de Priest and Secretary bad news

Hi there:

Happy new year to all the posters firstly, however it is going to be anything but in football terms, I'd say.

On 95FM this morning it was reported that NH was informed by FAX that he was longer required as Secretary of Limerick FC. After all his years of service, keeping things running when all seemed lost, is this any way to treat a loyal servant of Limerick Football ? Loyalty which is something the CLUB owners have no concept of.

How long more are we going to stand by and watch OUR club being taken to pieces by Power mad Control freaks ?

As if this was not bad enough the Priest is reported in the Limerick Post as being in mental turmoil regarding the decision re the Lease on Hogan Pk. I have said it before and restate it again, we are better off out of there if we are going to survive as a viable entity.

I have not posted for a while as I have been fed up with all the goings on :

Robbie and Reading,
Players leaving,
2 Cars not being raffled

and now this caps it all.

All the best
JohnD

I was also very disappointed by that news. Regardless of how relations may have deteriorated over the last year surely a face to face meeting or at the very least a phone call could surely have been managed. It's more awful PR anyway which was the last thing the club needed right now...

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Originally Posted by JohnD

we are better off out of there if we are going to survive as a viable entity.

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Hi John, Agree with you about above. But just on the Hogan Park thing. What's the alternative? The MF would need to be knocked and rebuilt to be any use. And Thomond park is just too big and expensive.

What happened to the Car Raffles.
Did Pat Grace not pull up in a chickmobile?

"the Priest is reported in the Limerick Post as being in mental turmoil regarding the decision re the Lease on Hogan Pk."
What did this mean specifically??Dont forget there are lights there and the back entrance,with developement,could make it the envy of alot of clubs??
How can any decent person do that to Noel H??After all the years he trapsed around the country,often for no expense,with nothing but the intersts of Limerick at heart.If there was a need for change he should have been brought to meeting and thanked for all the service and commitment.This is not a nice thing to do.It is a disgrace!!!If this is an indication of the current management skills then success for Limerick FC is once again as far away as ever.Noels style may not have suited everyone and they are perfectly entitled to make changes but what they are not entitled to do is treat this loyal man with disrespect.
This is St Muncheons curse striking again!!!

After yesterday's happenings I for one will not be supporting Limerick FC in the coming season. I feel really irate and dont want to say much more...., maybe when I calm down. It's another sad day for senior soccer and I cant see it improving in the short to medium term,.

The Pike Rovers ground was quite good... why not use it again if Hogan is giving u hassle? No harm but I didnt like Hogan park last season at all and preferred Pike Rovers....at least you didnt have a scary housing estate to go thro to get to it!

have to feel sorry for noel,i know the man and know about how much of the donkey work he did for this club,just shows what sort of cowards are running the club these days.sacking a man by fax...give me a break!

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Originally Posted by Magicme

The Pike Rovers ground was quite good... why not use it again if Hogan is giving u hassle? No harm but I didnt like Hogan park last season at all and preferred Pike Rovers....at least you didnt have a scary housing estate to go thro to get to it!

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You're not right there. Pike was fine because we were stuck but there is no development potential there (I mean that the FAI wouldn't provide fundiong because Limerick FC would not get a long term lease). Also, some consider it too far from the city and people are very reluctant to leave cars outside Pike (it was fine when you could park inside but hopefully attendances will increase). There is no way we would get a license for Pike.

The only alternative would be a completely gutted and renovated MF. But that ain't gonna happen anytime soon. IMO, a long term lease at Hogan Park is the only realistic hope at this stage. Joe Young essentially has the future of senior football in teh city in his hands. He agrees to the lease we have a chance. He doesn't and it's all over.

Course if you read HIS article clearly hes looking for a pay off. Couple of slabs of Carling should do the trick as for that "journalist" :o who claims to have penned it dear jesus will someone just knock him down.

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Originally Posted by LFC in Exile

You're not right there. Pike was fine because we were stuck but there is no development potential there (I mean that the FAI wouldn't provide fundiong because Limerick FC would not get a long term lease). Also, some consider it too far from the city and people are very reluctant to leave cars outside Pike (it was fine when you could park inside but hopefully attendances will increase). There is no way we would get a license for Pike.

