Quote:
Originally Posted by Longfordian
Complete bo**ocks,people seen a couple of 2 year deals and made up stories….
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Longfordian
Complete bo**ocks,people seen a couple of 2 year deals and made up stories….
I thought so but as the discussion was about O'Doherty it reminded me.
That story has spread thick and fast around Donegal since the winter and it's hilarious.Quote:
Originally Posted by Longfordian
Speaking of Waterford and the tie-up with Fleetwood they dont produce programs any more. With the increased change in ownership models in our LOI bethren does this mean the death knell of our clubs programs?
Is Shelbourne's fan base all that far off the other Dublin clubs? I am not from Dublin so wouldn't know but would a bit a success and the Damian Duff name not create the sort of hype that could fill an 8k capacity Tolka. Also while the current FAI regime don't seem to have any interest, the future is likely to be an All-Ireland league another reason for investment in both the team and facilities.
Shels are a bit off but not much. As per Nigel’s attendances thread Rovers average 6k, Pats and Bohs are almost neck and neck with about 4200 or 4300 per game while Shels have 3000 per game. That’s more than Dundalk and Sligo this year.Quote:
Originally Posted by wonder88
Bear in mind that they’ve spent most of the past 10-15 years in the doldrums, and have been starved of silverware and Europe. They’re still one of the most successful clubs in LOI history tho so if they make it back to challenging near the top of the table they could grow the attendance figure.
By the way, Tolka park capacity these days is a long way off the 8K capacity of old. Large sections of the ground are closed due to safety issues so current capacity is 4200.
As outlined above their attendances are not that far off Bohs and Pats.Quote:
Originally Posted by JC_GUFC
Attendances around the whole league are booming now, and with the Save Tolka campaign and Duff at the helm it’s probably brought back a lot of lapsed support. The new ownership will probably give them a bounce too.
But that's because Bohs and Pat's are limited by capacity. Shels attendances aren't bad to be fair and obviously lean times recently have knocked them back too but obviously at the moment they're very much the 4th Dublin club.Quote:
Originally Posted by Philosophizer
The recent ownership situation has been a bit confusing - I would imagine Tolka Park is probably a big problem for the club. The move to a renovated Dalymount Park would have made sense to anyone on a business sense but I can totally understand the fan opposition to it.
I wonder if Shels could put a new stadium anywhere they wished in Dublin where would it be? I'm not sure they'd choose Drumcondra - would they go back home to Irishtown/Ringsend though? Maybe somewhere like Coolock/Clare Hall? Sizeable population and I would imagine a lot of their newer support is taken from a North-East Dublin area, as opposed to Bohs who are North-west in areas like Cabra and out towards Blanchardstown.
Bohs are certainly limited by capacity but Richmond park has a bigger capacity (about 1000 more than Dalymount) so I don’t think Pats are hampered to the same extent.Quote:
Originally Posted by JC_GUFC
Pats seem to sell out the home section most weeks they play. It’s just that they have a massive away section of the official capacity.
Waterford did bring out a monthly magazine lately. I doubt if programmes will be coming back for each game. Most Waterford fans would have been happy with Fleetwood ownership as club being run in a more professional way than before, new club shop opened and more links to local community with a community officer being appointed. Of course Andy Pilley's conviction for fraud changes things and remains to be seen what the future is. He is due to be sentenced in a few weeks and is already in custody.
In other news Sheikh Mansour has decided to give Manchester United 500 million to create some competition between the rival clubsQuote:
Originally Posted by Longfordian
The club would have died in Dalymount. We'd have lost alot of fans and stood very little chance of attracting new fans sharing with Bohs.Quote:
Originally Posted by JC_GUFC
Yeah - I'd agree. But business people with no knowledge of the league/club wouldn't have been able to foresee this. They'd have looked at the brand new stadium for free. That would have been fine in a greenfield site but moving to what would have always been known as Bohs stadium wouldn't have worked.Quote:
Originally Posted by FTA-1895
You don't get to have the kind of money that can be invested/wasted on a football club without having at least some degree of smarts. Even a cursory glance at Irish football would tell you that Bohs are curretly just a couple of kms from Shels and get bigger crowds. So it wouldn't take much intelligence to work out who would be in the stronger position of the 2 if Shels were to move into Bohs' stadium/area.Quote:
Originally Posted by JC_GUFC
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ringo
Shelbourne owner Acun Ilicali: 'We found a hidden treasure in Dublin'!Quote:
Originally Posted by Ringo
2 million over 5 years doesn’t sound like a lot really….
Agreed. Not enough to outspend the current professionals and still too much to ever expect to pay back.Quote:
Originally Posted by joey B
I'm not sure, I'd be quite happy to see 400k a season thrown into Harps at the minute!
Harps aren’t trying to win the Premier division!Quote:
Originally Posted by nigel-harps1954
Might do with a bit of investment :DQuote:
Originally Posted by joey B
Maybe not outspend, but it could take them a good bit closer eg go from their current part-time status, if not completely full-time, at least to a hybrid model like Crusaders, for instance.Quote:
Originally Posted by cláirseach
The key may be the aims of these mysterious investors. If they're looking to come in and make a quick buck somehow* (European money? Player transfers? Tax scheme or money-laundering even?), then obviously you don't want them. And even if their motives are sound, but they want to interfere in how the club is run, then that could be just as bad. But if otoh, they're prepared to put the money in and let the present Board/Management get on with it, that could be successful, since CFC look to be a very well run club, who frequently punch above their weight, even amongst the Big Boys.
