Celdrog
11/01/2010, 5:16 PM
Lifted from our forum
from today's daily mail.
FAI won't tolerate budget defaulters
Hardline approach to finances likely to cause even more problems
By Mark Gallagher
IT HAS been an eventful few days around Dalymount Park. After four trophies in two years, Pat Fenlon should have been allowed to make a more edifying exit. Instead, the Bohemians board engaged Dundee United in a Mexican stand-off over compensation and with his chance at moving to a bigger stage receding, it's understood that 'Nutsy' feels let down by the club he has led to two straight league titles.
As if Bohemians didn't have enough to worry about. Tomorrow, a delegation from the Phibsboro club (of which Fenlon as manager is supposed to be a part) meets with the FAI to set out their budget for the 2010 season.
This doesn't necessarily mean the association is keeping a closer eye on the champions' finances (every League of Ireland club must get their budget approved), but the meeting will have major implications in whether the Gypsies can claim a third successive title.
Bohemians, like Cork City, are currently under a transfer embargo after spending most of last season ducking and diving around the 65 per cent salary cost protocol.
FAI sources confirm that they believe the champions will make it. But barely. 'We are not saying by how much, but we are confident that Bohemians will be under the 65 percent,' says an FAI insider.
However, the transfer embargo hasn't stopped the champions shaking hands with players. Sligo Rovers talisman Rafael Cretero and Barry Murphy, the Shamrock Rovers goalkeeper, are two understood to be on their way to Dalymount. The deals, though, must get the association's green light tomorrow.
IT'S THE same for everyone. On November 24 last year, only a few days before the transfer window opened, the FAI sent an email to each club. It informed them that while they would soon be free to sign players, the association reserved the right to refuse the registration of any player if the FAI felt it failed to comply with the budget approved for 2010.
Hence the lack of horse-trading in the past five weeks. However, there are also signs that clubs are attempting to curtail reckless spending. Initial estimates, based on club management accounts submitted to the FAI, show that total losses for all clubs in the league are roughly €2.7m, the same figure as for 2008, which is remarkable considering the depth of the recession last year.
Moreover, two Premier Division clubs, neither of whom are Cork City, were responsible for 90 per cent of those losses (one, a prominent Premier Division club, accounted for over 70 per cent of the losses alone). A third Premier Division club also lost a six-figure sum. But when clubs travel to Abbotstown this week, most will do so in a much healthier position than they were in 12 months ago. However, few have been busy in the window.
St Patrick's Athletic are remarkable simply because they have signed 10 players, running the risk that some of them may not be registered. 'We couldn't wait around forever,' says Pat's commercial director Phil Nolan. 'We released all our players at the end of last season. But we are confident our budget will be approved.'
However, some clubs have been holding fire. 'If you reach agreement with a player at the moment, you're doing so in a vacuum,' maintains another club official. 'Agreements have been reached and hands have been shook, but nobody is going to unveil players until they are certain of their budget.'
Bohemians and Cork were supposed to be the first two clubs up as they are under transfer embargo, but the process began last week as Bray Wanderers and Shelbourne requested earlier meetings
Each club is represented by their chairman, finance officer, general manager and first team manager. If the club is a limited company, there is also a company director present. Each club representative must sign off on the budget.
OF COURSE, budgets were approved last year and many clubs, most strikingly Cork, disregarded them. 'That will not happen this year,' insists an FAI source. 'If we believe the contract of any player pushes a club over its budget, we will not register him.' The sagas at both Cork City and Derry City did untold damage to the league's credibility (what little of it was left) last year.
FEARS: Nick Leeson 'I know of two clubs that were negotiating with sponsors at the time of the incident with the bus down in Cork,' Galway United CEO Nick Leeson recalls. 'Then the story hit the airwaves about Cork City players not being able to get to Dublin because their driver hadn't been paid, and the next day there were pictures in the papers with players in the boot of a car.
'The sponsors came back to both clubs the following week and said they didn't want to get involved and pointed to that incident. Things like that affect every club. If clubs continue to trade recklessly, we won't have a league in a couple of years.'
Galway, who are confident of settling an outstanding revenue debt, have drastically cut back this year. But so has every club. Sligo Rovers are slashing their playing budget by between 30 to 35 per cent while St Pat's, who are returning to a parttime set-up, have cut first team expenditure by almost 40 per cent.
'Things like that show we are going in the right direction,' adds a source. 'Most clubs are trying to do things right and that will be reflected in the budgets that get approved.'
Club A - Lost €1.89m
Club B - Lost €540k
Club C - Lost at least €100k
Club Cork City seemingly excluded from the above.
Club Derry City - are they B?
