Trivela Group statement re Joanna Byrne

[smasherdrog]

As expected , Trivela have removed Joanna Byrne from her position of Director and Co-Chair of Drogheda United

https://droghedaunited.ie/trivela-statement/

[Nesta99]

The sharpened concern about governance comment is interesting.

Will she step down or challenge the decision?

[sbgawa]

She has a choice step away and let the manager who keeps bleating about the distraction concentrate on football or put herself and her politics first..........my guess is she fights

[oriel]

Should be interesting to see how all of this plays out, and what effect it will have on the football side of things.

Also, would imagine the war of drogs support is split, pro Byrne and not wanting to pxxx off the owners who are paying the bills, seems from reading bits most are pro Byrne, but that won't count for much if she's forced out, and seems she will be.

[sbgawa]

Should be interesting to see how all of this plays out, and what effect it will have on the football side of things.

Also, would imagine the war of drogs support is split, pro Byrne and not wanting to pxxx off the owners who are paying the bills, seems from reading bits most are pro Byrne, but that won't count for much if she's forced out, and seems she will be.

The problem with the majority of people is that they dont appreciate how hard raising money for loi teams is.
There are loads of better ways for Drogs fans to protest in favour of or against whatever issue they want without risking their clubs future funding

[Nesta99]

If you have a friendship between a fan group and director who does go batting for them when it becomes necessary, then they will not want to lose their protection. That goes for any similar arrangement at any club. She has a relationship with these people in her political realm also, directing their fundraising activities and ensuring media coverage of the efforts. They help with her politics between lobbying, fundraising and campaigning. I think the owners see these as the conflict of interest more than her political party membership and its policies. The was emphasised recently with photos together in the days before the game in Oriel. But often, a real fan, that finds themselves on the outside, goes quietly for the benefit of the club rather than prideful refusal to leave damaging the club. It moves in to the realm of Pat O'Sullivan, or Cork Tommy though without the financial issues etc. But club is not first and foremost, so I actually think she will just go quietly - she can fight another day as these American Investments group ownerships always end in tears after all even though Arkaga is the only one that actually just upped sticks with scorched earth, but twas no kilcoyne job!

[Buckett]

https://www.thejournal.ie/joanna-byrne-drogheda-united-4-2-6992069-Mar2026/

Hopefully she goes full Enoch and stands outside all day with her satchel

[Straightstory]

As a Drogs fan, I'm delighted she's gone. As a member of Sinn Fein (I let alone a TD) and with all THAT entails - she should never have been allowed to rise to that position in the club.

[MoydowMonty]

Not sure what Trivela's endgame is here. Think the majority of fans are gonna be p1ssed off about this and they've just brought more trouble on themselves than they would have if they just let it go

[sbgawa]

Not sure what Trivela's endgame is here. Think the majority of fans are gonna be p1ssed off about this and they've just brought more trouble on themselves than they would have if they just let it go

To be fair to Club owners , they are as entitled to Principles as anybody else but they are funding the club.
If you are happy to take someones money you cant really complain if you dont like their views and expect to stay in your position talking agaisnt them while they continue to fund the club.

[Jolly Red Giant]

Byrne should fight - the hedge fund that own the club were happy enough to have her in the job when it suited their interests - now they want to dispense with her because they don't want to p*ss off supporters of the big orange turd.

The only real way to hit Trivela is in the pocket - Drogs fans and away fans should boycott the games in Drogheda - this hedge fund's sole purpose in owning Drogheda is to develop a couple of players that they can then cash in on transfer fees and pocket the money.

[sbgawa]

Good news for Waterford anyway if enough Drogs fans take you up on this, they might avoid 10th spot after all with Drogs tail spining into bankruptcy.
Although the big Orange lad might give up his BS when he hears Drogs are in trouble.

[oriel]

Byrne should fight - the hedge fund that own the club were happy enough to have her in the job when it suited their interests - now they want to dispense with her because they don't want to p*ss off supporters of the big orange turd.

The only real way to hit Trivela is in the pocket - Drogs fans and away fans should boycott the games in Drogheda - this hedge fund's sole purpose in owning Drogheda is to develop a couple of players that they can then cash in on transfer fees and pocket the money.

Trivela can do what they want, they came in and paid off all debt at the time, bought the ground off FAI, paying all the bills - now whether they actually do partly fund a new ground with capital grants that their choice, they could also do the nuclear option and do a Milltown 87, but I doubt they would.

Drogs fans need to be careful here, if they pxxxx the owners off so much and they pull out, unless they get a replacement, its back to FD and living week to week.

Byrne should never have got involved in any of this, should focused on the running the club only.

