Hull City owners to take majority stake in Dundalk?

[joey B]

https://shelbournefc.ie/club-statement-acun-ilicali/

Shels confirmed as being taken over by Hull City’s owner….

[2 Year Contract]

Great news for shelbourne fans, maybe Liam Rosenior will make duff send more than 3 players into the opposition half in games now ;)

[Jack B]

Your man spelling Shelbourne wrong in his tweet about how excited he is to take them over is a great start.

In all seriousness it'll be interesting to see how this plays out. The comments from the likes of Rosenior that had Dundalk fans rightly concerned don't exactly marry with Duff's strong, public stances on the league not being taken seriously enough by outsiders etc.

[LOI101]

Your man spelling Shelbourne wrong in his tweet about how excited he is to take them over is a great start.

In all seriousness it'll be interesting to see how this plays out. The comments from the likes of Rosenior that had Dundalk fans rightly concerned don't exactly marry with Duff's strong, public stances on the league not being taken seriously enough by outsiders etc.

He also managed to spell it correctly in the same tweet. Not something I'd read too much into.

I'd be more worried about the second part of your post. Do I need to watch a Hull City game to see how we're going to line out tonight? I think people were rightly concerned about Rosenior's comments when they were made so hopefully something has changed in the interim. If not I could see Duff walking.

[Calcio Jack]

Investing in facilities is mentioned in the statement….. I’ll take this takeover as being serious when I see planning permission obtained and the commencement of upgrading Tolka started

[sbgawa]

If the guy is taking a majority stake and installing himself as Chairman then hes identified with the project.
Fellas like this guy dont like to be associated with failure so i can see incoming loans in the July window at the minimum.
Probably good news for Shels as tjhey were going nowhere as it was expecialy with Tolka.....i guess we will see

[Another Bohemia]

If the guy is taking a majority stake and installing himself as Chairman then hes identified with the project.
Fellas like this guy dont like to be associated with failure so i can see incoming loans in the July window at the minimum.
Probably good news for Shels as tjhey were going nowhere as it was expecialy with Tolka.....i guess we will see

Yes billionaire "passion" projects never turn out poorly for football teams...or companies in general...

[Glen Of Aherlow]

Can’t see him being too bothered about pumping money into the ground , I’d say money will go into the academy as it’s in Hull’s interests .
Did’nt Duffer say only recently he’s rather see money invested in an academy than improving the ground

[Dermobohs]

I’d say the main concern for shels fans would be Damien walking if he gets any outside interference into his style and system. He’s been doing a terrific job there, be an awful pity .

[Glen Of Aherlow]

I’d say the main concern for shels fans would be Damien walking if he gets any outside interference into his style and system. He’s been doing a terrific job there, be an awful pity .

A terrific job as long as you don’t have to watch them on a regular basis

[placid casual]

Duffer appears, to the uninitiated, to be taking his football approach from jose mourinho whom he served under at chelsea. Scoffers may rightly point out that his way is out of date with modern football but mourinho did get a very workmanlike Roma team to 2 European finals in successive years (albeit the football on show was eye_bleedingly awful).
This turkish guys behaviour at LOI grounds over the past year make him sound like a bit of a snake oil salesman but maybe this will work out for shels. maybe.

[EalingGreen]

Anyone getting involved without an obvious connection to the club/town is clearly not doing so for the love of the team. Which is fair enough, since there may be other valid reasons for doing so.

But whatever those are, any new owner will want to see some sort of return on his investment. The most obvious way of doing so would be to build and develop the club (stadium, attendances, sponsors, corporate etc), so that a profit may accrue if/when the time comes to sell up again. However, even if you disregard the sheer difficulty of that, plus the time it takes to achieve, it would inevitably require an initial financial injection first, which many (most?) new owners are loathe to do.

The second way to grow your investment is to achieve regular European football, with occasional advancement. This, of course, is hardly guaranteed, even if the pool of competing clubs is rather shallow, as might be argued to be the case in the LOI.

