Dalym-OUT

[CharlesThompson]

Just back from the meeting and the vote was passed 86% in favour of a move. We will be debt free in 30 days time with some. If it all goes pear shaped from now we are still in a great position as that €2m is non-refundable.

If/when the stadium is built - all things going to plan in 3 - 4 years time we move from Dalyer and pocket another €26m!!!

Loads more details, but any queries we had were met with favourable answers.

[Poor Student]

Anything raised about potential groundsharing in this new arena?

[CharlesThompson]

In a word - no.

[Poor Student]

Were the commitee given permission to negotiate any sale or just the one that involves the Castleknock deal?

This is very interesting. It could generate a decent media focus on the league and Bohs too. Given the fact such a famous ground in Dalymount will be demolished, the public will also be made quite aware that a good 10k seater stadium is being erected in Castleknock.

Thanks for the rapid info Charlie.

[crc]

Dayler is full of nostalgia, but on balance I reckon Bohs are probably doing the right thing. Although, if I were a Bohs fan I'd probably be keen on have a new ground a little closer to the city centre than Castleknock.

[Poor Student]

Dayler is full of nostalgia

At this point, its nostalgic parts will either crumble by themselves or would have to be bulldozed. One way or another it won't exist in the image it did as the home of Irish football. If anything its demolition will serve Irish football one final time by giving one of Ireland's biggest clubs a stable future. Well, provided they don't p1ss away the money.

[CharlesThompson]

PS - The permission was for just the deal that is being considered. Although technically the change in the constitution does seem to be broader than that, the board (ALL BOHS SUPPORTERS) gave every assurance that if the deal falls over within the documented timeframe the change in the consitution allows, they will not proceed with any other deal without first consulting the membership.

crc - you are right that we would prefer something a little bit closer to the city, however the ground is only about 4 miles from our existing ground and is still central to the a sizeable core of the Bohs support.

Life sometimes throws opportunities at you. The thing is that you need to identify the opportunities that are presented and act on them for your benefit. I believe this was a case in point tonight.

[drummerboy]

In four years time that €26 million will look paltry. Don't you think you should have got more for it.

[Poor Student]

PS - The permission was for just the deal that is being considered. Although technically the change in the constitution does seem to be broader than that, the board (ALL BOHS SUPPORTERS) gave every assurance that if the deal falls over within the documented timeframe the change in the consitution allows, they will not proceed with any other deal without first consulting the membership.



Delighted to hear that. At this rate it seems Shels will have to build their own ground or be forever tennents.

[crc]

I think the €26 mil is what will be left after they've got a new stadium. N'est-ce pas?

[CharlesThompson]

In four years time that €26 million will look paltry. Don't you think you should have got more for it.

I don't think so. That money is basically hard cash, the stadium is additional to that.

[Poor Student]

In four years time that €26 million will look paltry. Don't you think you should have got more for it.

Provided the current house market trends continue, in four years time from four years time, what you would get then will also look paltry. If you take that attitude you'll be sitting on land forever. Construction costs are rising in tandem with property value.

[Gareth]

Where in Castleknock? I thought it was Blanchardstown?

[Poor Student]

Where in Castleknock? I thought it was Blanchardstown?

It's supposed to be on the field (or one of them?) east of the M50 toll bridge at the Liffey.

[soccerc]

Where in Castleknock? I thought it was Blanchardstown?


Neither, it's in the townland of Diswellstown, between Somerton Road, Lower Road and M50. The Northern Boundary is Porterstown.

There isn't a chance of any access from Somerton Road via Lower Road as the Strawberry Beds Residents are one of the strongest NIMBY groups around and have top class political, ecological and financial clout!

[chippie0001]

Where in Castleknock? I thought it was Blanchardstown?
Its two fields down from Castleknock Golf club, right beside the M50. The deal in full, 100% is a €21m 10,000 seater stadium and €26m in cash which values Dalymount at €47m. I guess our forefathers 100 years ago did something right, shame we have managed to mess it up so badly. Its a good deal but you do get that sickening feeling when you think about it.

Dalymount RIP :(

[CharlesThompson]

Its two fields down from Castleknock Golf club, right beside the M50. The deal in full, 100% is a €21m 10,000 seater stadium and €26m in cash which values Dalymount at €47m. I guess our forefathers 100 years ago did something right, shame we have managed to mess it up so badly. Its a good deal but you do get that sickening feeling when you think about it.

Dalymount RIP :(

Agreed, but given the circumstances I think we came out of this with our heads held high and the long term future of our club secured and still in our ownership.

