Cork City denied a licence; club to be wound up; FORAS to enter First Division

[Mr A]

Just listened to the Coughlan interview on 96fm this morning.. one of the funniest and most outrageous rants I've ever heard. But sad as well.

Apparently it's all Sinn Fein's fault!

[Frank76]

Michael O'Connell was on 96 FM this morning saying that he had made good contacts in Barcelona and that they were due to come over and play us, he even got a text last weekend from Johann Cruyff asking him when were they coming over.

He also mentioned that he had been in contact with some wealthy families in Bahrain who were willing to invest in the club and would fly into Cork in their private jets.

Surely we'd need a Premier licence & European football to attract these investors.

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Oh jaybus I've never laughed as much in my life!!!

I also heard that the sheiks in charge of Man City and Abramovich are selling their 2 clubs and buying into Cork City and are employing Sven Goran Eriksson as their Director of football and that their buying out Jose Mourinho's contract at Inter to hire him as assistant manager to Roddy!!!!

[corkharps]

Michael O'Connell was on 96 FM this morning saying that he had made good contacts in Barcelona and that they were due to come over and play us, he even got a text last weekend from Johann Cruyff asking him when were they coming over.

He also mentioned that he had been in contact with some wealthy families in Bahrain who were willing to invest in the club and would fly into Cork in their private jets.

Surely we'd need a Premier licence & European football to attract these investors.

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Thank Jebus they didn't get control! There really are some headbangers with more money than sense out there!

[Schumi]

I wish I was.

Unbelievable, another nutter looking to take over? I always know Corkies were a bit odd but this is ridiculous.

[marinobohs]

Michael O'Connell was on 96 FM this morning saying that he had made good contacts in Barcelona and that they were due to come over and play us, he even got a text last weekend from Johann Cruyff asking him when were they coming over.

He also mentioned that he had been in contact with some wealthy families in Bahrain who were willing to invest in the club and would fly into Cork in their private jets.

Surely we'd need a Premier licence & European football to attract these investors.

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

what ? did he forget about the "magic beans" he was offered ?

[LK37oldskool]

thank god its all over and welcome to Foras FC to Div1,really lookin forward to these Munster derbies.Div1 is shapen up to be pretty decent this year,certainly far more competitive than in previous seasons.

[pineapple stu]

True, but mot of that came from a) Cork confidence and b) historical uselessness within league administration. Looking at the facts, there could be no surprise (and yes I was surprised)

It also came from the fact that the new consortium had demanded a licence. Had that demand not been made, you'd have been much more certain TNB would have failed to get a licence, particularly given how annoyed he's clearly made the FAI.

[EalingGreen]

The Munster bit is shocking, but the Ulster bit isn't when you think about it. AFAIK, there was never an Ulster team in the LOI until Harps joined in the 70s. Then once a 2nd tier was introduced, again there was no Ulster team in the Premier until Derry got promoted a few years later, and most seasons since they have been the only Ulster team in the top flight.

So over the history of the LOI, the top division has more often than not had no Ulster teams. At the end of the day, only 3 counties in Ulster fall within the FAI's jurisdiction, and all of them have small, primarily rural populations. If anything, Ulster is punching well above its weight by having any teams at all in the LOI.

Munster is a very different matter though.

Not in any way meaning to be controversial (or drag thread off topic), but when researching a wee bit of Irish football history a while back, I came across a statistic which surprised/shocked me.

At the time of the secession by the FAIFS from the IFA after 1921, there were only 10 football clubs in the whole of the Munster FA. (By contrast, the County Antrim FA had around 200 member clubs).

Indeed from what I have read, the disagreement in the early 20th Century might originally have been described as an internal struggle for influence by the (Dublin-based) Leinster FA within the (Belfast-based) IFA.

However, following political developments on the island (1916, Partition etc), this local disagreement assumed a "national" character, with the Leinster FA campaigning for the IFA effectively to be moved to/controlled from Dublin. As such, they look to have enlisted support from the Munster FA (and Connaught?), as well as from Nationalist football strongholds in Belfast. And when this takeover failed (primarily due to the IFA being supported by the other "Home" Associations?), they broke away entirely to form the FAIFS.

Anyhow, my point is that as far back as the history of football in Ireland goes, the North was more of a stronghold of the game than the South, and by the time of the split, Dublin/Leinster was still by far the strongest footballing region within the the new Free State, along with a few Garrison/Railway towns etc, while whole swathes of Munster and Connaught were "football-free zones".

Which, in a sense, reflects the present make-up of the LOI (and IL) and emphasises just how difficult it is to spread the game (any game?) outside traditional heartlands.

But as I say, I'm genuinely not trying to stir things, nor in anyway disparage the efforts and loyalty etc of LOI football fans outside Dublin and the East.

[Hairy Bowsie]

This aint over quite yet .

Are FORAS part of this appeal? Or who exactly is behind this appeal?

[pineapple stu]

I'd have a wild guess that it's TNB.

[Frank76]

Hallelujah Cork City FC are now a defunct club according to the reliable wikipedia!!!

[Candystripe]

Hopefully no-one from the Cork forum mind me posting this link to the audio from this morning.

Award winning stuff.

http://www.ccfcforum.com/audios/96fm24022010parta.mp3

Part B - Jonathan O'Brien http://www.ccfcforum.com/audios/96fm24022010partb.mp3

Part C - Jim McCarthy, Peter Grey, Tom Coughlan & Jonathan O'Brien http://www.ccfcforum.com/audios/96fm24022010partc.mp3

Part D - Michael O'Connell http://www.ccfcforum.com/audios/96fm24022010partd.mp3

[ifk101]

Which, in a sense, reflects the present make-up of the LOI (and IL) and emphasises just how difficult it is to spread the game (any game?) outside traditional heartlands.

But as I say, I'm genuinely not trying to stir things, nor in anyway disparage the efforts and loyalty etc of LOI football fans outside Dublin and the East.

The popularity of the game outside traditional strongholds is not reflective of the geographical spread of LOI clubs. There's a thread on the Athlone section of the forum that links to an Irish Independent article that might interest you.

[KUFCMan]

So can we take it that Bray Wanderers are defo playing Premier football and Cork are in the 1st Division?

[higgins]

So FORAS were willing to accept 20% of a club with this guy Michael O'Connell involved ???
We'd of had another year of madness!!!

What were you thinking...