The Province Formerly Known As Munster 2018-19

[tomthefan]

Crowd of penny pinchers.
So what if Munster lose money, it's a common thing for top clubs.
Look at Real Madrid, they've been losing money every year for decades.

[deco]

Crowd of penny pinchers.
So what if Munster lose money, it's a common thing for top clubs.
Look at Real Madrid, they've been losing money every year for decades.

"Munster" is a top club

[johng]

Top 4 in Europe most years

[FLIP]

Top clubs win things

[fourthirtythree]

Real Madrid have long existed on the Nexis of gangsters- fascists (or falangists if you're a pedant) and where business and government corruption intercept. If that's your ambition for your club...

[blockhead]

Top 4 in Europe most years

8 years without silverware is pushing it a tad to be considered a "top club" johng.
You might say "Bridesmaids" ala Clermont but they just don't make enough finals to acheive even that status.
2 finals in the last 8 years, both held in Ireland, playing against travelling teams who absolutley reemed them. Both record defeats at the time IIRC.
Oh Lord, they just give and give and give. Love that team.

[ribs]

Crowd of penny pinchers.
So what if Munster lose money, it's a common thing for top clubs.
Look at Real Madrid, they've been losing money every year for decades.

Because it also means less money for Leinster ulster and Connacht, for the ail clubs, for the sevens teams, for everyone in rugby in Ireland (except Munster rugby it seems). Different to Madrid then

[Dave Cahill]

Using soccer clubs in general, elite level ones especially and Spanish clubs in particular as a comparison is bunk. The level of debt that the top clubs owe to each other is only matched by the indebtedness each holds over the other. The circular flow of debt almost zeroes out. In Spain, before the Galactico era started, the amount of money each club owed other Spanish clubs and was in turn owed to them was so nearly actual zero that the RFEF and La Liga were seriously considering just writing off the whole lot.

Even the individual transfer figures themselves are fluid. It isn't paid all at once, different amounts come in at different times, those amounts can change and they go on and come off the books at different times and in different places. Liverpool won't receive an add-on for Coutinho winning the Champions League. Southampton (and probably Celtic too), on the other hand will get a nice bump when the next installment for Van Dijk comes in.

Real Madrid's last big splash was the burst of spending that saw Bale, James, Illarramendi and Kroos join, they've since shifted on Ronaldo, Alonso, Di Maria and God knows how much they'll get for Isco. Point being though, they probably haven't fully paid for the first lot, and haven't been fully paid for the second.

The only real, quantifiable debt Real Madrid have is about 100m in bank loans (plus whatever they decide to draw down to redo the Bernabeu). For a club worth around 3.5 billion, that's chump change

[blockhead]

Mike Sherry retires.
When he wasn't injured, he wasn't half bad.
He got a league winners medal way back in 2011.
Murray, Earls and Archer are now the last remaining players that have won a winners medal while playing for Munster.

[neiliog93]

Mike Sherry retires.
When he wasn't injured, he wasn't half bad.
He got a league winners medal way back in 2011.
Murray, Earls and Archer are now the last remaining players that have won a winners medal while playing for Munster.

h

He wasn't very good either.

[dropkick]

Mike Sherry retires.
When he wasn't injured, he wasn't half bad.
He got a league winners medal way back in 2011.
Murray, Earls and Archer are now the last remaining players that have won a winners medal while playing for Munster.

h

He wasn't very good either.

Before his injuries he was a very good hooker and capable of challenging Best for the Ireland spot. Since the injuries he's been a shadow of his former self.

[cormac]

He was a decent player but massively overrated by Munster supporters. Never even close to challenging Rory Best for the Ireland spot.

[Ruckedtobits]

He was a decent player but massively overrated by Munster supporters. Never even close to challenging Rory Best for the Ireland spot.

+1

[dropkick]

He was a decent player but massively overrated by Munster supporters. Never even close to challenging Rory Best for the Ireland spot.

And therefore massively underrated by Leinster supporters.

[cormac]

He was a decent player but massively overrated by Munster supporters. Never even close to challenging Rory Best for the Ireland spot.

And therefore massively underrated by Leinster supporters.

Sorry but one doesn't necessarily follow the other. Munster haven't had a hooker in Best's class since Jerry Flannery was in his pomp.

[offshorerules]

To be fait none of the provinces have.

[Oldschool]

He was a decent player but massively overrated by Munster supporters. Never even close to challenging Rory Best for the Ireland spot.

And therefore massively underrated by Leinster supporters.

Ergo
On average, he was average.
QED

[wixfjord]

Sherry was a really solid hooker when he came on the scene with a lovely throwing action. A pity he couldn't stay fit.

We've quite a few 'just below test level' hookers knocking around Irish rugby now.

I'd class Herring, Cronin, Scannell, Marshall in that bracket.

A big opportunity for someone with real class to usurp them and become our test starter for a long time once Best exits stage.

Kelleher, Tierney Martin, McBurney should see a big opportunity there.

[hugonaut]

Sherry was a really solid hooker when he came on the scene with a lovely throwing action. A pity he couldn't stay fit.

We've quite a few 'just below test level' hookers knocking around Irish rugby now.

I'd class Herring, Cronin, Scannell, Marshall in that bracket.

A big opportunity for someone with real class to usurp them and become our test starter for a long time once Best exits stage.

Kelleher, Tierney Martin, McBurney should see a big opportunity there.

I think it is very strange to include Sean Cronin in that bracket - he's played in almost 70 tests over the last decade. He's beaten the All Blacks twice, beaten South Africa and Argentina as a starter, and played in every Six Nations tournament since 2010 [bar 2017 when he was injured].

I don't think you can ignore Joe's huge emphasis on Rory Best's captaincy as a selection priority, because there have been long stretches when Cro was lighting up pitches around Europe and didn't get the starts that his form would have deserved in more openly contested positions.

To be frank, if you win the Leinster Player of the Year award, you're an exceptional player ... because you've beaten a load of other serious test players to the brass ring.

[Flash Gordon]

Would be a pretty decent plug the gap signing for them but a lost opportunity for development. Again.

https://www.rte.ie/sport/rugby/2019/070 ... d-munster/