Cork FORAS vote to sell the club to Preston North End owner

[Charlie Darwin]

https://www.extratime.com/articles/25994/cork-city-trustees-vote-in-favour-of-motion-to-sell-club-to-billionaire-preston-north-end-owner-trevor-hemmings/

[gael353]

Can anyone in the know tell what was the vote in numbers as in for and against?

[Pablo Escobar]

Can anyone in the know tell what was the vote in numbers as in for and against?

70% in favour. That means that 7 in 10 members in the trust are total idiots.

This is our Trump/Brexit moment.

I think I'm done with this unfortunately. It's blatantly obvious that this will all end in tears.

[Charlie Darwin]

70% in favour. That means that 7 in 10 members in the trust are total idiots.

This is our Trump/Brexit moment.

I think I'm done unfortunately with this unfortunately. It's blatantly obvious that this will all end in tears.
That's unbelievable. I know we've sold a stake in our club to Denis Desmond but it's an investment and we still have a huge say in our club's future. I don't get how Cork could have gone from such a strong position to the members washing their hands of the running of the club so quickly.

[Nah Nah Nah Nah]

Call option. Does that mean Hemmings could wait sometime before exercising his right and leave Cork in total limbo next season?

A sad day for Cork and the league in general.

[Longfordian]

The plan to secure the freehold interest in the stadium jumps out to me. What happens when the MFA refuse to sell? I don't see any talk of committing to building a new stadium. How much would FORAS actually need to raise to secure a First Division licence?

Not seeing much in the way of details but maybe it was provided to the members and they felt it wasn't achievable on their own. It'll be very difficult to pick up the pieces again should things go wrong with Grovemoor.
.

[D24Saint]

The man himself is a billionaire so he doesn’t need cork to make a quick buck. The issues will be in the years ahead as the man is advancing in years and do his family share his interest in football.

[Charlie Darwin]

The man himself is a billionaire so he doesn’t need cork to make a quick buck. The issues will be in the years ahead as the man is advancing in years and do his family share his interest in football.
Since when have billionaires turned down an opportunity to make a quick buck?

[pineapple stu]

Since when has anyone made a quick buck out of the LoI?

Interesting also to note that only earlier this month a couple of Cork fans here were saying the bid would "in all probability rejected", that it wasn't a serious takeover offer, and that there was almost no chance the offer would be accepted. Just wondering what's changed? I presume there's no major stakeholder in FORAS who controls, say, 20-30% of things - so a 70% vote effectively means 70% of fans voted for it?

Yet with FORAS strongly recommending it, it seems hardly surprising the deal has gone through. This does seem to suggest that the deeper financial issues within the club (as in, above and beyond what other clubs are facing at the moment) are probably quite real as well.

[D24Saint]

I wonder did the restrictions on Fans and the reduced income as a result seal the deal ? or has this been coming no matter what.

[Real ale Madrid]

Since when has anyone made a quick buck out of the LoI?

Interesting also to note that only earlier this month a couple of Cork fans here were saying the bid would "in all probability rejected", that it wasn't a serious takeover offer, and that there was almost no chance the offer would be accepted. Just wondering what's changed? I presume there's no major stakeholder in FORAS who controls, say, 20-30% of things - so a 70% vote effectively means 70% of fans voted for it?

Yet with FORAS strongly recommending it, it seems hardly surprising the deal has gone through. This does seem to suggest that the deeper financial issues within the club (as in, above and beyond what other clubs are facing at the moment) are probably quite real as well.

It became apparent over the last 2 weeks - that the club would have serious issues in obtaining a license to compete in 2021 without a substantial cash injection. Our debts are not too dissimilar to what we had when we obtained a license last season, however there was a real risk that due to the changing nature of that debt we would not have been issued a license. This has swayed many members and I think we have collectively held our noses and moved it on to save the club itself. Very dramatic, all very quick but I suppose another typical chapter in the history of Cork soccer.

I feel that Hemmings has picked us off in a moment of weakness but to be fair to him, he did stump up the cash when we needed it last season and I think he and his company are more pragmatic than the usual football investors. They have taken Preston from a valuation of when they took over of 165k to a current valuation of anything between 40-75m depending on what you believe. I don't think he has a chance in hell of turning us into something valuable but we are going to find out now anyway.

[Nesta99]

Since when has anyone made a quick buck out of the LoI?

Interesting also to note that only earlier this month a couple of Cork fans here were saying the bid would "in all probability rejected", that it wasn't a serious takeover offer, and that there was almost no chance the offer would be accepted. Just wondering what's changed? I presume there's no major stakeholder in FORAS who controls, say, 20-30% of things - so a 70% vote effectively means 70% of fans voted for it?