[ger121]

If you are an employee of a football club, then like any employee of a company, you can expect to be reprimanded or even dismissed by your employer if they think you have breached the terms of your contract of employment by your actions or behaviour when carrying out the duties of your employment.
The blurring of football and politics in the LOI has gotten to the point that people think they can say or act in a certain way without any repercussions or consequences. Nobody is bigger than the club and if the powers that be want you gone then you will be gone.

[outspoken]

Morally, this decision stinks. But practically, if Trivela pull the plug it could have serious ramifications for the club. As much as some would like to see her fight, if this becomes a massively toxic situation and environment for the owners do those people wanting to fight the good fight run the risk of doing harm to the club? It's a no win situation here and another reminder of how risky it is opening the doors to outside investors.

[Jolly Red Giant]

If you are an employee of a football club, then like any employee of a company, you can expect to be reprimanded or even dismissed by your employer if they think you have breached the terms of your contract of employment by your actions or behaviour when carrying out the duties of your employment.
The blurring of football and politics in the LOI has gotten to the point that people think they can say or act in a certain way without any repercussions or consequences. Nobody is bigger than the club and if the powers that be want you gone then you will be gone.
Byrne is not an employee - she is a director. She was already a SF councillor when she was appointed chairperson AFTER Trivela took over the ownership. It suited their interests at the time to make that appointment. Now that she has made a public pronouncement about the genocide in Gaza they have a problem. No matter what Trivela say this is an attempt to mute a political representative who is also a representative of the club.

There is no 'blurring' of football and politics - football (indeed all sport) has always been completely interwined with politics and the powers that be have always used sport for political ends. Hell - the FAI and LoI were founded on the basis of politics.

There are always repercussions and consequences - like the wholesale embarrassment of FIFA giving the war-mongering orange turd a 'FIFA peace award' in order to stroke his ego. There are times in history where you have to take a stand and this period of time is one of them. The genocidal war-mongering actions of the Trump regime and the Zionist state are potentially driving the entire world into a disasterous political, economic and social future. I am not a supporter of SF - but Byrne was right to take this stand and she should be supported by every football supporter on th island if they have any kind of a moral compass.

[sbgawa]

This reminds me of the time in yhe 1930s famously warned Herr Hitler they were keeping an eye on him.
If anyone thinks driving drogs to the wall will bkther Trump they are completly deluded

[EatYerGreens]

Not sure what Trivela's endgame is here. Think the majority of fans are gonna be p1ssed off about this and they've just brought more trouble on themselves than they would have if they just let it go

Presumably Trivela are just thinking about their reputation States-side on all of this.

[EatYerGreens]

Byrne is not an employee - she is a director. She was already a SF councillor when she was appointed chairperson AFTER Trivela took over the ownership. It suited their interests at the time to make that appointment. Now that she has made a public pronouncement about the genocide in Gaza they have a problem. No matter what Trivela say this is an attempt to mute a political representative who is also a representative of the club.

There is no 'blurring' of football and politics - football (indeed all sport) has always been completely interwined with politics and the powers that be have always used sport for political ends. Hell - the FAI and LoI were founded on the basis of politics.

There are always repercussions and consequences - like the wholesale embarrassment of FIFA giving the war-mongering orange turd a 'FIFA peace award' in order to stroke his ego. There are times in history where you have to take a stand and this period of time is one of them. The genocidal war-mongering actions of the Trump regime and the Zionist state are potentially driving the entire world into a disasterous political, economic and social future. I am not a supporter of SF - but Byrne was right to take this stand and she should be supported by every football supporter on th island if they have any kind of a moral compass.

Why did Drogheda appoint a sitting politician as their Chair though? What were they thinking? It's essentially a very public business taking sides politically - which usually comes back to bite you one way or the other.

[Nesta99]

I can see them appointing a popular influential supporter that may smooth the way with a mistrusting fanbase...beware of Yanks and all that:rolleyes: Controversy happens, purpose served so off ye go. But there would always be a possibility of Palestinian flags et al being waved at an American owner just cause they were American so their stated review on being aware in the future of political/sporting crossover is understandable, if questionable.

[Jolly Red Giant]

Why did Drogheda appoint a sitting politician as their Chair though? What were they thinking? It's essentially a very public business taking sides politically - which usually comes back to bite you one way or the other.
As Nesta99 said they probably appointed her because they wanted a high profile local to make sure they got the fan base onside. Remember - Trivela are a 'sports investment company' (i.e. a hedge fund) - and they are in the business of making money and Drogheda Utd is a means to an end not an end in itself. Their business model is to develop players and sell them for as much as they can get.