A third, and more obvious, is to find/develop/farm out young players who can then be sold for a profit - the next Evan Ferguson, for example, could go a long way towards that.

While a fourth, and depressingly common one in these sorts of cases, is to asset-strip, usually because there is potential to sell-off land or other property which the club owns for development and make a profit that way. I have absolutley no idea whether that applies here, but I assume existing owners and stakeholders do and will be on the alert.

But whichever it is, I personally would be rather wary of a millionaire Turkish businessman who owns Hull City taking an interest in any LOI club, when there a million other clubs* around the world who might catch his eye.

* - Something caused eg Kidderminster Harriers FC to come to my attention the other day. In a town of 55k people (vs eg 40k in Dundalk?), this is a long-established club which had a few years in the EFL a while back, and also has a cracking stadium, which would put all but a couple in the LOI or IL to shame:
https://footballgroundguide.com/leagues/conference/conference-north/kidderminster-harriers-aggborough-stadium.html
The irony being that the above link (from September 2020) includes the caution:
"The Club have unveiled plans to leave Aggborough and move to a new purpose-built stadium on the south western outskirts of Kidderminster, just off the A451 Stourport Road. If the scheme were to reach fruition then Aggborough would be sold to be redeveloped for housing."

[Longfordian]

Interesting that he's coming in as chairman. He's also chairman of Hull. You'd wonder where he'll get the time, but I guess it depends on how hands on he is.

[sulywaterfordfc]

Investing in facilities is mentioned in the statement….. I’ll take this takeover as being serious when I see planning permission obtained and the commencement of upgrading Tolka started

Whatever about Shels as a club, but it’d be fantastic Shels and a boost for the league if Tolka was fully redeveloped.

[total hoofball]

I’d say the main concern for shels fans would be Damien walking if he gets any outside interference into his style and system. He’s been doing a terrific job there, be an awful pity .
I'm certain half of the LOI on the internet over 12 months ago were promising that Duff would have walked out of Shels by summer of 2022. He is still here the last time I checked an hour ago

If Liam Rosenior is going to be instructing Duff how to do his job, play long ball or 4-4-2 then Duff won't be hanging around for long, Duff is not doing the Shels job to pay his food bills. If Liam Rosenior has positive football ideals, philosophies and recommends genuinely talented upcoming Hull players for loan moves Duff is actually very pragmatic and that football 'synergy' between the clubs outlined in the statement could turn out to be a positive, we'll see, I'm aware if not done properly it could turn out to be a disaster

Like all outsider takeovers in football at all levels some work out really well and some work out terribly. Andrew Doyle's takeover worked out very well for us in 2018 despite even reading scepticism here, 5 years on with Doyle and co still involved going forward in a minority capacity and the Hull fans loving this Turkish guy with him being a genuinely successful media mogul I'm willing to give benefit of some doubts over it all, credentials and track record are important in football investment/ownership

[wonder88]

I think this is great news for Shels and for the League of Ireland in Dublin. Hopefully he will get the new stand(dressing rooms end) back open fairly soon and sort out the camera gantry, so its not blocking the view of the spectators on that side of the ground. Put in a few more crush barriers in the away end and you have a nice 5-6k capacity Tolka to start with. On the bus back to the city centre on monday night after the Drogheda game, I overheard a few Shels fans (jokingly) discuss the possibility of them being in the champions league if they got a millionaire owner. Well they seem to be on their way into european competition anyway, if not exactly the champions league. It will be interesting to see how Dermot Desmond responds.

[osarusan]

Whever about investing in facilities that directly impact on results on the pitch, I can't see this guy being too interested in building stands and the likes.

