Interesting Drogheda News

Drogheda United Football Club have asked the Drogheda public to come out in force tonight, as the club hold a public meeting to discuss the future of the club.

The meeting, which has been called for Wednesday night at 8.30pm in the Drogheda Institute of Further Education, has been called to outline the situation the club finds itself in, and what can be done to save the club from extinction.

Terry Collins of Drogheda United said: 'We're on our last legs here, and things are looking bad. We need to raise a large sum by 12 December if we are to have any chance of surviving. We're looking for the support of all Drogheda United fans to come out tonight and do what they can to help save their club.'

Might head up to that and wear my Dundalk jersey...they might even be that nice to me and ask me to loan them abit of cash!!lol

Theres nothing 'interesting' about this, its a very serious situation they are in and I for one dearly hope they can come out of it as a club in existence.

Ive no time for anyone enjoying others doom and gloom, you`re only as strong as your weakest link etc

Surely the town can get behind them and get a package together

I need my derby games next season !!

I think we all do...hasnt been a competitive one in what 10 years or so...if you exclude the jim malone cup every february!!was lloking forward to this until they wrecked their own club!

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Originally Posted by Black and White

I think we all do...hasnt been a competitive one in what 10 years or so...

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August 2005 in the FAI Cup in Oriel. Our first match back in Oriel after getting the new pitch..

Yeah wasnt at that for some reason!!...forgot we played them a few time sin cups here and there...but still wasnt a league fixture!!with the incentive of finishing above our rivals!no fun when we always finished above monaghan!!

It is serious but there are also other issues to resolve as regards getting this money.

Tough questions will be asked and hopefully answered honestly.

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Originally Posted by Drogman.

It is serious but there are also other issues to resolve as regards getting this money.

Tough questions will be asked and hopefully answered honestly.

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I hope they are asked because from what I heard the last meeting didn't have very many tough questions..

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Originally Posted by holidaysong

I hope they are asked because from what I heard the last meeting didn't have very many tough questions..

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Well now is the time for the toughest of questions...hope tonight goes well for them.

There is a piece on the 6.01 News tonight on RTE 1

Anyone drog fans out there going to this...if so can ye post up the outcome!!

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Originally Posted by holidaysong

August 2005 in the FAI Cup in Oriel. Our first match back in Oriel after getting the new pitch..

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As an aside - where did you play games whilst the new pitch was being sorted ?

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Originally Posted by Drogman.

It is serious but there are also other issues to resolve as regards getting this money.

Tough questions will be asked and hopefully answered honestly.

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It sounds like its way beyond tough question time and the only option is enough people getting chequebooks out?

We played down in monaghan so lets never speak of that again!

so if drogs go bust who gets their place?

Most righful situation would be to let Fin Harps stay up seen as though 2 years ago...we won the playoff against waterford...galway promoted ahead of us...shels went bust and demoted and waterford where allowed stay up!

scenario -- drogs go bust, murvue reject place in league. kildare therefore keep their place, who takes up remaining place?

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Originally Posted by Black and White

We played down in monaghan so lets never speak of that again!

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The first two were played in Drogheda, the rest in Monaghan.

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Originally Posted by WexCar

scenario -- drogs go bust, murvue reject place in league. kildare therefore keep their place, who takes up remaining place?

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Relegate Kildare anyway and have two divisions of 10. That would solve the problem of teams playing uneven home and away games..

Just on news there...drogs chairman vincent hoey said that the club need to raise €100,000 by end of week and another €100,000 by end of month in order to survive!!!

Those figures to be made in that length of time is extremely dire lads,the fat lady is clearing her throat i think.I REALLY hope somebody,anybody can step in and help.

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Originally Posted by eamo1

Those figures to be made in that length of time is extremely dire lads,the fat lady is clearing her throat i think.I REALLY hope somebody,anybody can step in and help.

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At this moment in time in the middle of a recession no individual can help you'd need a consortium.
The only individual who would "touch" Drogs at the moment is a cheap tranny and still there is no guaranteed payment!

Drogs need to raise €100,000 by the 12th.

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Originally Posted by Dunny2K7

Drogs need to raise €100,000 by the 12th.

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And another €100,000 by the end of the month

Don't shoot me for saying this, but what about appealing to Louth footballers like Gary Kelly, Stan etc? Maybe one of them would be willing to help the club out if their heartstrings were sufficiently pulled?
Desperate times....

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Originally Posted by Black and White

Just on news there...drogs chairman vincent hoey said that the club need to raise €100,000 by end of week and another €100,000 by end of month in order to survive!!!

