Drogheda not able to pay their players

[Aaron]

Those will help, but you'll forgive me for thinking of similar statements from Shels and Drogs fans in the past, to mention just two.

Thats fair enough but we're getting bigger crowds at the Brandywell than those 2 tbh. This isnt including half time draws, programme sales etc..They are poor atm but hopefully they will lift.

People are forgetting that although our squad and management team is full-time, our club is essentially part-time at administration level. There are only a few ful-time staff at our club, the rest are volunteers

[Longfordian]

You're probably not in serious trouble but didn't I read something about Derry cutting back for next year, going back to part time players?.

[mr.untitled]

[QUOTE=pineapple stu;1036553]Lost E2m last year; says it all really.

Good news for the league overall though.

Alot of people may loose their livelihood
The 'i told you so' feeling must make you feel all warm inside
I bet your the kind of smartarse who laughs at funerals.

[jebus]

Can anyone say which teams arent in trouble financially

I cant think of any other than Wexford, Limerick (because of Jack Mc), UCD, Shamrock Rovers

We havent had a home game since the 3rd September. God knows how we are still here

Jack cleared our debts but we aren't in financial trouble because of our tight control on wages this year. We're paying out in one week what Drogheda are paying one of their high earners basically and the club has been run very well by everyone concerned this year. How come you don't mention that Wexford aren't in trouble because of Wallace? Or Rovers because the FAI picked up their bill for the Thomas Hardy nonsense?

Anyway, someone wake me up when the FAI promote us in place of Cork, Bohs, Drogs, Sligo or whoever the hell else goes bankrupt

[iceman]

Trust me CTID , Meteor have finished with Derry , no more money will be exchanged. My info is 100%.

[Duffman]

Probably be no DUFC next year and it's such a shame

It really would, there would have to be some sort of arrangements made to have Drogs in some shape or form.

[Réiteoir]

I think we can safely say that Limerick aren't in fiancial bother - if you can afford to throw money away on coach trips to go on a short sightseeing tour in Wexford then all is well...

[jebus]

I think we can safely say that Limerick aren't in fiancial bother - if you can afford to throw money away on coach trips to go on a short sightseeing tour in Wexford then all is well...

George O'Callaghan



George O'Callaghan trumps all, it's the new So's your face :p

[Longfordian]

Or Rovers because the FAI picked up their bill for the Thomas Hardy nonsense?


You could write a book on that one alright Jebus ;).

[Trainee]

Have Drogs any plans to back pay the players wages they arent going to pay?

It will be interesting to see what the PFAI have to say I remember them giving out about wage cuts

[Mr A]

How many Drogheda players have contracts for next year?

[bishbash]

its disgraceful for a country of so many football fans that the entire league is on the brink of extinction. i am a big celtic follower but i'm a fairly regular visitor to loi games. based in clonmel its usually either cork or waterford basically whoever is at home.take a club like waterford for example in a county with a very strong junior league and just a general big soccer following in my opinion should be gettin 10-15000 each home game, Cork 20000 easy, limerick 10000 and so on. I mean this could be a really great product. people give out about the standard but its catch 22 better support means better finances means better standards all round. By all means support your big english teams and the likes of celtic but throw €15-€20 the way of your local club every other week and a bit of vocal support. thats how we progress all round thats how a loi club will break into the uefa cup group stages thats how the irish senior team will progress further. I mean with a bit of support we really could have an outstanding product on a par but perhaps even better than the spl in scotland I mean why not? its up to the public out there!!

[skipper_12]

Once again another club that has bought the title through paying UNREALISTIC wages to their players falls on its own sword!! This has to stop or the future is dark, very dark. I would hazard a guess on the wages in Drogheda and in order to make them go bust considering they had league/setanta cup/european money the wages must be HUGE! And before anyone comes on saying ah no its because of this and that dont waste your energy. Clubs are paying CRAZY money to players. Previously I was shocked at Michael Keanes wages:eek: and was told about this "Cap" that all clubs must adhere too. If this is the case HOW can something like this happen? The league and clubs need to wise up and fast.