The only alternative would be a completely gutted and renovated MF. But that ain't gonna happen anytime soon. IMO, a long term lease at Hogan Park is the only realistic hope at this stage. Joe Young essentially has the future of senior football in teh city in his hands. He agrees to the lease we have a chance. He doesn't and it's all over.

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who said pike would have ye back they harldy need the money they have more than ye and they are a junior club limerick are a disgrace every year begging for a ground

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Originally Posted by the only 1

who said pike would have ye back they harldy need the money they have more than ye and they are a junior club limerick are a disgrace every year begging for a ground

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yawn! your back spouting ****e again. From Limericks time in the pike, pike made extra revenue to build onto and roof part of their buildings. Pike enjoyed having limerick there as most limerick fans liked going there. As the under 21 team proved we dont beg for players they come to us, and we gave pike a few this season until our season resumes. A clubs wealth shouldnt be a judge on how successful your club is, look at shelbourne, loved everywhere are they? We have hogan park for a further four years at least so how are we begging for a ground every year, explain?

To be honest about things I put the blame for this debacle of a club squarely on our shoulders. We've just sat by and let Danny have free reign over what he thinks is good for the club, what he feels is the correct way of managing a club and basically with what he thinks is acceptable to be as a human being. People like myself and Nempton in particular mouth off on a constant basis about Danny and Noel, as we have been doing since Day 1 of Danny's takeover, but we don't actually do anything about it. Some of you just stick the head in the sand and pretend that all will be well as long as we don't rock the boat, and some of you obviously are on more happy pills than I'd care to get into when it comes to criticising this club.

Fact is that outside of the show of support for Derek Mccarthy at ONE game and the boos for Jamie Nolan (and even then the fans who booed were severly criticised by a lot of others) we as fans have given Danny a free hand to do and destroy this club by whatever means he sees fit. At any other club in any other country Danny would have been lynched by now, and Noel O'Connor would have been removed as manager by supporters protests and boycots of the club. Since I've only been following the Eircom League for three years now maybe some of ye can't see how placid the fans in Ireland are when it comes to protesting (its probably another indication of the Irish method of complaining about any and everything in life but not actually having it in them to DO anything about it) but from what I can see Eircom supporters, and especially those at this club get shat on and ask for second helpings.

There is a simple way bringing changes to OUR club, and that is by boycotting games and organising protests outside the grounds, and by handing the press in Limerick articles in relation to our grievances to print, I'm sure the Post and Leader would only be happy to fill pages with local news stories of interest and worth.

Some of you who have fallen at the feet of Danny and started worshiping him throughout the season need to realise that rather than saying that there might not be a Limerick fc without Danny you should be thinking that there certainly would not be a Limerick FC without us, something which Danny can't afford I assume and hope. And again I'll reiterate that I personally much preferred the atmosphere in the two seasons at Pike with 14 players, a great manager and 50 supporters than the season I've just witnessed, and I use that term loosely because for the a lot of games I just couldn't be arsed going to see the team trying to kick field goals whilst given my cash to that clown. Its about time the supporters of this club woke up to the realities of Limerick FC in 2006.

I whole heartedly agree with the above post. The way i see it this club has been a joke within Irish football for too long now. With Mr. Drew at the helm another false dawn has revealed itself and shown us how rotten our club has become, especially in its treatment of players, staff and fans alike. This should not be accepted by the supporters who fund this behaviour.
If nothing changes before the season starts we should definately be protesting the state of things. If we carry on regardless in effect supporting it, then i dont see the point. I dont think anyone would be proud to support this club the way it is today, its a f**kin disgrace. The opportunity to push this club forward was evident at the start of last season, because of the support of the people of limerick. As its unravelled to the point we are at today, so has this potential. How many times has this club been given hope only to be given idiots to ruin it? No-one is happy here people, not one of us can say these are good times. So what should we be doing about it?

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Originally Posted by jebus

And again I'll reiterate that I personally much preferred the atmosphere in the two seasons at Pike with 14 players, a great manager and 50 supporters than the season I've just witnessed, and I use that term loosely because for the a lot of games I just couldn't be arsed going to see the team trying to kick field goals whilst given my cash to that clown. Its about time the supporters of this club woke up to the realities of Limerick FC in 2006.

