The 2006 League of Ireland Premier Division was the 22nd season of the

League of Ireland Premier Division The League of Ireland Men's Premier Division (), also known as the SSE Airtricity Men's Premier Division for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in the Republic of Ireland and the highest level of the Republic of I ...

. The division was made up of 12 teams. Shelbourne were champions while Derry City finished as runners-up. However Shelbourne were subsequently demoted to the

First Division 1st Division or First Division may refer to: Military Airborne divisions *1st Parachute Division (Germany) *1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom) * 1st Airmobile Division (Ukraine) * 1st Guards Airborne Division Armoured divisions *1st Armoure ...

and had to withdraw from the

2007–08 UEFA Champions League The 2007–08 UEFA Champions League was the 16th season of UEFA's premier European club association football, football tournament, the UEFA Champions League, since it was rebranded in 1992, and the 53rd tournament overall. The 2008 UEFA Champion ...

and

2007 Setanta Sports Cup The 2007 Setanta Sports Cup was the 3rd staging of the Setanta Sports Cup, a cross-border cup competition that took place between football clubs from the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The final was played at Windsor Park in Belfast, No ...

because of their financial difficulties.

Club information

Overview

The Premier Division season kicked off on 10 March and concluded on 17 November. The season saw several clubs face financial difficulties. The

Revenue Commissioners The Revenue Commissioners (), commonly called Revenue, is the Irish Government agency responsible for customs, excise, taxation and related matters. Though Revenue can trace itself back to predecessors (with the Act of Union 1800 amalgamating ...

took High Court action and threatened to have Shelbourne wound up after it failed to pay more than €104,000 in outstanding taxes. Shelbourne also struggled to pay its players during the season. In July Dublin City also went out of business and withdrew from the league, unable to complete the season. Their results were expunged from the record which benefited both Cork and Derry who had dropped points to them. However Shelbourne's off field problems did not prevent them from winning the title. Mark Farren's stoppage-time winner for Derry City away to

Waterford United Waterford Football Club formerly Waterford United Football Club is an Irish association football club based in Waterford who play in the League of Ireland Premier Division. The club was founded and elected to the league in 1930. Originally the ...

on 13 November ensured that for the third successive year the title would be decided on the final day of the season. Shelbourne clinched the title with a 2–1 win over

Bohemians Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to: *Anything of or relating to Bohemia Culture and arts * Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, originally practised by 19th–20th century European and American artists and writers. * Bohemian style, a f ...

Tolka Park Tolka Park () is an Ireland, Irish association football ground located in the Northside Dublin, north Dublin suburb of Drumcondra, Dublin, Drumcondra, on the northern banks of the River Tolka. It is currently the home ground of League of Irelan ...

. Jason Byrne and

Glen Crowe Glen Crowe (born 25 December 1977) is an Irish former professional football forward. He was a prolific goalscorer in the League of Ireland Premier Division and has represented the Republic of Ireland national football team on two occasions. ...

scored the vital goals. However Shelbourne's celebrations were cut short when the league decided to demote them to the

. They also withdrew from the

and

because of their financial difficulties.

Final table

Results

Matches 1–20

Matches 21–30

Promotion/relegation play-off

Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ) is the county town of County Louth, Ireland. The town is situated on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the north-east coast of Ireland, and is halfway between Dublin and Belfast, close to and south of the bor ...

who finished second in the 2006 League of Ireland First Division played off against

who finished eleventh in Premier Division. ;1st Leg ;2nd Leg ''

won 3–2 on aggregate but did not meet the criteria set out by the FAI's Independent Assessment Group and were not promoted.''

Independent Assessment Group

In March 2006 it was announced that the

League of Ireland The League of Ireland is a national association football Sports league, league consisting of professional clubs in the Republic of Ireland and Derry, Derry City in Northern Ireland. It is governed by the Football Association of Ireland. It was ...

and the FAI would be merging. As part of this arrangement the league would be restructured and membership of the 2007 Premier Division and 2007 First Division would be decided by an Independent Assessment Group established by John Delaney and chaired by a former FAI honorary secretary, Des Casey. Former

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

international footballer,

Niall Quinn Niall John Quinn (honorary Order of the British Empire, MBE; born 6 October 1966) is an Irish former professional Association football, footballer, manager, businessman and sports television pundit. As a player, he was a Striker (association f ...

was originally a member of the group. However he later withdrew because of his growing commitments to

Sunderland A.F.C. Sunderland Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1879, the club has won si ...