Club C could be Drogs or Dundalk
from today's daily mail.
FAI won't tolerate budget defaulters
Hardline approach to finances likely to cause even more problems
By Mark Gallagher
IT HAS been an eventful few days around Dalymount Park. After four trophies in two years, Pat Fenlon should have been allowed to make a more edifying exit. Instead, the Bohemians board engaged Dundee United in a Mexican stand-off over compensation and with his chance at moving to a bigger stage receding, it's understood that 'Nutsy' feels let down by the club he has led to two straight league titles.
As if Bohemians didn't have enough to worry about. Tomorrow, a delegation from the Phibsboro club (of which Fenlon as manager is supposed to be a part) meets with the FAI to set out their budget for the 2010 season.
This doesn't necessarily mean the association is keeping a closer eye on the champions' finances (every League of Ireland club must get their budget approved), but the meeting will have major implications in whether the Gypsies can claim a third successive title.
Bohemians, like Cork City, are currently under a transfer embargo after spending most of last season ducking and diving around the 65 per cent salary cost protocol.
FAI sources confirm that they believe the champions will make it. But barely. 'We are not saying by how much, but we are confident that Bohemians will be under the 65 percent,' says an FAI insider.
However, the transfer embargo hasn't stopped the champions shaking hands with players. Sligo Rovers talisman Rafael Cretero and Barry Murphy, the Shamrock Rovers goalkeeper, are two understood to be on their way to Dalymount. The deals, though, must get the association's green light tomorrow.
IT'S THE same for everyone. On November 24 last year, only a few days before the transfer window opened, the FAI sent an email to each club. It informed them that while they would soon be free to sign players, the association reserved the right to refuse the registration of any player if the FAI felt it failed to comply with the budget approved for 2010.
Hence the lack of horse-trading in the past five weeks. However, there are also signs that clubs are attempting to curtail reckless spending. Initial estimates, based on club management accounts submitted to the FAI, show that total losses for all clubs in the league are roughly €2.7m, the same figure as for 2008, which is remarkable considering the depth of the recession last year.
Moreover, two Premier Division clubs, neither of whom are Cork City, were responsible for 90 per cent of those losses (one, a prominent Premier Division club, accounted for over 70 per cent of the losses alone). A third Premier Division club also lost a six-figure sum. But when clubs travel to Abbotstown this week, most will do so in a much healthier position than they were in 12 months ago. However, few have been busy in the window.
St Patrick's Athletic are remarkable simply because they have signed 10 players, running the risk that some of them may not be registered. 'We couldn't wait around forever,' says Pat's commercial director Phil Nolan. 'We released all our players at the end of last season. But we are confident our budget will be approved.'
However, some clubs have been holding fire. 'If you reach agreement with a player at the moment, you're doing so in a vacuum,' maintains another club official. 'Agreements have been reached and hands have been shook, but nobody is going to unveil players until they are certain of their budget.'
Bohemians and Cork were supposed to be the first two clubs up as they are under transfer embargo, but the process began last week as Bray Wanderers and Shelbourne requested earlier meetings
Each club is represented by their chairman, finance officer, general manager and first team manager. If the club is a limited company, there is also a company director present. Each club representative must sign off on the budget.
OF COURSE, budgets were approved last year and many clubs, most strikingly Cork, disregarded them. 'That will not happen this year,' insists an FAI source. 'If we believe the contract of any player pushes a club over its budget, we will not register him.' The sagas at both Cork City and Derry City did untold damage to the league's credibility (what little of it was left) last year.
FEARS: Nick Leeson 'I know of two clubs that were negotiating with sponsors at the time of the incident with the bus down in Cork,' Galway United CEO Nick Leeson recalls. 'Then the story hit the airwaves about Cork City players not being able to get to Dublin because their driver hadn't been paid, and the next day there were pictures in the papers with players in the boot of a car.
'The sponsors came back to both clubs the following week and said they didn't want to get involved and pointed to that incident. Things like that affect every club. If clubs continue to trade recklessly, we won't have a league in a couple of years.'
Galway, who are confident of settling an outstanding revenue debt, have drastically cut back this year. But so has every club. Sligo Rovers are slashing their playing budget by between 30 to 35 per cent while St Pat's, who are returning to a parttime set-up, have cut first team expenditure by almost 40 per cent.
'Things like that show we are going in the right direction,' adds a source. 'Most clubs are trying to do things right and that will be reflected in the budgets that get approved.'
Club A - Lost €1.89m
Club B - Lost €540k
Club C - Lost at least €100k
Club Cork City seemingly excluded from the above.
Club Derry City - are they B?
Club C could be Drogs or Dundalk