundalk-star-daryl-horgan-35128071.html? Edited October 13, 2016 by Falastur Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hyperfuzz Posted October 13, 2016 Report Share Posted October 13, 2016 Article suggests it's an end-of-season move Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haz Posted October 13, 2016 Report Share Posted October 13, 2016 49 minutes ago, hyperfuzz said: Article suggests it's an end-of-season move Colazo replacement?, since him and Sorenson are the only VISA players out of contract (from memory) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommac Posted October 13, 2016 Report Share Posted October 13, 2016 Maybe another Melbourne team error, and it's Victory? Think they have a visa spot left Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Falastur Posted October 13, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 13, 2016 1 hour ago, hyperfuzz said: Article suggests it's an end-of-season move End of season for Dundalk. The League of Ireland runs Spring to Autumn, and they are five games from the end of their season. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tesla Posted October 13, 2016 Report Share Posted October 13, 2016 (edited) 1 hour ago, tommac said: Maybe another Melbourne team error, and it's Victory? Think they have a visa spot left More like Melbourne Knights or South Melbourne, not sure he'd get a game at either of those though. Edited October 13, 2016 by Tesla Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bt50 Posted October 13, 2016 Report Share Posted October 13, 2016 Gotta love the comments saying hes taking a step down and should hold out for an spl or championship offer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tesla Posted October 13, 2016 Report Share Posted October 13, 2016 (edited) 11 minutes ago, bt50 said: Gotta love the comments saying hes taking a step down and should hold out for an spl or championship offer. Lol, delusional. Even Steven Gray had to prove himself in the NPL first before getting an A-Lesgue contract. You dont go from the League of Ireland straight to the A-League, way too big a quality gap. Edited October 13, 2016 by Tesla Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cadete Posted October 13, 2016 Report Share Posted October 13, 2016 (edited) 8 minutes ago, Tesla said: Lol, delusional. Even Steven Gray had to prove himself in the NPL first before getting an A-Lesgue contract. You dont go from the League of Ireland straight to the A-League, way too big a quality gap. Yeah, be more logical for him to make the step down the UEFA League rankings to the Maco League from Ireland... where Soccer is the country's biggest sport not its Third or Fourth most watched like in Ireland. Edited October 13, 2016 by cadete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tesla Posted October 13, 2016 Report Share Posted October 13, 2016 Werent CFG starting a team in South Africa? Maybe if this bloke works really hard he can get a few appearances off the bench there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jw1739 Posted October 13, 2016 Report Share Posted October 13, 2016 Ipswich also after him. However, can he follow the Luke Brattan route, sign for Manchester and immediately be loaned out somewhere prior to coming to us next season, either as a signing or on loan? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Falastur Posted October 13, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 13, 2016 54 minutes ago, Tesla said: Werent CFG starting a team in South Africa? Maybe if this bloke works really hard he can get a few appearances off the bench there. It wasn't CFG starting a team in South Africa. The guy who created Ajax Cape Town left that club a year ago and bought another club determined to do the same again. He rebranded the club as Cape Town City FC and pushed hard for CFG to invest in his club, including making a number of comments to the press along the lines of that he was actively seeking a foreign club to buy into his endeavour (he tried to go for Leicester City as a back-up, too). It looks like CFG have ignored his offer though, I'm guessing probably because he wants to do the same as he did before with ACT (i.e. sell the naming rights to the club and feed a line of youth players to the mother club, but be free to otherwise run the club how he sees fit as his own personal fiefdom) and I can't see CFG liking that level of hands-off affiliation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tesla Posted October 13, 2016 Report Share Posted October 13, 2016 (edited) 1 hour ago, cadete said: Yeah, be more logical for him to make the step down the UEFA League rankings to the Maco League from Ireland... where Soccer is the country's biggest sport not its Third or Fourth most watched like in Ireland. Lol, at the start of this season the Macedonian league was actually above the League of Ireland, and had been for many years. The only reason the unusual event of the League of Ireland being ranked higher than the Macedonian league occurred is only because Dundalk qualified for the Europa League due to losing in the Champions League qualifying (though I do give them credit for getting as far as they did in Champions League qualifying as they did beat one fairly decent team in BATE). Anyway, given that in recent times the Macedonian League has been ranked higher, I honestly do think it's a better league, despite being a league where players dont even get paid half the time. And I'm under no allusions about the quality of the Macedonian league, it's not great either, so it really says something about the quality of the Irish league. FWIW, soccer isn't the number one sport in Macedonia either. I've always assumed reason the League of Ireland is so bad, and the same probably applies for the Welsh league and Northern Irish league, is because the decent players are probably quickly signed by teams in England and Scotland. Edited October 13, 2016 by Tesla Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jw1739 Posted October 13, 2016 Report Share Posted October 13, 2016 5 minutes ago, Tesla said: Lol, at the start of