Yet with FORAS strongly recommending it, it seems hardly surprising the deal has gone through. This does seem to suggest that the deeper financial issues within the club (as in, above and beyond what other clubs are facing at the moment) are probably quite real as well.

There was also the 'nothing to see here' angle on financial issues said, debt preventing a 1st Division licence I think might just have turned heads and the lesser of two unwanted choices kicked in.

[El-Pietro]

I voted to sell. I did not enjoy doing so. My approach was always what is best for the long term future of the club. I am not convinced that in the long term selling to an individual is better than keeping the club fan owned. I think we are likely to have more success in the short term under Grovemoor than FORAS but in 15, 30 or more years? That remains unknown.

I think if the vote happened a week ago then the vote would have been closer but some things emerged that swayed a significant number of no voters like me. For me it came down to licensing. We have a relatively small amount of debt that the board have indicated is manageable over the next number of years but there is the possibility that the licensing committee disagrees that this debt is manageable while we are a first division outfit with no gate receipts, limited ability to fund-raise and in an environment that makes businesses slow to support us. There is the possibility that licensing is loosened as multiple teams could find it difficult to be granted a license otherwise but we can't gamble on that possibility, and we have seen how much more strict licensing was under this new FAI in 2020, and the FAI have given no indication that this will change in 2021.

So in the end I voted to secure our immediate future but I did so feeling very unhappy about it. I hope I made the right choice, but we won't know for several years.

[El-Pietro]

Call option. Does that mean Hemmings could wait sometime before exercising his right and leave Cork in total limbo next season?

A sad day for Cork and the league in general.

Theoretically yes, and that was a concern raised time and time again. We were told the reason for the bid to be structured this way has to do with the structure of FORAS as a Cop-Op/Friendly Society. I don't fully understand why. The board also indicated that they believe he will initiate proceedings immediately but in the meantime we still own the club and are continuing with our license application for the 2021 season. The reality is that Grovemoor need to move quickly if they plan to receive a license for 2021 so we should know shortly if they are serious or not, though theoretically they could choose to do nothing and wait, and then in several years after we have turned things around again take us over in a healthier position owning all of our assets. It makes me very uncomfortable but hopefully its all dealt with quickly.

[El-Pietro]

Since when has anyone made a quick buck out of the LoI?

Interesting also to note that only earlier this month a couple of Cork fans here were saying the bid would "in all probability rejected", that it wasn't a serious takeover offer, and that there was almost no chance the offer would be accepted. Just wondering what's changed? I presume there's no major stakeholder in FORAS who controls, say, 20-30% of things - so a 70% vote effectively means 70% of fans voted for it?

Yet with FORAS strongly recommending it, it seems hardly surprising the deal has gone through. This does seem to suggest that the deeper financial issues within the club (as in, above and beyond what other clubs are facing at the moment) are probably quite real as well.
We as a membership hadn't received any information from Grovemoor in the ~8 months since they first indicated their interest in taking over the club. Obviously they had been in communication with the board but in order to win the vote they needed to win over the fans and had taken no steps in doing so. A week ago, with the information we had I think the vote would not have passed. Probably 60% plus against at that point. The licensing issue coming to light really changed things for a lot of people, myself and many people I have spoken to about the issue included. A lot of very anti-sale people ended up voting yes because the immediate risk was too great. Now we wait.

[pineapple stu]

It became apparent over the last 2 weeks - that the club would have serious issues in obtaining a license to compete in 2021 without a substantial cash injection. Our debts are not too dissimilar to what we had when we obtained a license last season, however there was a real risk that due to the changing nature of that debt we would not have been issued a license. This has swayed many members and I think we have collectively held our noses and moved it on to save the club itself. Very dramatic, all very quick but I suppose another typical chapter in the history of Cork soccer.
I think this raises more questions than it answers though.

If the Revenue debt was cleared in full this time last year (special request of the Revenue, it seems), but now debt is "not too dissimilar", then that is indicative of big issues. This can't built up all that quickly - certainly it can't have built up over the past two weeks.

Again, obviously covid is affecting all clubs and it was probably inevitable that someone would suffer in this. But I think the situation in Cork is above and beyond.

There is zero chance of turning an LoI club into something valuable. Dundalk aren't valuable with two recent EL group stage qualifications behind them. Rovers aren't valuable with a solid academy under their belt.

