Another proposed takeover

[Guitd]

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soccer/national-league/galway-united-in-talks-with-overseas-investor-1.3155214?mode=amp

[White Horse]

Interested in the senior team only in order to bring in players (presumably non EU) in order to sell them on?

I'm sure dedicated football people in Galway will jump at the prospect.

[gufct]

Interested in the senior team only in order to bring in players (presumably non EU) in order to sell them on?

I'm sure dedicated football people in Galway will jump at the prospect.

There will be a huge backlash against this. Our former CEO flew this Kite so many times and the headed for the hills leaving the fans to pick up the mess that was left.

[GUFCghost]

What's the story with the club's ownership these days?Isn't a mix of Salthil,Mervue,the Galway FA,Galway United Supporters Trust and the Comer Brothers?

[gufct]

Salthill ,Mervue and the GFA are no longer involved, The Comers are sponsors not owners.

[ATFC-1887]

Sounds scarily similar to the proposals at Athlone.

[kksaints]

Didn't Galway have a few Koreans players around 2011 who were trying to use it as a spring board to England?

[Paulgufc]

Yep, they were absolute muck. Much like the rest of the team that year

[sbgawa]

They would be mad not to engage with the guy. Any deal can be structured to protect the club. ......Investor has 1 vote only on the board ....investor pays wages of all players brought in....lodges complete amount for each players contract (so can't walk away and leave club with players to pay) manager picked by board and no obligation to play anyone. Investor gets major share of transfer profits.......other details as well obviously but my main point is you can structure a deal so the club is protected.......if the investor isn't prepared to sign on to a deal that protects the club then you walk away at that point

[disgruntled]

Walk away before it even gets started :)
How long is that barge pole again ?

[pineapple stu]

Sounds like Fran should send them to Bray.

[sbgawa]

Since when was the league so well off that we can afford to dismiss investment without even discussing it ?

[Ezeikial]

Since when was the league so well off that we can afford to dismiss investment without even discussing it ?

How does that work?

Does it require a discussion on foot.is before the Galway board is allowed to dismiss or proceed with any talks?

[Martinho II]

why did the likes of Salthill ,Mervue and Galway FA move away? I thought it was part of the requirement for Galway FC/Utd to join loi in 14?

[sbgawa]

How does that work?

Does it require a discussion on foot.is before the Galway board is allowed to dismiss or proceed with any talks?

Would have thought the comments above..."backlash" "barge pole " etc implied people were against it...my point is I wouldn't be walking away if I was on the Galway board without looking at it.....not sure what foot.ie have to do with it....other then we are a discussion forum

[disgruntled]

Would have thought the comments above..."backlash" "barge pole " etc implied people were against it...my point is I wouldn't be walking away if I was on the Galway board without looking at it.....not sure what foot.ie have to do with it....other then we are a discussion forum

Lets discuss it so.
Did you actually read what the proposal is about ?
Maybe your club might be interested ?
It would definitely suit Bray or maybe thats where Brays new money came from :confused:

[EatYerGreens]

Since when was the league so well off that we can afford to dismiss investment without even discussing it ?

I seem to recall you were one of the few, if not the only, voices on here of the 'sure what's not to like' variety when Athlone's new regime was first announced.

[Mr A]

Hopefully Galway have learned some leesons from their past experiences.

Am not even sorry.

[ger121]

Hopefully Galway have learned some leesons from their past experiences.

Am not even sorry.

I think they've got their Barings now.

[sbgawa]

I seem to recall you were one of the few, if not the only, voices on here of the 'sure what's not to like' variety when Athlone's new regime was first announced.

Correct but remembering how wrong I was then that's why I'm saying the club or any club should allow investment only in a completely correctly structured way.
If the investor is prepared to meet the clubs requirements then why not?
The key is to make sure the terms are transparent and the club maintains control.

[nigel-harps1954]

Correct but remembering how wrong I was then that's why I'm saying the club or any club should allow investment only in a completely correctly structured way.
If the investor is prepared to meet the clubs requirements then why not?
The key is to make sure the terms are transparent and the club maintains control.

So, what you're suggesting is a donation and not a takeover?

[sbgawa]

Jeez lads how is it controversial to say any proposed investment should be given proper consideration given the dire straits most clubs are in and not dismissed because of previous bad experiences....
And it doesn't have to be a donation, an investor can still get a return without having to control a club.

[Mr A]

So if the investor is sort of ring fenced and will basically provide players in return, with profits from their sales going to them.. isn't that a wee bit like third part ownership?

[sbgawa]

Share of club profits rather than player sales would be the way to go and would protect club. If the guys don't agree to a structure that the club are happy with then walk away

[gufct]

The investors will look for 100% of Players Sales they have no interest in the club as stated already .They want to use the first team as a vehicle for selling on their own Players.

[sbgawa]

Then I'd walk.

[pineapple stu]

Share of club profits
What are "club profits"?

Pretty much no team makes a profit, and not just in Ireland.