[Flexy]

its disgraceful for a country of so many football fans that the entire league is on the brink of extinction. i am a big celtic follower but i'm a fairly regular visitor to loi games. based in clonmel its usually either cork or waterford basically whoever is at home.take a club like waterford for example in a county with a very strong junior league and just a general big soccer following in my opinion should be gettin 10-15000 each home game, Cork 20000 easy, limerick 10000 and so on. I mean this could be a really great product. people give out about the standard but its catch 22 better support means better finances means better standards all round. By all means support your big english teams and the likes of celtic but throw €15-€20 the way of your local club every other week and a bit of vocal support. thats how we progress all round thats how a loi club will break into the uefa cup group stages thats how the irish senior team will progress further. I mean with a bit of support we really could have an outstanding product on a par but perhaps even better than the spl in scotland I mean why not? its up to the public out there!!
Wish it was that easy, id rather throw £20 every fortnite to Derry than £32 to Liverpool etc. The amount of bar stoolers in Ireland beggars belief. 90% of Liverpool fans in Ireland wouldnt even know the name of Liverpools training ground or their 2nd choice goalie, thats how pathetic they are

[BohsPartisan]

Wish it was that easy, id rather throw £20 every fortnite to Derry than £32 to Liverpool etc. The amount of bar stoolers in Ireland beggars belief. 90% of Liverpool fans in Ireland wouldnt even know the name of Liverpools training ground or their 2nd choice goalie, thats how pathetic they are

To be honest, €15 to €20 is way too much for whats on offer. Clubs have to be realistic. We're trying to attract people not deter them. €5 to €10 pricing with proper marketing and realistic playing budgets would be much better...certainly better than the extinction of the league.

[Red&White Rover]

The real question is...

Can Sligo Rovers make Europe at this rate?;)

[bishbash]

as i said support the english teams all you want i'm not gonna dictate to people who to support but what i will say is that if your a football fan support football. i mean a dvd in extra vision is €6 so even a €10 for a loi is not that steep. and as i said there must be 10000 good football fans in the county of waterford! dont even travel to the away games just come out every other week for the home games! but to be honest to me it looks like the league is f@#ked!

[LeixlipRed]

The hilarious thing about all this is that Shels are on a relatively firm financial setting right now. Bohs to go kaboom next

[BohsPartisan]

The hilarious thing about all this is that Shels are on a relatively firm financial setting right now. Bohs to go kaboom next

Yeah but you're playing at a community sports complex next year.

[Bald Student]

Will Higgins be the new Pineapple Stu?

[michaelguineys]

Hate to see this happening to yet another League of Ireland club

[dcfcsteve]

A couple of observations on the unravelling of Eircom League club's finances :

1) There is nothing inherently wrong with the concept of full-time football.
- Paying players wages that you can afford is still full-time football.
- Paying players wages you can't afford - or that are 100% ncontingent upon the fortunes of other people (e.g. property developers) or other schemes (e.g. land re-zoning, court cases) - over which you have limited or zero control, is what is wrong.
- There is no reason why we can't have full-time clubs paying wages that they CAN afford (except, that is, for my next point).

2) It all began with Ollie Byrne (RIP) and thr property boom
- The reason why a series of clubs have been paying wages they couldn't afford for the last 4-5 years can be traced back to Shelbourne earlier this decade.
- They were the first club to 'raise the bar' of Irish football - in other words to throw money at players, secure the best ones, and buy the league.
- In the process, they did indeed lift the level of football in Ireland, by luring back players from England etc. But it was a house of carsd, and led to their (and Ollie's) demise.
- The last time this money was thrown at players to buy success in Ireland was in the late 1980's at Derry City : the difference being that City could afford to pay way more than anyone else at that time.
- For the 10-15 years following, Irish football didn't go silly on wages (and suffered in Europe etc as a result...).
- That changed when the property boom led Ollie Byrne to twig that his club were sitting on a pile of property cash; which then led him to forward-spend large chunks of it to buy success by paying wages beyong the reach of other clubs.
- Where Shels led, other clubs followed. The genie was out of the bottle - the wages version of an 'arms race' had infected Irish football, and given the limited revenues within the game, it was always going to end in teras for most if not all clubs.

