2024 Season, Arrivals and Departures

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Originally Posted by oriel

I still wouldn't rule it out going ahead, but reports are that the Hoban to Derry deal has stalled due to DFC increasing the transfer value over the weekend.

Bad timing for Derry if this is correct as McGonigle joined Coleraine and for a club looking to win the league they are light up front, but they have the budget to get him if they want or another striker.

Interesting to see what becomes of it, whatever his next move I don't see him staying put with Dundalk.

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Originally Posted by total hoofball

I'd love to know how much Dundalk are demanding for a player they told was surplus to requirements and to go find a new club a few months ago

Derry should be mindful that Hoban will be turning 33 this season not many strikers in recent LOI history have held up the goal tallies at that age range, he will be looking for a minimum of a 2 year contract and based on past two seasons he will be struggling to start anywhere near 36 league games plus if Derry have any deep runs in Europe and FAI Cups

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Derry/Higgins could well have backed themselves in to a corner if they expected a straight forward move eg low transfer fee offer for a player that seemingly wants to move rather than going and make certain the deal would happen. There hasnt been a simple straight forward contract negotiation with Hoban in the past, Mad Bill sorted a previous empasse which we thought would bode well for things after but this is the guy who gave Zahibo a 5 figure signing on fee so Hoban's existing contract is not buttons, Derry have deep pockets and the player's agent knows it. It'd be very odd if there werent a number of clubs on the island that made offers to Dundalk so while it looked in November that things could be in a buyers favour there could well be some horse trading going on now even if the player has agreed terms. Ainscough is an unknown quantity too. Might have been better to hang on to McGonigle and carry the cost until July unless they have other targets than Hoban.

I dont think it was suggested that Hoban was an injury prone player, just that his age is relevant when offering a contract, be it length or wage. €75k has been bandied about as a figure since the change in club ownership, we have paid a fee for less....

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Originally Posted by Shearer

Could be worse, it could be like the time John O'Flynn played with Harps! Think he just turned up on matchday.

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O'Flynn used to travel up the night before and train the Thursday with the side, match on Friday. He was training with a MSL side on other nights. Rob Waters was an even more strange one, if I recall right he trained with Cobh and played with Harps for a season, but only for away games as he wasn't going to travel to Donegal for home games.

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Originally Posted by nigel-harps1954

O'Flynn used to travel up the night before and train the Thursday with the side, match on Friday. He was training with a MSL side on other nights. Rob Waters was an even more strange one, if I recall right he trained with Cobh and played with Harps for a season, but only for away games as he wasn't going to travel to Donegal for home games.

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Dundalk flying Iain Ferguson in from Scotland for games (injured) was mad also!

Portuguese born Irish underage international Cristiano Fitzgerald training with Dundalk in advance of a possible loan move.

https://m.independent.ie/regionals/l...506612511.html (Courtesy Tets)

His name always makes me think he’s just one of those Football Manager computer-generated players (when you play too many seasons) and doesn’t actually exist! :)

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Originally Posted by SkStu

Portuguese born Irish underage international Cristiano Fitzgerald training with Dundalk in advance of a possible loan move.

https://m.independent.ie/regionals/l...506612511.html (Courtesy Tets)

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Link says he’s born in Singapore, and is on the books of Portuguese club Boavista. Sounds like his club rate him highly if they have him on a contract until summer 2026

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Originally Posted by Nesta99

€75k has been bandied about as a figure since the change in club ownership, we have paid a fee for less....

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Looks like it’s going to be a lot less than that. Dan McDonnell says it’s €30k up front with some add ons based on winning the league or reaching a certain European milestone which is a win win for Derry really

https://www.independent.ie/sport/soc...725954799.html

Speaking of this Hoban transfer what is the biggest fee paid between LoI clubs for a transfer?

The whole situation with Hoban won't cease to baffle me. If we're to believe that it was the then-owners that communicated to him back in October that he'd be free to find a new club, why on earth would they do that when they knew full well that in an ideal world they'd be moving on from the club as soon as possible? In which case covering his wages or whatever the issue was wouldn't have been their problem anyway. Whatever the truth is the saga hasn't really reflected well on anyone involved, and leaves Dundalk with even more to sort out in the coming weeks.

Good deal for Derry, although after how much they've flattered to deceive in the last couple of seasons I don't think it'll be enough to get them over the line vs Rovers.

My view is that Hoban wanted to leave. Maybe the club did tell him last year that if he found a new club he could go but the comments he came out with at the time was him burning bridges completely. He’ll go to Derry and get a hefty salary for two years so he’ll be happy with that.
He was a great player for us but in my opinion has soured his legacy with the way he has exited.

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Originally Posted by Jack B

The whole situation with Hoban won't cease to baffle me. If we're to believe that it was the then-owners that communicated to him back in October that he'd be free to find a new club, why on earth would they do that when they knew full well that in an ideal world they'd be moving on from the club as soon as possible? In which case covering his wages or whatever the issue was wouldn't have been their problem anyway. Whatever the truth is the saga hasn't really reflected well on anyone involved, and leaves Dundalk with even more to sort out in the coming weeks.

Good deal for Derry, although after how much they've flattered to deceive in the last couple of seasons I don't think it'll be enough to get them over the line vs Rovers.

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For the first part I guess the old owners wanted him off the wage bill asap i.e. ideally 1st December. While he was still there they had to keep paying him, they knew there'd be interest from clubs like Derry and Galway with money to spend so presumably they figured it could be arranged fairly quickly.
Maybe Derry have deliberately drawn it out too - it's now at a point where I'd imagine Dundalk are extremely anxious to free up his wages to allow for new signings, though they have made a few to be fair.

