Do we have anything to worry about?

New UEFA directive on financial management could spell the end for the Louth club tomorrow. And they may be the first of many.

BEYOND THE WHITEWASH - EAMONN McCANN

DROGHEDA UNITED may he expelled from the National league when a motion to exclude the club is put to a meeting of the league's Board of Control at Merrion Square tomorrow night. Under the terms of the resolution, Drogheda will he allowed to fulfill their remaining two fixtures so that the league programme can be completed but would be excluded from senior football in the new season which kicks off in April.
An extra club from the First Division would more than likely be promoted to maintain for- the time being the 10-club structure of the Premier Division.

The move follows the failure of Drogheda to comply with an instruction issued to all clubs by the board on 2 December last asking for confirmation that they were complying with rules on financial management. The board was prompted in part by the imminence of a UEFA licensing system which will see significantly stricter supervision of clubs by the European body.

The first UEFA club inspection will take place this week, when a three-man team will spend two days in Derry studying Derry City's accounts and examining the club's structures and facilities. Clubs which do not meet UEFA objectives under five headings (sporting, infrastructure, personnel and administration, legal and financial) will be barred from European competitions from next year.

As things stand, few National league clubs would meet UEFA (or domestic) requirements. The discarding of Drogheda may prove the first stop in a more drastic reduction in numbers. Said one board member yesterday. "At the end of this process we may find ourselves for the first time seriously considering an All Ireland League. Irish league clubs face exactly the same issues. There will not be anything like 44 league clubs on this little island come the 2004 season."

UEFA financing requirements would largely be met by clubs conforming to Rule 10 (ii) of the current National League rule book. This, in essence, requires clubs to supply the league with updated documentation each season proving financial viability and good management. It is admitted at all levels that the rule has never been taken seriously.
"But football has changed all across Europe," said one Dublin-based member of the board, ''The days of saying, 'All, sure it will do are over. It will be painful doing what has to be done in relation to Drogheda. But if we allow the club as it is to continue, we aren't going to get our house in order in time for UEFA - or any time. It really is make-your-mind-up time if the league is to survive. That's not being over-dramatic. It's the plain fact of the matter."

The company which, in theory, owns Drogheda United - Hinge Trading - ceased trading in 2001. It was confirmed last week that, directly contrary to Rule 10 (ii), the league authorities were not informed of this development. The current legal status of the club is far from clear. In November, United's commercial manager Alan Williams was instrumental in putting together a consortium of local businessmen with the aim of taking over the running of the club. A four-man delegation met officials of the FAI, and asked for a loan of ^50,000 to meet cash-flow commitments to the end of the season. The request was refused, and instead, the consortium was asked to prove that what it had described as a "battle-plan" was viable.
The FAI ought to have been aware that Drogheda was in grave difficulties. The association currently owns the club's ground, 02 Park. Meanwhile, it was I confirmed last week that the rent hasn't been paid for some time.

It's also understood that Drogheda United has not made tax returns since 1997-98, that rent has not been paid on houses let to players and that on a number of occasions players' wages were not paid. Critics say it's difficult to understand how the club could be able to pay four full-time players who were signed (on release by Swansea, Dundee United, Airdrie and Stockport respectively) just before the transfer deadline last October and thereby debarred from signing for any other club in the current season.

The revelation in November of the extent of Drogheda's problems led to the Board of Control motion proposed by Derry City chairman Jim Roddy on 2 December. "It was a difficult thing to do," said Roddy. "But quite apart from rules and UEFA requirements, we can't have a situation where a side can sign players recklessly and gain an advantage on clubs which keep to the rules." Soundings last week suggested that the motion to expel Drogheda will succeed. Supporters of the motion say they hope that other clubs - including, in some cases, their own clubs - which close inspection might reveal are also operating outside the terms of Rule 10 (ii) will move speedily to put their houses in order. If this proves impossible, a number may well follow Drogheda out of senior football.

Another member of the board, Brendan Dillion of UCD, concurred with Roddy's belief that tomorrow's expected outcome could, paradoxically perhaps, herald a bright new era for the National League.

"It's been a good season, a good standard of play, and very, very competitive at both ends of the Premier Division right to the end. Summer football from next season should give us a further boost. We have a good product which it's well worthwhile preserving. But to achieve that, things will have to be done very differently”


Eamonderry@aol.com





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I'm pretty sure that we should be ok. We had to get a tax-clearance cert before we could be able to apply for the grant, we present reports at the AGM, but I'd still be worried enough when it mentions many other clubs could be in trouble.