City get UEFA "A License"

Good News....

Following a meeting of the FAI Licencing Appeals Body this morning, UEFA ‘A’ Licences have been awarded to Shelbourne, Cork City and Bohemians to participate in UEFA competitions this year.

Longford Town have also been awarded a Licence to play in Europe at an alternative licenced ground.

FAI Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Fran Rooney, congratulated the clubs concerned and said that the decision was extremely important for the future development of the game in Ireland. "I now look forward to more clubs achieving the ‘A’ Licence standard in the coming months and we will continue to work with the clubs in this regard’ Mr. Rooney said.

Great news.
Credit to Brian Lennox and all those who worked so hard behind the scenes to get the club to the required standards.
Job well done

Brilliant news! Fair play Lennox! :)

derry city must be disgusted :)

Time could not have been better for the FAI eh!
What has been done since last time?

Great news............but have to ask what has happened since the original decision?

Oh, I know all the rubble was cleared by the Rovers fans up at the St Annes end two weeks ago :D

UEFA were obviously impressed at how we cleverly cleared that area so quickly............one plastic bottle flug at the Scum and they clear the place.......most of it was taken back to Dublin for their next Dublin Derby. :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by thecorner

derry city must be disgusted :)

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if you look at the other thread on it, it seems to be them versus Longford now :D

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Originally Posted by niamh

What has been done since last time?

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AFAIK it was all to do with getting approval based on having plans for the shed end. I don't think we're actually compliant as we are with the turnstiles and entrance situation, but planning applications had already been made to remedy these problems.
I think Lennox's position was that it would be pointless to do small (but expensive) changes now only to rip them down again when remodeling the shed end. The rest of our application was fine first time around, or at least so I heard.

Hopefully it'll free up the grants we were promised by the FAI aswell

From today's Indo (posted by Maribor on the Derry thread)

"UEFA may examine FAI over new licences to thrill
Saturday May 29th 2004
ADVERTISEMENT


UEFA may order an investigation into the awarding of A Licences to Ireland's four eircom League representatives for this season's European club competitions.

That follows the decision of the FAI Licensing Appeals Body to award UEFA A Licences to Shelbourne, Bohemians and Cork City and to allow Longford Town play in the UEFA Cup, albeit at an alternative licenced ground after Flancare Park failed to pass muster.

FAI Chief Executive Fran Rooney, who has been involved in extensive negotiations with UEFA's Club Licensing Department, said last night he would welcome any queries. "I hope they (UEFA) do that because there is nothing to hide," said Rooney.

The four European representatives received First Division, or B Licences, last February from the FAI and were entitled to apply for an A Licence.

The FAI Appeals Body met on Thursday to discuss the four applications but could not make a decision because they didn't have a quorum.

They met yesterday morning at 7am and a new member was co-opted onto the Appeals Body even though section 2.2.3. of the Licensing Manual states that vacancies must be filled by the FAI's Board of Management.

According to Rooney, FAI President Milo Corcoran had sought the approval of the Board for the co-option.

Rooney added that he has yet to see a letter from Derry City's solicitors demanding compensation from the FAI for their failure to benefit from becoming the first club to attain an A Licence.

Derry would have been nominated by the FAI to play in Europe this season had any of the four qualifiers failed in their applications to the Appeals Body. A copy of Derry's letter has also been sent to UEFA and its understood that they are closely monitoring events in Ireland.

If a licence has been awarded incorrectly, the club concerned could face a European ban.

Gerry McDermott"

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Originally Posted by Counting Crow

but have to ask what has happened since the original decision?

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They painted the front bars of the Shed to UEFA regulation colour. :p

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Originally Posted by GWA

They painted the front bars of the Shed to UEFA regulation colour. :p

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the whole area got a painting so im well chuffed
today we conquer the fai
tomorrow europe

i'm suprised at Derry. Eoro participation is won on the pitch not in the courts. very unsporting behaviour.

They had to close 75% of their ground to get a licence. many clubs could take that easy option......

Derry have some neck alright.
3 reasons why they shouldn't represent this country in Europe

1. 540 odd minutes without a goal
2. They've no manager
3. Most importantly, they didn't qualify

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Originally Posted by xtreme rebel

Isn't it a coincidence how this great news from the FAI is released 2 days after Derry inform them of taking them to court for compensation or for a European place....

Credit to Lennox...no better chairman in the League.

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Great to see the club getting the licence but what has happened since the B licence was granted? Very little development work that I've seen.

It would seem strange if A licences are allocated on the basis of plans for ground improvements rather than actual work done.

I hope the FAI haven't taken a few shortcuts that might be spotted and punished by UEFA later on.

Although I did read that all 4 Welsh clubs that qualified for Europe got licences and their clubs/grounds must be in worse shape than ours.

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Originally Posted by paudie

It would seem strange if A licences are allocated on the basis of plans for ground improvements rather than actual work done.

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Why? That's the basis for letting Ireland play their home WC qualifiers at Landsdowne with the bucket seats, also announced last Thursday by the FAI.

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Originally Posted by tiktok

Why? That's the basis for letting Ireland play their home WC qualifiers at Landsdowne with the bucket seats, also announced last Thursday by the FAI.

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Yeah you've a point there. I suppose if the club could show they'd submitted planning permission for improvements that would help also.

However one reason for not getting the licence originally was that there was loose gravel etc in the ground. As we saw at the Rovers game this is still there.