Dalym-OUT

When is Tolka going to be demolished?

I'll be sad to see the end of Dalymount, without a doubt my favourite away ground.

Some great memories, and some not so great (87-88 cup final v Dundalk:( )

But if it's for the best, then good luck.

Any word on failure? ie if this deal fails are the board aloud look for another deal with out your approval or does it have to go back for another vote? I know that was a concern with some bohs fans.

From a bohs mate; if a deal isn't done in a year it must go back to a vote. For every year Bohs are waiting for the deal to go through, the company pay bihs a refundable one million euro

Sounds a bit risky to me

Dodge

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From a bohs mate; if a deal isn't done in a year it must go back to a vote. For every year Bohs are waiting for the deal to go through, the company pay bihs a refundable one million euro

Sounds a bit risky to me

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This was addressed at the meeting last night & a satisfactory answer given. No risk envolved

€20 odd million and a brand new stadium to move 4 miles down the road!? Sounds like a good deal to me if you look at it in that context.

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Originally Posted by BohsBohsBohs

There is no risk for Bohemians.

Brand new stadium, enough money to pursue our dreams. No club in Ireland will be able to touch Bohemians.

Should we invest in a world-class youth academy we may see the next Duffs or Keanes breaking into the Bohs team, or at least Bohs picking up big fees if they are snapped up in their youth etc.

We could establish a quality academy and still have more money that every club in the league put together and then some.

The future is very bright for Bohemian FC and I am proud to be a member today.

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Good to see its not going to your head so.......

Did you get any details on the stadium itself ?

Ive sort of missed the topics on the site and was wondering does it have room for training grounds and how big will the car park be as I imagine a lot of people will now have to drive ???

Congratulations by the way...

I think you done the right thing and possible the only thing you could do thanks to the FAI. Its a disaster that they were willing to stop future grants to a ground such as Dalymount on the basis you wont give half of it away to another club!! Fairly sickening that it has come to this but best of luck with the move.

Nobody has mention the FAI and what their next course of action will be ?

Don't they still have a new league to set up and a genesis report to blindly follow? Have you had any dealings with them regarding what "punishments" they may dream up to keep you in a falling down stadium they wont help you develop.

I think Bohs have to sell Dalymount but i don't know if they moving to a bgood location.

I believe its next to the toll bridge above thw M50 Interchange.

They are moving closer to a large proportion of their core support(myself included) and to a huge Catchment area! great facilities money to spend on Players the future is Bright the future is Black and Red

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Originally Posted by BohsBohsBohs

No club in Ireland will be able to touch Bohemians.

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Arf!

In all seriousness though, fair play to Bohs. :eek:
As much as I love Dalymount (we've won more trophies than anyone there) the place has been dying a slow death for years and a move is necessary.

There's a long way to go yet - location, PP, access etc. but personally I hope it works out.

Bring on the M50 derby!

KOH

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Originally Posted by WeAreRovers

Bring on the M50 derby!

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Some day it might rival the N11 derby. :D

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Originally Posted by WeAreRovers

Bring on the M50 derby!KOH

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And so another great footballing Tradition is Born. The Old Who ...Mersey what
:D

Had a text off me uncle last night, hes a member and brought me to my first Bohs match years ago. He and all his mates are lifelong fans and were absolutely gutted. Its going to be so strange seeing Bohs away from Dalyer. I just hope that something is going to be placed on the site to commemorate the fact that the home of Irish football once stood there!

Seems positive though, €26 million? reckon that could buy us Shaun Wright Philips!

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Originally Posted by Irish Times

Soccer/ National League: After 105 years in Phibsborough the membership of Bohemians last night endorsed a proposal put forward by the club's committee to sell Dalymount Park and move to a new purpose-built stadium at Diswellstown, Castleknock in a deal with Andorey Developments valued at some €48 million.

In a meeting at the Regency Airport Hotel in Dublin attended by more than 358 of the club's members, 86 per cent (310) voted in favour of a change to the club's constitution allowing the committee to complete deals worth more than €1 million, with 42 opposed, and five abstentions. The change, which required the support of three quarters of those in attendance, has effectively paved the way for the deal with Andorey to proceed.

The club's honorary secretary Gerry Conway said the membership had taken an "exciting" road forward by opting to support the proposal which involves Andorey providing a 10,000-seater stadium plus on 8.5 acre site plus between €25 million and €27 million in cash in return for Dalymount, which subject to rezoning, would provide 5.7 acres for redevelopment. Club officials said they hoped to be in the new ground in three to five years' time.

Bohemians have debts of more than €1 million, a significant portion of which is owed to members, and these are likely to be cleared but there are no shareholders and so almost all of the money should remain within the club.


"I think the question before the members was whether the club merely survived or actually thrived over the coming years and I'm delighted that they've chosen the latter," said Conway.