[EatYerGreens]

I think this is great news for Shels and for the League of Ireland in Dublin. Hopefully he will get the new stand(dressing rooms end) back open fairly soon and sort out the camera gantry, so its not blocking the view of the spectators on that side of the ground. Put in a few more crush barriers in the away end and you have a nice 5-6k capacity Tolka to start with. On the bus back to the city centre on monday night after the Drogheda game, I overheard a few Shels fans (jokingly) discuss the possibility of them being in the champions league if they got a millionaire owner. Well they seem to be on their way into european competition anyway, if not exactly the champions league. It will be interesting to see how Dermot Desmond responds.

Out of curiousity, can you name any instances in the LOI where a sugar daddy with zero connection to a club has come in, bought it and left it in a better state than it was beforehand - nevermind built stands and things like that which don't actually improve on-field performances (which is where the money really is, via the UEFA route) ?

[Philosophizer]

I think this is great news for Shels and for the League of Ireland in Dublin. Hopefully he will get the new stand(dressing rooms end) back open fairly soon and sort out the camera gantry, so it’s not blocking the view of the spectators on that side of the ground. Put in a few more crush barriers in the away end and you have a nice 5-6k capacity Tolka to start with. On the bus back to the city centre on monday night after the Drogheda game, I overheard a few Shels fans (jokingly) discuss the possibility of them being in the champions league if they got a millionaire owner. Well they seem to be on their way into european competition anyway, if not exactly the champions league. It will be interesting to see how Dermot Desmond responds.
Dressing room stand is closed due to structural faults in the foundations. Would fixing that be a priority, do they even have crowds to warrant it?
Half the away end is permanently closed off due to safety regs so there’s little chance of anything being done there either.

[Martinho II]

Dressing room stand is closed due to structural faults in the foundations. Would fixing that be a priority, do they even have crowds to warrant it?
Half the away end is permanently closed off due to safety regs so there’s little chance of anything being done there either.

that away end is that behind the goal Philosophizer?

[Philosophizer]

that away end is that behind the goal Philosophizer?
Correct!

[nr637]

Investors are never interested in the facilities, look at Dundalk FC recent past with Peak5 or something!

They painted the walls and did a general clean up and that was about it! :confused:

Cork City Mr. Usher is only prepared to upgrade the toilets due to the Munster FA's ownership policy.

Waterford FC new owners are considering their options at the RSC.

There is form with most Investors..........! :(

[Philosophizer]

Investors are never interested in the facilities, look at Dundalk FC recent past with Peak5 or something!

They painted the walls and did a general clean up and that was about it! :confused:
If the Turkish lad can get a new coat of paint on the roof of the main stand at Tolka it will all have been worth it imo.
That thing has been annoying me for years. Such an eyesore. Looks woeful on tv. Just that alone would make the ground look a lot better.

[brendy_éire]

Investors are never interested in the facilities, look at Dundalk FC recent past with Peak5 or something!

They sometimes are. Philip O'Doherty is spending millions of his own cash on the new terrace in the Brandywell, and Larne are benefiting the same way.
Granted, in both cases, they're not 'outside' investors. In general, investors tend to be interested in taking profits out of a club, so there's often no gain in them improving facilities.

[EatYerGreens]

They sometimes are. Philip O'Doherty is spending millions of his own cash on the new terrace in the Brandywell, and Larne are benefiting the same way.
Granted, in both cases, they're not 'outside' investors. In general, investors tend to be interested in taking profits out of a club, so there's often no gain in them improving facilities.

Philip O'Doherty doesn't own Derry City though. It's not his to sell to get a return on his 'investment'. So he's basically an out-and-out philanthropic donor.

Most people who 'invest' in football end up essentially become donors too due to reality. But they at least own their clubs and start out with the hope/belief/intention of it being an investment.

[JC_GUFC]

Waterford FC new owners are considering their options at the RSC.

There is form with most Investors..........! :(

To be fair to the Waterford owners they've complained about not being able to do something as simple as open a club shop at the RSC.

