Jim Crawford believes the League of Ireland needs to be more competitive if young players are to thrive.
And the new Republic of Ireland Under-21 boss has also called for wide-scale investment in club academies.
Crawford, 47, is a four-time league winner with Shelbourne and also had spells with Bohemians and Sporting Fingal.
In England, he played first-team football for Newcastle United, Reading and while on loan at Rotherham United.
Crawford told RTE’s ‘Sunday Sport’: "The league at the minute is really two teams with the resources in Dundalk and Shamrock Rovers.
“I'm all for teams leading the way but we need a competitive league with four or five competitive teams to bring on the talent.
“We also need even more top class coaches and a lot more resources to help the academies.”
Crawford was one of Stephen Kenny’s coaches with the Under-21s but has succeeded the new senior boss as manager.
And he will oversee arguably the most exciting batch of starlets that Irish football has seen in a generation.
Crawford added: “Short to medium term we have exciting talent out there like Troy Parrott, Adam Idah, Jason Knight, Jayson Molumby and that's only naming a few.
"But the FAI and the clubs need to work together and get other stakeholders involved to develop top class academies to help develop players for the longer term.”
