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Ireland is turning out to be an interesting sort of football microcosm. Football is a summer sport in Ireland, for one thing, so it's out of step with much of the rest of the world. That means when mid-July rolls around, we'll be entering the European Champions Cup during the heat of our league programme, rather than during the offseason like clubs in many other countries.
The best Irish players don't play in Ireland. No member of the last Ireland squad plays his club football at home; most ply their trade in England, with a handful in the USA, Russia, and Italy. Gareth Kearney, whom I signed after I spotted him on a news release about the selections for the U21 team, is the only member of that team who plays for an Irish club. Gareth had recently been released by Greenock Morton, who play in Scotland's top league.
So, the Irish Premier Division is made up of the next tier of Irish players, along with a handful of foreign lads, mostly from England. I've put together the most diverse team in the league, with one Belgian (Pasquale Van Daele), one Costa Rican (Kenneth Díaz), one Englishman (Darcy Bradford) and one Dutchman (Alexander van der Steen). Loanees Aaron Sikumoya (Zambia) and Dean McCarthy (Wales) add even more international flavor. Perhaps my managerial alter ego being Dutch has something to do with that. I also have Dutch and Norwegian staff members, which sets us apart from our all-Irish opponents that much more.
The separation between Irish football and that of the rest of the world is fun, but I can also see how it might become a bit stifling in time. When it does, I suppose I can move on, whether it's in this dynasty story or in a new one.
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