Similar to Cork City and Galway United there are some issues that come with a third party owning the ground. The Munster FA or Galway FA don't really need to improve Turner's Cross or Terryland/ED Park for their purposes but if Galway United get promoted next season there are things I'd love to see changed at the ground - the catering facilities for one.

But really it's probably up to the fans groups' to stress the importance of this to remaining supportive of the ownership. There may not be huge numbers attending games in the League of Ireland but if fans turn against owners it's very hard to see things working out for the investors in any meaningful way.

The multi-club model is coming and I don't know quite how good or bad it is for Irish clubs. I would say most Waterford fans would be fairly happy with how their link-up with Fleetwood has gone. Phoenix Patterson moved to Fleetwood but he was never going to be with Waterford this season even if they had been promoted last season.

Shels are a relatively small club in terms of their support base but they did achieve a lot with the Save Tolka Park campaign so hopefully their fans can be involved in directing future plans for the club. It's obviously not in the interest of any multi-club model to have any part of it failing.

[brendy_éire]

Philip O'Doherty doesn't own Derry City though. It's not his to sell to get a return on his 'investment'. So he's basically an out-and-out philanthropic donor.

He essentially owns it now, with 99% of shares, but yes, he is basically a donor.

[sbgawa]

If O Doherty owns 99% of the shares why do you call him a donor?
If Derry win the league qualify for Europe etc etc any gains will accrue to him.

I dont think it matters to him tbh as he has literally 100's of millions but just wondering why he is referred to as a donor?
In practise i dont think anyone investing in LOI expects to make money but that might bechanging with the conference league

[EatYerGreens]

If O Doherty owns 99% of the shares why do you call him a donor?
If Derry win the league qualify for Europe etc etc any gains will accrue to him.

I dont think it matters to him tbh as he has literally 100's of millions but just wondering why he is referred to as a donor?
In practise i dont think anyone investing in LOI expects to make money but that might bechanging with the conference league


There are different types of ownership and different types of shares/shareholdings.

We'd need to know whether his shares enabled a dividend or not. If not, then he wouldn't acrrue any gains until he sold the club. And even that would assume that a) The shares are able to be traded above a fixed price, and b) That someone else was willing to buy his shares and pay more for them in total than he'd spent on the club. Which would seem extremely unlikely.

So all-in-all, he isn't going to get his money back. Which is why he would essentially be a donor.

[Longfordian]

This seems a bit unlikely to me but some family connections from up Ballybofey way were telling me that O'Doherty has given Harps money too. These would be sensible lads normally but I'm assuming there's no truth in it?

[joey B]

This seems a bit unlikely to me but some family connections from up Ballybofey way were telling me that O'Doherty has given Harps money too. These would be sensible lads normally but I'm assuming there's no truth in it?


Complete bo**ocks,people seen a couple of 2 year deals and made up stories….

[Longfordian]

I thought so but as the discussion was about O'Doherty it reminded me.

[nigel-harps1954]

This seems a bit unlikely to me but some family connections from up Ballybofey way were telling me that O'Doherty has given Harps money too. These would be sensible lads normally but I'm assuming there's no truth in it?

That story has spread thick and fast around Donegal since the winter and it's hilarious.

[Martinho II]

Speaking of Waterford and the tie-up with Fleetwood they dont produce programs any more. With the increased change in ownership models in our LOI bethren does this mean the death knell of our clubs programs?

[wonder88]

Is Shelbourne's fan base all that far off the other Dublin clubs? I am not from Dublin so wouldn't know but would a bit a success and the Damian Duff name not create the sort of hype that could fill an 8k capacity Tolka. Also while the current FAI regime don't seem to have any interest, the future is likely to be an All-Ireland league another reason for investment in both the team and facilities.