3) There's a reason why Drogheda were consistently unsuccessful for 42 years.
- That reason is because they are a club in a relatively small town that has no strong footballing tradition/culture.
- Hence :whilst pretty much every club in the league from a larger urban area and/or a town with a soccer tradition experienced success in the years since Drogs joined in 1963 (Athlone, Waterford, Sligo, Galway, Dundalk, Limerick, Cork, Derry) success eluded them fior 42 years. In a fairly fluid league like ours, there is usually a reason when silverware eludes you for a whopping 42 years.

Just a few observations. I await the outrageous slings and arrows from Drogs and Shels fans..... :)

[ciaraa]

3) There's a reason why Drogheda were consistently unsuccessful for 42 years.
- That reason is because they are a club in a relatively small town that has no strong footballing tradition/culture.
- Hence :whilst pretty much every club in the league from a larger urban area and/or a town with a soccer tradition experienced success in the years since Drogs joined in 1963 (Athlone, Waterford, Sligo, Galway, Dundalk, Limerick, Cork, Derry) success eluded them fior 42 years. In a fairly fluid league like ours, there is usually a reason when silverware eludes you for a whopping 42 years.

Just a few observations. I await the outrageous slings and arrows from Drogs and Shels fans..... :)

you might want to do a bit of research there - drogs won the league cup in 1983 and then won the first of our 1st division titles in 1989

[Student Mullet]

The league cup doesn't count.

[don ramo]

To be honest, €15 to €20 is way too much for whats on offer. Clubs have to be realistic. We're trying to attract people not deter them. €5 to €10 pricing with proper marketing and realistic playing budgets would be much better...certainly better than the extinction of the league.

dont think so here, the average industraial wage is about 30000+ a year which means 1 hours work, would pay the cost of entry into grounds at E15, perfect as far as i can see, and anyway why does a club have to buy fans in such a footballing mad country, weather the GAA wanna admit or not football is the highest particapant sport in the whole country, so i say WTF, whats wrong with people, i know people who have lost there jobs 3-4 months ago, and still travel to see man u and the pool play, how do you fight this mindset,

[ciaraa]

The league cup doesn't count.

how come?

[SkStu]

how come?

it doesnt - its like the half time raffle at a game in
dalyer. Fun and a small wedge of cash for the winner but purely filler for the main show...

on a more serious note, best of luck to Drogs in the future (despite all the garbage this week towards Bohs). Anyone who thinks this is good in any wa for the league is a small minded moron.

[ciaraa]

it doesnt - its like the half time raffle at a game in
dalyer. Fun and a small wedge of cash for the winner but purely filler for the main show...


well if the main show is having to sit through a bohs game then I'll take the half time raffle any day of the week.

;)

[stann]

take a club like waterford for example in a county with a very strong junior league and just a general big soccer following in my opinion should be gettin 10-15000 each home game


and anyway why does a club have to buy fans in such a footballing mad country, weather the GAA wanna admit or not football is the highest particapant sport in the whole country

This is something I personally can't get my head around.
Whatever about the barstoolers and event junkies that are pretty much a lost cause, the number of footballers in the country is a large multiple of the eL fanbase. WHY?
Just giving it a quick think, out of all the friends, aquaintances and past team mates who play football at 5- and 7-a-side, NightOwls and Junior League level, no more than about 5% of them now go, or have ever gone, to Blues matches.
And most of them are, without any sense of irony, totally disparaging of a level of football that, however poor in terms of TV fare, is still way higher than any they'll ever play at.
That's what you're up against. To hear a mediocre 4b player say "I wouldn't go in to watch that sh*t" is one of life's hidden joys. :mad:

[SeanDrog]

Half expecting this all season, the lack of success on the field by Doolin and his sides meant serious cash shortfalls for the budget. The plan (agree or disagree) revolved around the stadium and once this was halted by outside forces the plan came crumbling down. The irectors always said that they would cover costs until the stadium was built - so no one can claim shock at the news.

