Roddy Collins feels sentiment is holding Irish soccer back.
The ex-Bohemians manager recently made the point in his column in The Star that for example every Dublin club apart from Shamrock Rovers and Bohs should be gotten rid of to streamline the League of Ireland:
"First of all, we need to get rid of every club in Dublin outside of Bohemians and Shamrock Rovers.
They are the two strongest teams in the capital and they would only get stronger if they were left on their own to fight for the hearts and minds of Dubliners."
He reiterated that point on Off The Ball tonight as he joined Stuart Byrne on the show to review the big domestic soccer stories.
"Something drastic has to happen if you want Dundalk vs Cork as the norm, Bohs and Rovers as the norm with 5,000, 6,000 or 7,000 people in. Something drastic has to happen, but you know what? It won't happen," he said.
"It's just not going to happen in the League of Ireland but there's too many people looking after their own corner and their own little interests. They live off the game last week and say 'the league is great, the attendances are up'. They're up in Cork and only for them and Dundalk, you'd have no attendances."
He also added: "This is the problem with football in Ireland: Sentiment. It's built on sentiment."
Stuey also feels that the changing geography of Dublin means some other tough decisions needs to be made.
"Geographically, Dublin has changed. It's a different city to what it was 20 or 30 years ago. In my opinion, Dalymount is gone. It's an ancient stadium and there hasn't been a big crowd in Bohs for 20 or 30 years. It has fantastic memories but it's a stadium for the '60s," he said.
Dundalk's Richie Towell ©INPHO/Morgan Treacy
Stuey also reviewed Dundalk's victory over Cork City and cannot see anybody beating the reigning champions based on the first 10 games, given that the Lilywhites look to have found an even higher gear.
Roddy also agreed, saying: "I think Dundalk at this moment in time, I don't think anyone in the league strong enough to catch them."
He and Roddy also discussed the situation at Sligo Rovers who are languishing towards the bottom of the table.
"I'm looking at Owen [Heary] and I'm willing him to do it, but I just don't think it's going to happen for him," said Roddy, although Stuey feels Bohemians' strong start this season has much to do with the foundations built by Heary when he was in charge last season.
