Hull City owners to take majority stake in Dundalk?

[D24Saint]

Correct, Pats have the Patron Saints which has around 200 members donating monthly into a fund that is controlled by supporters that are voted in, decisions on spends are also voted on by members. The stand behind the goal had to be taken down in 2013, with the deteriorating wooden boards replaced with metal ones, the cost of that stand was paid for by the Patron Saints, hence the name ‘the Patrons stand’. Other more recent projects include renovating the home dressing room last year among many other things. There’s also money kept aside for a doomsday situation like the one that’s happening in Dundalk at the minute

Id never consider us a club that could sustain a fan owned model. The Patrons is great but it’s going over a decade and the number of members has stayed relatively low. It’s a fantastic scheme to help the club out but that’s where it ends.

[thebronze14]

Plenty of people delighted Dundalk is gone.

Think the vast, vast majority of LOI fans will be extremely disappointed

[brendy_éire]

Do you not think there's a difference between someone putting money into a club and not putting money into a club? Because the latter is what was happening at Dundalk for ages.

Pat's and Derry are big enough clubs to have supporters' groups anyway (and probably do?)

Derry don't really, though you could argue the club was essentially saved by a small group of fans. There was a supporters trust setup in 2009 to take over things, but a group of wealthy fans ended up doing that anyway. One of them then became very wealthy indeed. The supporters trust fizzled out after that.
I don't think it's really the same situation as an outside investor running the show, like Dundalk. There's also money being spent on the likes of the new stand, the academy and all.
In saying that, there is a lot of work needed to be done off the field if we're to get to a point where we're balancing the books without relying on donations or European money.

[Crosshead]

Knowing what this situation is like, I wouldn't wish it on any club. At the same time, there's a significant cohort of Dundalk fans who were absolutely obnoxious over the years, lads with short memories who forgot 2012 and loved the "you let your club die" ****e.

While I don't want to see Dundalk go to the wall, I can't help but have a bit of schadenfreude thinking of those types.

[2 Year Contract]

Id never consider us a club that could sustain a fan owned model. The Patrons is great but it’s going over a decade and the number of members has stayed relatively low. It’s a fantastic scheme to help the club out but that’s where it ends.

Id agree with you in its current guise. But then again if people feel the club is already doing fine without them putting money into a fund then they’re unlikely to do so. If it ever came to the fans having to run the club I think you’d have a lot more people putting the hand in the pocket. Not that I can see that happening any time soon. IMO if Kelleher is to leave in the future, it’ll be sold to another private investor rather than fan ownership stuff

[thebronze14]

Id never consider us a club that could sustain a fan owned model. The Patrons is great but it’s going over a decade and the number of members has stayed relatively low. It’s a fantastic scheme to help the club out but that’s where it ends.

If we do move away from being fan owned, I'd like to see something like this in place

[placid casual]

I'm of the opinion that Kelliher at Pats, Doherty at Derry,and even Wilson at Rovers invested on the basis of wanting nothing in return for their investment, although maybe that's naivety on my part- dundalk appear( from the outside anyway) to have been the target of a number of snakeoil salesmen looking for a quick buck - Shels also were in danger of these kinds of people with the Turks but maybe that's resolved now?

[D24Saint]

Think the vast, vast majority of LOI fans will be extremely disappointed

Rivalry has its limits. Disliking a club and moaning about them doesn’t mean you want to see them out of existence.

[trevy]

I don't think any genuine LOI fan would want Dundalk to be in the current situation and hopefully they pull out of it. It's bad for the league and if they do under now it will have negative affects on other clubs too affecting the league table and loss of gate receipts for example.
Being critical of how the club was run in last few years is fair comment though.

[Nesta99]

A number of years back myself and Ezekiel met up before games with a view to putting a fan group together for that rainy day time (he then had bigger things to deal with, ironically as do i currently). One of the things noted was how complacent fans had become and that the way the Trust was absorbed in to the club left a gap that needed to be filled. The people who formed the Trust were exceptional and this collapse would have happened to the club without them years ago so it is understanible why they became part of the club admin (I dout finances mind), they were a steadying hand during the successful periods and indeed stepped down during mad bills time as he was uncontrollable in every way. The lack of a subsequent Trust is in many ways due to the cream of those most dedicated fans not being there to drive thing on as they had. Too many others were all talk and no action, to the extent that contributing financially was a way not to give time and effort. The 1903 was formed but in its early days nearly ate itself from the inside out, I think there was a woman only supporters group formed out of disillusioned officers of the original supporters group.