And while Kenny Bruce put in £5m to get Larne to the top of the tree, the majority of that went into infrastructure (stadium, training ground, Academy etc), rather than purely into transfers and wages etc. While on the playing front, CFC are currently in a much better position than Larne were when KB stepped in.
* - They can't sell the ground for redevelopment, which is one good thing.
Following some meetings, a vote by the Friends of Coleraine Football Club (fan owners) to accept or reject this proposal is imminent.Quote:
Originally Posted by cláirseach
Meanwhile, some American investor who previously expressed an interest in buying Coleraine, but was rejected, has now bought a majority shareholding in Carrick Rangers:
https://www.carrickrangers.co.uk/newsitem.aspx?id=2214
Strange times indeed for Irish football, North and South.
Any mention of Irish Sea FC?.......
And right on cue, Carrick lose 9-0 at Crusaders tonight! (Yes, you read it right, that's 9 - Nine)Quote:
Originally Posted by EalingGreen
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buyer%27s_remorse
There's definitely a connection between the lads behind that, and the Valeo FC lads behind Athlone Town.Quote:
Originally Posted by Nesta99
I'd love a long exposé on Athlone tbh. Not sure who would put the time in to write it though.
Dan McDonnell gave a strong hint on the podcast last week that he was hoping to get around to it soon
Id it would be some read. As a fringe topic the stroy itself would probably get traction in its own right well beyond LoI. A N.I. Irish Sea FC borders on the ludicrous anyway!
Not quite sure what you mean (bold)Quote:
Originally Posted by Nesta99
Anyone trying to get into the IL needs either to buy an existing club, or if starting up a new one, find a league in the 5th tier which will accept them, then work their way up via promotion(s).
It'd just be DUPid idea....Quote:
Originally Posted by EalingGreen
sorry that was poor and not planned, so to rephrase A IL version of Irish Sea FC would be would border on the total crazy after the fsrcical efforts to joing LoI! I hadnt known that they Had weaseled in via Athlone Town FC.
Might have been covered already but I saw a tweet from John O'Connor saying that O'Doherty now control 75% of DCFC.
Off topic but John actually also tweeted a while back that he tried to register for the forum here but couldn't as he was using a gmail address. That kept me off for a few years and has kept at least two others I know from joining - including one whose actual work was for Google.
Member owned clubs in the league dropping like flies.
thats a great point about paid v unpaid email addresses - you should raise it in the Support forum. I'd say there are probably quite a few who havent registered because of that.Quote:
Originally Posted by cláirseach
I think there might be an exception process?
Friends of Coleraine (fan owners) voted 85% to approve the takeover at last night's EGM:Quote:
Originally Posted by cláirseach
"The club will now look to move towards a full-time set-up with the Chairman feeling that it will take '12 to 18 months' to complete the switch as they get the structures in place on and off the pitch."
https://www.belfastlive.co.uk/sport/...raine-27617244
With Carrick Rangers also taken over recently by some American businessman, along with Ali Pour at Glentoran and Kenny Bruce at Larne, these certainly are, er... interesting times for NI football.
Yeah saw piece on BBC NI sports news earlier! Very surprised with Carrick Rangers takeover thought they were a small club?Quote:
Originally Posted by EalingGreen
They are, with very low crowds, Larne and Ballymena edging onto their catchment area, and not so far from the Belfast clubs, either. Their ground is also pretty crap, though it's owned by the local Council who are generally pretty supportive*, while there is talk of accessing new funding from somewhere-or-other in order to upgrade it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Martinho II
As for this new owner, I can't help wondering whether he didn't see the Netflix series on Wrexham, figured that he wanted to get into this "sawker" lark and Carrick was all he could afford! I mean, his CV seems fairly impressive (if it can be believed!), but he seems always to have been an employee of companies, albeit senior, rather than a founder/entrepreneur, which is where the big bucks usually lie.
Still, he talks a good game:
"We want to run a long-term sustainable growth model for sure. I'm making personal financial investment and will look to leverage my network in terms of sponsors and other connections," Smith emphasised.
"I'm not going to throw a tonne of money going after a brief moment of glory and then jeopardise the future of the club. We are looking to run a profitable club.
"I'm investing in the vision that Peter and the Board have already put in place, the strong foundation they are building and the progress they've made in the last five years."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/66661795
Anyhow, despite years of people claiming that the football bubble is going to burst etc, all the evidence from recent times suggests that football is only becoming ever bigger, from Gulf/Far East/US investment at the very top, right down to the micro level like Dundalk/Athlone in the LOI, or Coleraine/Carrick in the IL.
Interesting times.
* - Within their limited means, that is.
Rumours of more takeovers at Dundalk from James Rodger’s on his podcast,no details but it seems to be very important it happens according to him,hadn’t realised the new owners there were as badly thought of,seem to be doing a really bad job there…..
Seen a good few comments on SM about this. People even saying budget to be slashed and going back to part-time. Could be the usual rumour mill but will be interesting to see what develops.
Going back to part-time would be a serious step for Dundalk. Ok, Drogheda did ok this year, but it's still relegation candidate stuff
I know they weren't too healthy last year before the new guys came along, and obviously there's no Europe next season. Is it as simple as debts and an ageing team from the Peak6 era?