Ollie Byrne in the media

[Billy Lord]

Problem is: Ollie isn't dealing with gullible oul wans, he's dealing with callous sharks such as Jeremiah O'Reilly who would think nothing of bulldozing him, Shels, Tolka Park, as well as anything and anyone who stands in the way of them making shedloads of money.
O'Reilly tried to pull a fast one with Rovers in Tallaght, but got nobbled. He saw a mirror image of Tony Maguire/Joe Colwell in Ollie and went for it. I genuinely thought Ollie was smarter than that, but the Champions League mirage caught him like a rabbit in headlights.

[Réiteoir]

and without the suit of armour in the shape of two precious away goals

[CollegeTillIDie]

Problem is: Ollie isn't dealing with gullible oul wans, he's dealing with callous sharks such as Jeremiah O'Reilly who would think nothing of bulldozing him, Shels, Tolka Park, as well as anything and anyone who stands in the way of them making shedloads of money.
O'Reilly tried to pull a fast one with Rovers in Tallaght, but got nobbled. He saw a mirror image of Tony Maguire/Joe Colwell in Ollie and went for it. I genuinely thought Ollie was smarter than that, but the Champions League mirage caught him like a rabbit in headlights.

That's very harsh thing to say about Joe Colwell..

[gspain]

Am I the only non Shels fan that feels genuinely sorry for Ollie here?

I appreciate he has make enemies and can rub people up the wrong way. However nobody can question his commitment to Shelbourne FC and doing what he thought was best for the club.

He was clearly chasing the dream of making the Group Stages of the Champions League. He saw the opportunity to maybe finally have Irish football fans supporting an irish team rather than Man Utd/Liverpool. I'll save my anger for those who came into clubs with the sole intention of milking them for personal profit.

[CharlesThompson]

Not sure if you're the only neutral to sympathise with him, but I'd say you're in a very small minority. If you listen to any of his interviews this week it is plain to see that Oily places himself with more importance than the club he proports to love. Anything he says is laced with his own personal feelings i.e. I've put myself out for this club, I stood this club back up, I can't/won't take a backseat in my club. Oily thinks that he is Shelbourne and that Shelbourne is him.

He has spent over €6.5m over the last three years of money the club was promised by the sale of it's ground on increasing players wages - something we have all had to deal with since - and has remortgaged the future of his club by gambling on Champions League success. This money should have been ringfenced for structural funds in guaranteeing that when the inevitable comes and Shels are kicked out of Tolka Park that their future will be in their own hands. Thanks to Oily, that is now not going to be the case and the people who are going to pay for this ultimately are the supporters of the club.

[OneRedArmy]

Am I the only non Shels fan that feels genuinely sorry for Ollie here?

I appreciate he has make enemies and can rub people up the wrong way. However nobody can question his commitment to Shelbourne FC and doing what he thought was best for the club.

He was clearly chasing the dream of making the Group Stages of the Champions League. He saw the opportunity to maybe finally have Irish football fans supporting an irish team rather than Man Utd/Liverpool. I'll save my anger for those who came into clubs with the sole intention of milking them for personal profit.I'm not buying the naive dreamer line.

Ask the Derry City fan he allegedly assaulted if he is sorry for him?

Ask those who were on the end of his many legal threats and actions?

He has caused more damage than improvement to the League and if it takes Shels going under to get him out of football then so be it.

[green-blood]

That's very harsh thing to say about Joe Colwell..


rubbish, the guy has got a very easy ride of it... nice chap, they all are when you're having a pint, but just as bad as the rest. I wonder which port the stadium roof is waiting at now???

[BohsFans]

there goes the co-efficient!

[drummerboy]

Lots of sympathy for genuine Shels supporters. Ollie has sold the family heirlooms, seemingly without the backing of other board members, who have since resigned. The investors he talks about are no more than vultures, waiting to build apartments and make a shedload of cash. They will bankroll Shels until 2008, if Byrne vanishes. By that time Shels will be tennants to either Bohs or Fingal Co Council. Obviously no bank is going to touch Shels now, otherwise they would have reached agreement with Fingal for Santry.

[OneRedArmy]

Lots of sympathy for genuine Shels supporters. Ollie has sold the family heirlooms, seemingly without the backing of other board members, who have since resigned. The investors he talks about are no more than vultures, waiting to build apartments and make a shedload of cash. They will bankroll Shels until 2008, if Byrne vanishes. By that time Shels will be tennants to either Bohs or Fingal Co Council. Obviously no bank is going to touch Shels now, otherwise they would have reached agreement with Fingal for Santry.Why would you have sympathy for Shels supporters?