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Even then he's kidding himself. he told the meeting that the examiner has said they need 500K by next week (may have been end of month...) but Hoey thinks that 100k will buy more time?! On what basis?

He's called on fans to raise money and told them that if the club goes under, they'd get it all back. Which is rubbihs as the examiner would still need to pay off debts (never mond his own hefty 6 figure fee)

Ridiculous stuff from Drogheda.

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Originally Posted by Dodge

Even then he's kidding himself. he told the meeting that the examiner has said they need 500K by next week (may have been end of month...) but Hoey thinks that 100k will buy more time?! On what basis?

He's called on fans to raise money and told them that if the club goes under, they'd get it all back. Which is rubbihs as the examiner would still need to pay off debts (never mond his own hefty 6 figure fee)

Ridiculous stuff from Drogheda.

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Lads, very emotional meeting last night, Vincent explained everything that was unclear and asked the supporters whether we throught if it was worth saving our club. Everyone said YES.

Anyway various idea's were branded about on how to raise the money in the short space of time.

Just to clear up on the 100K by next week. Myself and some other committee members of the DUISC (Drogheda Utd Independent Supporters Club) met with Vincent before the meeting and asked him the questions that we expected everyone to ask at the meeting. We explained that the main concern was that if money was raised that it would go into this "black hole" that the examiner would take the money and the club may not be saved.

He said that the money raised would be held in trust and details would be provided to the examiner on what has been raised and what's going on. Then if he feels confident that it would be enough to go to the court to get an extension to raise further funds then he'll advise the club.

As regards it failing and money going back to supporters, we asked him that and he suggested that the source of all donations are all recorded and at the end if it fails he will come back and ask supporters if they wish to take the money back or do we want it to cover the fees himself and the other directors (Well it's actually only himself now) are liable for. Hopefully we won't get to that stage, but he was sincere with us before the main meeting and at this stage I have no reason not to believe him as my concerns have been addressed.

I wish you nothing but luck Drogman. One thing I'd suggest you do is check with the examiner to see if Hoey has things correct. I'm not saying he's dishonest, but he may have got something wrong. Its too important not to check

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Originally Posted by Dodge

I wish you nothing but luck Drogman. One thing I'd suggest you do is check with the examiner to see if Hoey has things correct. I'm not saying he's dishonest, but he may have got something wrong. Its too important not to check

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Indeed, we've made some contact and waiting for an update, however as Vincent is a seasoned solicitor and has dealt in this situation before, I'm confident that he's explained things right.

Thanks for the best wishes.

To be honest, I was prepared and suggested at the pre-meeting last night about letting the club/company be wound up and start afresh again. Nobody, well those involved with the club, wanted to go down that route saying that it was too be a task. It was mentioned that we would have to re-apply for a licence and start off in the A Championship if successfull. I see no problem with that but this is the route they want to go so fair enough.

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Originally Posted by Drogman.

Lads, very emotional meeting last night, Vincent explained everything that was unclear and asked the supporters whether we throught if it was worth saving our club. Everyone said YES.

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All true football fans want to see League of Ireland football continue in Drogheda.

I just wonder whether saving the current club is practical. The amounts mentioned are so huge that it may be more practical to form a new club and lobby the FAI for a place in the first division next season.

You were at the meeting and are more aware of the financial situation than me. However, I just wonder whether it would be better raising funds from supporters for a new supporter-owned club.

Indeed you could follow the way supporters have done it in England...AFC Wimbledon, Telford went out of business but the fans formed a new AFC Telford but to name a few!

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Originally Posted by brianw82

Don't shoot me for saying this, but what about appealing to Louth footballers like Gary Kelly, Stan etc? Maybe one of them would be willing to help the club out if their heartstrings were sufficiently pulled?

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Stan ?!?! :D

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Originally Posted by White Horse

All true football fans want to see League of Ireland football continue in Drogheda.

I just wonder whether saving the current club is practical. The amounts mentioned are so huge that it may be more practical to form a new club and lobby the FAI for a place in the first division next season.

You were at the meeting and are more aware of the financial situation than me. However, I just wonder whether it would be better raising funds from supporters for a new supporter-owned club.

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Yeah thats the way I was thinking. However from speaking to others there about it, there was some concerns on how would take up the task of running the club?

It's a big task, but that didn't seem to have been considered as far as I can see.

Good luck to Drogheda. Hate so see clubs go bust,we've been through the mill a few times ourselves and it ain't pretty.Premier football is almost certainly out of yer reach next season though.

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Originally Posted by Drogman.

Yeah thats the way I was thinking. However from speaking to others there about it, there was some concerns on how would take up the task of running the club?

It's a big task, but that didn't seem to have been considered as far as I can see.