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Relax man if the shambles keeps going apace we'll have our lovely Pike athmosphere back in no time :p

By all means protest I'll be at the front of the crowd if things don't improve but players like Tommy Barrett, Noel Mooney et al don't deserve a boycott by fans. I don't buy anything from Asian harvest, is that not enough. :)

As I've said before on here I support Limerick F.C. not Danny Drew, Willie John, Continuity Willie John, I can't believe it's not Danny Drew or whatever.

It's true what you say Limerick F.C is OUR club and I'll keep on supporting the players throughout whatever shambles we may have because I still think it's better than having no shambles/club at all :ball:

I agree with Lim til i Die and with a lot of what Jebus said. But I disagree fundamentally on certain things and that is the source of our disagreements.

First, I absolutely do not want to go back to the Pike days. I do not want to see a club going nowhere in front of 50 souls. IMO there was nothing positive at all about that experience. That does not mean of course that I love everything now happening but given the choice between now and the Pike days I would pick the current situation every time (I know that those are not the only choices and I do not think the current situation is the best things could be).

I support the club - I will not be boycotting anything.

The club is not a joke within Irish football now - it was a joke when Jimmy Fyffe played up front against Bray or when we played with brush handles for corner flags but we are competitive within the first division.

I agree that the club need the fans as much as it needs DD. But in the absence of a trust to run the club (something I would 100% support) we come back to a fundamental question. If DD says "Screw this for a game of soldiers" and does exactly what thelimerick, Jebus and Nempton want and walks away, what happens next? You can paint this as sycophantic, party line, don't rock the boat blah blah blah if you want. Ad hominem attacks usually pass for argument around here anyway. But whatever you write about the messenger, you cannot get away from that fundamental message.

By the way - all fans think their own clubs are badly run and a disgrace because we see all the negatives. We look at other clubs and wonder why ours can't be run like that one. Just think of Waterford, and we are worried about losing our best players there. By all accounts on the ground there - the players are far from happy.

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Originally Posted by jebus

And again I'll reiterate that I personally much preferred the atmosphere in the two seasons at Pike with 14 players, a great manager and 50 supporters than the season I've just witnessed, and I use that term loosely because for the a lot of games I just couldn't be arsed going to see the team trying to kick field goals whilst given my cash to that clown. Its about time the supporters of this club woke up to the realities of Limerick FC in 2006.

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Just like to point out that I was talking about atmosphere at the club with that point, not the financial situation of the club as was shown when I said that I preferred the 'atmosphere' of the club two seasons ago. Anyway onto other points that were made.

"The club is not a joke within Irish football now" - Really? I would have thought that anyone looking in from the outside would be laughing their asses off right now. All you have to do is look back through the last year of posts on this forum to see exactly how much of a soap opera this club is, saying that it isn't is typical sycophantic, party line, don't rock the boat blah blah blah :D

"But in the absence of a trust to run the club (something I would 100% support) we come back to a fundamental question" - I too would support this 100%, as would the majority of the fans I reckon, but aren't we just proving my point on LFC supporters talking a good game, but playing Noel O'Connor style tactics in reality?

"But whatever you write about the messenger, you cannot get away from that fundamental message" - And that is what exactly? That whatever Danny does we should just let it pass without incident? What would it take for you to see differantly about this subject? For him to tie a six year old child to the back of his car and drag him through the streets of Limerick shouting Cobh Ramblers for the Premier? :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by jebus

Just like to point out that I was talking about atmosphere at the club with that point, not the financial situation of the club as was shown when I said that I preferred the 'atmosphere' of the club two seasons ago. Anyway onto other points that were made.

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Where did I mention finances? I can read. Though I did presume there was a typo when I saw that the words "atmosphere" and "Pike" in the same sentence without the words "lack of". Jaysus, you need to get out more if you thought the Pike has atmosphere.

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Originally Posted by jebus

"The club is not a joke within Irish football now" - Really? I would have thought that anyone looking in from the outside would be laughing their asses off right now. All you have to do is look back through the last year of posts on this forum to see exactly how much of a soap opera this club is, saying that it isn't is typical sycophantic, party line, don't rock the boat blah blah blah :D

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But that's exactly it. Year of posts on this forum. Dermot Keely comments ididn't mention a joke. Look at other clubs forums. They are unhappy with their clubs too. I do not think the club is being run as well as it could be but I think it is a bit extreme to say it is a joke.