He was replaced by Richard Collins, a former chairman of and current director of

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Charlton, south-east London, England. The team compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Their home ground is ...

. Other members of the group included John Fitzgerald, the former city manager of

Dublin City Council Dublin City Council () is the Local government in the Republic of Ireland, local authority of the city of Dublin in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. As a city council, it is governed by the Local Government Act 2001. Until 2001, the authority was k ...

and Pat O'Neill, a former chairman of the

Irish Sports Council Sport Ireland (), formerly the Irish Sports Council, is a statutory authority that oversees, and partly funds, the development of sport within Ireland. It is located at the National Sports Campus in the townland of Sheephill near Abbotstown Hou ...

. The IAG effectively performed a financial stress test on the League of Ireland member clubs. Clubs were assessed on their past five season record in the league. Crucially though, clubs would also be graded on off-field criteria, including attendance, infrastructure, governance, strategic planning, finance, youth development and marketing. The IAG announced their results in December 2006. However the final outcome of the IAG decision was further complicated by the financial difficulties of Shelbourne who, despite initially passing the stress test, were subsequently relegated to the First Division. This provided a reprieve for

, ranked at thirteen by the IAG, who were selected to replace them.

IAG Table

Notes

UEFA coefficient

The

UEFA coefficient In European football, the UEFA coefficients are statistics based in weighted arithmetic means used for ranking and seeding teams in club and international competitions. Introduced in 1979 for men's football tournaments (country rankings only), ...

accumulated to a total value of 6.498 for the 2006–07 European season. ;League's 2006 UEFA ranking * 33

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* 34

Moldova Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova, is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe, with an area of and population of 2.42 million. Moldova is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. ...

* 35

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

* 36

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

* 37

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (, ; ; ), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein ( ), is a Landlocked country#Doubly landlocked, doubly landlocked Swiss Standard German, German-speaking microstate in the Central European Alps, between Austria in the east ...

Top-scorers

Awards

SWAI The iridescent shark or iridescent shark catfish (''Pangasianodon hypophthalmus'') is a species of shark catfish (family Pangasiidae) native to the rivers of Southeast Asia. Despite its name, it is not a shark. It is found in the Mekong basin as ...

eircom League Player of the Month award PFAI eircom League Player of the Year award *

Joseph Ndo Joseph Cyrille N'Do (born 28 April 1976) is a Cameroonian former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder or forward. He made 21 appearances for the Cameroon national team, scoring twice. Club career Cameroon An attackin ...

– Shelbourne PFAI eircom League Young Player of the Year award * Kevin Deery – Derry City

TV3 Channel 3 or TV 3 may refer to: Television *Canal 3 (Burkina Faso), a commercial television channel in Burkina Faso * Canal 3 Niger, a commercial television channel in Niger * Canal 3 (Guatemala), a commercial television channel in Guatemala * Can ...

's Goal of the Season award * Kevin Deery – Derry City

Attendances

Premier Division games had an average attendance of 1,539 people. Derry City's average home attendance of 3,127 was the highest of any league team for the season. The record for the highest attendance in the Premier Division was also set in the

Brandywell Stadium The Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium () is a municipal football stadium in Derry, Northern Ireland. It is the home ground of League of Ireland team Derry City F.C., (temporarily) NIFL Championship team Institute, and also to NIWFA Championship ...

on the last night of the season when Derry City met

Cork City Cork ( ; from , meaning 'marsh') is the second-largest city in Republic of Ireland, Ireland, the county town of County Cork, the largest city in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the List of settlements on the island of Ireland ...

. 6,080 attended the game.

Gallery

File:Football league of ireland season 06.png, The clubs that competed in the 2006 League of Ireland.

References

{{2005–06 in European football (UEFA)

League of Ireland Premier Division seasons