With just two instalments of MNS to go before we pack up our bags for another season, thoughts turn to how this year has gone.
In next week's blog I'll be handing out my personal awards for the season. But there's still at least one more game to go for every club and in some cases a number of relegation/promotion matches, which should provide really exciting moments for the supporters of those clubs, and some of the most tense 90 minutes for everyone involved.
I have mixed feelings about the promotion of UCD back to the Premier Division.
On the one hand I have huge admiration for a club that go about their business in a professional way, and the new facility at Belfield Park is a very comfortable venue to go and watch a match, (albeit, the floodlights should be much stronger).
Manager Martin Russell deserves great credit in his first season as manager at the club. In fact in his first season as manager full stop.
The downside is the fact that they have such a small core support, and it's another Dublin club in the top division.
With the possibility of Shelbourne or Sporting Fingal also getting promoted, we run the risk of the top division in the country resembling a metropolitan league rather than a national league.
If Sporting join UCD in the top flight, it would be two clubs with small support bases, and would very likely bring the average crowds for the division across the year well down.
The reality is that there are simply too many clubs in Dublin to sustain the sort of fan base that's required to maintain the clubs viability. The problem remains - what set of supporters are willing to see their team go out of existence for the greater good of the game? I think the answer to that question is an emphatic none.
I asked a Shelbourne supporter in our office if he could ever see himself switching allegiance to any other club in the league and his response was that he'd follow Limerick before he could support another club in Dublin, and that's the crux of the problem.
Rivalries which are vital in many respects, are also the reason why supporters would find it impossible to cheer on another team. The only time we see anything like this is when a League of Ireland tam plays in Europe, but I suppose with UEFA Coefficients involved, all clubs ultimately benefit from any individual club doing well.
When Wimbledon moved from Wimbledon to Milton Keynes, a large body of the clubs support refused to support the newly named ‘MK Dons’ and started getting behind non league Wimbledon AFC instead.
Fans are a passionate bunch and loyalty is not something that gets switched easily.
So the idea of merging Bohemians and Shelbourne or Shamrock Rovers and St.Pat's in principle, might look like a good idea for all sorts of reasons, but in terms of it being a realistic option.
It's probably fair to say that you're more likely to see George Hamilton doing handstands singing ‘I've got a feeling’ on the pitch on Cup final day, before you'll see Rovers and Pat's fans cheering a combined team in unison.
Bohemians achievement in winning back to back league titles (assuming they don't lose 7-0 to Bray and Rovers beat Pat's 9-0 at Inchicore.......footballs a funny old game Brian, as the cliché goes!) is a momentous one of the club.
No Bohemians team had ever won successive league titles in the past, and for Pat Fenlon a fifth league title as manager, three with Shels and now two with Bohs, starts to put him into the Brian Cody zone in terms of managerial achievements.
With an EGM called for this week, it would seem that big changes are afoot for the Phibsboro club, but they can look back on season 2009 with particular joy given that they pipped great rivals Shamrock Rovers to the big prize.
It also sets up a great ongoing rivalry between the two clubs heading into next season. Rovers have something to aim for and Bohs have something to hold on to. It's the kind of thing the league needs to sell itself to the public.
We had a few interesting moments in the MNS studio this week. I almost laughed when the editor Brummie Steve asked me to ask the panel what they thought of Eoin Hand's singing, when in fact all we were hearing in the studio was the sound of glorious silence.
At first I thought the CD hadn't played and nobody could hear anything, but thankfully viewers were getting to hear Eoin’s dulcet tones, even if Dave and Colm couldn't play Simon Cowell in studio.
I hope Eoin’s CD does well, as all funds raised go to the national council for the blind, and if you want to hear the CD in full go to the NCBI website and you can help yourself and a good cause.
One man whose voice probably wouldn't stretch to recording a CD is Sligo Rovers boss Paul Cook who copped a lot of flak after putting out a virtual reserve team against Bohemians at Dalymount. What struck me most was the fact that we received more emails from disgruntled Sligo fans than from upset Shamrock Rovers supporters.
The Bit O'Red aren't out of the relegation woods yet, and if they were to go down come seasons end, Cookies’ gamble could turn out to be as bad as the man who bets the farm on his two pair, when he's staring at his opponents flush.
I hope Sligo don't drop a division, and I don't expect they will, but it still strikes me as very strange that the manager would make the decision Paul Cook did last Friday night.
Speaking of copping a lot of flak, the production team slaughtered me for the use of the word ‘rapido’, in my interview with Arthur Duffy in Derry. I think a number of eyes were thrown to heaven at the same time.
We have two very good MNS programmes in the pipeline top finish the season. We all appreciate the emails you've sent us throughout the season, and hope it continues into the new campaign.
Already I'm starting to dread those Friday nights when I've no live matches to go to. I suppose the pre-season will roll around soon enough, but make sure you tune in on Friday night for the final night of the live coverage at 7.30 this Friday on RTÉ Two and online at www.rte.ie/live.