You won't find any kicking and screaming from me on this point. We overspent, depending on a dream of a stadium and we failed.

IMO we should now fold rather than revert and regress, we tried it all and we ultimately failed but at least we have some great memories. Couldnt face partime football back in the doldrums and potentially playing sides who are tenants of a college rugby side - I can go to leinster senior league and watch Boyne Rovers or Drogheda Town if that is the level of our expectations.

For me it is better to have tried and fail than to have never tried at all - (obviously my take on a well know phrase)- some will understand this and others (and we know who they are) will find this a crazy statement.

C'est la vie mon amie.



Good news for the league overall though

Can't bring myself to add any comment to this stomach churning statement.

[Claret Murph]

Posters are responding to Drogheda realigning there finances and budgeting.
You are the first to use the B-word on this thread.



And the truth shall make you free.

Jee whiz HarpoJoyce you sound a bit like the Chinese Communist party :eek:

[sligored]

A couple of observations on the unravelling of Eircom League club's finances :

1) There is nothing inherently wrong with the concept of full-time football.
- Paying players wages that you can afford is still full-time football.
- Paying players wages you can't afford - or that are 100% ncontingent upon the fortunes of other people (e.g. property developers) or other schemes (e.g. land re-zoning, court cases) - over which you have limited or zero control, is what is wrong.
- There is no reason why we can't have full-time clubs paying wages that they CAN afford (except, that is, for my next point).

2) It all began with Ollie Byrne (RIP) and thr property boom
- The reason why a series of clubs have been paying wages they couldn't afford for the last 4-5 years can be traced back to Shelbourne earlier this decade.
- They were the first club to 'raise the bar' of Irish football - in other words to throw money at players, secure the best ones, and buy the league.
- In the process, they did indeed lift the level of football in Ireland, by luring back players from England etc. But it was a house of carsd, and led to their (and Ollie's) demise.
- The last time this money was thrown at players to buy success in Ireland was in the late 1980's at Derry City : the difference being that City could afford to pay way more than anyone else at that time.
- For the 10-15 years following, Irish football didn't go silly on wages (and suffered in Europe etc as a result...).
- That changed when the property boom led Ollie Byrne to twig that his club were sitting on a pile of property cash; which then led him to forward-spend large chunks of it to buy success by paying wages beyong the reach of other clubs.
- Where Shels led, other clubs followed. The genie was out of the bottle - the wages version of an 'arms race' had infected Irish football, and given the limited revenues within the game, it was always going to end in teras for most if not all clubs.

3) There's a reason why Drogheda were consistently unsuccessful for 42 years.
- That reason is because they are a club in a relatively small town that has no strong footballing tradition/culture.
- Hence :whilst pretty much every club in the league from a larger urban area and/or a town with a soccer tradition experienced success in the years since Drogs joined in 1963 (Athlone, Waterford, Sligo, Galway, Dundalk, Limerick, Cork, Derry) success eluded them fior 42 years. In a fairly fluid league like ours, there is usually a reason when silverware eludes you for a whopping 42 years.

Just a few observations. I await the outrageous slings and arrows from Drogs and Shels fans..... :)

great post steve. full of hometruths.

seandrog , your idea of better to have tried and fail than not try at all is what has put the league in the situation it is in. Spend money you hope to have, enjoy two seasons send your club to the wall and be happy with your lot. i would expect more from a real drogs fan.

IMO The only way forward is to set a say 50-55% salary cap based on the previous years actual gate reciepts and this to be reviewed if a clubs circumstances change eg relegation, promotion or reverting to part time/full time. People on here were saying this at the start of the last 2 seasons about the dependence on developers and sponsorship being reckless has come home to roost. This is what the fai done wrong but the clubs including sligo bohs cork galway and harps were a little bit envious and tried their own little bit of living beyond their means. Beware pats before you fall into this trap also.