[JW.]

Sad to see it go - I guess this is "progress". It'll be sad to see both Richmond and Dalyer turn into appartment complexes/shopping centres, discarded for two grounds in soul-less places beside a dual carriageway.

[Réiteoir]

Unfortunately nowadays it's a case of "Move or Die"

[Dodge]

I disagree, and as the only club left in Dublin City I'll always disagree.

[drummerboy]

When is Tolka going to be demolished?

[Krstic]

I'll be sad to see the end of Dalymount, without a doubt my favourite away ground.

Some great memories, and some not so great (87-88 cup final v Dundalk:( )

But if it's for the best, then good luck.

[Dricky]

Any word on failure? ie if this deal fails are the board aloud look for another deal with out your approval or does it have to go back for another vote? I know that was a concern with some bohs fans.

[Dodge]

From a bohs mate; if a deal isn't done in a year it must go back to a vote. For every year Bohs are waiting for the deal to go through, the company pay bihs a refundable one million euro

Sounds a bit risky to me

[wexfordned]

Dodge
From a bohs mate; if a deal isn't done in a year it must go back to a vote. For every year Bohs are waiting for the deal to go through, the company pay bihs a refundable one million euro

Sounds a bit risky to me

This was addressed at the meeting last night & a satisfactory answer given. No risk envolved

[drinkfeckarse]

€20 odd million and a brand new stadium to move 4 miles down the road!? Sounds like a good deal to me if you look at it in that context.

[OneRedArmy]

There is no risk for Bohemians.

Brand new stadium, enough money to pursue our dreams. No club in Ireland will be able to touch Bohemians.

Should we invest in a world-class youth academy we may see the next Duffs or Keanes breaking into the Bohs team, or at least Bohs picking up big fees if they are snapped up in their youth etc.

We could establish a quality academy and still have more money that every club in the league put together and then some.

The future is very bright for Bohemian FC and I am proud to be a member today.
Good to see its not going to your head so.......

[higgins]

Did you get any details on the stadium itself ?

Ive sort of missed the topics on the site and was wondering does it have room for training grounds and how big will the car park be as I imagine a lot of people will now have to drive ???

Congratulations by the way...

I think you done the right thing and possible the only thing you could do thanks to the FAI. Its a disaster that they were willing to stop future grants to a ground such as Dalymount on the basis you wont give half of it away to another club!! Fairly sickening that it has come to this but best of luck with the move.

Nobody has mention the FAI and what their next course of action will be ?

Don't they still have a new league to set up and a genesis report to blindly follow? Have you had any dealings with them regarding what "punishments" they may dream up to keep you in a falling down stadium they wont help you develop.

[pete]

I think Bohs have to sell Dalymount but i don't know if they moving to a bgood location.

I believe its next to the toll bridge above thw M50 Interchange.

[Block G Raptor]

They are moving closer to a large proportion of their core support(myself included) and to a huge Catchment area! great facilities money to spend on Players the future is Bright the future is Black and Red

[WeAreRovers]

No club in Ireland will be able to touch Bohemians.


Arf!

In all seriousness though, fair play to Bohs. :eek:
As much as I love Dalymount (we've won more trophies than anyone there) the place has been dying a slow death for years and a move is necessary.

There's a long way to go yet - location, PP, access etc. but personally I hope it works out.

Bring on the M50 derby!

KOH

[Schumi]

Bring on the M50 derby!
Some day it might rival the N11 derby. :D

[Block G Raptor]

Bring on the M50 derby!KOH
And so another great footballing Tradition is Born. The Old Who ...Mersey what
:D

[aido_b]

Had a text off me uncle last night, hes a member and brought me to my first Bohs match years ago. He and all his mates are lifelong fans and were absolutely gutted. Its going to be so strange seeing Bohs away from Dalyer. I just hope that something is going to be placed on the site to commemorate the fact that the home of Irish football once stood there!

Seems positive though, €26 million? reckon that could buy us Shaun Wright Philips!

[bigmac]

Soccer/ National League: After 105 years in Phibsborough the membership of Bohemians last night endorsed a proposal put forward by the club's committee to sell Dalymount Park and move to a new purpose-built stadium at Diswellstown, Castleknock in a deal with Andorey Developments valued at some €48 million.

In a meeting at the Regency Airport Hotel in Dublin attended by more than 358 of the club's members, 86 per cent (310) voted in favour of a change to the club's constitution allowing the committee to complete deals worth more than €1 million, with 42 opposed, and five abstentions. The change, which required the support of three quarters of those in attendance, has effectively paved the way for the deal with Andorey to proceed.