They knowingly rode the rollercoaster on the way up, when it was clear to everyone that the sums didn't add up and they deified Ollie, refusing to question or criticise and buying into the dream. Its only in the last few months when the wall of lies collapsed that they have started to whine.

Too little, too late.

[drummerboy]

In the end of the day supporters go along to support their local team. Most aren't political animals and just want to see a game of football. Besides, there was no way anyone could wrestle the reins off Byrne. Not even now. He will hang in there, until someone gives him a very big payoff.

Fenlon has escaped criticism in all this. I think he must have known the financial implications of his spending. Yet he went back again and again, looking for money to sign players. Then when the **** hits the fan, he is the first to jump ship. Hardly honourable.

[galwayhoop]

fair point on fenlon. haven't thought of it before. a bit like o'leary at leeds except o'leary took the flak there and fenlon walks away unscathed.

Teflon Fenlon!!!!!

[gspain]

i'm not trying to justify assault or condone some of the things that Ollie has done. i think he is his own worst enemy. However I think he was always doing what he thought was best for Shelbourne Football Club.

There are other people far more worthy of abuse and scorn who have robbed clubs blind

[wws]

i'm not trying to justify assault or condone some of the things that Ollie has done. i think he is his own worst enemy. However I think he was always doing what he thought was best for Shelbourne Football Club.

There are other people far more worthy of abuse and scorn who have robbed clubs blind

this is the type of crap which p.sses me off about the irish mentality
the guy your defending here effectively destroyed his club carrying out a suicidal policy (there are so many parrallels with a certain Galway commercial managers past its unreal)

i dont feel any sorrow for this individual - i do feel sorry for the fans of the club and those who dug deep from their OWN pockets (rather than someone elses) to keep it all goin

this persons delusion is so great he refers to Ozzie kILKENNY ET AL as "investors" - as if they're some kind of benevolence fund for shels and its maniac and reckless leader

what the person you're defending here has done is nothing short of criminal - and the ENTIRE el has suffered greatly from the inflated wages now being paid (all of which are way beyond the income generating capacities of all clubs in the island)


Ive no time for the guy anymore - I cant even be arsed naming him - he's nothing, a total muppet - in the truest sense of the word -EVERYONE and i do mean everyone with a shred of cop on has been saying for years that the course his club had embarked on was reckless and suicidal - at every step of the way these sensible ppl were met with the defence of "oh he's a great man for shelbourne" "look at the work he put in" etc etc

well each man kills what he loves - and he killed shels

[sniffa]

Is it just me but every time Olly says " Shelbourne" it sounds like " Shamrock"?

[sniffa]

Or maybe he's playing head games..........with himself !!!!!!

[WeAreRovers]

Fenlon has escaped criticism in all this. I think he must have known the financial implications of his spending.

In all fairness, you know sod all about what Nutsy had to put up with last year. If Nutsy didn't have his own business he'd have been in serious financial trouble. Nutsy was lied to more than anyone else in this debacle - with the exception of the gullible fan base.

As for the UCD fan defending Joe Colwell, you know even less about that particular gent. His tunnel vision and self-imposed martyrdom was what handed our club to Maguire and his crooked cohorts.

And wws - Did someone drop you on your head over Christmas? You're talking a lot of sense on here these days and you seem to be the only one on the Pats MB with his eyes open. Dodge's "I just want to see a winning football team" is very very sad coming from a clever bloke.

KOH

[pete]

Oily has been on a media blitz recently. What is the purpose of this as hes usually not quick to be so forthcoming in public? I presume he trying to drum up some interest from a white knight?

Chasing the dream stuff is a load of crap. Its fine speculating a little bit but when revenues reduce you need to reduce expenditure too. When Shels only had Inter Toto cup football last season I saw no sign of Shels reducing spending. Hoolohan was sold but thats about it.

[Billy Lord]

How is any of this Nutsy's fault? If Ollie couldn't afford new or more expensive players, it was his duty to tell Nutsy it wasn't on.
Given the very real debacle at Shels, all the marketing in the world won't change the public perception that Irish football is an irrelevant mess.
Note to Delaney and co: the difference between saying something is better and it actually being better is vast. It's like 'near' and 'far away' on Father Ted.