He does look like the kind of signing Derry need - a player who'll just put the ball in the net - but I'm still not sure how close to Rovers they are. The last couple of seasons have been very similar in that Rovers were close to being caught but when the crucial matches came around Rovers won them and ended up winning the league at a canter. Derry have to find a lot more consistency but Hoban possibly could be the difference from making those draws into wins.

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Originally Posted by Yossarian

My view is that Hoban wanted to leave. Maybe the club did tell him last year that if he found a new club he could go but the comments he came out with at the time was him burning bridges completely. He’ll go to Derry and get a hefty salary for two years so he’ll be happy with that.
He was a great player for us but in my opinion has soured his legacy with the way he has exited.

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Football is a funny aul business. Imagine in any other walk of life your employer telling you. You were a great asset to the company. Really helped us achieve our goals and in some cases exceed them. You're a true leader. Unfortunately we don't want to honour the contract we agreed so you will need to leave ASAP. You would rightly be annoyed and say as much to anyone who would listen but it's only in football do you see people calling out the employee for not remaining silent on the matter.

On the football side of things I would say that Hoban can bring league winning experience to Derry but they already have that in spades. If he can be fit for more than 60% of Derry's games I think he'll be a great addition as he always did work off the ball and linked up play well. If however he has the injury bug due to his age it might just be another expensive sick note that Derry get.

I have to say I hate this signing for Derry but it keeps up their habit of signing players 'names', with their best years behind them. I like Hoban as a player & he was still excellent last year but at his age his level is only going one way, I remember having the same conversation when Pats signed Eoin Doyle & their fans were going on about how fit he still was etc but ultimately you don't want to be relying on older players to maintain their level over the length of their contract

The whole Hoban saga is classic #GreatestLeagueInTheWorld behaviour.

If Derry do sign him, drawing the whole thing out may prove to have been a financial masterstroke, What is his monthly wage at Dundalk currently - €5,000 or more ? So by dragging it out for an extra month they'll have eaten into that €30k signing-on fee anyway :D

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Originally Posted by SkStu

Portuguese born Irish underage international Cristiano Fitzgerald training with Dundalk in advance of a possible loan move.

https://m.independent.ie/regionals/l...506612511.html (Courtesy Tets)

His name always makes me think he’s just one of those Football Manager computer-generated players (when you play too many seasons) and doesn’t actually exist! :)

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A 6 month loan so Higgins can get a good look at him to decide if he takes him to Derry

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Originally Posted by EatYerGreens

The whole Hoban saga is classic #GreatestLeagueInTheWorld behaviour.

If Derry do sign him, drawing the whole thing out may prove to have been a financial masterstroke, What is his monthly wage at Dundalk currently - €5,000 or more ? So by dragging it out for an extra month they'll have eaten into that €30k signing-on fee anyway :D

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Hoban was probably earning €1800 or so a week. So you’d imagine he’ll be getting more at Derry. I presume he’ll also get a nice “relocation alliance” just like Daniel Kelly got.

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Originally Posted by JC_GUFC

Speaking of this Hoban transfer what is the biggest fee paid between LoI clubs for a transfer?

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Some of Drogheda's Celtic Tiger madness ones possibly? Zayed? I know they gave us €55k for Shane Barrett back in the day.

I'd say Hoban was on 2.5k with Dundalk a week, he didn't report for pre season training, so unlikely he will have been paid for Jan.

30k for 32 yo is a lot of money, but if he can keep fit he will score goals for Derry no doubt about that, but playing in a worse pitch than OP might factor in more injuries or it may not.

The whole saga has been odd from around Mid Oct, it was all meant to have come from a discussion SOD had with him that he wouldn't be starting every game, toys out of pram, agent involved, that was it, no going back. I will say though to his abs credit he performed very well in last 2 games, sub appearance v Bohs a home 2-0 win, and scoring 2 or 3 in his last game away to UCD.

If the decision was financially related, there should have been no need for the previous regime to get involved, again poorly managed, by all parties really.

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Originally Posted by dundalkfc10

The old owners may have told him he was free to leave. The new owner has stated he was going to be a Dundalk player as he has a year left on his contract
It's pretty obvious the new owner has said he will be getting as much money as he think he's worth and if not he's a Dundalk player

Hoban played 34 league games last season, 25 the year before so that means he missed 13 league games in 2 years (2 last year) Hardly a man that's always injured

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I count Hoban making 51 starts of out of 82 competitive Dundalk games over past 2 seasons and 25 substitute appearances which is a 62% start rate which is low for a leading striker for a club with aspirations of winning a league, FAI cup and go deep in Europe. On the flip side 25 goals of out 51 starts means Derry are getting a quality goalscorer which are a few and far between in the LOI but can he start enough games and score that rate of goals turning 33 years of age is a legitimate question mark

All in all the now reported €30k fee sounds about right in the end

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Originally Posted by total hoofball

I count Hoban making 51 starts of out of 82 competitive Dundalk games over past 2 seasons and 25 substitute appearances which is a 62% start rate which is low for a leading striker for a club with aspirations of winning a league, FAI cup and go deep in Europe. On the flip side 25 goals of out 51 starts means Derry are getting a quality goalscorer which are a few and far between in the LOI but can he start enough games and score that rate of goals turning 33 years of age is a legitimate question mark

All in all the now reported €30k fee sounds about right in the end

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The fee seems irrelevant, €2500 a week over 2 years is €260,000 for 32-34yr old doesn't seem like the smartest move for Derry but a great one for Hoban

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Originally Posted by Longfordian

Some of Drogheda's Celtic Tiger madness ones possibly? Zayed? I know they gave us €55k for Shane Barrett back in the day.

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Could be a few in that era from Shels, Bohs, Arkaga Cork City, Drogheda. Ye know the sort of club with more successful local rivals in the doldrums at the time and busted themselves trying to catch up!