[sonofstan]

Seriously, I feel sorry for Drogheda fans; the last two seasons have been glorious for them, and to have it disappear at a stroke is tough. And I can't really view the whole thing without the uneasy feeling - a fact alluded to gleefully by many on here - that we could be next. My hope is this; at this stage the only full time sides left next year will be us, Pat's and Derry; with a large pool of players chasing a smaller number of contracts, a certain sanity might return to wage levels.

[bohs til i die]

it doesnt - its like the half time raffle at a game in
dalyer. Fun and a small wedge of cash for the winner but purely filler for the main show...

on a more serious note, best of luck to Drogs in the future (despite all the garbage this week towards Bohs). Anyone who thinks this is good in any wa for the league is a small minded moron.

I disagree. I think this is great for the league. The only way the mentality will change is if clubs are forced into serious change. Drogheda were seen as the next great hope when the directors were throwing cash about the place. Other clubs, including Bohs, wanted to keep up. Drogheda will probably spend 25-30% more on squad alone this year but will finsih miles behind us.

IMO Bohs have a squad that will cost €1.6 million but is only really worth €1.1/1.2 million. The days of players costing clubs over €1250 a week (total cost to club) has to come to an end if full time football is to be made viable.

I dont know about other club's income but I do know a bit about the income at Bohs and I think a sustainable full time setup can be achieved if it is done right and the club is run properly.

The only way full time football can survive in this country is if clubs are run by people who exist in reality and not in some fantasy football bubble.

[Angus]

Until we accept that there simply is not enough people in ireland willing to show up to football each week to justify a professional league - End of.

Even if the standard improved - say it is mid League 1 or top League 2 at present - even if it improved to mid championship, there is not enough interest in soccer to justify the money

Sorry but outside of the fans, we are a nation of Match of the Day soccer fans

If only there was some organised fans forum or meeting where we could express this......

[redobit]

The LOI title comes at a cost!

[all drogged up]

here bohs tid - are you for real? Bohs current money is comning off the back of the prtoperty deal for dalyers - your crowds don't sustain your wage bill (which is admittedly probably less than drogs bill). Have you seen the direction of property prices? have you seen the tightening of credit? Have you ever heard of the word recession - there's as much chance of the Dalyer deal coming to fruition as there is of the Drogs new Stadium being built at this stage.

Ireland can support a full time league - but we need facilities, more quality players and then the fans will come - drogs tried put team then stadium in place. Planners stopped it - directors couldn't afford to cover overflows anymore. End of!

When a club goes bust not only does it drag the average level down of the entire league it's also demoralising for everyone in the LoI (except P Stu and a few others)

btw someone said Drogheda's lack of success was down to it being a small town - it's been second to dundalk or first in terms of population size in Ireland for most of the existence of the league with only Dublin Cork Limerick Galway and Waterford bigger again.

[bohs til i die]

here bohs tid - are you for real? Bohs current money is comning off the back of the prtoperty deal for dalyers - your crowds don't sustain your wage bill (which is admittedly probably less than drogs bill). Have you seen the direction of property prices? have you seen the tightening of credit? Have you ever heard of the word recession - there's as much chance of the Dalyer deal coming to fruition as there is of the Drogs new Stadium being built at this stage.

Ireland can support a full time league - but we need facilities, more quality players and then the fans will come - drogs tried put team then stadium in place. Planners stopped it - directors couldn't afford to cover overflows anymore. End of!

When a club goes bust not only does it drag the average level down of the entire league it's also demoralising for everyone in the LoI (except P Stu and a few others)

btw someone said Drogheda's lack of success was down to it being a small town - it's been second to dundalk or first in terms of population size in Ireland for most of the existence of the league with only Dublin Cork Limerick Galway and Waterford bigger again.


Read what I said again. I said I think Bohs can sustain a wage bill of approx €1.1/€1.2 million if the club was run properly. I am not including any money from the sale of Dalymount in this.

