Waterford's 'A' Licence...

Waterford United have been awarded an 'A' licence after meeting 4 (financial, legal, sporting, administrative) of the criteria. They failed on Infrastructure and this means that if they qualify for Europe they will have to play their games at a licenced ground.

Does this mean we could get an A licence as we - as far as i mind from the AGM - met these 4 criteria as well??

See here for Soccercentral's article on the story.

Also, see here for the FAI's response

Jaysus, every club should apply now. :rolleyes:

I don't understand this at all - I thought you had to get all five areas sorted to get the Licence.

It's an absolute joke.

It's like doing your driving test, failing on reversing, but you still get a licence on the condition that you don't reverse.

Complete ******. :mad:

Jesus a Derry fan complaining, who'd have thunk it...

There's two strands to the Uefa license.

There's the club license (issued by FAI) to allow them to play in the Premier Division (based on all 5 criteria) and then the UEFA ground license 9based solely on the ground)

Obviously Waterford and Longford have the club license but not the uefa ground license.

Where as Pats, Bohs, Cork, Shels and Derry have both...

For christ sake don't tell gufct, it's a Friday ffs, and don't think I could cope with more Pancho/Del Monte rantings... :rolleyes: :)

that would have saved our league.The only way you are supposed to get an "A" Licence is to have passed all 5 criteria and as of next year you have to have an "A" Licence to compete in the Premier league never mind Europe.

Does this mean Longford and Waterford will have to play their games in different grounds next season and surely Pats couldnt have passed on infrastructure so where do they play.

The whole livencing system is now held up to ridicule and clubs like ourselves and Derry who actually took the thing seriously are looking like fools but the lose in the long run will be the eircom league which has been kicked to death by the bully boys and gangsters of Merrion Square.

Before ye start gloating lads tell me one thing this week has done that will improve standards on and more especially off the field for el soccer.

Nothing like a bit of begrudgery to start the weekend. :rolleyes:

Well done to waterford, and if they need a ground to play their home games in next year....

Town have been working on it for months, not just this week. If we got the funding then we'd have the A licence ground. No A licence for the other 4 areas, no funding was what we were told, and apparently the club has been breaking it's boll0x to attain that. It's total bullshít that Derry and Galway are the only one's to try and get the licence sorted, so you can drop that anytime soon.

I'll ask again, did Galway go in for the Licence again, as surely after all the years of hard work you've put in you'd get the A Licence with sanction over the state of the ground?

I hope UEFA investigate, hope they pass the FAI, and hope you shut the fúck up.

We were waiting until we had all the work done to reapply as those were the guidelines (we will be ready in abou a month) but obviously someone moved the goalposts.

Also if one end of your ground is so dangerous after being only built 3 years ago what about the rest of the seated area.Im afraid Macy you will be hearing from me and others for quite a while as this story is going to get a lot more coverage in the next week.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by gufct

surely Pats couldnt have passed on infrastructure so where do they play.

---

Well the FAI/UEFA disagrees with you Tommy...

Just a matter of interest, what did Galway fail on? Apart from the ground obviously...

how many clubs own their own ground ??? derry are playing on another persons property no matter what why they look at it. we own flancare an every home game is a true home game, as macy said there are improvments at flancare for all to see, not just half a ground closed like some clubs :rolleyes:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by gufct

that would have saved our league.The only way you are supposed to get an "A" Licence is to have passed all 5 criteria and as of next year you have to have an "A" Licence to compete in the Premier league never mind Europe.

Does this mean Longford and Waterford will have to play their games in different grounds next season and surely Pats couldnt have passed on infrastructure so where do they play.

The whole livencing system is now held up to ridicule and clubs like ourselves and Derry who actually took the thing seriously are looking like fools but the lose in the long run will be the eircom league which has been kicked to death by the bully boys and gangsters of Merrion Square.

Before ye start gloating lads tell me one thing this week has done that will improve standards on and more especially off the field for el soccer.

