TO SAY 2019 has been an eventful year for Irish soccer would be putting in mildly.
Both the men’s and women’s senior teams got new managerial eras underway, while there were some terrific results at underage level.
However, all these developments were overshadowed by various controversies relating to the FAI, which led to the departure of John Delaney from the association and revelations regarding its catastrophic financial state.
The future of the League of Ireland has even been questioned, while the impact of Irish football’s financial crisis is expected to have repercussions for years to come.
Women’s football in this country has tended to be treated particularly shabbily in recent years, notably prompting the infamous protest from players for better working conditions back in 2017.
There is a widespread sense that the situation has improved for the women’s national team since then, though 2019 was not without its problems.
Colin Bell, who many felt had improved the team since his appointment in February 2017, despite failing to oversee their qualification for the 2019 World Cup, abruptly stepped down from his role, taking over as Huddersfield assistant boss instead.
“I had a fantastic offer [from Huddersfield] which I declined, then Huddersfield made a better offer and then I told the FAI what was going on,” Bell told RTÉ. “The question then was ‘What do we have to do to keep you?’
“So we went through a few things and had some really good conversations. I made a list of things I thought needed to be done, and how my position should then be defined. We were speaking about over the next four years.
Bell’s departure was not lamented by everyone. Aine O’Gorman pointed out that he had achieved no more success than previous managers.
Others, however, such as Diane Caldwell, expressed significant disappointment with his exit.
Either way, it was not an ideal scenario. Ireland faced their first Euro 2021 qualifier against Montenegro with caretaker boss Tom O’Connor in charge.
After suggestions that the FAI were considering promoting a coach from underage level to the senior role, there was blowback.
Megan Campbell suggested to reporters that an internal appointment would represent a “regression” for women’s football.
Eventually, ex-Netherlands boss Vera Pauw undertook the role, with well-respected former Peamount boss Eileen Gleeson coming in as assistant.
The team have got off to a decent start, with two wins and a draw from their opening three qualifiers. The most recent Greece match was frustrating though, given that Ireland led from the 13th minute and had good opportunities to extend their advantage, before conceding an equaliser in the game’s dying seconds.
Campbell has been impressed with Vera Pauw since she took over as Ireland boss.
Source: Laszlo Geczo/INPHO
Campbell was unavailable for that encounter, and has played just once so far under the new management set-up, in the home fixture with Ukraine, though she has been impressed in the limited time she has spent with them.
Nevertheless, the FAI’s financial woes have cast a grim shadow over Irish football, and while the Man City full-back is trying her best to focus purely on football matters, she acknowledges the situation is far from ideal.
“You’ll always have that small doubt in your head: is it going to hurt us?” she tells The42. “But as players, we just like to keep our head on football as it is.
“We’ll leave that to the people who deal with those things. We as players should keep our heads down and stay out of that. At the end of the day, we’re representing our country and we like to do so at the highest level and the highest standard we can.
“So for us as players, we just need to focus on the next games. If we can get results and make it to a major tournament, then we’ve done our job.
Qualification for a major tournament would certainly provide a boost to the association’s perilous financial state, though Campbell plays down the notion that there is any additional pressure on players’ shoulders to qualify as a result of the current mess.
“I don’t know if we would look at that in terms of the expectation on that side of things, but we all put the expectations on ourselves, because we have no real excuses, with the amount of us who are playing at a professional level and a high standard now.
“We all know the qualities that we can bring as a team. So the expectation is probably coming from within ourselves and the team to try to perform as best we can to make those tournaments. But not only for those who are in the squad now, but for those who have paved the way for us.
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“I know without those players playing, we wouldn’t be where we are and we wouldn’t be as lucky as we are today. So I think the expectation comes more from within us than externally.”
For Campbell herself, there have been “positive things” to take from 2019. An ACL injury had kept her out of action for 16 months, before she returned back in February amid an FA Cup win over Watford.
Campbell pictured with the FA Cup last May.
Source: PA Archive/PA Images
Yet even after making her comeback, patience has been required. It was the end of April when she completed 90 minutes for the first time since her return, and while City won both the League Cup and the FA Cup last season, she had to be content with a place on the bench for both games.
There was a sense of frustration that the double didn’t become a domestic treble. They lost just one of their 20 league matches in the 2018-19 campaign, but still finished seven points behind champions Arsenal, after a couple of costly draws.
This season, the two teams are neck and neck again, with the Gunners currently three points ahead of their rivals at the top after 10 games.
It has been a somewhat frustrating for Campbell in the sense that she has not always started matches, though she did complete 90 minutes in their most recent league fixture — a comfortable 5-0 win at home to Brighton. She was also part of their Champions League campaign, playing the full 90 minutes as City were dumped out at the last-16 stage by Atletico Madrid.
“Hopefully, come the end of the season, I’ll be playing a lot more, but I think I started seven and come on in other games. The amount of games I’ve played already this season is more than I’ve played in the last two years. So for me I’ve already exceeded what I wanted to do, or what I’ve done previously. I’m just trying to build on it now.”
Last summer, City showed faith in the 26-year-old Drogheda native by extending her contract a further campaign, with her new deal set to expire in June.