AN independent review is to be launched by the board of NIFL (Northern Ireland Football League) into the poor performances of Irish League clubs in Europe this summer.
Three clubs – Cliftonville, Crusaders, and Linfield – exited at their first opportunity in the European Conference League, while champions Larne face a tough test to progress in that competition.
NIFL CEO Gerard Lawlor acknowledged: “Europe has been very disappointing for us a league this year, we won’t make any bones about that.”
The League chief highlighted the financial implications of such failure, saying: “The one thing we always have to remember about Europe – European football is the biggest income generator for all our clubs, not just the four that are competing.
“Hopefully Larne can pull it off but we need to sit down and analyse all those European performances and take them seriously, and all the managers have bought into that.”
League runners-up Linfield lost 4-3 on aggregate to Icelandic side Stjarnan, play-off winners Crusaders went out after a penalty shootout at Seaview against debutant Welsh club Caernarfon Town, and Irish Cup winners Cliftonville succumbed 4-1 over two legs against Latvian outfit Auda.
Latvia’s champions RFS thrashed Larne 7-0 overall in the Champions League qualifiers but the Inver Park men have a second chance in the Conference League qualifiers against Kosovo’s Ballkani.
The Balkan side beat Tiernan Lynch’s side 7-1 on aggregate last year, although Lawlor says hope remains: “Larne have a chance, they [Ballkani] have lost a lot of players, they don’t have the same quality.”
Yet he felt the other three clubs certainly could have done better: “Those were three ties that we could have been winning…I feel the Cliftonville side that took the Irish Cup would have beaten that team very easily over two legs – but they weren’t prepared for Europe.”
A year ago Lawlor strongly advocated a move to summer football, and that remains an aim, but he knows that’s not the only answer:
“It’s not just me saying ‘Change the season’ [to summer football]. We’re asking ‘How do we do it? How do we support each other? How can we do better, how we can help the clubs to perform better on the global stage?’”
NIFL’s reaction to such questions is to instigate this review of club performances in Europe by an independent expert from outside Northern Ireland. No appointment has been made yet but League representatives are talking to a number of people, said Lawlor:
“We want them to analyse from the outside in, to produce a report and a number of recommendations as to how we feel we can do better in those European competitions.
“Some of us may think we know the answers. For us it’s a deep dive into an issue.
“I see myself as a disruptor: I like to challenge myself and our wonderful team here, and they challenge me. The landscape of football is changing and if we don’t change in NIFL we’re going to be left behind in Northern Ireland.”