---

In all fairness Gufct, if you thought that this licence was to clean up the game here then your the one who was fooled. As long as them lads in the FAI run football in this country the league will never progress and to be honest I'm not surprised that other clubs have got their licences. If Galway and Derry were wise enough to not blow all their money on the joke of a UEFA licence then they would be better off.

The only thing that will make this situation a real joke is if us Drogs get an "A" licence. If that happens (I doubt it) then its really decended into a farce!

Maybe you'd want to take a look at this constant whinging of yours. Why wait until you have all five criteria, whatever about Derry having all of them frst time around, you didnt just like the rest of us so you're in no position to be preaching to us. As for your points about the seating area in Flancare, you have a point. They're not as good as they should be hence the fact that we haven't passed infrastructure, they were rushed when originally put in. But you continually insist on bad mouthing the entire process. What is so difficult to understand about clubs getting their act together.

First of all you claimed it was a whitewash because of Europe, now you're claiming the others didnt deserve their Licences either. You say how can Pats be up to standard, all you have to have is 1500 covered seats,a control room and a drug testing room for an A Licence. You say what about next year will they have to play at a different ground? Well we have until the satrt of next season to have the minimum standards achieved. Pats and Waterford aren't in Europe why fudge now? If you've read the statement from the chairman of the Licencing Appeals Body you'll see that these people aren't atking kindly to having their professional reputations impugned with groundless accusations

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Dodge

Well the FAI/UEFA disagrees with you Tommy...

Just a matter of interest, what did Galway fail on? Apart from the ground obviously...

---

Legal which was sorted the week after.One of the reasons was that there wasnt a copy of our original application with the FAI in Merrion Square because the bright people up there had sent back both copies after our audits.The other one was the companies registered address.

The only item that has to be sorted is emergency lighting in the stand which will be finished in about two weeks time and then we will reapply for the full "A" licence. you can see some of the improvements here http://www.galwayunitedfc.ie/u21roi/index.htm.

The funny thing is that the 1 st instance commitee will be vetting everyone again for next season very shortly should be interesting.

Macy the chances of any government funding after this fiasco are even more remote which is a sad day for all clubs not just the four who were to get the lions share.

IMO the licencing has been a shambles mainly cos each national assocaition seems to have to come up with its own version of thew criteria. Seems like the FAI came with a strict criteria only to adjust it later...?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Candystripe

It's like doing your driving test, failing on reversing, but you still get a licence on the condition that you don't reverse.

---

as opposed to expecting someone to give you a car for free just because you passed your test. ;)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by pete

IMO the licencing has been a shambles mainly cos each national assocaition seems to have to come up with its own version of thew criteria. Seems like the FAI came with a strict criteria only to adjust it later...?

---

Well like I said before, there's two strands. Their the club license (which has to be separate for eaach nation) and then then the UEFA approved grounds.

The FAI haven't moved on the other four criteria but they ****ed up with the promise of funds (and are now judging some grounds on their approved plans, based on funding promised)

Pats were approved a grant of 1 mill to build our new stand and when the FAI announced that funds would be available for the Club licensing, the FAI told Pats to talk it out of the Sports Capital grant. pats, rightly, told them this money was already allocated and they couldn't just talk it out of that...

I'm sure other clubs are in a similar position. IMO the grounds issue is not as serious as the other four and any club who doesn't have the other four is in trouble.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Dodge

I'm sure other clubs are in a similar position. IMO the grounds issue is not as serious as the other four and any club who doesn't have the other four is in trouble.

---

Exactly right..If theres not going to be funding they cant enforce infrastructure as stictly as the other four

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by gufct

Also if one end of your ground is so dangerous after being only built 3 years ago what about the rest of the seated area.Im afraid Macy you will be hearing from me and others for quite a while as this story is going to get a lot more coverage in the next week.

---

FFS Tommy, I said we got the licence for all but the ground - the funding if it every comes will sort the ground. We met the other critea, my question was whether Galway met the other 4 critea, and if they did, why didn't they apply.

