Athlone Town FC

[EalingGreen]

Dan McDonnell reporting Athlone about to be taken over by some Canadian business man and they want Ruairi Higgins to take the jobTalk (no more than that) that RH is being lined up to take over at Coleraine in the summer.

They could certainly do with a better manager than Dean Shiels has proven to be; DS was appointed by the previous Board; a new benefactor recently took over and is spending a lot of money, incl f-t football. So if there is any truth in the rumour, I'd have thought they'd be of greater interest to RH than Athlone (certainly) or Waterford (probably), another club who've been linked to him by Dan McD.

[brendy_éire]

Remember that every other urban area in the country is growing quickly too - with Galway, Cork, Limerick and Waterford on a target of 50% expansion by 2040. So the size gap between all the cities and towns like Athlone will only have widened by then. And with it presumably the gap between them in Irish football.

I'd take those grow targets as just that; targets.
They're quite ambitious, at current employment and construction trends, likely unachievable.

I take your point though, growth doesn't mean Athlone will become more attractive. As pointed out in another thread, a larger town doesn't necessarily make it more likely to have a higher level football team, let alone a successful one. Take Limerick, Lisburn or Kilkenny as examples.
I'd be very surprised if Higgins took the job there.

[wonder88]

Its location does offer potential to grow a soccer club there. It also has history and their women's team has reached the top in recent years. I was at the playoff v Bray and they had a reasonable support their that day. Would require a substantial investment I suppose and people who know the loI well involved, but could something like what Drogheda are doing these days not be achieved there?

[EatYerGreens]

I'd take those grow targets as just that; targets.
They're quite ambitious, at current employment and construction trends, likely unachievable.

Those targets were set in 2017/18, and if you look at the 2022 census results pretty much everywhere is on track to hit them so far. Athlone grew 13% between 2011 and 2022, for example - and that was a period which included a large chunk of the bad years post-crash when there was little or no population growth/negative growth in many places.

Galway up 14% from 2011 to 2022. Your near neighbour Letterkenny grew by 17% in just the 6yrs between the 2016 and 2022 census.

The one exception for growth seems to be Sligo, which somehow just never seems to get much beyond 20,000 people.

[2 Year Contract]

New American owners over the line at last

https://athlonetownafc.ie/a-message-from-nick-giannotti/

[Nesta99]

Page isnt working, hopefully its all the visits from foot.ie and not a sign of things to come. I am going to have to do the dooooommmm, beware, failure imminent, American owners booooooo, never going to work! Just to maintain consistency like....

[sbgawa]

If he speaks to the Press and the fans it will be an improvement

[Burnsie]

can someone give some background on the fans' disillusionment with the previous (?) management?

[Martinho II]

Page isnt working, hopefully its all the visits from foot.ie and not a sign of things to come. I am going to have to do the dooooommmm, beware, failure imminent, American owners booooooo, never going to work! Just to maintain consistency like....

Link working now.

[Elfman]

can someone give some background on the fans' disillusionment with the previous (?) management?
Athlone fans will no doubt be able to explain this better but I think it goes back to 2017 which this article does a deep dive into:
https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soccer/national-league/sorry-tale-of-athlone-town-as-investigation-report-looms-1.3136581

I'm sure I read more about it elsewhere on these forums but iirc one power broker seemed to have created a closed shop on the board with those loyal to him and ignored a lot of the real fans. Open to correction here.

[Strongbow10]

Athlone fans will no doubt be able to explain this better but I think it goes back to 2017 which this article does a deep dive into:
https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soccer/national-league/sorry-tale-of-athlone-town-as-investigation-report-looms-1.3136581

I'm sure I read more about it elsewhere on these forums but iirc one power broker seemed to have created a closed shop on the board with those loyal to him and ignored a lot of the real fans. Open to correction here.

Correct in terms of creating a closed shop. Culture of fear against speaking out against the "power broker" who is a legal professional with a propensity for taking legal action against anyone who speaks up.

Journalists should be asking questions as to the relationship between these new owners and this power broker in situ. Seems to be radio silence when anyone is asked what his current status is at the club.

There is a big story to be uncovered at Athlone Town AFC (allegedly of course) if anyone had the patience and bravery to do a bit of digging.

[Elfman]

Correct in terms of creating a closed shop. Culture of fear against speaking out against the "power broker" who is a legal professional with a propensity for taking legal action against anyone who speaks up.
Cheers Strongbow, always good to hear the club's fans' opinion on things.

Sorry to hear about the possibility that the new owners may not be completely detached from this "power broker" - I had hoped this would mean a clean slate for Athlone.

It sounds eerily similar to the FAI situation during the tenure of our well known, former CEO. Hope the full story comes out eventually.

[EalingGreen]

New American owners over the line at last

https://athlonetownafc.ie/a-message-from-nick-giannotti/And they're not stopping there on their world tour...

Larne have confirmed that Kenny Bruce has sold his 50% stake in the Irish Premiership club.

Bruce, the co-founder of an online estate agency, took over the then-Championship club in September 2017.

Since then, Larne were promoted to the Premiership and won the club's first two top-flight titles in 2023 and 2024 before a run to the league phase of the Uefa Conference League last season.

In a statement on Wednesday, the Inver Park club said Redball Global FC's Nick Giannotti and Eric Perez, who are described as "two seasoned executives with deep experience in international football and sports business", have acquired Bruce's stake.

American firm Redball are also involved with English Football League club Plymouth Argyle and League of Ireland side Athlone Town.

"I have always said that when it came time to hand over my shareholding in the club it would be to people who could give Larne FC a competitive edge moving forward and I am firmly of the belief this is the case," said Bruce, native of the East Antrim town and lifelong fan of the club.

"Since the moment our conversations began, both Nick and Eric have been an absolute pleasure to work with throughout the due diligence and legal process.

"Neither are strangers to football in this part of the world and I am confident they will bring immense value to Larne FC in the years ahead, with their drive and professional experience."
More here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c5y74761rrxo

[DonegalHoop]

Who owns the other 50%?

[sbgawa]

listened to BTS podcast this a.m with the new American Chairman.
Didnt impress me tbh and dissapointed he wasnt asked out straight how much of the club he owns, it seemed the most obvious question to ask with the rumours of it not being "a traditional takeover" actually mentioned on air especially as he talked about transparancy being important.
I hope for Athlones sake it works out but i wasnt reassured by what i heard..maybe im a cynic at this stage , be interested if others heard it.
In fairness to the guy maybe he is simply precluded from discussing it but not even asking the question and getting that response seemed odd

[EalingGreen]

In a statement on Wednesday, [Larne FC] said Redball Global FC's Nick Giannotti and Eric Perez, who are described as "two seasoned executives with deep experience in international football and sports business", have acquired Bruce's stake.
American firm Redball are also involved with English Football League club Plymouth Argyle and League of Ireland side Athlone Town.
A couple of interesting comments by Dan O'Donnell today:
1. "By all accounts, Perez is hands-on in Larne and will have a backseat role in Athlone – even though he was involved in talks with prospective new managers"
and
2. In the statement put out by Cobh Ramblers following their recent change of ownership, they included: "Special thanks to... ... Eric Perez, who represented and supported the club throughout the transaction. [He and Alexander Jarvis of Blackbridge Sports LLC] both were pivotal in making the deal happen."
https://cobhramblers.ie/cobh-ramblers-fc-is-pleased-to-announce-agreement-with-digital-athlete-ventures-dav/

Seeing as Perez seems to have his fingers in a few pies, both North and South, I hope his hands are clean!