Your spot on the media is full off influenced opinions sometimes as a football fan (one who likes a bet, tip and fantasy teams) its best to ignore what the ‘experts’ are saying and look at the game for what it is.

I agree with the point about some of the less glamourous players not getting a fair go. They are still professional footballers and have a big role to play.

Defenders and defensive midfielders never get the credit they deserve, people don’t understand if a goal is stopped 3 passes beforehand, its all about what makes the game go around goals.

Through my involvement with youth football I have seen the effect of this culture in young players whose understanding of football is based on the short highlights clips from Match of the Day or sky news. They think that every player dribbles every time that they get the ball and that pass and move is a sign of lack of ability.

If the FAI want to promote football and improve the standard locally they need to get fans through the turnstiles at League of Ireland grounds otherwise we will never develop homegrown talent. We cannot always depend on the English clubs to develop our senior internationals of the future. We need to do this through our own senior clubs and without attendances improving they won’t have the ability to do so.

This point was really illustrated to me when I saw Neil Lennon play live for the first time. On TV he looked like a run of the mill combative midfield, but in the flesh one realised that he covered so much ground and was always available to take a pass.