"At the end of the day, an asset of €48 million is only of any use if you cash it in at some stage and by doing so now the club will have an opportunity that no other club in this league has, to move to a state-of-the-art new home and have enough money to construct a state-of-the-art academy. We will be in a position to do things in a way now that we could only have dreamed of previously."

Last night's vote copperfastened the demise of the proposal, made last year, that Shelbourne sell their interest in Tolka Park and invest part of the money received in improvements at Dalymount which would also have benefited from substantial public investment.

Subsequent negotiations between the two clubs on the matter had actually proceeded well but opposition from within the membership of Bohemians to what was seen as a poor deal for the club emerged quite quickly, particularly when it became apparent just how much money might be raised by selling up and moving on.

Senior club officials subsequently suggested they would be happy to talk with Shelbourne about a groundshare at the new stadium, on the basis of the Tolka Park outfit being tenants.

Shelbourne chairman Ollie Byrne was adamant last night this was out of the question. "We shall not be sharing at Carpenterstown (another name for the area in which the proposed stadium would be situated) under any circumstances," he said. "We were asked by the FAI, the Minister (John O'Donoghue) and the Government to halt work on our own move to Swords in order to talk to Bohemians about the possibility of a groundshare at Dalymount Park and we did so.

"It is our intention now to pursue other possibilities and negotiations are already under way with a number of parties in relation to several aspects of the future of this club."

Within Merrion Square there is an appreciation that from Bohemians' point of view the deal on offer last night was something of a "no-brainer". There is, however, some concern as to how the club will fare in the planning process, highlighted yesterday by local Labour Party TD Joan Bruton describing the site as "totally unsuitable" for the purpose.

Club members opposed to the deal, meanwhile, projected that the rezoning required for the redevelopment of Dalymount would be difficult to obtain and insisted they would lobby councillors over the coming months with the aim of defeating the proposal.

If the deal falls through on planning grounds, however, Bohemians will benefit from a guaranteed non-refundable €2 million payment which they would receive within 30 days.

The vote, therefore, appears to mark the beginning of the end of more than a century of football at Dalymount Park. The ground hosted its first game on September 7th, 1901 when Bohemians beat Shelbourne 4-2 in a friendly. In May 1957 a record 47,600 attended the World Cup qualifier against England but from the '60s on the ground went into decline, hastened by the FAI's decision in the early '70s to switch many then all of their international games to Lansdowne Road.

In 1988 the FAI agreed a deal to purchase the ground with a view to redeveloping it but the plan was abandoned.

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Looks like a good deal to be honest, 8.5 acre site, brand new stadium, plus a hell of a lot of cash. It's a lot more money than any of the "investors" that have been mentioned (Mileson, di Stefano etc) would bring to a club, for a lot less of a gamble. In addition, even without the cash, a new stadium could be a nice source of income for a club (occasional rental, bar income, rental of any astroturf pitches etc..)
I think that Bohs could (if they set their minds to it) really copper fasten themselves in the Castleknock and Blanchardstown area - it's a huge residential reservoir of fans and future players - let's hope they go the right way about it and hook up with all the local schools and clubs from the beginning.

As a matter of interest - what conceivably could be put on an 8.5 acre site in terms of a stadium and some form of car park for players, staff etc. What space does that leave for training facilities? Also, what input will Bohs have into the design of the new stadium - does anyone know what style it'll be.

Fantastic opportunity for Bohs, but I can see planning objections holding this up longer than the 3-4 years timeframe. Tallaght and Castleknock - the race is on...

Personally, I think Rovers members should have had the opportunity to vote on the future of Dalymount because, as WAR pointed out, we've won more trophies there than Bohs ever did.

The stadium has been designed for a Danish club in the past and the same design will be used on what I hope will be called "New Dalyer". It will be enclosed at all sides and cater for an intial 10,000 seats.

As part of the agreement the develoment company will use foundations capable of holding an extra tier all the way around making it possible to expand to 20,000 in the future.

The stadium will be handed over in turnkey condition and at that point Bohs will hand over the keys to Dalymount.

This is both an exciting few days for Irish football but on the other hand a sad day, four generations of my family have walked down the Phibsboro Road to see the Bohs army but the future needs to be bright and this will secure this. Rather walk down the M50 than no road with renting Morton Stadium or something like that.

We must move onwards and upwards with eyes wide open :)

I see that Joan Burton has been in with an objection already.
That's her job, of course, but I can't help wondering if she'd be as quick off the mark if it was GAA or, it being Castleknock, rugby.

Thats because as el fans, we're paranoid. Why don't you e-mail her and ask...

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Originally Posted by BohsBohsBohs

If people won't get a bus, train, or drive a couple of miles to see Bohs play then they're not fans to be honest.

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What bus or train goes out that way? What's the best way to get there from, say, town?