[El-Pietro]

I think calling the debt not too dissimilar is not accurate. Our net liabilities in February were in excess of 650, with significant debt to Revenue. I don't want to get into detail but our current net liabilities are much lower than that in October and would probably have been lower again in a year without covid and games without fans. In addition none of the current debt is to revenue other than normal debt accrued in trading that will be paid back as it falls due. The debt position has not changed over two weeks, the way we look at the debt, particularly in relation to licensing has changed.

[Real ale Madrid]

I think this raises more questions than it answers though.

If the Revenue debt was cleared in full this time last year (special request of the Revenue, it seems), but now debt is "not too dissimilar", then that is indicative of big issues. This can't built up all that quickly - certainly it can't have built up over the past two weeks.

Again, obviously covid is affecting all clubs and it was probably inevitable that someone would suffer in this. But I think the situation in Cork is above and beyond.

There is zero chance of turning an LoI club into something valuable. Dundalk aren't valuable with two recent EL group stage qualifications behind them. Rovers aren't valuable with a solid academy under their belt.

The Revenue debt was cleared pre-license clearance last year. So that's finished.

That left us with say 'X' amount of debt remaining at the time we received a license. One year down the road we have a similar amount of debt but with the conditions we now face as a result of COVID, and the way that debt has been re-structured greatly impacts our ability to trade as a going concern and as a result impacts our ability to get a license for 2021.

[pineapple stu]

I don't understand why the finances are so complicated.

CCFC is a new club and has had big crowds, lucrative transfer fees, and decent European runs in its ten-year existence.

So why is there this strange debt agreement in place whereby debt is being reclassified or restructured (they're two different things; El-Pietro's post suggests the former but you use the latter term) such that it puts the licence at risk doesn't seem to make any sense.

You'll forgive my "boy who cried wolf" approach to this given the previous posts. I might nip off and have a goo at the CRO actually.

[Bunny Kelly]

Surely licensing regulations can't be as stringent next year regarding debt? Obviously you can't take the **** but the licensing committee has to take current covid environment when evaluating clubs?

[joey B]

Going by Twitter last night a lot of younger Cork fans appear to think Hemmimgs is going to be a Abramovich type figure for them but id caution them with his history in riding in on the white horse,it might not quite be what they expect or maybe it will.....

https://www.chorleycitizen.co.uk/sport/763166.hemmings-cuts-cash-support-for-magpies/

[Real ale Madrid]

I don't understand why the finances are so complicated.

CCFC is a new club and has had big crowds, lucrative transfer fees, and decent European runs in its ten-year existence.

So why is there this strange debt agreement in place whereby debt is being reclassified or restructured (they're two different things; El-Pietro's post suggests the former but you use the latter term) such that it puts the licence at risk doesn't seem to make any sense.

You'll forgive my "boy who cried wolf" approach to this given the previous posts. I might nip off and have a goo at the CRO actually.

I don't see what's complicated tbh. I don't what to get into the details too much as it confidential really : but put simply- we have x amount of debt - last season the debt was deemed manageable - this season for obvious external reasons the debt is at risk at being deemed not manageable and therefore our ability to get a license was in doubt. No doubt our ability to raise capital has been further hit by relegation.

[Yossarian]

I suppose the relegation put the cat amongst the pigeons and made the outlook for next season a lot weaker. It seems a bit odd that all of a sudden this debt issue has become a deciding factor. Without getting into conspiracy theories, it seems from reading the above posts that this debt issue has only come to light in the last couple of weeks just before the vote to sell the club.
Obviously you can’t risk not getting a licence but I don’t think there is any chance of any existing club not getting a licence next season.

[Real ale Madrid]

I suppose the relegation put the cat amongst the pigeons and made the outlook for next season a lot weaker. It seems a bit odd that all of a sudden this debt issue has become a deciding factor. Without getting into conspiracy theories, it seems from reading the above posts that this debt issue has only come to light in the last couple of weeks just before the vote to sell the club.
Obviously you can’t risk not getting a licence but I don’t think there is any chance of any existing club not getting a licence next season.

We are not living in John Delaney land anymore. If an auditor thinks you can't run a club as a going concern and he says so in your accounts then you won't get a license unless you have a benefactor underwriting it.

[El-Pietro]

I suppose the relegation put the cat amongst the pigeons and made the outlook for next season a lot weaker. It seems a bit odd that all of a sudden this debt issue has become a deciding factor. Without getting into conspiracy theories, it seems from reading the above posts that this debt issue has only come to light in the last couple of weeks just before the vote to sell the club.
Obviously you can’t risk not getting a licence but I don’t think there is any chance of any existing club not getting a licence next season.
I think thats a reasonable question to ask and I am as cynical as they come. If I were in your position thats exactly what I would be thinking.

