Shouting match after Athlone and The Drogs

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Originally Posted by Nesta99

There is a question over licencing considering the above but the FAI are between a rock and a hard place with this. To lose clubs from the 1st Division considering the limited number of teams already could see a bit of a blind eye turned. Beyond a short term need to keep the league *cough* competitive there is a serious credibility issue that we all too well know of. Yes additional prize money and reduced membership fees would help, but again is it not a case of people pushing the limits of budgets to best case scenarios instead of worst case and anything after being a bonus being the issue. I'd love to see Youth's accounts to see how their model is panning out.

As for media coverage...it is hardly a surprise that the negative stories are reported as people tend to want to read the 'car crash' news rather than say the recovery of Dundalk FC ;p News is news regardless though. To air dirty laundry in public is not good and the powers that be of the league should have had a handle on it. I am saying this without reading or listening through everything though so may be well off the mark.

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Exactly but people should also consider that the reason the Indo & other papers publish such negative stories is that the League of Ireland continues to supply them with ample ammunition for such stories.
If certain League of Ireland clubs carried out their business in a proper manner & in accordance with the terms of their licences then we wouldn't be reading about these stories.
Don't blame the press for your own failings.

That is the 2nd interview by Alan Mathews that I have been impressed by; the other being a few years back when he was on the radio Eireann Sunday sport programme during pre-season when he questioned the purpose/value of the PFAI trip to Scandanavia. While others are able to give out about an issue, Mathews always tries to put forward a realistic solution. Here he makes the point that clubs must have an income stream that basically covers their total expense for the year, forget about gate receipts/look on them as a bonus. Operate like GAA clubs in other words. I recall Roddy Forsythe explaining on another radio discussion how clubs outside the top tier in Scotland manage to get by, by being a social club(bar facilities etc) with a soccer team attached.
It is possible to do this, as Mathews pointed out by being rooted in the community. Looking from outside it seems that Cabinteely as doing this; they had a big fundraiser recently where use was made of their Chairman's business connections.
ps I was at Tolka a few years back where Mathews got a fair bit of abuse from Shels's fans at a game v Drogheda and he resigned not long afterwards. Good to see him involved in the league.

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Originally Posted by wonder88

I recall Roddy Forsythe explaining on another radio discussion how clubs outside the top tier in Scotland manage to get by, by being a social club(bar facilities etc) with a soccer team attached.
It is possible to do this, as Mathews pointed out by being rooted in the community.

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When I went to a couple of pre-season matches United had under Sean Connor up in the north, it really struck me what we were missing. It was only an annoyance for Donegal Celtic who were in the middle of the league run-in, so they played a kids side, but there was so much going on in the clubhouse, completely unrelated to football, but all under the banner of Donegal Celtic FC.

Agreed, my lad played for a season with Warrenpoint Town and every Saturday the social clubs were full and had plenty in them who never watched the match

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Originally Posted by wonder88

Mathews always tries to put forward a realistic solution. Here he makes the point that clubs must have an income stream that basically covers their total expense for the year, forget about gate receipts/look on them as a bonus. Operate like GAA clubs in other words. I recall Roddy Forsythe explaining on another radio discussion how clubs outside the top tier in Scotland manage to get by, by being a social club(bar facilities etc) with a soccer team attached.

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We are one of the few clubs in LOI with a bar & social centre attached to the ground, without it we would have ceased as a LOI club years ago. That said the pub trade has changed dramatically over recent years and most clubs like ours now rely on parties and other social occasions to make such centres pay.