Athlone Towns New Backer.

[Lim till i die]

Someone paid out a SERIOUS wedge of cash here (http://www.westmeathindependent.ie/news/roundup/articles/2011/11/09/4007651-mystery-donor-wipes-out-over-500k-athlone-stadium-debt-/)

So what's the story??

Will we have two clubs with oil rich owners and multi million (billion?!) euro budgets in the First Division next season??

Speculate wildly....

[Longfordian]

Is it a one off or an ongoing involvement I wonder? Either way it's a great boost for them. Jammy feckers.

[Acornvilla]

I know someone from athlone mentioned a week or two ago that there was money coming in, didn't expect that thou!

[Mr A]

Great news for Athlone Town. Does the club itself also still have debts or was it just the stadium company that had big debts I wonder?

What are the implications for the football club in the stadium company's debts being cleared- presumably their expenses will drop considerably?

[Jofspring]

May as well get it in early...

I hear the money they are offering players since the stadium debt was cleared is ridiculous, even Limerick can't compete.


In all seriousness though that's great news for Athlone.

[Magicme]

Its Ray. He won the lotto. So he told me by text anyway.

[Morginho]

Who won the lotto? Lucky boys, wish the Mons could get some of that :(

[Lim till i die]

He already supports charities in desolate wastelands that time has forgotten. (http://www.haitian-truth.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Picture-9-300x219.png)

All makes sense. :ball:

[bluewhitearmy]

Great after all these years it looked like we were favourites to win the league next year now Athlone will sign a team of Galacticos and we will be forever stuck in the 1st division. :(

[El-Pietro]

Clearly the mystery backer must be John Delaney. The FAI, still screwing Limerick at every opportunity

[bluewhitearmy]

Just to be clear i wasnt being serious.

[Dunny]

About Limerick being favourites?

[Mario]

Fair play to whoever it was!

If they are now a shareholder in the stadium co. won't the details of their shareholding not have to be registered with the companies office in the near future?

So the name will get out then?

Let start the guessing by suggesting the only person from Westmeath I know off who could afford to splash this sorta cash!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_O'Leary_(businessman)

[Mr A]

Bloody hell, if that's true soon anybody watching Athlone Town will have people relentlessly trying to sell them stuff throughout the match, will have to pay substantially more than the advertised ticket price and may even have to pay to go to the toilet.

Plus they'll move the stadium 40km out of town.

[El-Pietro]

Bloody hell, if that's true soon anybody watching Athlone Town will have people relentlessly trying to sell them stuff throughout the match, will have to pay substantially more than the advertised ticket price and may even have to pay to go to the toilet.

Plus they'll move the stadium 40km out of town.
to Longford?

[Longfordian]

As if he'd do anything anonymously.

[El-Pietro]

Just to be clear i wasnt being serious.
Whoosh!

[BonnieShels]

Ahem, Termonbarry surely?

[Acornvilla]

Been mentioned that Paddy McCaul paid it, I have no proof just hear say from a guy who says he has a reliable source, hurray for people making up crap and saying its true, but are they making it up is the question!

[El-Pietro]

Ahem, Termonbarry surely?
nah thats 50km

[daithifla]

A man in Terryland last friday mentioned it to me in passing that it looked like Athlone were to get serious backing. He did say who it was but i didn't catch the name. All i caught was that this person owned a serious of businesses. Not making this up.

[BonnieShels]

nah thats 50km

Yeah I know but its 30 as the crow flies... let's call it 40 on average.

[ATFC-1887]

doubt it was paddy? would that not be a conflict of interest considering his FAI role

Whoever it was though. thank be to god for you :) dreaming of this moment for years. supposedly hes in talks with club over further investment in playing staff etc...

[born2bwild]

Here's a photo of the moment the deal was done:

http://www.freeimagehosting.net/t/dcf63.jpg (http://www.freeimagehosting.net/dcf63)

Who needs a soul in the LoI?

[corkharps]

Great News.Why don't a few more of the wealthy 'socker supporters' realize that they could own a club in Ireland and qualify for Europe for the price of a corporate season ticket at a club in the Auld enemy?
Nice wan Athlone, hope ye finish second next year!

[ATFC-1887]

Mr abramovich could take us over and we still wouldn't get promoted

[Lim till i die]

Nice wan Athlone, hope ye finish second next year!