[Philosophizer]

Is Shelbourne's fan base all that far off the other Dublin clubs? I am not from Dublin so wouldn't know but would a bit a success and the Damian Duff name not create the sort of hype that could fill an 8k capacity Tolka. Also while the current FAI regime don't seem to have any interest, the future is likely to be an All-Ireland league another reason for investment in both the team and facilities.
Shels are a bit off but not much. As per Nigel’s attendances thread Rovers average 6k, Pats and Bohs are almost neck and neck with about 4200 or 4300 per game while Shels have 3000 per game. That’s more than Dundalk and Sligo this year.
Bear in mind that they’ve spent most of the past 10-15 years in the doldrums, and have been starved of silverware and Europe. They’re still one of the most successful clubs in LOI history tho so if they make it back to challenging near the top of the table they could grow the attendance figure.

By the way, Tolka park capacity these days is a long way off the 8K capacity of old. Large sections of the ground are closed due to safety issues so current capacity is 4200.

[Philosophizer]

Shels are a relatively small club in terms of their support base but they did achieve a lot with the Save Tolka Park campaign so hopefully their fans can be involved in directing future plans for the club
As outlined above their attendances are not that far off Bohs and Pats.
Attendances around the whole league are booming now, and with the Save Tolka campaign and Duff at the helm it’s probably brought back a lot of lapsed support. The new ownership will probably give them a bounce too.

[JC_GUFC]

As outlined above their attendances are not that far off Bohs and Pats.
Attendances around the whole league are booming now, and with the Save Tolka campaign and Duff at the helm it’s probably brought back a lot of lapsed support. The new ownership will probably give them a bounce too.

But that's because Bohs and Pat's are limited by capacity. Shels attendances aren't bad to be fair and obviously lean times recently have knocked them back too but obviously at the moment they're very much the 4th Dublin club.

The recent ownership situation has been a bit confusing - I would imagine Tolka Park is probably a big problem for the club. The move to a renovated Dalymount Park would have made sense to anyone on a business sense but I can totally understand the fan opposition to it.

I wonder if Shels could put a new stadium anywhere they wished in Dublin where would it be? I'm not sure they'd choose Drumcondra - would they go back home to Irishtown/Ringsend though? Maybe somewhere like Coolock/Clare Hall? Sizeable population and I would imagine a lot of their newer support is taken from a North-East Dublin area, as opposed to Bohs who are North-west in areas like Cabra and out towards Blanchardstown.

[Philosophizer]

But that's because Bohs and Pat's are limited by capacity. Shels attendances aren't bad to be fair and obviously lean times recently have knocked them back too but obviously at the moment they're very much the 4th Dublin club.
Bohs are certainly limited by capacity but Richmond park has a bigger capacity (about 1000 more than Dalymount) so I don’t think Pats are hampered to the same extent.

[Nah Nah Nah Nah]

Pats seem to sell out the home section most weeks they play. It’s just that they have a massive away section of the official capacity.

[trevy]

Waterford did bring out a monthly magazine lately. I doubt if programmes will be coming back for each game. Most Waterford fans would have been happy with Fleetwood ownership as club being run in a more professional way than before, new club shop opened and more links to local community with a community officer being appointed. Of course Andy Pilley's conviction for fraud changes things and remains to be seen what the future is. He is due to be sentenced in a few weeks and is already in custody.

[Neish]

This seems a bit unlikely to me but some family connections from up Ballybofey way were telling me that O'Doherty has given Harps money too. These would be sensible lads normally but I'm assuming there's no truth in it?

In other news Sheikh Mansour has decided to give Manchester United 500 million to create some competition between the rival clubs

[FTA-1895]

The recent ownership situation has been a bit confusing - I would imagine Tolka Park is probably a big problem for the club. The move to a renovated Dalymount Park would have made sense to anyone on a business sense but I can totally understand the fan opposition to it.



The club would have died in Dalymount. We'd have lost alot of fans and stood very little chance of attracting new fans sharing with Bohs.

[JC_GUFC]

The club would have died in Dalymount. We'd have lost alot of fans and stood very little chance of attracting new fans sharing with Bohs.