From the sounds of it, bang it in and you should get the A licence for all bar infrastructure right now.

im afraid Macy its all or nothing for us and im not having a go at Longford because i know how progressive ye are but there are certain clubs who have done f**k all since they got turned down and still got a licence.

The league will never move forward if the administration of the league and the UEFA Licencing is kept totally independent of the clubs and the corruption that is endemic in the Irish Game from the Top down as was displayed this week.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by gufct

im afraid Macy its all or nothing for us and im not having a go at Longford because i know how progressive ye are but there are certain clubs who have done f**k all since they got turned down and still got a licence.

---

Which clubs Tommy? I know how hard certain people at pats are working on it, including a former secreatary and chairman who's sole responsibility is UEFA licensing.

So are you slagging off Bohs, Cork, Shels or waterford?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by gufct

im afraid Macy its all or nothing for us and im not having a go at Longford because i know how progressive ye are but there are certain clubs who have done f**k all since they got turned down and still got a licence.

---

You don't know whether other clubs have done anything or not. I only go on what I'm told at Longford, let alone know exactly what is happening at other clubs. How do you know what other clubs are doing, or not doing as the case maybe? We don't even know exactly clubs had left to do...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by tiktok

as opposed to expecting someone to give you a car for free just because you passed your test. ;)

---

No it's like me passing my test no bother, then other people not passing all areas of their test but still being allowed onto the road - thus endangering my car and my survival, so I should getm compensation :cool:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Candystripe

No it's like me passing my test no bother, then other people not passing all areas of their test but still being allowed onto the road - thus endangering my car and my survival, so I should getm compensation :cool:

---

In which case you haven't a leg to stand on, given the amount of "provisional" licence drivers on the road... ;)

I'm glad we got the licence. I was surprised as I thought the improvements to the ground were part of the license issue.I think certain people are getting hung up on the license issue and don't want anyone else getting them.Its about football in Ireland which should be decided on the pitch and I don't see the point in 1st division clubs haven't super all seater grounds with only a couple of hundred people in them.If we qualify for Europe we could always play our home games at Turners Cross.

Does this mean that Waterford will automatically improve their form,such was the mental and finacial strain to achieve the licence? Congrats glad to see ye pulled through,and didn't suffer on the field off play like ANOTHER club over the last few years! :p

a fifth of what the licence is about by far the most important is financial which will end up bringing reality to players wages etc..The days of clubs spending monet they dont have are supposed to be well gone but certain clubs dont want to stop pumping resources they dont have on the fantasy of champions league football as opposed to running their clubs in a structured manner which will ensure their long term futures.


Supporters should be asking their own clubs whats going on like the supporters at Derry and Galway do with regular forums on all issues pertaining to their club with everything transparent and above Board just like Shels !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by gufct

that would have saved our league.The only way you are supposed to get an "A" Licence is to have passed all 5 criteria and as of next year you have to have an "A" Licence to compete in the Premier league never mind Europe.

---

I'm sorry GUFCt but that is WRONG. There are a good few clubs around Europe whose grounds dont fit the bill but will be allowed to play in alternative venues.
Hearts from Scotland is an example - i think there pitch isnt long enough.

Plus i heard that the Licence qualifications get harder in 2005/2006 especially in regard to financial criteria. How could accuse Shels of financial mismangement when teams like Rangers, Lazio and parma are competing in europe.
Do you really think UEFA would let the FAI get away with falsifying the process.

Some small countries like the Faroe islands have been exempt from the licence requirements.

i hope not Conor but after what has happened the last week nothing would surprise me.I know Derry have sent a complete record of all correspondence and e mails to UEFA.

Can anyone tell me why the FAI Changed the rules and procedures of the 1st instance committee by ignoring them and making the FAI's own Appeal Commitee decide on the latest tranche of licences.

Fran Rooney has made a statement on Soccercentral, as has the Chairman of the Appeals Board. Read them and see if they do you any good..cant be bothered finding the link.