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Its a valid question to ask.

As long as you had access to a suitable ground (no mean feat given the complicated situation around United Park), it sounds like it would be no more difficult starting afresh as even if you paid back the E200k you wouldn't have a cent to put towards next years budget.

Would Drogheda Town FC or Boyne Rovers FC be in any sort of a position to step up to the LOI with a bit of investment from DUFC fans? It would save you from having to start completely from scratch..

If that isn't possible and DUFC do go under then I hope you can get an 'FC United of Drogheda' up and running and back in the league as soon as possible.

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Originally Posted by Drogman.

Indeed,
To be honest, I was prepared and suggested at the pre-meeting last night about letting the club/company be wound up and start afresh again. Nobody, well those involved with the club, wanted to go down that route saying that it was too be a task. It was mentioned that we would have to re-apply for a licence and start off in the A Championship if successfull. I see no problem with that but this is the route they want to go so fair enough.

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There may be merit in your idea it would require hard work and some assistance from the fai but i think this is a better option also any fundrasing can be tergetted at the new team and not to a bottemless pit.
as a aside i passed the windmill pub a few days ago and seen a planning application up for an extention plus carparking does that impact on united park

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Originally Posted by holidaysong

Would Drogheda Town FC or Boyne Rovers FC be in any sort of a position to step up to the LOI with a bit of investment from DUFC fans? It would save you from having to start completely from scratch..

If that isn't possible and DUFC do go under then I hope you can get an 'FC United of Drogheda' up and running and back in the league as soon as possible.

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Nah, those clubs are up to their eyes trying to keep afloat in the LSL, so I can't see them wanting to jump to the LOI.

Well, myself and a few others in the supporters club are still keeping that option there. I'm doing some research on it as a side to the fundraising, but obvisouly the easier option is for the club to survive and not having to go through all that.

I'd suggest that if you read the licencing manual, there's some amount of crap that needs to be fulfilled.

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Originally Posted by passerrby

There may be merit in your idea it would require hard work and some assistance from the fai but i think this is a better option also any fundrasing can be tergetted at the new team and not to a bottemless pit.
as a aside i passed the windmill pub a few days ago and seen a planning application up for an extention plus carparking does that impact on united park

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Would a Drogheda fan please be able to tell me why haven`t the fans been calling for Hoey`s head?

You can blame the NRA yada yada yada but at the end of the day the NRA were within their rights to object.Hoey (to me anyway) seems to have banked on this going through (when there was a fair chance of it failing) and the champions league, by spending a ridiculous amounts on players- it didnt pay off and now there ****ed.How is this not Hoey`s fault?????????
As a Rovers fan I know better than anyone about stadium deals falling through but we (the current owners not the previous cowboys) didnt go banking on winning the court case by spending stupid sums,if we had`ve lost that case we would still be financially sound now.If I was a drogs fan I`d try to setup some sort of fans group to take over the club and show Hoey the door.

Best of luck with it all,but please take your heads out of the sand and dont be giving this man your money

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Originally Posted by srfc-1901

Would a Drogheda fan please be able to tell me why haven`t the fans been calling for Hoey`s head?

You can blame the NRA yada yada yada but at the end of the day the NRA were within their rights to object.Hoey (to me anyway) seems to have banked on this going through (when there was a fair chance of it failing) and the champions league, by spending a ridiculous amounts on players- it didnt pay off and now there ****ed.How is this not Hoey`s fault?????????
As a Rovers fan I know better than anyone about stadium deals falling through but we (the current owners not the previous cowboys) didnt go banking on winning the court case by spending stupid sums,if we had`ve lost that case we would still be financially sound now.If I was a drogs fan I`d try to setup some sort of fans group to take over the club and show Hoey the door.

Best of luck with it all,but please take your heads out of the sand and dont be giving this man your money

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I agree, this is completely the boards fault that we're in this position and that no plan B was setup. I've vented my comments on this and like you say, some people still have their heads stuck in the sand.

However, unlike the other directors Vincent has been with Drogheda for near on 30 years, he's saved the club himself on a number of different occasions so I wouldn't lay all the blame on him. Yes he's answerable but he was influenced from other quarters as well.

This has been suggested, and at last nights meeting the 400+ fans there agreed that they wanted to save the club, so that's whats happening. If the people want to save the current club then you have to respect that decision.

Vincent has confirmed that his aim is to save the club and if that happens then he will hand the reigns over to someone else. The new Supporters club, DUISC, have already laid out what aims and objectives they have and what is expected if the club survives.

I expect the club to possibly be in the First Division, at this stage if that happens I'll be a happy man.