this season the Macedonian league was actually above the League of Ireland, and had been for many years. The only reason the unusual event of the League of Ireland being ranked higher than the Macedonian league occurred is only because Dundalk qualified for the Europa League due to losing in the Champions League qualifying (though I do give them credit for getting as far as they did in Champions League qualifying as they did beat one fairly decent team in BATE). Anyway, given that in recent times the Macedonian League has been ranked higher, I honestly do think it's a better league, despite being a league where players dont even get paid half the time. And I'm under no allusions about the quality of the Macedonian league, it's not great either, so it really says something about the quality of the Irish league. FWIW, soccer isn't the number one sport in Macedonia either. I've always assumed reason the League of Ireland is so bad, and the same probably applies for the Welsh league and Northern Irish league, is because the decent players are probably quickly signed by teams in England and Scotland. Rugby Union, Hurling and Gaelic Football probably have a sizable influence too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tesla Posted October 13, 2016 Report Share Posted October 13, 2016 (edited) 6 minutes ago, jw1739 said: Rugby Union, Hurling and Gaelic Football probably have a sizable influence too. I meant the league is really bad in comparison to the Irish national team which has always been decent and competitive in qualifying for major tournaments, it's an unusual occurrence for a developed European country to have such a weak league in comparison to it's national team. Having other popular sports doesn't help, but what I'm saying is those other sports also affect the quality of their national team as there would be talent drain, and so it doesn't really explain why the league is so bad in comparison to the national team. Meanwhile it's a cheap and easy place for lower league English clubs to scout and sign anyone half decent for little money. Edited October 13, 2016 by Tesla 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cadete Posted October 13, 2016 Report Share Posted October 13, 2016 (edited) 10 minutes ago, Tesla said: I meant the league is really bad in comparison to the Irish national team which has always been decent and competitive in qualifying for major tournaments, it's an unusual occurrence for a developed European country to have such a weak league in comparison to it's national team. Having other popular sports doesn't help, but what I'm saying is those other sports also affect the quality of their national team as there would be talent drain, and so it doesn't really explain why the league is so bad in comparison to the national team. Meanwhile it's a cheap and easy place for lower league English clubs to scout and sign anyone half decent for little money. You answered your own question... the NT is good because all good Irish Kids get thrown into the English Academies from a really young age. Most of them sink in these places but those that swim often end up becoming half decent footballers. Ireland has had so much of its population migrate elsewhere they have also been smart in recruiting players who cant make the NT of their birth to play for Ireland. Or in the case of a few Scottish born players just giving them a better alternative than playing for Scotland :up:. Edited October 13, 2016 by cadete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tesla Posted October 13, 2016 Report Share Posted October 13, 2016 Anyway the point was that signing a player from the League of Ireland doesn't exactly excite me, it certainly could be an Aaron Mooy situation of a bloke who is clearly a class above the rest of the league, and his team did get into the Europa League so there must be someone half decent in that team, but it just reminds me of the British and Irish backpacker players that were a common feature in this country before the league was so good. It doesn't help that the two best Irish players that have been in the A-League never even played in the League of Ireland. Also, if this bloke was so good, why has he never gotten an international cap while other Irish wingers from League One and Aberdeen (I reckon we've got a better squad than Aberdeen TBH) get call ups? All I'm saying is, on paper he doesn't look great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Falastur Posted October 13, 2016 Author Report Share Posted October 13, 2016 (edited) 10 minutes ago, Tesla said: Anyway the point was that signing a player from the League of Ireland doesn't exactly excite me, it certainly could be an Aaron Mooy situation of a bloke who is clearly a class above the rest of the league, and his team did get into the Europa League so there must be someone half decent in that team, but it just reminds me of the British and Irish backpacker players that were a common feature in this country before the league was so good. It doesn't help that the two best Irish players that have been in the A-League never even played in the League of Ireland. Also, if this bloke was so good, why has he never gotten an international cap while other Irish wingers from League One and Aberdeen (I reckon we've got a better squad than Aberdeen TBH) get call ups? All I'm saying is, on paper he doesn't look great. In fairness, it seems that the Irish national team at present has a thing for refusing to select players from their own native league. If you google his name, you can find a lot of stories where people are saying that Horgan has done everything that he possibly could do to be called up for the national team and at this point is being left out unfairly: http://www.punditarena.com/football/dmcevoy/kilbane-daryl-horgan-more-worthy-of-ireland-inclusion-than-veteran-winger/ For the record, I knew nothing of Horgan before this story emerged, have never seen him play and couldn't really care less either way on whether he joins so long as whatever happens is in the best interests of the club. I'm just arguing the toss for the sake of what I'm reading