Dundalk Confident of landing Europa spot
http://blackandwhitetown.squarespace...ransparent.pngTuesday, February 23, 2010 at 11:32PM
DUNDALK fully expect to be awarded Cork City's place in the UEFA Europa League following the winding up of the Leesiders yesterday.
The Independent Licensing Committee's refusal on Monday evening to accept Cork's application for a Premier Division license signalled the end for the Rebels in their current guise.
In a statement released last week, Dundalk called on the FAI to nominate them for Cork's place in Europe. The club are expected to release another official statement on the issue today (Wednesday) but sources within Oriel Park say they are confident of receiving the green light from the FAI in the coming days.
Dundalk have also refuted claims made in the Sunday Independent in January which cast doubt over Dundalk's eligibility for European football. The piece stated that Sligo Rovers would be offered Cork's place on the premise that Bit O'Red boss Paul Cook has obtained the required UEFA Pro License whereas Lilywhites boss Ian Foster has not.
Foster is due to complete his A License, a step below the Pro Licence, in March and will then enrol for the higher diploma, which takes a year to complete and consists of a minimum of 240 hours, of which 90 hours are practical. It will be a requirement for League of Ireland Premier Division coaches to hold a Pro-License next season.
The UEFA Club Licensing system, introduced for the 2004-2005 season, states that a club seeking a UEFA club license must have a manager in possession of the UEFA Pro-License.
Foster will not possess that qualification should Dundalk apply for a European place but the club are expected to submit his application for enrolment on the Pro-License course as sufficient evidence of their eligibility to receive a license for European football.
The club's national association, in this case the FAI, can also provide a “recognition of competence” on the manager's behalf. UEFA state that the minimum time period for a “recognition of competence” is five years but there have been instances in recent years where special dispensation has been granted, notably in 2008 when Avram Grant took Chelsea to the UEFA Champions League final despite not holding the relevant 'qualification'.
The issue of holding European games at Oriel Park will also have to be looked in to but speaking on Tuesday, Dundalk FC Communications Manager Colm Crosson conceded that the possibility of that happening is remote.
“We will have to sit long and hard to look at the regulations surrounding that”, he said.
“We would have a fervent desire to hold European games at Oriel Park but we don't want to raise peoples expectations unnecessarily.
“In this economic climate it would be a tall ask to have Oriel Park at the standard required to hold a European game. We would have to see what the logistics are but do we spend 50k to stage possibly just one game. We would have to move heaven and earth and at this late stage it is probably unlikely that it will happen.”
On the domestic front, there is still confusion as to where Dundalk will play their first League of Ireland game of the season. Bray Wanderers will take Cork City's place in the Premier Division and will meet Dundalk on March 5 but at the time of going to press, no official announcement had been made regarding the venue for the game.