[lofty9]

In all fairness, you know sod all about what Nutsy had to put up with last year. If Nutsy didn't have his own business he'd have been in serious financial trouble. Nutsy was lied to more than anyone else in this debacle - with the exception of the gullible fan base


That would back up a few stories I have heard from people connected to Derry City in regards to Fenlons situation last year. I'm surprised he stayed as long as he did.

[Jaime]

In all fairness, you know sod all about what Nutsy had to put up with last year. If Nutsy didn't have his own business he'd have been in serious financial trouble. Nutsy was lied to more than anyone else in this debacle - with the exception of the gullible fan base.

As for the UCD fan defending Joe Colwell, you know even less about that particular gent. His tunnel vision and self-imposed martyrdom was what handed our club to Maguire and his crooked cohorts.

And wws - Did someone drop you on your head over Christmas? You're talking a lot of sense on here these days and you seem to be the only one on the Pats MB with his eyes open. Dodge's "I just want to see a winning football team" is very very sad coming from a clever bloke.

KOH

In defence of Dodge, if Keegan/Molloy/Caffrey/Armstrong/Rutherford were all high earners, replacing the 5 of them with O'Neill and Ndo can't be putting that much financial strain on the club. Having a small sqaud will have separate implications, but there is always another side of the coin to wws' paranoia. :)

[wws]

In defence of Dodge, if Keegan/Molloy/Caffrey/Armstrong/Rutherford were all high earners, replacing the 5 of them with O'Neill and Ndo can't be putting that much financial strain on the club. Having a small sqaud will have separate implications, but there is always another side of the coin to wws' paranoia. :)


jaime will ya do me a fooken favour

ndo kirby o neill are wots signed "SO FAR"

we're now linked with even more of these guys (from shels)

ive no paranoia

re the signing policy - with wages saved/the molloy transfer fee plus knock on bonuses - they could juggle the figures to leave them in a similar position to last season wages wise - but if they sign the likes of jason byrne etc well that goes out the window again

the board of pats met the fai re tallaght - as per their own admission

its all out war on these fckrs till that plan is well and truly torpedoed

[JC_GUFC]

I'd be agreeing with gspain here on this one.

Shels and Bohs were the 2 clubs to start bringing the league up to the level it's at now a few years ago and led the way for the likes of Cork, Derry and Drogheda. Obviously with a support base like Shelbourne have it was going to be difficult to sustain this (Bohs lasted about 3 years at that level).

As Felix Healy says when you give money to players it's automatically out of Irish football and that's really what's killing the game here, look at Shels league winning team - half of them have jumped ship already. Look at Fenlon's list of clubs as a player and it will tell you what motivates him.
Obviously there can't be a situation where an employee is going without wages but it's not too difficult not to feel sympathy for players who had no loyalty to the club in the first place.

[wws]

I'd be agreeing with gspain here on this one.

Shels and Bohs were the 2 clubs to start bringing the league up to the level it's at now a few years ago and led the way for the likes of Cork, Derry and Drogheda. Obviously with a support base like Shelbourne have it was going to be difficult to sustain this (Bohs lasted about 3 years at that level).

As Felix Healy says when you give money to players it's automatically out of Irish football and that's really what's killing the game here, look at Shels league winning team - half of them have jumped ship already. Look at Fenlon's list of clubs as a player and it will tell you what motivates him.
Obviously there can't be a situation where an employee is going without wages but it's not too difficult not to feel sympathy for players who had no loyalty to the club in the first place.

thats just stupid jc

you cut the cloth within reason
they didnt

that ol players loyalty crap is for roy of the rovers readers

[Dr.Nightdub]

Every time I think of Shels and their fans, a song by the Housemartins comes into my head:

The people who grinned themselves to death
Smiled so much they failed to take a breath
And even when their kids were starving
They all thought the Queen was coming

For "Queen", read "Champions League group stages" and you have the recent history of Shels in a nutshell.

[dcfcsteve]

Am I the only non Shels fan that feels genuinely sorry for Ollie here?

I appreciate he has make enemies and can rub people up the wrong way. However nobody can question his commitment to Shelbourne FC and doing what he thought was best for the club.

He was clearly chasing the dream of making the Group Stages of the Champions League. He saw the opportunity to maybe finally have Irish football fans supporting an irish team rather than Man Utd/Liverpool. I'll save my anger for those who came into clubs with the sole intention of milking them for personal profit.