[disgruntled]

The investors will look for 100% of Players Sales they have no interest in the club as stated already .They want to use the first team as a vehicle for selling on their own Players.

It's just another form of people trafficking in the shape of footballers 😁
Wouldn't go extra near it.

[Mr A]

And if the youth team suddenly produced a player that went across the water for decent money, would they get a slice of that? Very hard to see how it could work TBH.

[EatYerGreens]

Jeez lads how is it controversial to say any proposed investment should be given proper consideration given the dire straits most clubs are in and not dismissed because of previous bad experiences....
And it doesn't have to be a donation, an investor can still get a return without having to control a club.

The problem is, there is no such thing as an 'investment' in Irish football in any true or benign sense of the word.

An investment means an input of money into something with an expectation of a return on it. In reality, if you put money into Irish football you should consider yourself lucky to even see that original capital sum repaid, let alone any return on top of it.

There is so little money in the game that people would only want to 'invest' for reasons not directly related to the business of running a football club - i.e. if it was a property play, to fix betting, to traffic players etc. So why would any club want to have people on-board who are by definition just using the football club for other financial purposes ?

[sbgawa]

Waterford ? Or is it a given that there is a con of some description going on there ?

[ATFC-1887]

The investors will look for 100% of Players Sales they have no interest in the club as stated already .They want to use the first team as a vehicle for selling on their own Players.
This is worrying. I can tell you for a fact that when one of the foreign players currently with Athlone was quizzed on why they were brought over here if it wasnt for match fixing, his reply was to play for a few months and get sold for big profit. Seems to be the same story being told to Galway. And we all know how the Athlone "investment" is turning out.
The guys in Athlone are leaving bit by bit so maybe the top guys are looking for a different club to con.

[ATFC-1887]

http://foot.ie/attachment.php?attachmentid=2579&stc=1

[Mr_Parker]

So if the investor is sort of ring fenced and will basically provide players in return, with profits from their sales going to them.. isn't that a wee bit like third part ownership?

Certainly doesn't sound like it would pass the duck test!

[EatYerGreens]

Waterford ? Or is it a given that there is a con of some description going on there ?

It remains to see what motivated the owner of Waterford to buy the club. But considering he already owns a club in England, and had shopped around for one there for a while beforehand,it is high likely that his purchase was done in relation to that i.e. farming players out etc.

Which do you think is Power's primary interest - Swindon Town or Waterford ?

[wonder88]

At least in Galway we know that it is not a property play. I would have a lot of questions but I would not dismiss it out of hand, for the reason that after all the good things those involved with the club are doing, crowds coming to the games are low(even when we had a good run of results last year).
Rather than the "selling players on for profit" strategy I would prefer someone coming in following the Fran Gavin temple of "quick route to the champions league group stages" plan. Here we must be talking serious money and Ollie Byrne we know fell short, so you must be talking double what he spend at least. Did Kelleher at Pats have this as his original aim?
I am still a bit surprised that none of our tax exiles for example have not invested in a LoI clubs for this purpose, even for PR purposes.
BTW I still think that members owned clubs with good community links is the way forward for the LoI, but it is so difficult due to the lack of tradition.

[wonder88]

Waterford certainly is something to watch. Any idea what the subsidy is from Power this year as their crowds are decent(for LoI), but he will have to up his spending next season if promoted.

[EatYerGreens]

At least in Galway we know that it is not a property play. I would have a lot of questions but I would not dismiss it out of hand, for the reason that after all the good things those involved with the club are doing, crowds coming to the games are low(even when we had a good run of results last year).
Rather than the "selling players on for profit" strategy I would prefer someone coming in following the Fran Gavin temple of "quick route to the champions league group stages" plan. Here we must be talking serious money and Ollie Byrne we know fell short, so you must be talking double what he spend at least. Did Kelleher at Pats have this as his original aim?
I am still a bit surprised that none of our tax exiles for example have not invested in a LoI clubs for this purpose, even for PR purposes.
BTW I still think that members owned clubs with good community links is the way forward for the LoI, but it is so difficult due to the lack of tradition.

The problem with that is there is neither glamour nor glory in owning an LOI club. It won't impress your wealthy friends, & would probably have the opposite effect. So unless you have a wealthy tax exile with a love of Irish club football, it's hard to see why anyone would be interested.

As an aside - Ireland is a unique case in that none of the clubs in its biggest and most popular sports can be purchased. You can't buy a GAA club or county, nor can you own a provincial rugby team. So LOI football is the only Irish sport of note where someone can actually buy and own a club. If we ever get domestic football more popular, that would seem to me to make it an obvious target for rich people looking to play around.

[sbgawa]

I'd say his priority is definitely swindon but that doesn't mean it is bad for Waterford compared to the alternative. The point is the same for any investor in any club the structure is what counts and hopefully Waterford have got that part boxed off.

[gufct]

Lee Powers father is from Waterford and was involved with the club before he emigrated and this is what the appeal was for him. Power himself has played U21 for Ireland .

[sbgawa]

I knew the family connection but his priority is still probably swindon given the scale of investments..