Originally Posted by
El-Pietro
We had an agreement to pay it back, revenue changed their mind on that last minute and we were pretty close to not getting a license. Mr. Trevor Hemmings via Grovemoor Limited bought the transfer clauses of Alan Browne and Seani Maguire in order to help clear the debt that would prevent us playing in 2020. A stipulation of that is that FORAS would consider an offer from Grovemoor to buy the club outright. Based on the information we have been given (virtually none as of yet) there is almost no chance his offer is accepted.
We had no outstanding debts with revenue at the start of the season. There is some other debt but nothing that causes existential issues. Covid-19 has obviously made things difficult for every club, and we don't have cash reserves to help offset the lack of income from crowds.
None of this has anything to do with Neale Fenn who has done an awful job, other than perhaps meaning the money wasn't there to bring in a replacement earlier in the season when an escape might have been more realstic. He had what was described as a competitive budget at the start of the season. I took that to mean middle of the pack, unrealistic to expect a title challenge, but if things went well we could be in a battle for Europe, and if things went badly we could be in a relegation scrap, perhaps my interpretation of that was optimistic. As it happens we have been one of the worst Premier Division teams in recent memory. Perhaps not as bad as the Galway team from 2011, but similar to the Dundalk team from 2012, albeit in a different league format and far fewer games. Few of his loan signings have been good enough, though its hard to judge them because the team has been so badly organised. We would have conceded double figures if Dundalk or Rovers were in town rather than Pats who did their best to miss gilt edge chance after gilt edged chance. I liked Fenn as a player, but did not think he achieved all that much at Longford, and while I don't take any pleasure in anyone losing their job, especially during a pandemic/recession, I think it was clear he had failed to get the most out of this bunch of players, players he signed.