However the change in position with regard to how the debt affects licensing came from information shared by someone who was anti-sale, who has a lot of experience in the licensing process and who few would cast aspersions at given their track record. I do however think the board were quick to highlight this position as they were extremely pro sale as a group and I don't think they gave enough time to discussing anti-sale points of view.

[Lim till i die]

Two things come to mind:

1. If cork are struggling for a license next year giving someone an option to buy the club if they feel like it changes what exactly about the licence application?

2. I'm Trevor Hemmings and I want to run a club in cork. I have two options:

Option A: Pay foras a euro for the privilege of paying all the debts they've accrued

Option B: Let foras keep paddling their own canoe until they are dead and then enter my own team with no debt.

Now why would I choose option A??


From the outside looking in it looks like a load of DOOM was spread in the last couple of weeks in an effort to get the vote over the line.

The argument about licensing is utter scutter imho. For a couple of reasons. The first is that I can't see what's changed with the licensing application off the back of last night's vote? Unless the intention is for Hemmings to come in straightaway with his own license application. If that's the case it's been left pathetically late in the day by the board. The other reason is that you could count the number of clubs that are actually licence compliant on the fingers of one hand.


TLDR There's a bit of a smell off the whole thing

[El-Pietro]

Two things come to mind:

1. If cork are struggling for a license next year giving someone an option to buy the club if they feel like it changes what exactly about the licence application?

2. I'm Trevor Hemmings and I want to run a club in cork. I have two options:

Option A: Pay foras a euro for the privilege of paying all the debts they've accrued

Option B: Let foras keep paddling their own canoe until they are dead and then enter my own team with no debt.

Now why would I choose option A??


From the outside looking in it looks like a load of DOOM was spread in the last couple of weeks in an effort to get the vote over the line.

The argument about licensing is utter scutter imho. For a couple of reasons. The first is that I can't see what's changed with the licensing application off the back of last night's vote? Unless the intention is for Hemmings to come in straightaway with his own license application. If that's the case it's been left pathetically late in the day by the board. The other reason is that you could count the number of clubs that are actually licence compliant on the fingers of one hand.


TLDR There's a bit of a smell off the whole thing
I'm not going to get into the reasons why Hemmings would not just start his own debt free club. I don't know his motivations. I guess he would lose a lot of goodwill among the Cork public in that scenario whereas now he gets to come in as a saviour and keep the show on the road. While we don't have a lot of assets we do have a good track record of producing young players, and I'm not sure what would happen to the academy players in that scenario.

Regarding the licensing, I don't agree that its scutter. I'm trying to talk around this in generalities rather than specifics and I feel like I'm already close to giving away too much information. FORAS will continue to submit an application. We will do so with an extremely scaled back budget most likely. Possibly proposing a virtually amateur team in 2021 because of the lack of funding aside form existing sponsorship deals. Even at that there remains a risk that the licensing committee thinks that without fans it will be very difficult for us to repay our debts.

The hope is that Hemmings/Grovemoor will complete due diligence in short order and submit their own licensing application. They would have the finances available to erase our relatively small liabilities immediately if needed so even with no income there is less risk that the club would default on its debts. Pats for example have debts that are multiples of ours, in the millions, but their private owner has far more capability to inject cash to service debt if necessary than we do currently.

There is the posibility that with Covid still hanging over the league that the licensing committee is more lenient as otherwise several clubs may face difficulty getting a license. However I would wager that most No voters saw that risk as too great when someone was willing to take over and thats what swayed the vote.

[MKMK]

Its done now and it appears that finances were going to be a problem. How things change in a couple of years. The reality is that clubs are going to continue to struggle until the League becomes something that is a headline act again. They need to get crowds into all grounds not just a few and that will allow clubs to offer real value to people they get sponsorship off.
This is currently a Cork issue but no doubt lurks in the background for many clubs. The mention of semi pro or amateur reflects on the resources available this year and it will not be an easy job to get promoted next year. Galway will be a real threat and whoever comes down will also need to get back up quickly whilst Bray or Longford will hopefully invest in a squad to get promotion. Lets hope it works out well for Cork and that they prosper.Maybe we will see a side from Limerick back in the league.