Behind Limerick?? Bit harsh on your Harps like. :p

Nah seriously, now that motion four is dead, what's the odds this "mystery" investor could look at buying Dalymount??

[corkharps]

Nah,Look at what Longford did a few years back,thiofaidh ur la!

[Nesta99]

Behind Limerick?? Bit harsh on your Harps like. :p

this "mystery" investor .... buys Dalymount??

Yep and mystery developer moves Athlone to play out of Dalymount - now that would really confuse those blasted Dublin refs. Richie Winter just might just become a Shels fan:lying:

'Mr Burke could not confirm or deny rumours the investor also has intentions to invest in the playing side of the club, but the Westmeath Independent has learned that a meeting between the investor and the football club committee is expected to take place in the next few weeks'.

Be very aware Athlone fans..very aware!! Lissywollen is a car park lissywol...nah doesnt have the same ring to it....Oriel is a car park fits too well!!

[pateen]

500,000 is whats mentioned too.
I mean we're not talking about a generous 10k but a super generous 1/2 a million yoyo's.

The mind boggles

[Dodge]

SO, does this mean the stadium if fully paid for now? As in Athlone no lonbger have to service the debt? Brilliant news, hope they kick on from here

[nigel-harps1954]

It is great news indeed. It's a great boost for Athlone, just hope they don't go and blow the money. Pay off the debt and start from scratch.

[ATFC-1887]

madness. but we're not complaining haha

[redobit]

How much (if any) were the club paying each month toward the stadium debt? If they were does it mean they can simply up the players budget to somwhere that could give them a chance of promoting. Would be great to see them up. Always enjoyed me trips there plus good history and club.

[nigel-harps1954]

Until crowds are boosted in Athlone I can't imagine much of a budget there again. They'd be crazy to turn around now and raise the budget too far.

[Acornvilla]

May I be the first to say, boo urns.

[punkrocket]

Yeah I know but its 30 as the crow flies... let's call it 40 on average.
It's 50km to the statue of the patriarch Big Boul Barry in the dead centre of town and only 30 to the city limits, exactly 40 would land in the suburb of Barryfeckin.

[paudie]

I wonder is a certain recently bankrupt Northern businessman "resting" some spare cash in the Midlands until he is out of UK bankruptcy in 12 months?;)

[L.T.F.C.]

Nah,Look at what Longford did a few years back,thiofaidh ur la!
What did we do?

[corkharps]

What did we do?
Average crowd 100 people. Within a few years a topclass stadium(at the time), 3 cup finals and European football? Apart from that The Romans did **** all for us!

[paudie]

Just checked the Athlone Town stadium company accounts for the year to 31.5.10 and the total creditors are over 3.9 million euro. 14k of this is VAT. I presume the rest is mostly bank debt.

If that is still the case the 500k donation definitely won't clear the companies debts.

[ATFC-1887]

it has cleared it. dont ask me how but it has

[Acornvilla]

Maths like this is what caused the recession!

[Blueman]

Had a look at the accounts, from looking at past years I think the Creditors figures is made up as follows :

Grants 2.7 million
Loan from Westmeath Co Co 507k
Loan from FAI 150K
I assume Bank loans / Overdrafts 590k

All figures are approx

The Grants would not have to be repaid. The loan from the
Fai was later reclassified as a grant and doen't need to be repaid.

The money received recently I assume was to pay off the bank loans and overdraft.

I know the press reports said the stadium is debt free but I still think the 507k is still due to Westmeath Co Co. This is repayable over 20 years at approx 25k a year which should be manageable.

A lot of this is guess work and they may have come to some agreement with Westmeath County Council but I would think this is probley the situation now.

With the Vat they were hoping to get a Vat refund of approx 400k which they would then use to pay off the banks but it looks as if this won't now happen.

[Dodge]

From what I've read it cost €4.5 million to build, of which €2.5 mill was grant aid. I can't see how they could ever owe €3.9 mill unless they accounted for the grant aid as debt?

[Blueman]

The Grants are shown as a long term creditor and written down over the life time of the asset in this case I thinks its fifty years. In theory the grants would be repayable if say the stadium was no longer in use as a sporting venue.

[Ash]

I can now officially confirm, that I am not the mystery investor.