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Great to see lots about Athlone Town in the Westmeath today.
Good signing in Shane Jackson, he'll add strength to the centre back positions. Hope Colm Fortune returns, we badly need a playmaker. I hope the two signings by the weekend are as good as these, we need a good centre forward and right back. Then we can realistically push for promotion.
Good to see too an update on the stadium position, looking forward to the public launch.
Is that Shane Jackson the fella who was with Shams a while back
and with Scrublin Sh!tty the last season or 2?
If so he's not a bad player (not a great player ;) )
Who's rumoured to be the other signings?
www.westmeathindependent.ie
The public of Athlone will get a close up view of the local soccer club's plans for their proposed new stadium project when they hold an official launch on the 25 March, 2003. The launch is the first chance people have to witness Athlone Town Football Club's ambitious plans to build a state-of-the-art 6,000 all-seater stadium at Lissywollen on the Ballymahon Road in the town. Club Chairman Paddy McCaul confirmed that members of the public are invited to attend the occasion, which will be held at the Shamrock Lodge Hotel, and will be shown the final draft of the plans, which include an initial 2,000 seater main stand and ancillary facilities. The club also confirmed this week that their application for re-election to the eircom League was accepted without any problems. "There have been some people worried about the stadium but we received Government funding to the tune of €1 million and full planning permission for the project, and it was never in doubt. We were working away in the background as much as we could and now we can show people our final plans and push on with the project. It is an amazingly exciting time for our football club and shows that we are pushing in the right direction. We need the public to react now and I think they will,' said Mr. McCaul.
FUNDRAISING
On the night, the club, who are planning a series of fundraising events in aid of the project, will also launch an innovative idea to raise money for the ground development, which when complete could cost a total of around €6 million. They have decided to sell individual sections of the new pitch in order to raise funds and Mr. McCaul believes that the idea, the brainwave of committee member Declan Browne, will raise "sufficient" monies for the project. "It is a great idea and people will be informed of the ins and outs of it at the launch," he said. The club also said that several FAI officials will attend the historic launch. After the launch it is expected that the club will be able to push ahead with building works within the next few weeks. They plan to be playing at the ground in the Autumn of 2003.
The son of one of Athlone Town's most consistent servants has joined the club for their upcoming season. Shane Jackson, the son of former Athlone hero Jimmy Jackson, originally of Sarsfield Square, Athlone, has been snapped up by Jimmy Greene after he parted company with Dublin City. Jackson, a powerful central defender - much like his father - becomes Greene's second pre-season capture and attended the squad's first training session on Sunday morning along with other new boy Stephen Gavin. Jackson, of course, comes from arguably the town's most famous footballing family, as he hails from the same family background as the legendary O'Connor brothers (Turlough, Padraig, and Michael), and the Frawley's. He is also related to former Athlone midfielder Colin Fortune, who spent the last three years at Galway United. However, speculation is rife that Fortune may be about to return to his hometown club for the coming season. Indeed, the capture of the powerful central midfielder would be seen as a major coup following his fantastic form for the Tribesmen during last seasons campaign. Regarding the capture of Jackson, Greene said: "I think Shane will add physical presence and strength to our defence. We leaked far too many goals last season and I hope Shane helps improve this. We were very quiet at the back and Shane will hopefully be vocal and organise things a bit better."
LEAGUE TITLES
Jimmy Jackson was part of Athlone's most glorious period ever and won two League championship titles with them in the 1980/81 and 82/83 seasons. He went on to become a well respected coach and has worked with Shamrock Rovers, where Shane started his League of Ireland career before joining Dublin City. Jimmy is now heavily involved with the Belvedere schoolboy club in Dublin. Greene added: "I cannot mention any other names at the moment but I hope to have two more signings by the end of the week. That will be it then." Warren Parkes and Alan Oliver have already parted company with the club, and Alan Clarke has now joined that list. "Alan has decided to take a year out from the game and that is fair enough," said Greene. He also confirmed that goal-keeper David Moran, who was chosen in the Irish Under 20 squad at the end of last season, has been offered a new contract. It is thought that several top clubs are looking at the possibility of swooping on Athlone for their highly rated keeper. "David is considering our offer and hopefully it will be sorted out in the next few days," said the Athlone boss. Athlone Town start their new league campaign against Cobh Ramblers at St. Mel's Park on the week ending Sunday 13 April. The game is almost definite to go ahead on Friday 11 April.