in the press articles. Edited October 13, 2016 by Falastur Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tesla Posted October 13, 2016 Report Share Posted October 13, 2016 2 minutes ago, Falastur said: In fairness, it seems that the Irish national team at present has a thing for refusing to select players from their own native league. If you google his name, you can find a lot of stories where people are saying that Horgan has done everything that he possibly could do to be called up for the national team and at this point is being left out unfairly: http://www.punditarena.com/football/dmcevoy/kilbane-daryl-horgan-more-worthy-of-ireland-inclusion-than-veteran-winger/ Well they play Zenit in the Europa League next week, probably the best team this guy has ever played against, might have to tune in and see for myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KSK_47 Posted October 14, 2016 Report Share Posted October 14, 2016 If legit, it does seem a curious one. Particularly as mentioned because all visa spots are filled. But i am sure if it means the ffa are getting their hands on some more of cfgs "vision" they will find a way to bend the rules again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cadete Posted October 14, 2016 Report Share Posted October 14, 2016 20 minutes ago, Tesla said: Anyway the point was that signing a player from the League of Ireland doesn't exactly excite me, it certainly could be an Aaron Mooy situation of a bloke who is clearly a class above the rest of the league, and his team did get into the Europa League so there must be someone half decent in that team, but it just reminds me of the British and Irish backpacker players that were a common feature in this country before the league was so good. It doesn't help that the two best Irish players that have been in the A-League never even played in the League of Ireland. Also, if this bloke was so good, why has he never gotten an international cap while other Irish wingers from League One and Aberdeen (I reckon we've got a better squad than Aberdeen TBH) get call ups? All I'm saying is, on paper he doesn't look great. 1. Of course none of Ireland's top players play in Ireland when a couple hours away in England is the world's most watched and most competitive second and third tier competitions (The second tier with a lot of sides as well), and another competition in that of the Scottish League which these days would sit comparatively to the second half of The Championship putting aside Celtic. This would be like Kiwi's deciding to play locally than in Australia. 2. Aberdeen are actually the best they have been in a very very long time due to an injection of money in the area... they pushed Celtic for a far while last year and TBH they are better than us due to getting to playing European Football. FWIW they are ranked half star higher than us in FIFA 2016 - Shit system for comparison but its hard to find something else to compare an A-League side to a SPL side. 3. Not really relevant but the shit that happens before, during and after a Rovers vs Bohs match def pretty exciting... just type it into Youtube. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jw1739 Posted October 14, 2016 Report Share Posted October 14, 2016 4 hours ago, haz said: Colazo replacement?, since him and Sorenson are the only VISA players out of contract (from memory) Correct. ATM Colazo is here on a one-season loan, and Sorensen is into the second year of his contract and IMO will retire and stay on in the City Group in some role or other at the end of the season. There are all sorts of possibilities, and one thing is for sure - if City Football Group want him for one of their teams they'll find a way to do it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deeming Posted October 17, 2016 Report Share Posted October 17, 2016 Quote http://www.goal.com/en-au/news/4019/transfer-zone/2016/10/17/28540062/melbourne-city-deny-daryl-horgan-interest By Michael Huguenin 0 17/10/2016 14:42:00 The Irish winger has been critical to Dundalk's historic run to the Europa League but is unlikely to end up in the A-League Melbourne City have denied any interest in Damien Duff lookalike Daryl Horgan, who has reportedly caught the eye of a number of English clubs following his exploits for Dundalk. Horgan, 24, has scored eight goals in 28 appearances for the League of Ireland leaders in the 2016 season, while the winger has also impressed in Dundalk's successful qualification for the 2016-17 Europa League. A report in Dublin-based newspaper 'The Independent' last week, claimed Melbourne City had "stepped up their pursuit" of Horgan after being informed of the Irishman's ability by Manchester City. But when contacted by Goal Australia, the A-League club denied they are tracking Horgan. Dundalk overcame BATE Borisov to move within a play-off of the Champions League group stage only to lose over two legs to Legia Warsaw, but still became just the second Irish club to qualify for the Europa League. Horgan set up the opening goal in Dundalk's critical 3-0 home win over BATE that secured a spot in Europe. Dundalk have since notched a 1-1 draw at AZ and defeated Maccabi Tel Aviv 1-0 at home, with Horgan setting up both goals. Horgan's contract with Dundalk expires at the end of their season, meaning he can leave the club for free, and it has been widely reported that Ipswich Town are leading the chase to sign the winger. Duff, who bears more than a passing resemblance to his younger compatriot, played 15 A-League matches for City in the 2014-15 season before finishing his career in the League of Ireland with Shamrock Rovers. City have three foreign players contracted for the 2017-18 A-League campaign in Bruno Fornaroli, Fernando Brandan and Michael Jakobsen. Thomas Sorensen's deal will expire at the end of the season, while Nicolas Colazo is on loan from Boca Juniors Interesting that the club denied interest usually the line is "we don't comment on transfer speculation". So looks like a complete beat-up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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