So yes there should have been a contingency. Yes fans have some blame in this on level but this level only. We had no say in how the club was run or who it was sold to, we had to take things in good faith that previous owners and the FAI had due diligence done. Ive made no secret of how self proclaimed best fans in the league at Dundalk had me rolling eyes, I ve also done the careful what you wish for stuff. No fan deserves their club to go out of business and any gloating by other fans is ultimately ironic in LoI.

I do wonder where the likes of EYG was with his foresight in warning us about the charlatan that is BA - a chap that I originally thought tha he might be the person to sort out the off field issues, break cliques etc. My opinion on P6 differed for this very reason, they walked because it was demanded and imo if we had had more patience and waited out Bills days I dont think this would be happening now. I could have taken relegation if it was needed in a 2 steps back 3 forward way. If the club folds I wont be following a phoenix club as that wont be my club any longer! Id go to games but there wont be the gut wrenching or euphoric moments and emotional attachment.

In advance of results being expunged and Derry win the league, Rovers and Sligo qualify for Europe I will say you are welcome. To Waterford apologies, its like a play-off result without the play-off......

[EatYerGreens]

I do wonder where the likes of EYG was with his foresight in warning us about the charlatan that is BA - a chap that I originally thought tha he might be the person to sort out the off field issues, break cliques etc. My opinion on P6 differed for this very reason, they walked because it was demanded and imo if we had had more patience and waited out Bills days I dont think this would be happening now. I could have taken relegation if it was needed in a 2 steps back 3 forward way. If the club folds I wont be following a phoenix club as that wont be my club any longer! Id go to games but there wont be the gut wrenching or euphoric moments and emotional attachment.



I personally have a very simple philosophy re football investment - particularly in Ireland. If someone who has zero connection to either your area or your club turns up saying they want to put money in with talk of taking the club to the next level etc etc, then just say no. 99 times out of 100 it will not end well, as that person has no emotional bond to keep them there when times get tough.

Even 'investors' who DO have such connections can still turn out to be a disaster. But at least there's a much more credible chance they won't. Because they have at least an emotional and/or historical connection to what they're looking to 'invest' in.

Obvioiusly there are lots of examples in world football of wealthy outsiders coming in who DO turn out to be 'good' for the club. But those are invaraiably not the sorts who sniff around Irish clubs. We're more often the target of chancers, and of people with less resources thna they claim (who would happily target a bigger club/league if they had the cash).

[Another Bohemia]

I personally have a very simple philosophy re football investment - particularly in Ireland. If someone who has zero connection to either your area or your club turns up saying they want to put money in with talk of taking the club to the next level etc etc, then just say no. 99 times out of 100 it will not end well, as that person has no emotional bond to keep them there when times get tough.

Even 'investors' who DO have such connections can still turn out to be a disaster. But at least there's a much more credible chance they won't. Because they have at least an emotional and/or historical connection to what they're looking to 'invest' in.

Obvioiusly there are lots of examples in world football of wealthy outsiders coming in who DO turn out to be 'good' for the club. But those are invaraiably not the sorts who sniff around Irish clubs. We're more often the target of chancers, and of people with less resources thna they claim (who would happily target a bigger club/league if they had the cash).

Even outside of Ireland how many clubs in the UK have been burned by bad owners? Spain as well. These problems aren't unique to Ireland but the impact is probably larger here given the relative size of the league, support base and prize/TV money available. Even the "good" owners frequently have some ulterior motive like sport washing that is the driving force behind their investment.

[bohsmug]

We're more often the target of chancers, and of people with less resources thna they claim (who would happily target a bigger club/league if they had the cash).

Think that's fairly common among most levels if football to be honest, maybe outside a very limited number of clubs globally. Randy Lerner at Aston Villa turned out that way (unless I'm completely misremembering) for example. In general though, I feel football club ownership seems to attract some very strange characters. Then there's many examples of people with a very good business background who make baffling decisions when it comes to clubs that would make you wonder how they were ever successful in the first place.

On Dundalk, the Ainscough takeover never looked good. Aside from leaving Kerry very quickly, he was quite disrespectful when talking about them I felt. Not someone you want to have stewardship of your club. Hope for the best for Dundalk and that they retain their club, regardless of whether that's the current club or if a phoenix club that still "feels" like Dundalk comes to the fore.