The club's honorary secretary Gerry Conway said the membership had taken an "exciting" road forward by opting to support the proposal which involves Andorey providing a 10,000-seater stadium plus on 8.5 acre site plus between €25 million and €27 million in cash in return for Dalymount, which subject to rezoning, would provide 5.7 acres for redevelopment. Club officials said they hoped to be in the new ground in three to five years' time.

Bohemians have debts of more than €1 million, a significant portion of which is owed to members, and these are likely to be cleared but there are no shareholders and so almost all of the money should remain within the club.


"I think the question before the members was whether the club merely survived or actually thrived over the coming years and I'm delighted that they've chosen the latter," said Conway.

"At the end of the day, an asset of €48 million is only of any use if you cash it in at some stage and by doing so now the club will have an opportunity that no other club in this league has, to move to a state-of-the-art new home and have enough money to construct a state-of-the-art academy. We will be in a position to do things in a way now that we could only have dreamed of previously."

Last night's vote copperfastened the demise of the proposal, made last year, that Shelbourne sell their interest in Tolka Park and invest part of the money received in improvements at Dalymount which would also have benefited from substantial public investment.

Subsequent negotiations between the two clubs on the matter had actually proceeded well but opposition from within the membership of Bohemians to what was seen as a poor deal for the club emerged quite quickly, particularly when it became apparent just how much money might be raised by selling up and moving on.

Senior club officials subsequently suggested they would be happy to talk with Shelbourne about a groundshare at the new stadium, on the basis of the Tolka Park outfit being tenants.

Shelbourne chairman Ollie Byrne was adamant last night this was out of the question. "We shall not be sharing at Carpenterstown (another name for the area in which the proposed stadium would be situated) under any circumstances," he said. "We were asked by the FAI, the Minister (John O'Donoghue) and the Government to halt work on our own move to Swords in order to talk to Bohemians about the possibility of a groundshare at Dalymount Park and we did so.

"It is our intention now to pursue other possibilities and negotiations are already under way with a number of parties in relation to several aspects of the future of this club."

Within Merrion Square there is an appreciation that from Bohemians' point of view the deal on offer last night was something of a "no-brainer". There is, however, some concern as to how the club will fare in the planning process, highlighted yesterday by local Labour Party TD Joan Bruton describing the site as "totally unsuitable" for the purpose.

Club members opposed to the deal, meanwhile, projected that the rezoning required for the redevelopment of Dalymount would be difficult to obtain and insisted they would lobby councillors over the coming months with the aim of defeating the proposal.

If the deal falls through on planning grounds, however, Bohemians will benefit from a guaranteed non-refundable €2 million payment which they would receive within 30 days.

The vote, therefore, appears to mark the beginning of the end of more than a century of football at Dalymount Park. The ground hosted its first game on September 7th, 1901 when Bohemians beat Shelbourne 4-2 in a friendly. In May 1957 a record 47,600 attended the World Cup qualifier against England but from the '60s on the ground went into decline, hastened by the FAI's decision in the early '70s to switch many then all of their international games to Lansdowne Road.

In 1988 the FAI agreed a deal to purchase the ground with a view to redeveloping it but the plan was abandoned.


Looks like a good deal to be honest, 8.5 acre site, brand new stadium, plus a hell of a lot of cash. It's a lot more money than any of the "investors" that have been mentioned (Mileson, di Stefano etc) would bring to a club, for a lot less of a gamble. In addition, even without the cash, a new stadium could be a nice source of income for a club (occasional rental, bar income, rental of any astroturf pitches etc..)
I think that Bohs could (if they set their minds to it) really copper fasten themselves in the Castleknock and Blanchardstown area - it's a huge residential reservoir of fans and future players - let's hope they go the right way about it and hook up with all the local schools and clubs from the beginning.

As a matter of interest - what conceivably could be put on an 8.5 acre site in terms of a stadium and some form of car park for players, staff etc. What space does that leave for training facilities? Also, what input will Bohs have into the design of the new stadium - does anyone know what style it'll be.

[Passive]

Fantastic opportunity for Bohs, but I can see planning objections holding this up longer than the 3-4 years timeframe. Tallaght and Castleknock - the race is on...

Personally, I think Rovers members should have had the opportunity to vote on the future of Dalymount because, as WAR pointed out, we've won more trophies there than Bohs ever did.

[dougdub]

The stadium has been designed for a Danish club in the past and the same design will be used on what I hope will be called "New Dalyer". It will be enclosed at all sides and cater for an intial 10,000 seats.