[pineapple stu]

I don't see what's complicated tbh. I don't what to get into the details too much as it confidential really : but put simply- we have x amount of debt - last season the debt was deemed manageable - this season for obvious external reasons the debt is at risk at being deemed not manageable and therefore our ability to get a license was in doubt. No doubt our ability to raise capital has been further hit by relegation.
A football club - even Dundalk or Rovers - is a small entity in the bigger scheme of things.

It has debt of course - bank loans, Revenue arrears maybe, trade creditors and so on.

But if it has debt that either needs to be restructured or reclassified, then it's getting into complications that a small business generally doesn't have. So that's the bit that I find unusual in all this, particular as a club with a history of recent good transfers and European money. Yes, the budget went south, which can happen, but I don't that there should be a huge need for complicated debt agreements which would presumably have been entered into at a time that the club was relatively new and successful.

On buying now rather than picking up a debt-free company later, possibly the issues around Waterford's European qualification, having done effectively the same thing, came to mind?

[Nesta99]

is this board more or less the same as the one that authorised the increase of Caulfields budget that kinda kicked off this tailspin? If it is the same people, and yes it is a thankless job being on a LoI club board, but their performance was seriously flawed. 3 years after a maiden league, back to back cup wins, Europe, by a significant margin highest attendances in the league and player sales. Even by LoI its a rapid decline in to what amounts to a type of firesale. Covid or not CCFC would surely have had to go through significant readjustment. Cant see the MFA playing ball on Turners Cross with all the work theyve put in to it development.

As an aside games between Cork and Galway will be interesting next season. Cork may not find it just as easy to be promoted than is thought

[El-Pietro]

A football club - even Dundalk or Rovers - is a small entity in the bigger scheme of things.

It has debt of course - bank loans, Revenue arrears maybe, trade creditors and so on.

But if it has debt that either needs to be restructured or reclassified, then it's getting into complications that a small business generally doesn't have. So that's the bit that I find unusual in all this, particular as a club with a history of recent good transfers and European money. Yes, the budget went south, which can happen, but I don't that there should be a huge need for complicated debt agreements which would presumably have been entered into at a time that the club was relatively new and successful.

On buying now rather than picking up a debt-free company later, possibly the issues around Waterford's European qualification, having done effectively the same thing, came to mind?
The debt has not been changed in any way. It has not been restructured, it has not been reclassified. Our opinion in relation to the debt and the effect it might have on the licensing process has changed. I think you are reading too much into the wording here.

[El-Pietro]

is this board more or less the same as the one that authorised the increase of Caulfields budget that kinda kicked off this tailspin? If it is the same people, and yes it is a thankless job being on a LoI club board, but their performance was seriously flawed. 3 years after a maiden league, back to back cup wins, Europe, by a significant margin highest attendances in the league and player sales. Even by LoI its a rapid decline in to what amounts to a type of firesale. Covid or not CCFC would surely have had to go through significant readjustment. Cant see the MFA playing ball on Turners Cross with all the work theyve put in to it development.

As an aside games between Cork and Galway will be interesting next season. Cork may not find it just as easy to be promoted than is thought
No. The board has been changed dramatically over the last couple of years. Only the current Chairman was on the board prior to 2019 and he joined in 2018.

[pineapple stu]

The debt has not been changed in any way. It has not been restructured, it has not been reclassified. Our opinion in relation to the debt and the effect it might have on the licensing process has changed. I think you are reading too much into the wording here.
Well Real Ale says "the way that debt has been re-structured greatly impacts our ability to trade as a going concern and as a result impacts our ability to get a license for 2021", so I don't see what else I can read into that wording other than that either (a) the debt has been restructured or (b) the above is wrong.

And you've said "the way we look at the debt, particularly in relation to licensing has changed", which is where I'm getting the reclassifying suggestion. Or are you saying that licensing has fundamentally changed somehow such that what was once ok now isn't?

[Scrufil]

I think it became a gamble either way but after the carry on with former owner (Coughlan?) I am surprised that most voted for the €1 offer. That said when Dundalk was sold abroad there were great fears but so far so good.
The only thing about it is that I don't understand how the rules apply in regards to Brexit and taxes from another region outside the EU. Can a tax be applied to the owner regarding the potential value of Cork as a football club/business?

[Poor Student]

It's sad to see this and that the members feel their hand was essentially forced into swallowing something unpalatable. It looks like the appointment of Neale Fenn basically killed FORAS. I know the ball was set in motion with the increased budget and the performance in Caufield's final season and the external factor of COVID is a huge issue but Fenn cleaned the decks and his recruitment turned them into relegation fodder and broke the ownership model.