[2 Year Contract]

Update from David Sneyd on Twitter just now:


Dundalk set for stay of execution with 5pm deadline for deal to save club due to be extended. At least two groups - one based in Europe - in talks over a deal.

[Nesta99]

I personally have a very simple philosophy re football investment - particularly in Ireland. If someone who has zero connection to either your area or your club turns up saying they want to put money in with talk of taking the club to the next level etc etc, then just say no. 99 times out of 100 it will not end well, as that person has no emotional bond to keep them there when times get tough.

Even 'investors' who DO have such connections can still turn out to be a disaster. But at least there's a much more credible chance they won't. Because they have at least an emotional and/or historical connection to what they're looking to 'invest' in.

Obvioiusly there are lots of examples in world football of wealthy outsiders coming in who DO turn out to be 'good' for the club. But those are invaraiably not the sorts who sniff around Irish clubs. We're more often the target of chancers, and of people with less resources thna they claim (who would happily target a bigger club/league if they had the cash).

So you have a generic generalised scattergun opinion that counts for all clubs worldwide that dont have local ownership?

[A N Mouse]

I mean nobody wants to see this, but the schadenfreudboner is real. There no gloating, but some Dundalk posters got drunk on the last ten years, forgot the ten before that and have been consistently the biggest tools in this tool-shed over that time. I'll not get ahead of meself lest the schadenfreudboner comes for me.

Everybody been passing comments, cos fans of nearly every club in the league have been in similar situation, just without falling such a height. So, I'm not sure what EYG is supposed to have done in particular that you'd single them out on multiple occasions, I don't see anything that everyone and their feckin dog wasn't saying on here when BA abandoned the Kerry project and came calling promising 'investors'. Something straight out of the Roddy playbook.

What was different that this didn't set of your BS detector? When did the penny drop for you on BA? This past week? Was I imagining it or was Noel feckin King not Dundalk manager very briefly, very recently?



Oh, and as at some point you asked, there were more than a few dcfc fans with foresight. They were asking why are the same muppets as last time still here? Why are 'competent' people leaving the board? And you know what, they were bang on. We flirted briefly with a fans model, it died on it's hole, cos it's fecking hard work. I don't know if the fans got a seat on the board eventually or not cos I haven't paid attention to it since I had to. And Am complacent enough to hope I never again have to.

[bohsmug]

The Roddy reference is weird, unless it's Jim Roddy and there's some story I'm not aware of. If it's Roddy Collins... did he not find himself in the same unfortunate position as John Daly is now?

[2 Year Contract]

James Rogers on Twitter:


Just spoke to Brian Ainscough.
Update to follow and there's still a journey ahead but the key quote is 'there'll be no liquidation today.'

[pineapple stu]

Still seems very strange to be not paying wages one week and talking about "There'll be no liquidation today" the next.

I get there's nothing in the pot, but who's pressing for the liquidation here? Let the club struggle along until the end of the season, be in breach of contracts, put in the academy players, etc - and start next season with large debt, a local team, new owners (whoever they are) and some sort of a plan for recovery. Far, far from ideal for all concerned - but better than liquidation surely?

[Jack B]

Potentially ominous use of the word "today" there.

[Another Bohemia]

Still seems very strange to be not paying wages one week and talking about "There'll be no liquidation today" the next.

I get there's nothing in the pot, but who's pressing for the liquidation here? Let the club struggle along until the end of the season, be in breach of contracts, put in the academy players, etc - and start next season with large debt, a local team, new owners (whoever they are) and some sort of a plan for recovery. Far, far from ideal for all concerned - but better than liquidation surely?

Well the money raised in the recent fundraiser was used to pay for the bus to get to Waterford and food for the players. If the club can't even get to games on game day they cannot finish out the season? It's not just the players who aren't being paid but also local businesses as well who may not be so open to giving their services to the club for nothing.

[Acornvilla]

Still seems very strange to be not paying wages one week and talking about "There'll be no liquidation today" the next.

I get there's nothing in the pot, but who's pressing for the liquidation here? Let the club struggle along until the end of the season, be in breach of contracts, put in the academy players, etc - and start next season with large debt, a local team, new owners (whoever they are) and some sort of a plan for recovery. Far, far from ideal for all concerned - but better than liquidation surely?
My only guess is he's trying to push for a buyer so he can make something back, does seem like things have suddenly escalated for no other reason.