If you assume our wage bill is slightly higher then it was last year, thats a drop of approx €400k. If the club was run more efficiently and the marketing of games was taken seriously we could increase our income significantly too.

Our crowds dont sustain our wage bill, I never said they did. I also know that currently we are surviving off the back of the sale of the ground.

The problem with investors in football clubs is once they get bored and stop signing the cheques to prop the whole thing up the clubs are fukk'd

[gufct]

BTID your current wage bill is "allegedly" €2.3m and that doesnt include your management,Coaching and Admin wages. Derry will not be fulltime next season and pats are looking at unsustainable losses for this year as well.

The bubble has well and truly burst for el players and never mind a wage cap id say there is going to be a wages ceiling put in for next season and any club that breaks it well be turfed out immediately. Can see one league for next 4/5 years until this mess is sorted.

[Duffman]

IMO we should now fold rather than revert and regress, we tried it all and we ultimately failed but at least we have some great memories. Couldnt face partime football back in the doldrums and potentially playing sides who are tenants of a college rugby side - I can go to leinster senior league and watch Boyne Rovers or Drogheda Town if that is the level of our expectations.


Just out of interest, how long have you been following DUFC? I can't believe that any fan would take the line that its better not to have their club in existance. Hope its just disappointment on your part, it would be a sad day for DUFC to cease to exist.

[WindmillWarrior]

Just out of interest, how long have you been following DUFC? I can't believe that any fan would take the line that its better not to have their club in existance. Hope its just disappointment on your part, it would be a sad day for DUFC to cease to exist.


Damn right, snap the f*ck out of it Sean

[Dodge]

pats are looking at unsustainable losses for this year as well

Pats are well up on budgetted income.

[bohs til i die]

BTID your current wage bill is "allegedly" €2.3m and that doesnt include your management,Coaching and Admin wages. Derry will not be fulltime next season and pats are looking at unsustainable losses for this year as well.

The bubble has well and truly burst for el players and never mind a wage cap id say there is going to be a wages ceiling put in for next season and any club that breaks it well be turfed out immediately. Can see one league for next 4/5 years until this mess is sorted.

Who says our wage bill is 2.3 million?

When Fenlon took over, he signed Byrne and Konopka. Brennan and Oman had already been signed and he wasnt allowed to sign anybody else until he offloaded players. I'd be amazed if our wage bill is anywhere near 2.3 million.

[Knappagh Red]

Well Harpel Singh is on 2000 a week and he's only a reserve

[bohs til i die]

Well Harpel Singh is on 2000 a week and he's only a reserve

I seriously doubt that.

[Straightstory]

3) There's a reason why Drogheda were consistently unsuccessful for 42 years.[/U]
- That reason is because they are a club in a relatively small town that has no strong footballing tradition/culture.


Absurd, factually inaccurate, untrue and actually rather insulting.

[Dodge]

Don't worry about it. Steve has a hard on for complaining about "towns". He rubbishes every non city team at every availabel oppurtunity. Conveniently forgetting about the likes of Dundalk and Athlone.

[headtheball]

BTID your current wage bill is "allegedly" €2.3m and that doesnt include your management,Coaching and Admin wages. Derry will not be fulltime next season and pats are looking at unsustainable losses for this year as well.

The bubble has well and truly burst for el players and never mind a wage cap id say there is going to be a wages ceiling put in for next season and any club that breaks it well be turfed out immediately. Can see one league for next 4/5 years until this mess is sorted.

Derry City are remaining full time next season.

[WindmillWarrior]

Absurd, factually inaccurate, untrue and actually rather insulting.

Damn right! Drogheda is bigger than some of the other towns he mentioned anyway - D*ndalk, Athlone, Sligo.

Drogheda have been very unlucky for years and years on the pitch, we've gotten to plenty of cup finals and semi finals over the years. Always made a balls of it though!

[Krstic]

. Derry will not be fulltime next season and pats are looking at unsustainable losses for this year as well.

.

Says who?