Man Utd are a prime example of the consequences - The Glaziers bought it for about £800million - they then leveraged a debt of £1billion and took their own money back. This resulted in them owning the club, getting their money back and running up a big debt that costs about £40million per year in interest payments. They then sold about 1/4 of the club to Ratcilffe for £1.25billion - significantly padding their personal bank balance and indicating that they continue to own about £4billion worth of an asset. In 1994 the Gaziers bought the Tampa Bay Bucs for $192million. The Bucs are now worth about $5billion - last year the Bucs made $130million in profit.

Then you have sports-washing - using sporting outfits to wash the dirty actions of a company or country - with Man City and Newcastle being recent examples (but it prevades all sports). This is a long way from the origins of these clubs - for example Man City were formed in Gorton in the 1880s to combat gang-violence and poverty - to give kids something to do when unemployed rather than engage in criminality.

Up until the 1980s when clubs were owned by individuals it tended to be local businessmen (or very occasionally women), many of whom were fans of the club and the clubs were almost exclusively dependent on gate receipts. Man Utd from the 1950s until the 1980s were owned by Louis Edwards, a local meat-packing businessman who employed 1,300 people in Manchester - and father of Martin Edwards who later sold his shares in the club over a period of about 20 years for about £100million (a percentage of which were bought by JP McManus and John Magnier). Particularly with smaller clubs - local fan pressure could have a significant impact and when the owners ******-up or engaged in outright fraud, the fans could act and keep the club afloat. That is now extremely difficult outside of smaller countries because of the amount of money needed.

When the money began to flood in with the Sky deal in the early 1990s everything went skewed - effectively turning soccer globally from something that existed for the fans into a cash-cow for extremely wealthy individuals (I think only two of the twenty owners in the PL are not billionaires - or countries who have pumped billions into the club for sports-washing purposes). We can see how skewed things can get when Shamrock Rovers and Shelbourne can get €125,000 for being LoI champions, yet Rovers, Shels and Pats took in a combined €10million from Europe - an amount of money that completely skews the competitiveness of the LoI.

Now - all of that was to lead up to how you address the fact that an American hedge fund is dictating what a local fan of a club can say - and the only answer is fan-ownership of football. That way the fans dictate (at least somewhat) as to what happens to their club.

[Nesta99]

While we all seek growth and financial security, In a way, being a small impoverished league has given fans significant influence. As JGG mentions, a lot of football has little to do with football these days but as LoI fans we still have to be listened to for as much as we think we often dont. By and large, if owners were to lose support of a total fanbase in our league they are forced to act. That could be walking away from debt but certainly in more recent times we tend to be able to scramble to keep something going. Even Athlone now look to have turned a corner. So limited resources may be frustrating but maybe there is a case for appreciating what we have too.

I dont agree entirely with the fan owned solution. Hybrids are the ideal, Shamrock Rovers have fallen in to the sh1t and come out smelling of some slightly less stink - a hybrid model after selling their soul to cover debt but with an agreement from non fan shareholder not to erode supporters shareholding by some ransom situation, fans would have to vote to change the model. But Corks efforts failed because fans can be inclined to gamble for success rather than remain disciplined. Bohs get a lot of credit here, they havent broken themselves chasing a rival and have still managed to build their base. Scale is relevant, I dont think Dundalk could be successfully fan owned, even a large town is too small to be competitive consistently so investment is needed - especially with creaking infrastructure. Attitude or entitlement can hold things back, there are some in Dundalk that think they should be paid to be supporters. Harps fans seem the opposite to this, self deprecating at times but coming from a low bar almost forgotten. Derry are showing that even a sugar daddy isnt an automatic route to success, eventually it has to come together with a bottomless pit of money but having never won a league is madness for a club of their stature.

Maybe Im a fan of low moral compass but in general I dont like clubs being used as a means to express political opinion. Or at least let there be consistency - why let clubs be purchased by countries with questionable humans rights and then supporters fly flags of oppressed people. Why make assumptions about American owners and beat them with some political stick automatically. I dont know anyone who would want to carry an Israeli flag to a game but would it be allowed to happen*, could supporters express their support for the other side of the argument. I did allude to it previously but was it entirely Byrnes political background the absolute issue or was there some questions on governance or awareness of a blind eye shown to some supporters. Either way if you want the investment you may have to accept that the investors dont always align.

*Ive often wondered whether Dundalk would have received the same substantial fine after a Palestinian flags on display at a European game as an Israeli one. There is one flag that has been displayed in Oriel almost as long as I can remember with the Palestinian flag on it and thats fine by me in some double standard way, but if fans display flags at games knowing that it will be at significant cost to clubs that dont have whole lot in the first place, then that angers me. Which is well off point here but its a week off from LoI.