I would have the same degree of sympathy for Ollie as I would for the likes of Peter Ridsdale at Leeds. In other words, zero.

I don't care what his motives are or how well-intentioned they are, Ollie is a delusionist who has driven the most successful Irish club in recent years to the brink of complete meltdown. If I became Taioseach and made a complete fcuk-up of the country, would it be alright as long as I was well intentioned.....?

[Ozymandias]

I have no sympathy for oilly.........Since he won the league in the courts all those years ago.poaching players, inflating wages.his general underhandmanship (is that a word you know what i mean) the whole league knew what he was at and knew this day was coming..Shels might have won titles under Oilly but they won no friends.. if derry had won the league he would still be in the courts trying to win it....Oilly..If you really love something set it free......

[dcfcsteve]

Fenlon has escaped criticism in all this. I think he must have known the financial implications of his spending. Yet he went back again and again, looking for money to sign players. Then when the **** hits the fan, he is the first to jump ship. Hardly honourable.

A manager's job is to assemble the best possible team, and motivate them on the pitch to win things. It is not the Manager's job to manage the club's balance sheet, nor are they usually privvy to even half of the necessary information to enable them to do so.

If Fenlon was asking for players the club couldn't afford, how was he to know they couldn't be afforded without having an intimate knowledge of the club's finances (which seemingly only Olly had) ? Olly would've set the direction and aims for the club on a season-by-season basis (and if he didn't, it's another failuing on his part), which then would've given Fenlon a budget and dierction to work towards. If he then attempted to go beyond that, it's the Boards job to say no, as they hold the purse strings.

Even if Fenlon had been asking for players his club couldn't afford, so fcuk ? It's Olly's job to say 'no'. Which he clearly either didn't do, or didn't want to do.

Blaming Manager's for the financial and managerial inadequacies of thsoe who run football clubs is pathetic. The buck stops at the Board Room, nowhere else. End of story.

[galwayhoop]

while you are mostly right dcfcsteve i think everyone in the country knew that the good ship shelbourne was going to sink sooner or later. with this in mind fenlon signed players on contracts that he must of thought the club could have problems honouring. so while it's is not his fault for the financial mess, if i was a player i wouldn't totally exonorate him. after all he would of sat them down and said you will be paid x, y and z for playing.

[drummerboy]

I agree that Byrne should shoulder most of the blame. But surely when there was problems with players not getting bonuses, wages ect, alarm bells should have rung in Fenlons head. Some of the bonus due goes as far back as 2004. Was it not possible to ship out some of the many guys picking up large wads for sitting in the stand.

[drummerboy]

I agree that Byrne should shoulder most of the blame. But surely when there was problems with players not getting bonuses, wages ect, alarm bells should have rung in Fenlons head. Some of the bonus due goes as far back as 2004. Was it not possible to ship out some of the many guys picking up large wads for sitting in the stand. Fenlon was still signing the likes of Curtis Fleming at the start of the season.

[Paraic]

Ask any manager in the league whether his squad is good enough or big enough and they'll all say exactly the same thing.

It's the manager's job to do what he can with the money provided (or in this case not always provided) - wherever it comes from. And I don't think that the manager will care as long as it's not from his own pocket

How fenlon and co kept going in the circumstances still amazes me, but I don't think you can blame them for taking the money and running. They're pros after all and fenlon just did his job - he won the league repeatedly and delivered Champions League football.

Shels got caught chasing the dream that we all would chase if we could - only the rest of us probably wouldn't bankrupt the club and football in the process.

[gspain]

Shelbourne are not the first and they won't be the last club to live beyond their means.

This dancing on their grave premature or not sickens me.

I've seen enough real crooks rob clubs blind and other clubs still take them on knowing what went before. At 12 years of age I could name people robbing Limerick and they were still allowed to continue and invited back again to do the same in some cases after they left.

Now have Bohs/Pats/Rovers/Derry/Cork all had perfect records in recent years and never lived beyond thier means? And will they do so again?

[Dodge]

Shelbourne are not the first and they won't be the last club to live beyond their means.

This dancing on their grave premature or not sickens me.

I've seen enough real crooks rob clubs blind
Bad choice of words in defending Ollie...

As a Pats fan I've every ****ing right to dance on Shels grave. And if they die, and I pray they do, I'll happilt take a bit of flak on the internet for it.