[pineapple stu]

Well the money raised in the recent fundraiser was used to pay for the bus to get to Waterford and food for the players. If the club can't even get to games on game day they cannot finish out the season? It's not just the players who aren't being paid but also local businesses as well who may not be so open to giving their services to the club for nothing.
I get that - but equally that doesn't mean they get liquidated today. I've seen companies drag the arse out of financial problems for months and months; it seems almost defeatist to say "Yerrah, we've no choice; let's just wind it up now and be done with it"

[LTFC]

Potentially ominous use of the word "today" there.

Why liquidation, and not examinership?

[LTFC]

I get that - but equally that doesn't mean they get liquidated today. I've seen companies drag the arse out of financial problems for months and months; it seems almost defeatist to say "Yerrah, we've no choice; let's just wind it up now and be done with it"

Surely examinership gets the club to end of season, albeit with massive debt. Withing reason that debt can be managed over time, even if its very painful for the club.

[D24Saint]

Why liquidation, and not examinership?

There was post on here explaining it. Apparently it’s the cheapest route to go down.

[Kiki Balboa]

Still seems very strange to be not paying wages one week and talking about "There'll be no liquidation today" the next.

I get there's nothing in the pot, but who's pressing for the liquidation here? Let the club struggle along until the end of the season, be in breach of contracts, put in the academy players, etc - and start next season with large debt, a local team, new owners (whoever they are) and some sort of a plan for recovery. Far, far from ideal for all concerned - but better than liquidation surely?


There was post on here explaining it. Apparently it’s the cheapest route to go down.

Not for the club, but for the owner personally when he declares bankruptcy in the States.

[LTFC]

There was post on here explaining it. Apparently it’s the cheapest route to go down.

But theres no comeback from that, not for the existing entity.

[LTFC]

But theres no comeback from that, not for the existing entity.
Sorry, I see Kiki post.

So Ainscough sells club for €1 and walks away. A new owner takes over a club with 1m plus of debt and running costs it cant pay, but that is for 6 weeks when most players should be out of contract, and those that arent are free to sign with anyone else.

As holes go, its nuts, but by LOI standards......

[Kiki Balboa]

Still seems very strange to be not paying wages one week and talking about "There'll be no liquidation today" the next.

I get there's nothing in the pot, but who's pressing for the liquidation here? Let the club struggle along until the end of the season, be in breach of contracts, put in the academy players, etc - and start next season with large debt, a local team, new owners (whoever they are) and some sort of a plan for recovery. Far, far from ideal for all concerned - but better than liquidation surely?


Sorry, I see Kiki post.

So Ainscough sells club for €1 and walks away. A new owner takes over a club with 1m plus of debt and running costs it cant pay, but that is for 6 weeks when most players should be out of contract, and those that arent are free to sign with anyone else.

As holes go, its nuts, but by LOI standards......

It might be more in his interest to liquidate the club and use it for tax relief, than sell for a euro.

[pineapple stu]

It might be more in his interest to liquidate the club and use it for tax relief, than sell for a euro.
I don't see how tbh. Either way he's racking up a big loss. Why not sell it for €1?

Is he worried if he declares personal bankruptcy that they'll seize his assets to repay creditors? Is Dundalk really an asset? What's there - a few jerseys?

[LTFC]

It might be more in his interest to liquidate the club and use it for tax relief, than sell for a euro.

Ouch! You mean save in US taxes?

[Kiki Balboa]

Ouch! You mean save in US taxes?

That's the rumours.

It's not about siezing assets... But gaining tax relief in future from liquidated assest from bankruptcy in the American system.

[sbgawa]

The problem with any option like examinership, Scarp etc is there has to be at least enough money to keep paying the bills including Revenue (current sums).
An examiner wont start the process unless there is a way of paying bills including his own fees as they fall due so if BA isnt willing or capable of paying saleries etc you cant enter these processes.
Maybe he can get someone to come in who will guarantee to pay these bills while the club goes through the process of examinership and gets the debts written off.

Couple of problems with that will be the losses during examinership including the fees will probably be a few hundred grand.
Also an examiner is legally obliged to get the best deal for the creditors so someone could agree to front the losses during examinership and then find themselves in a compeitition with another party who enters the fray looking to pick up the club on the cheap without paying the examinership costs and covering losses during the period in question.

On the plus side if you look at the losses plus costs as being the purchase cost of buying a debt free Dundalk its cheap enough and might interest wealthy fans,

[EatYerGreens]

So you have a generic generalised scattergun opinion that counts for all clubs worldwide that dont have local ownership?

Based on multiple examples of how real world sh!!t has turned out? Yes.

[EalingGreen]

Assume if they did go under another team would just reform in division 1 next season?
Whether practically achievable or not, doesn't that reflect the major flaw in the LOI set-up as it stands?

That is, in the absence of a pyramid, there is no overriding "moral hazard" for an owner, whether by incompetence or worse, screwing with the finances of a club, since he knows that the club will be able to reform as a "phoenix", whether he is still at the helm or not? This is unlike eg Spain, whereby if a club goes into examinership, La Liga will impose two relegations i.e. out of La Liga entirely and into the regional leagues below, which are part-time.

Nor will there likely be any other replacement clubs able/willing to step up from below and take their place in the LOI.

Neither is there the "safety net" of lower league football available for a team to drop down to while they address their financial problems and turn the club around etc. In England for example, you see clubs like Luton, Stockport, Chesterfield, Wrexham etc, drop out of the EFL entirely, without it being the death sentence it used to be. And even in the little 'ol Irish League, when eg Bangor got into financial difficulties in the Premiership in 2015/16, they held their hands up, managed their debts and saw out their fixtures until the end of the season. They then declined to apply for an IL licence the following season, even for the Championship, instead dropping down into Intermediate football. Since when they have regrouped and are now back up in the Championship again, pressing hard for promotion to the Premiership.

So that unless or until the FAI/LOI successfully address this defect, however difficult and long it takes, the league is surely always going to be prone to this sort of problem.

[Nesta99]

I mean nobody wants to see this, but the schadenfreudboner is real. There no gloating, but some Dundalk posters got drunk on the last ten years, forgot the ten before that and have been consistently the biggest tools in this tool-shed over that time. I'll not get ahead of meself lest the schadenfreudboner comes for me.

Everybody been passing comments, cos fans of nearly every club in the league have been in similar situation, just without falling such a height. So, I'm not sure what EYG is supposed to have done in particular that you'd single them out on multiple occasions, I don't see anything that everyone and their feckin dog wasn't saying on here when BA abandoned the Kerry project and came calling promising 'investors'. Something straight out of the Roddy playbook.

What was different that this didn't set of your BS detector? When did the penny drop for you on BA? This past week? Was I imagining it or was Noel feckin King not Dundalk manager very briefly, very recently?



Oh, and as at some point you asked, there were more than a few dcfc fans with foresight. They were asking why are the same muppets as last time still here? Why are 'competent' people leaving the board? And you know what, they were bang on. We flirted briefly with a fans model, it died on it's hole, cos it's fecking hard work. I don't know if the fans got a seat on the board eventually or not cos I haven't paid attention to it since I had to. And Am complacent enough to hope I never again have to.

My ire had to do with EYG commenting at every opportunity about P6, and now, where was the foresight to make absolutely legitimate calls of doom with BA last winter. There is no comparison between current and previous owners and P6 when only one in that group did what was demanded by fans and didnt leave the club on the brink. Flawed but not the chancers that they were labled the day they bought the club. The madness of things is that it wouldnt be a shock if there were people in common if there was a white knight effort however little im actuay expecting that to happen. What was different about BA, hope I suppose, what he was saying made sense, no big promises, cliched soundbites - I never said never with this guy, I do try to give things a chance before rolling out the 'careful now' signs.

I also dont see it as particularly unusual for football fans to bask in the glory of a successful era - whats the point otherwise. I dont recall and winding up of rival fans that was any different to other eras and bya and large on here its good natured and civil.

You will have to be more specific about the latter highlighted comment!?

[Nesta99]

Based on multiple examples of how real world sh!!t has turned out? Yes.

So you state the obvious then?

[2 Year Contract]

Things still up in the air but sounds a hell of a lot brighter than it did this morning in terms of attracting a new owner. How trustworthy this new group of yanks is is another story…

https://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/soccer/arid-41477140.html

[Nesta99]

We have no wriggle room to consider to too much depth, the trustworthiness of prospective new owners, survive and maybe fans might unite for he future. It was the same with BA, it was presumed about P6 and local ownership were automatically passed.

If it happens it will once again be a case of wait and see how owners perform - there is no crysal ball, it may work out it may not, it may kill the club or it might be the time where the deadwood will be cast aside.

It remind me a bit of an old property developer tactic, propose a totally unacceptable situation, create outrage, offer a compromise plan which was always the actual plan all along but there are no objections as its better than other proposal. Fans, even those with pre-existing anti American attitudes, non sport related, may take this rather than no club at all. Not planned obviously but billionaire known Americn P6 to unknown American consortium via an unknown American based and local dysfunctional owner.....fr away fields and all that.

[Another Bohemia]

We have no wriggle room to consider to too much depth, the trustworthiness of prospective new owners, survive and maybe fans might unite for he future. It was the same with BA, it was presumed about P6 and local ownership were automatically passed.

If it happens it will once again be a case of wait and see how owners perform - there is no crysal ball, it may work out it may not, it may kill the club or it might be the time where the deadwood will be cast aside.

It remind me a bit of an old property developer tactic, propose a totally unacceptable situation, create outrage, offer a compromise plan which was always the actual plan all along but there are no objections as its better than other proposal. Fans, even those with pre-existing anti American attitudes, non sport related, may take this rather than no club at all. Not planned obviously but billionaire known Americn P6 to unknown American consortium via an unknown American based and local dysfunctional owner.....fr away fields and all that.

So if this takeover goes through will your fans finally see some sense and start building a rainy day fund in case this 4th attempt at new ownership goes tits up?

[Nesta99]

So if this takeover goes through will your fans finally see some sense and start building a rainy day fund in case this 4th attempt at new ownership goes tits up?

I certainly hope so!! But I also think we are a long way from having Sligo levels of willing to commit and fundraise which just on population we should be aiming to beat, miles form Bohs membership and community engagement. There will be the let someone else do it among the fanbase and may even be some of the most vocal with gripes. There is a lack of unity that maybe just maybe if we survive that it might put people on the same page with the kick in the aras!

[oriel]

Horrible horrible day, and wouldn't wish that on any LOI fan, so hard to work and not be side tracked by the stress and worry of the whole day.

To be still alive and kicking and past the dreaded 5pm deadline is all and more than we could have asked for. Then the news of the 500k grant from Govt / Dept of Sports for pitch and lights as long we are still in biz around mid afternoon was a real boost and probably meant this story moved on a bit, as it has become a little less scary.

https://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/...-41477140.html

Not out of the woods yet, work to do (a lot) but still alive.

[LTFC]

But isnt the grant to another entity - not sure how that helps the current situation.

[dundalkfc10]

But isnt the grant to another entity - not sure how that helps the current situation.

The floodlights and pitch need replacing at end of this season.
Anyone potentially taking over knows they have 500k towards this guaranteed now. I remember reading it was going to cost 700k to get both done

[oriel]

But isnt the grant to another entity - not sure how that helps the current situation.

Of course, and has to be ring fenced for ground stuff, but it has to be a help in any takeover people coming in, as that is probably 50-65% already funded going towards the pitch and lights bill, so less for any new group to spend, but a reminder we are not out of the woods yet, the grant only pays if we are still in business !

News tonight seems a takeover will happen tomorrow, wed at latest, but we have been here before, and nothing to be taken for granted until its signed and sealed.

[EatYerGreens]

So you state the obvious then?

Yes. But you still argue the toss over the obvious.

[EatYerGreens]

My ire had to do with EYG commenting at every opportunity about P6

Commenting about P6 at every opportunity? WTF?! I honestly think this BA situation at Dundalk is affecting your mental health

BTW - Anyone done a welfare check on Maxi and called in on local petrol stations to see if he's been round yet?

[vinnie]

Lads all this bickering, am I the only one who thinks the league, be it premier or first will be worse without a Dundalk team, time to circle the waggons whether you like them or not, we've all known for years that the model wasn't going to work but would you rather go to gortakeegan than Oriel

[LTFC]

Lads all this bickering, am I the only one who thinks the league, be it premier or first will be worse without a Dundalk team, time to circle the waggons whether you like them or not, we've all known for years that the model wasn't going to work but would you rather go to gortakeegan than Oriel

No your not. We have lost clubs before but losing Dundalk would be a disaster in my view - our second most successful club, with a long and distinguished history in Irish soccer. You dont want that to become a footnote, and equally I dont want to see them do a Cork or Galway and break from the league even for 1 year.
My club is only 40 years in the LOI, and shockingly only 11 clubs have a longer continual league presence than us.