[joey B]

Neale Fenn was the final act of what is a familiar story in the league of Ireland, Harps, Derry, Bohs, Shels and on and on have been there, spending money they didn't have banking on success that is never guaranteed, as I heard on a podcast about this situation this week if the board of a league of Ireland club is an echo chamber this is usually what happens......

[EatYerGreens]

The man himself is a billionaire so he doesn’t need cork to make a quick buck. The issues will be in the years ahead as the man is advancing in years and do his family share his interest in football.

He's presumably a billionaire because he has a good eye for making bucks - both quick and slow. You won't find many billionaires who don't.

What was his interest in buying into Cork then ? Does he have any familial tis to the area, for example?

[joey B]

He's presumably a billionaire because he has a good eye for making bucks - both quick and slow. You won't find many billionaires who don't.

What was his interest in buying into Cork then ? Does he have any familial tis to the area, for example?

He's well embedded in Cork tbf, owns Trabolgan holiday resort and has a horse stud in Kanturk.

[EatYerGreens]

I voted to sell. I did not enjoy doing so. My approach was always what is best for the long term future of the club. I am not convinced that in the long term selling to an individual is better than keeping the club fan owned. I think we are likely to have more success in the short term under Grovemoor than FORAS but in 15, 30 or more years? That remains unknown.

I think if the vote happened a week ago then the vote would have been closer but some things emerged that swayed a significant number of no voters like me. For me it came down to licensing. We have a relatively small amount of debt that the board have indicated is manageable over the next number of years but there is the possibility that the licensing committee disagrees that this debt is manageable while we are a first division outfit with no gate receipts, limited ability to fund-raise and in an environment that makes businesses slow to support us. There is the possibility that licensing is loosened as multiple teams could find it difficult to be granted a license otherwise but we can't gamble on that possibility, and we have seen how much more strict licensing was under this new FAI in 2020, and the FAI have given no indication that this will change in 2021.

So in the end I voted to secure our immediate future but I did so feeling very unhappy about it. I hope I made the right choice, but we won't know for several years.

There are too many 'maybes' in the above explanation for me. Did Cork engage with the licensing committee/FAI in advance to gauge if they were likely to view the debt as an issue ?

As for the licensing committee factoring in the Covid impact on revenue in how they assess applications - if they do that, there will be essentially no league left. There isn't a club (potentially bar Derry, Dundalk, Rovers and maybe Waterford?) that isn't kept alive by gate receipts and sponsorship money. So if they're assuming clubs will have none of those in 2021, then there'll be a lot not getting a license as a result.

We all also know how football (and indeed most things) work in Ireland. The FAI, league etc would have done everything in their power to keep a Cork club in the league IMO, so would've been sympathetic towards a license in my opinion. And that is something they should have done due diligence on in-advance, if they didn't. So it sounds to me like fear was used to get a particular vote.

[EatYerGreens]

Two things come to mind:

1. If cork are struggling for a license next year giving someone an option to buy the club if they feel like it changes what exactly about the licence application?

2. I'm Trevor Hemmings and I want to run a club in cork. I have two options:

Option A: Pay foras a euro for the privilege of paying all the debts they've accrued

Option B: Let foras keep paddling their own canoe until they are dead and then enter my own team with no debt.

Now why would I choose option A??


From the outside looking in it looks like a load of DOOM was spread in the last couple of weeks in an effort to get the vote over the line.

The argument about licensing is utter scutter imho. For a couple of reasons. The first is that I can't see what's changed with the licensing application off the back of last night's vote? Unless the intention is for Hemmings to come in straightaway with his own license application. If that's the case it's been left pathetically late in the day by the board. The other reason is that you could count the number of clubs that are actually licence compliant on the fingers of one hand.

TLDR There's a bit of a smell off the whole thing

Option B would be a non-starter, from the sheer amount of work involved and the uncertainty. Setting up a senior club from scratch is not easy. No guarantee you'd get the license either. and no guarantee you'd have the support of the community either. Hugely risky for very little benefit.

Much easier to buy a club that already exists then try to set one up - especially in a country you don't know, and in a city with which you have no genuine connection to or presence in to even start sorting stuff like that out.

[EatYerGreens]

Cork City were the poster boys for supporter-ownership in Ireland. Part of European-wide projects to look at how to increase supporter input into the game etc.

It's therefore hugely disappointing that they've ended up in a position where they've had to flog themselves off to become a rich man's play thing. Which is precisely the sort of thing they've been advocating against in principle for years now.

