Not one link, source anything in that Indo report!
The same paper said McMillian was in Scotland meeting St Johnstone manager last week and him in Sri Lanka. (although he looks like he is going)
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Not one link, source anything in that Indo report!
The same paper said McMillian was in Scotland meeting St Johnstone manager last week and him in Sri Lanka. (although he looks like he is going)
The most obvious way these guys could help would be loan signings from Bournemouth of players from Jan to July who need game time with Bournemouth still paying their wages .
These guys have unlimited funds (in a LOI context) so throwing in the towel is unlikely as a couple of million either way won't cause a blip in their soccer portfolio but they will be harsh judges , biggest budget in the league will be a burden for the management team if they don't deliver.
It has to be a positive for Dundalk really , no assets to be stripped and these guys aren't like the North Koreans running Bray.
Are the 2 current owners making much out of this deal?
They have obviously seen all the wailing and gnashing of teeth over the away section in Oriel and decided enough was enough.
So build a ground for us, leverage us with debt that must see some return withinn a certain timeframe or else the vulture fund types will start circling. Investment in youth development a big part of the alleged plan. Offering players greater incentives to sign up on longer term deals under a young and ambitious manager. Interest piqued after back to back titles and new ground broken with an adventure in to EL group stages. New, never seen before stuff!
I doubt it, maybe the money spent clearing the initial debts of the club will be the return. They were never the type to 'invest' money and then grab a slice of prizemoney the moment it hits the clubs accounts. An awful lot of what they have done is doing the basics well - there would still be people who feel that communication between the club and fans was a persistant problem but Paying bills and building good will in the local community, working within the clubs means, maximising sponsorship opportunities, backing their choice of manager from the getgo without getting the jitters after comprehensive a loss to our nearest and dearest, well it all came together well but it wasnt revolutionary stuff!
Of course they are in this for a profit, everyone knows that, I was making the other points also as in what can we get out of it. To be fair there was absolutely nothing stopping the current DFC owners splitting the euro money last year and walking away immediately leaving the club with zero and putting it up for sale then.
No one has seen any detail of the plan so far, so we can only speculate on what the terms are. If we can get a redeveloped ground out of this, they will be entitled to take a return on future profits out as payment, the concern would be they will not fund a redeveloped ground and will only be interested in future euro monies. That is the obvious concern for any fan.
EDIT: There has to be a price in a takeover, so the current owners will be entitled to make monies out of this and should get a decent return too on their initial investment.
There are so many rumours doing the rounds, if or when a takeover is announced I will believe it and then maybe start worrying!
If what the Indo article says is true, this will end in only one way. Have been sh!tting myself the last couple of years that you would go from strength to strength but this is great news!
An American private equity firm? You will get a nice year or two but will eventually end in only one way. Good day for the drogs!
At least they have a history of involvement with football clubs not like Arkaga back in the day.
I'd snap your hand off for a 50% chance of this working out. The difficulty with all these deals is the long term impact. They can work in the short term, but success in this league has always been cyclical. Will foreign investors be patient though unsuccessful periods? Fat chance.
Setting up a supporters group is essential. As is fund raising to be able to step into ownership in the future.
The biggest obstacle will be complacency, particularly if the takeover is initially successful.
Cork City and Dundalk may not be the best of friends but if you get even a small group together I'm 100% sure FORAS will be happy to assist you in anyway you need to get a Trust set up. Representatives have been to clubs all over the country to help them out in the past, including Shels.
For me the key to any hope of positivity on this takeover rests on ground redevelopment. If this starts soon after the deal is done, maybe there will be a better than 50% chance of success, if nothing happens next year I`d be worried.
That all depends on what this 'investors' motivations are.
A ground development does little or nothing to deliver success on the pitch. It does help you retain more of your income if you progress in Europe - which is surely their objective - but in reality, the costs of delivering a stadium in Dundalk that would see the club through European group stages is so huge versus the income from it and the risk of not getting there that I'd be surprised if they did much major investment. So why wouldn't they just focus their money on the team, and then use the Aviva or Tallaght again if they had to for European fixtures ?
Again - this all depends on their motivations. Are they in this to build a club and the value and business around it ? Or have they spied a way to make 'easy money' through Europe ?
Its one thing flagging up warnings of future woe, its another wishing ill will on a club. There is no shortage of sniping here between fans but rarely has there been an explicit desire to see a club go to the wall, be it Shamrock Rover, Cork, et al. Many of us pointed out the risks of vulture fund types getting the foot in the door at Tallaght and that was for a 50% stake, that this seems to be a complete takeover is absolutely a concern for Dundalk fans.
Good day for the Drogs...Cosmo surely you see that a comment like that reeks of guaging everything about your club including your support on the fortunes of another club!
This being a profit making venture obviously makes sense but how much profit can you make from European prize money? I'd have thought it would be peanuts to these guys. The real money in football comes from tv rights which are non existent in Ireland and always will be. So I'm struggling to see where they think they'll make these big profits from!
Couldn’t care less what ye think. I’ve been having sleepless nights wondering when your run will finally end. Honestly couldn’t see it end. Good manager, good attendances, didn’t seem to be running into debt, good sponsorships, etc. seemed to be doing things right tbf. You had something really good to be up there for years.
But i can see you battling out with us in the first division in a couple of years now (at best). Your time will soon be up!
There may not be mega bucks in the LOI, but you can see why it would still offer a good potential return on investment.
You wouldn't have to invest a lot to have a team that won the league most years, and to build from there towards European groups stages. The money once you get there starts to get good - including the TV rights if you land a club from a Top 5 TV market in your group.
The money needed vs potential earnings must look like a good punt for someone who fancies playing with a football club without getting into oligarch and emiri levels of cash.
Winning the league here barely covers a months wages! And there is no guarantee of European football or getting a big team. The real money comes from the sky and BT deals which we'll never have. Making a million or so profit in a good year is still peanuts to a billionaire
Going off topic, there's not much optimism here considering our attendances last season. From what I can see, it's a miracle the lads behind the scenes are managing to keep the show on the road when you consider our attendances. Hopefully we'll turn the corner. Maybe get an American private equity firm inv...-oh wait....
Well obviously not, looking at Monaghan, Kilkenny and Kildare County.
I was being snide or sarcastic either. I'm genuinely curious at what point does not-enough-feet-through-the-turnstile become unsupportable from a financial ownership perspective.
There was a citizen on one of the radio shows a few weeks ago, and referenced Drogheda as the largest non-city town in the country. I hadn't realised that, and he made reference to the LoI side in a tangent sort of way.
Heard from a Pats connection (I really have no personal standards) that Peak 6 approached Pats but walked away because Pats had no money in the bank.
Happy to buy the club but didn't want to start from scratch.
Makes sense I suppose from a business perspective and whatever about developing Oriel , Richmond park is so landlocked hard to do anything
If I was a huge investor like them, I think I would have looked at a Dublin club first, much bigger market, easier to sell the brand, airport on door step etc.
Carrolls still making a few bob off the old Dublin City shirts, at least up until last year. Anybody want to have a go at what Dundalk could be rebranded as for a bunch of American soccer fans.......fill yer boots lads, bar Cosmo as Bankrupt FC, Borrowed Time United or Even worse than us FC et al dont count!
Dundalk dynamos playing in green and white hoops for the Americans and buttimer
Red Bull Louth