End of the line for Tramco?
The last few months have seen a major decline in the fortunes of Rathmines’ finest nightclub. Things appeared to have come to a head this past week with Dillo remarking that last weekend was the worst weekend he had ever experienced in the famous old club. Once among the king pins of Dublin’s nightclubs Tramco sadly finds itself drifting to mediocrity and beyond like that once great football club Liverpool FC. Who knows where the decline will lead to? We only need to look at Nottingham Forest, the club of back to back European Champions now scrapping to avoid relegation to the third tier in English football, to see where it could all end up.
I don’t know Tom O’Neill, but he and all the staff at the club deserve all the praise heaped on them for turning the club into one of the finest in Dublin. Despite its peripheral location it has survived and prospered for years. Generations of my family can define entire era’s of their youth as “when we used to live in Tramco”, but sadly this looks like it won’t continue beyond myself.
A key issue that must be debated is the decision to close the club in October 2003 for the entire 2003/04 season. The abrupt nature and the manner in which many of the patrons of the club found out about the closure left many upset, angry, hurt and betrayed. Without any significant warning, or time to come up with alternative arrangements, the club doors were slammed shut for 9 months on its faithful followers. Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights gone. However, the real issue here that needs debating is was there any real need to renovate the club in the first place? True the old adage is to buy when you are at your strongest, but Tom should have learned from the mistakes of Alex Ferguson. After winning the European Cup in 1999. Ferguson went out and spent Stg£28.5m on Juan Sebastian Veron (last seen dating an Irish model btw) when he had one of the finest midfields in Europe already, as we all know Veron never settled and faded quietly from the club. Veron’s style never suited the English game and Ferguson clearly made a mistake. In the same way I think Tom has misjudged what was required to keep Tramco on top. The new lights that change colour, the mirrors on the ceiling, the dancefloor in the corner, its just too much change. We need only look at the continued success of Copperface Jacks to know that places don’t need dramatic facelifts to stay ahead of the pack.
It’s easy for us looking back in hindsight to point fingers and apportion blame. I’ve heard many complain about the closure for the 2003/04 season and how it has ruined the clubs status. However, in my opinion the real reason for the decline has been the Over 20’s policy applied by the club. Tom must have taken Alan Hansen’s immortal words to heart “You’ll never win anything with kids”, but we all know what followed for Man Utd. Again Tom should have learned from Ferguson. This was a terrible decision really. An entire segment of the market eliminated, and probably the source of the talent that made Tramco’s name in the first place. True enough the logic behind the decision was to go after the older more moneyed market, but it is the youth of today that will be the moneyed of tomorrow.
So what next for Tramco? Anyone can see something must be done to stop the rot. Your comments and suggestions would be appreciated. We all want the Tramco of old back. It’s time to get the talent back in. I’d hate to see Tom’s career end in the same way Brian Cloughs did, with tears and relegation. Let’s hope it doesn’t.