[2 Year Contract]

My god this video and some of the quotes in it haven’t aged well at all...


https://youtu.be/9t-Iq-2uiTU

[Nesta99]

Cork City were the poster boys for supporter-ownership in Ireland. Part of European-wide projects to look at how to increase supporter input into the game etc.

It's therefore hugely disappointing that they've ended up in a position where they've had to flog themselves off to become a rich man's play thing. Which is precisely the sort of thing they've been advocating against in principle for years now.

It's a shame a Rovers type hybrid wasnt on the table. The idea would have to have been suggested if rejected. I wish Dundalk had a supporter liason appointed to the board, I hope Cork manage to get a concession on that!

[Red Star]

This entire story reflects very poorly on all Cork supporters. How old is this current Cork City maybe 10 years? I'm sure they will have a honeymoon period but I wonder will this current Cork City be added to the long list of clubs in Cork that came and died? I hope not

[Nesta99]

Its been a mad crazy 2020, but even the contrasting fortunes between Cork and Dundalk was unthinkable just a few seasons ago - one club playing Arsenal in Europe while the other has been relegated and have had to sell up due to finance issues. There was nothing between the 2 sides really when both were relatively recently dominating league and cup. We all know LoI is a rollercoaster, that any club could go in to an almost terminal decline from league winners to relegation fodder but I doubt anyone would have expected this. Although it was observed that when Caulfields teams struggled and crowds were down that there would have to be a shortfall.

[DCWA]

Its been a mad crazy 2020, but even the contrasting fortunes between Cork and Dundalk was unthinkable just a few seasons ago - one club playing Arsenal in Europe while the other has been relegated and have had to sell up due to finance issues.

Sorry, how was that ever unthinkable?

This is the League of Ireland what you have described is near enough its natural cycle and there are no shortage of examples of almost exactly this type of thing.

[sbgawa]

I can imagine how it wss put to the members. If u dont vote for this we wont even get a team on the pitch next year that will get us out of the first division and are looking at years in the doldrums.....vote yes and we will be back chasing promotion next year.
Most fans will vote for hope

[Nesta99]

Sorry, how was that ever unthinkable?

This is the League of Ireland what you have described is near enough its natural cycle and there are no shortage of examples of almost exactly this type of thing.

There have been vanity projects like Dublin City and Sporting Fingal, the like of which there was generally skepticism. Rightly or wrongly there is still a question mark over Dundalk. Cork on the other hand were fan owned, prudent and financially conservative. There was no land grab, or property developers involved like Drogheda or formally Bray. To have been in a position of regular large gate income, Year on year in Europe and to have been able to sell players for substantial rather than token fees. Double winners a couple of season ago, well go back to the start of 2018 Cork would probably have been considered the last club to end up facing not getting a licence due to debt or that FORAS would consider selling - due to past experiences and the pride there was in the ownership model with an insistance that history would not be repeated and the club's wellbeing would always come before a speculate to accumulate risk. CCFC were challanging for the league in probably the most sustainable manner than any club. The cracks started to appear when the board caved to their managers budget demands, to the extent that paying off staff to go wasnt possible. The top supported club in the league, again a significant source of pride, fell away by over 50% after a poor start to a league but as reigning champions. So while the general story is a familiar one I see this as different to most past examples - it is a LoI cycle to the extreme. It could end up being a more sound situation for the club but the manner in which key info was provided to members it seems like there was a far greater emphasis on the need to sell and much less on the pitfalls eg the call option. I know this may be reading between the lines not being a member privy to all info but based on what has been said here. I understand the decision but it just seems a bit railroaded and not at all like the FORAS that battled to keep a LoI club in Cork.

[El-Pietro]

There have been vanity projects like Dublin City and Sporting Fingal, the like of which there was generally skepticism. Rightly or wrongly there is still a question mark over Dundalk. Cork on the other hand were fan owned, prudent and financially conservative. There was no land grab, or property developers involved like Drogheda or formally Bray. To have been in a position of regular large gate income, Year on year in Europe and to have been able to sell players for substantial rather than token fees. Double winners a couple of season ago, well go back to the start of 2018 Cork would probably have been considered the last club to end up facing not getting a licence due to debt or that FORAS would consider selling - due to past experiences and the pride there was in the ownership model with an insistance that history would not be repeated and the club's wellbeing would always come before a speculate to accumulate risk. CCFC were challanging for the league in probably the most sustainable manner than any club. The cracks started to appear when the board caved to their managers budget demands, to the extent that paying off staff to go wasnt possible. The top supported club in the league, again a significant source of pride, fell away by over 50% after a poor start to a league but as reigning champions. So while the general story is a familiar one I see this as different to most past examples - it is a LoI cycle to the extreme. It could end up being a more sound situation for the club but the manner in which key info was provided to members it seems like there was a far greater emphasis on the need to sell and much less on the pitfalls eg the call option. I know this may be reading between the lines not being a member privy to all info but based on what has been said here. I understand the decision but it just seems a bit railroaded and not at all like the FORAS that battled to keep a LoI club in Cork.
I think you are mixing up a few seasons here. We had a good start to the 2018 season and attendances remained high. 2017: 4,559. 2018 4,245, though there was talk at the itme of the crowds being inflated by non attending season ticket holders.