As for me neing a clever bloke WaR? You couldn't be further from th truth. :)

The point I was making yesterday (on the forum you never read) is that the team doesn't have to suffer with the fans fight for Tallaght. A succesful Pats team is far more likely to stay in INchicore. If we were running the team down I'd be far far more worried. Still bricking it obviously

[WeAreRovers]

(on the forum you never read)

Only read other clubs' forums when they're in serious trouble - on or off the pitch. It's the ghoul in me. ;)

KOH

[Martinho II]

doesnt the shels situation remind u of wot happened to Leeds a few yrs ago? have a good mind to go to the bookies and put money on Shels to get relegated next season.:cool:

[Jerry The Saint]

Only read other clubs' forums when they're in serious trouble - on or off the pitch.



You must spend 24 hours a day on the Interweb! :eek:

[WeAreRovers]

You must spend 24 hours a day on the Interweb! :eek:

Only the 8 hours I'm paid for, wouldn't have the thing in the house.

KOH

[pete]

Now have Bohs/Pats/Rovers/Derry/Cork all had perfect records in recent years and never lived beyond thier means? And will they do so again?

Due to financial issues we were unable to sign more players last season. Rico was aware of this but was not his job to inform fans or public. Due to uncertainly with financial situation at the end of 2006 season we could not offer new contracts to some players so lost them on a free. This is common for most clubs except Shels.

[galwayhoop]

see you monday so wearerovers................

[WeAreRovers]

see you monday so wearerovers................

Same time, same place. :ball:

KOH

[gufct]

How could anyone feel sorry for olly!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Olly has been the bane of the league since way back. Hes tapped up players (geoghegan,alan Byrne from rovers and Goughy from us) since he was first involved in the el and is the main reason that el players have been getting wages way in excess of what clubs could pay them and bullying everyone to get his own way.

[pineapple stu]

Am I the only non Shels fan that feels genuinely sorry for Ollie here?
Probably. I've no more sympathy for him that I do for Seery. He could see exactly what he was doing, and yet thought himself above the law (literally at times, as we can see with his attitude towards Revenue) and was always bringing the league into disrepute. The events here have cast a serious doubt over Licencing (slight understatement there), and given Ollie Byrne and John Delaney's previous close links, I wouldn't at all be surprised to see Shels were passed purely because Ollie asked them to be. They've screwed over clubs who are living within their means in the past few years and has lied to all and sundry over the past season with stories of investors, plenty of money and wages due to be paid shortly. He should be banned immediately from any involvement in any Irish football club - that would at least allow Shels to be taken over by a group who actually have a clue what they're doing.

[Postman]

That's very harsh thing to say about Joe Colwell..

He spent 900k of government grant money on wages when he could have brought phase one of the stadium to near completion. Like Ollie he put shortterm on-the-field success ahead of our longterm future. The ridiculous thing is that we didn't even have any success!

[Gareth]

As a Pats fan I've every ****ing right to dance on Shels grave. And if they die, and I pray they do, I'll happilt take a bit of flak on the internet for it.

I don't like you much any more.

[Ceirtlis]

Ollie Byrne is an ego maniac and i do not feel a bit sorry for him. It was his dream to get his beloved Shelbourne to the Champions League so he made extraordinary gambles, gambles with other peoples livelihoods - the players and gambles with other peoples obsession - the supporters. He should get off the stage now that his dream has well and truly turned into a nightmare for everyone involved with Shelbourne F.C.. This man has been everything that is bad about the eircom league for the last few year, this is the **** who threatens legal action at the drop of a hat. For him to say that players are not loyal is sickening when Shelbourne have time and again not paid wages on time and been filled with false promises. If he has a crap life thats his own issue, maybe he should get councilling, but he should not be in charge of Shelbourne. If football is business as we are told that it is, it is criminal that this guy can still be in charge of a company.

[kdjaC]

Now have Bohs/Pats/Rovers/Derry/Cork all had perfect records in recent years and never lived beyond thier means? And will they do so again?

How did our downfall come about? Would it be a massive loss in revenue maybe league winning revenue or Cl money revenue that would have pushed us onto the next level? Oh how did that happen?



As a Pats fan I've every ****ing right to dance on Shels grave.
my kid taught me some walls of limerick jig or reel, we could do that together afaik we need 8 or so to do it properly :)


kdjac

[Dodge]

I don't like you much any more.

Boo ****ing hoo :D




my kid taught me some walls of limerick jig or reel, we could do that together afaik we need 8 or so to do it properly :)

kdjac

We won't be short on numbers. Don't worry about that :cool: