.....Quote:
Cork 'farce' leaves bitter taste among rival clubs
By SEN RYAN
Sunday October 25 2009
BARRING a calamitous collapse in their last two games, Cork City's players appear to have secured a place in next year's Europa League for the club, but not everybody in League of Ireland circles is happy with this development.
For Cork City to be in Europe next year, according to St Patrick's Athletic CEO Richard Sadlier, "would be absolutely farcical". And Sadlier is merely expressing a view which has general currency within the League.
As Bray Wanderers' official Eddie Cox put it: "Nobody wishes Cork City any harm, but there has been obvious mis-management, the FAI brought in rules and they don't appear to be abiding by them. The general consensus is that if it wasn't Cork, the FAI wouldn't be helping them to the extent they have been. I doubt very much that they would do the same for us."
In the past number of months, Cork City have been in the news for all the wrong reasons. A short list reveals:
* Twice they have, at the last minute, avoided winding-up orders in the High Court
* They have been repeatedly late in paying the players' wages
* Twice they have averted a players' strike within hours of having to forfeit matches
* Settlements to former staff dismissed by the present owners have not been paid
Every week, there seems to be another bad news story emanating from the Leeside club, but the low point was reached, according to Cox and Sadlier, when a photograph appeared in national newspapers of players in a car boot thumbing for a lift before their trip to play St Patrick's Athletic on September 25 last. The bus company hired to transport them refused to travel until a bank draft for monies owed had been secured.
"That set us back years in terms of credibility, not only with football people but also with those on the periphery who we are trying to interest in the League," said Sadlier. "Those stories are so, so damaging."
Despite this, the FAI appear to have gone out of their way to keep Cork City afloat, mindful, perhaps, that a winding-up order would result in the matches they played this season being expunged from the records and thus causing chaos.
This doesn't go down well with other clubs who have cut their cloth according to their measure, and find themselves at a disadvantage.
"We feel very aggrieved," said Cox. "The FAI brought in club licensing, we have abided by the regulations and Cork haven't, yet it would appear that the FAI have helped to bail them out and we think that is unfair.
"We cut our budget by 60 per cent to meet their requirements, and we send in monthly accounts, but if Cork City did the same -- as they are supposed to do -- how did they end up owing the Revenue €400,000?"
What bothers Sadlier is that, at the end of last season, the clubs had a frank discussion with FAI officials and were told there would be harsh penalties for clubs failing to adhere to the regulations.
"The feeling was that a line was drawn," he says, "and that they would come down heavily on those guilty of doing X, Y and Z. Yet Cork are being treated the same way as Bray and Sligo who have done everything right. The tough decisions we (at St Pat's) made at the start of the season were to avoid the situation that Cork find themselves in, and that made us less competitive.
"It's a repeat of last season. Then Pete Mahon felt that UCD didn't overspend and got relegated. Drogheda and Cork ran into trouble and weren't relegated. So what's the advantage of acting in a correct manner? If you run up a huge list of creditors you can't pay, what are the consequences? We felt the FAI would come down hard on anyone getting into that situation, but there is no evidence that is the case.
"I'd be disappointed if a club the size of Cork dropped a division or went out of business, but there is a responsibility on those who run the League to see that the clubs who abide by the rules are protected. It shouldn't be of benefit to clubs to operate an over-spending regime."
There have been suggestions that if Cork are not relegated for their misdemeanours, one of the clubs who go down might take the FAI to court, but Cox says it won't be Bray: "We haven't the money for a court case, so we are waiting to see what the FAI are going to do."
The Cork City saga is unlikely to have a happy ending, and Sadlier says: "I don't envy the FAI, as it's a difficult issue to address. I assume there is a lot going on behind the scenes, but there has been no communication from them."
To ensure the bad news is kept to a minimum next season, the FAI may have no option but to make an example of Cork City. If that means dropping down a division, going part-time or even amateur, as former manager Dave Barry suggested, then so be it. At least the FAI will have made their point.
- SEN RYAN
Sunday Independent