We faltered in the middle/second half of 2018 and had a poor showing in Europe (though I think the bye in round 2 did more harm than good, and if we had lost to Legia, won against an unseeded team in the second round and then lost to Rosenborg things would look rosier than they did with the bye). Despite the standard of play starting to drop in the second half of 2018 we still reached the FAI Cup final and probably put in our best performance of the four finals but fell short.

In 2019 our recruitment was awful. We had a reduced budget but it was still relatively high, but the players brought in clearly were not of the necessary standard. Caulfield was let go after a disastrous start, and in hindsight many people wonder if that was the right choice, more so outside the club than in, but things got really toxic on and off the field and even his most diehard fans started to question him. ON the field things were not going well. By the time Caulfield was let go we had 13 points from 14 games and no wins in 8. Including a loss away to UCD and a draw at home to Finn Harps. Crowds were poor and our budgets relied on attendances. I don' tknow what the average attendance was when Caulfield left but we ended the season with an average of 2,505.

As for our budgets, the idea was that we wouldn't spend above our means but in reality it seems we set aggressive budgets trying to keep up with Dundalk that relied heavily on large attendances, once those attedances fell away we were in trouble. Questions at AGMS on these budgets were sort of waved off. Add to that the unexpected tax issue and we ended up with the 650k debt figure reported in February. There is a lot of anger among FORAS members that we have allowed ourselves to get into the position we are in today. We were proud of what we thought was a sustainable model but it seems that it was not as sustainable as thought and there are not lots of questons about governance and how a board was able to set such high budgets. The question now though is, if the sale goes through, what purpose does FORAS serve.

[Kingdom]

There have been vanity projects like Dublin City and Sporting Fingal, the like of which there was generally skepticism. Rightly or wrongly there is still a question mark over Dundalk. Cork on the other hand were fan owned, prudent and financially conservative. There was no land grab, or property developers involved like Drogheda or formally Bray. To have been in a position of regular large gate income, Year on year in Europe and to have been able to sell players for substantial rather than token fees. Double winners a couple of season ago, well go back to the start of 2018 Cork would probably have been considered the last club to end up facing not getting a licence due to debt or that FORAS would consider selling - due to past experiences and the pride there was in the ownership model with an insistance that history would not be repeated and the club's wellbeing would always come before a speculate to accumulate risk. CCFC were challanging for the league in probably the most sustainable manner than any club. The cracks started to appear when the board caved to their managers budget demands, to the extent that paying off staff to go wasnt possible. The top supported club in the league, again a significant source of pride, fell away by over 50% after a poor start to a league but as reigning champions. So while the general story is a familiar one I see this as different to most past examples - it is a LoI cycle to the extreme. It could end up being a more sound situation for the club but the manner in which key info was provided to members it seems like there was a far greater emphasis on the need to sell and much less on the pitfalls eg the call option. I know this may be reading between the lines not being a member privy to all info but based on what has been said here. I understand the decision but it just seems a bit railroaded and not at all like the FORAS that battled to keep a LoI club in Cork.

Thanks Nesta, you've summed up exactly what I wanted to ask, but was afraid to in case of not putting it an appropriate manner. That is pretty much how i'd feel.

I'm stunned by Cork's decision to go down this route to be honest. They've a good academy, a super catchment area, and surely a couple of seasons with breathing space in the graveyard, and allowing kids to prosper, wouldn't be the worst thing in the world if it meant continuing in a fan-owned model paying off the debt?
Like what I don't understand is that you've got everything that a provincial town needs to be both prudent and successful. A huge catchment area with little to no competition, some prime 3rd level operators in UCC & CIT, while the talent line going through the FAI course in Colaiste Chriost Rí (assuming it's still in operation), the best stadium (just about) and a soccer mad public who are good supporters......it just seems really disappointing that it's turned out this way.