As part of the agreement the develoment company will use foundations capable of holding an extra tier all the way around making it possible to expand to 20,000 in the future.

The stadium will be handed over in turnkey condition and at that point Bohs will hand over the keys to Dalymount.

This is both an exciting few days for Irish football but on the other hand a sad day, four generations of my family have walked down the Phibsboro Road to see the Bohs army but the future needs to be bright and this will secure this. Rather walk down the M50 than no road with renting Morton Stadium or something like that.

We must move onwards and upwards with eyes wide open :)

[BohDiddley]

I see that Joan Burton has been in with an objection already.
That's her job, of course, but I can't help wondering if she'd be as quick off the mark if it was GAA or, it being Castleknock, rugby.

[Dodge]

Thats because as el fans, we're paranoid. Why don't you e-mail her and ask...

[pineapple stu]

If people won't get a bus, train, or drive a couple of miles to see Bohs play then they're not fans to be honest.
What bus or train goes out that way? What's the best way to get there from, say, town?

[drinkfeckarse]

The stadium has been designed for a Danish club in the past and the same design will be used on what I hope will be called "New Dalyer". It will be enclosed at all sides and cater for an intial 10,000 seats.



It sounds perfect. I've been to Almondvale, home of Livingston F.C. a few times and have to say it's a lovely little ground. 10,000 all seater enclosed on all sides so if it's anything like that you'll be laughing.

[Dodge]

What bus or train goes out that way? What's the best way to get there from, say, town?
None really... One leaves you with a 10/15 minutes walk through "country lanes" as pete said. Of course the hardcore will travel but only the hardcore going to games has Bohs the wy it is. It needs floating punters and nobody floats by there...

[south sligo red]

When are we goin to be able see some plans of the new stadium?

[LFC in Exile]

Good luck to Bohs with it - I think it makes huge sense. Of course losing a ground with such a great tradition wil be sad but in 100 years time Bohs will have another great tradition in Castleknock.

The objections based on moving away from core support completely ignores the demographic trends in Dublin. Those people that support Bohs are moving away from the traditional areas from which support was drawn. It isn't just Bohs that are looking at high property prices in Phibsboro - their supporters are too. More and more the residents close to the city are younger and more transient. A strong sense of community which would have manifested itself in a local football team is not as strong as it was in areas closer to the city. Certainly as people reocate to areas further out from the city centre the community that existed decades ago is less prevalent. Perhaps football clubs need to identify opportunities to help build communities in suburban areas. Who knows, maybe in 25 years time Castleknock might be considered city centre. :)

The new stadium seems to have good access from M50 so IMO this is the sensible thing to do. :ball:

[Raheny Red]

Is there any pics online or anything similiar to what the finished product should look like :confused:

[Raheny Red]

According to Fintan Cassidy on the Shels web Dean Delaney was in Tolka last night after the game.

[pete]

While there may be buses stopping 10 minutes away from the proposed ground that bus will take an age to get there from civilisation.

IMO the location as currently stands is terrible when compared to Phibsboro. However that may be different in a few years. It does look like a modern Bishopstown though...

With such a sought after site it seem strange that Bohs can't get a better location for a stadium.

[pineapple stu]

While there may be buses stopping 10 minutes away from the proposed ground that bus will take an age to get there from civilisation.
Would tend to agree alright. Plus, how often is the train going to be going? Is it the train to Kildare? That's about the most common non-DART or LUAS train, and it goes every half an hour from Heuston. So from town, you're talking 20 minutes to get out to Heuston (that LUAS is bloody slow), 15 minutes waiting on the train, 15 minutes out to wherever and then a 20 minute walk over an hour from town, without getting into town in the first place. If it's on any other line, you're talking even longer.

I assume it's not on the LUAS line?? (Not sure where the place is exactly, and never got the Tallaght LUAS...)

[pineapple stu]

You're missing the point - I've taken 45 minutes to get from town to Tolka on a bus through traffic. Tolka's only two miles max from O'Connell Street. This place is even further.
Edit - the train to Coolmine leaves from Connolly, takes just 20 minutes but there's only one every 20-30 minutes during rush hour (compared to busses every five minutes from O'Connell Street to Dalyer or Tolka). If you miss the 7:07 train, the next is at 8:07...

Though as you say, they may become more regular.

[pete]

I live on the 37 & 39 route (much closer to city centre) & never get the 37 as takes wide scenic route through Blackhourse avenue. The is no comparison with the 37 & 39 & Castleknock Village is major traffic bkackspot with no room for bus lanes.