Yeah - I'd agree. But business people with no knowledge of the league/club wouldn't have been able to foresee this. They'd have looked at the brand new stadium for free. That would have been fine in a greenfield site but moving to what would have always been known as Bohs stadium wouldn't have worked.

[EatYerGreens]

Yeah - I'd agree. But business people with no knowledge of the league/club wouldn't have been able to foresee this. They'd have looked at the brand new stadium for free. That would have been fine in a greenfield site but moving to what would have always been known as Bohs stadium wouldn't have worked.

You don't get to have the kind of money that can be invested/wasted on a football club without having at least some degree of smarts. Even a cursory glance at Irish football would tell you that Bohs are curretly just a couple of kms from Shels and get bigger crowds. So it wouldn't take much intelligence to work out who would be in the stronger position of the 2 if Shels were to move into Bohs' stadium/area.

[legendz]

Shelbourne to sell Tolka Park in move to Donabate

Shelbourne FC is planning to sell off Tolka Park stadium in Drumcondra, North Dublin for €40m to developers and open an integrated facility in North County Dublin


Tuesday December 14th 2004


SHELBOURNE FC is planning to sell off Tolka Park stadium in Drumcondra, North Dublin for €40m to developers.

This will allow it fund a top-of-the-range integrated sports campus in Donabate capable of holding up to 8,000 people.

The current Eircom National League champions have already held discussions with developers and with Dublin city councillors going back over 18 months about getting its Drumcondra power base rezoned as suitable for residential use.

At the same time, Shelbourne is in talks with Fingal Country Council about getting a greenfield site in Donabate rezoned to allow them fulfil their ambitious stadium plans that will also include a gym, junior soccers pitches and all-weather playing field.

The complexity of these negotiations, according to club chairman Finbarr Flood, means the club is unlikely to leave Drumcondra until at least three years' time.

"Our objective is to get all of our activities on to the one site," he said, adding the club currently uses five different locations to train and play matches.

Mr Flood said having everything on the one site would lead to major synergies both in terms of improving the quality of facilities available to its players and eliminating the €130,000 a year it currently costs it to rent pitches around North county Dublin.

The Shelbourne chairman stressed that any move would be subject to getting local councils' approval and was ultimately designed to allow the club to better compete in Europe.

The story first emerged in the Fingal Independent which quoted Senan Turbull, a senior Fingal County Council executive, as saying the move was "a great opportunity to have a premier team in Fingal".

It is understood the FAI has had no direct talks with Shelbourne. However, they are expected to do so next year as part of major talks with all of the Eircom League teams about their structural development.

In a separate development, Shamrock Rovers has also turned to property developers for help.

Businessman Conor Clarkson is in the process of buying out Mulden International, a property development firm led by Bernard McNamara, who half-built the Hoops unfinished stadium in Tallaght for under €3m.

Mr Clarkson is expected to invest around €8.5m in buying out Mulden and getting the stadium back on track early next year.

He is then expected to attempt to get the surrounding land around the stadium rezoned to allow him build a leisure complex and retail space strategically located opposite The Square in Tallaght.

Tom Lyons



© Irish Independent
http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/ & http://www.unison.ie/


Shelbourne FC is planning to sell off Tolka Park stadium in Drumcondra, North Dublin for €40m to developers and open an integrated facility in North County Dublin
Shelbourne owner Acun Ilicali: 'We found a hidden treasure in Dublin'!

[cláirseach]

Steven Beacom reporting in the Sunday life on potential investment in Coleraine.
(https://twitter.com/StevenBeacom5/status/1685629438816391168)

[joey B]

2 million over 5 years doesn’t sound like a lot really….

[cláirseach]

2 million over 5 years doesn’t sound like a lot really….

Agreed. Not enough to outspend the current professionals and still too much to ever expect to pay back.

[nigel-harps1954]

I'm not sure, I'd be quite happy to see 400k a season thrown into Harps at the minute!