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Originally Posted by jebus

"But in the absence of a trust to run the club (something I would 100% support) we come back to a fundamental question" - I too would support this 100%, as would the majority of the fans I reckon, but aren't we just proving my point on LFC supporters talking a good game, but playing Noel O'Connor style tactics in reality?

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But you are getting the cart before the horse. You don't protest and then try to get a trust established. You establish a trust and then if you want to take over put a proposal to the owners. How destabilising would it be for the club to lose its chairman and manager in the middle of aseason and how long exactly do you think it takes to set up a trust? (Hint: not a short time) I don't have a problem with you looking for DD to get out - but I do have a problem when there is no realistic alternative in place.

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Originally Posted by jebus

"But whatever you write about the messenger, you cannot get away from that fundamental message" - And that is what exactly? That whatever Danny does we should just let it pass without incident? What would it take for you to see differantly about this subject? For him to tie a six year old child to the back of his car and drag him through the streets of Limerick shouting Cobh Ramblers for the Premier? :rolleyes:

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I'll spell it out for you. That you need a realistic alternative in place. What would it take for you to see differently about this subject. A sense of perspective?:ball:

I with LFCIE on this one, I think it goes without saying that no LFC supporter is happy in the manner the club has been run since DD & NOC took over affairs on and off the pitch, but at the end of the day had he not come in last year, dare I say it this site as far as LFC fans are concerned would be non existant. We can all moan about the results, team selection and fan/management disputes, but I'd rather have that than nothing at all. Pike was horrible especially our last year, the 3rd largest city in the country reduced to that. I don't hail the arrival of DD & NOC but, he has come in when no one else did, he has made mistakes, but I would hope he can learn from them, if you really want someone to blame then look at our former Chairman (da priest), he sent us plummeting down hill all those years ago and now he turns up just to prevent us from going foward again. I would like to see where the coming season will take us before making a final judgement on the DD & NOC.......:ball:

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Originally Posted by Westside

I would like to see where the coming season will take us before making a final judgement on the DD & NOC.......:ball:

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I'm with you on that one. This season will be do or die for NOC. The club must make the play-off at least, otherwise the club will not be seen to be attractive to top players. It seems we've already lost some of our top players from last season, so we need to get in more replacements and keep them this time. Also, no one seems sure what 2007 holds in store for the league. Talks of implementing Genesis could see a big split in the league so we need to be up there otherwise we could fade away and have 'Pike' at Hogan Park in terms of fans. As for our chairman he better start building bridges and fast. I would think by now he knows what he needs to do to run an eL club properly, at least I hope so. Major improvements must be made by him this year otherwise he'll be finding it very hard to get money back on his investment.

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Originally Posted by Kerry Blue

Major improvements must be made by him this year otherwise he'll be finding it very hard to get money back on his investment.

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Thats fair enough but I do think he is trying to get this long term lease sorted out, if he succeeds then at least he can tap in the money that has been granted to them (subject to getting this all important licence) and make Hogan Park what he said it is going to be in a few years. I don't blame him for not starting any of the work yet, would you, only to be then thrown out, it would be crazy, he may not be the wise to fotball matters yet but I would imagine he is a shrewd businessman. Also the only one who has left as confirmed by the club is McGrath, no one else, so all the speculation about everyone else leaving is only causing friction on this site. Wait and see who we have for the Shels game and then talk.............

I doubt if anybody seriously wants a return to the days at pike. That should not detract from whats happening today. Limerick FC in Irelands third largest city SHOULD be in a much better situation than it has been over the last few years, but it hasn't. The truth of the matter is that is was not run properly, the potential was always there with a city of our size and the popularity of football at all levels in Limerick. Yet this was squandered repeatedly and no real vision existed at any time that could have seen its potential realised, in footballing terms for us the fans, and finacially for its owners.
With news of DD's arival there was reason to be hopefull that we could achieve both in a relatively short period of time without getting carried away. Of course it would take time to turn a club like ours into a successfully run football club on and off the pitch. Yet it was a possibility and everyone was aware of that. That is why Hogan park was mobbed at the start of the season, expectation was high and there were plenty of people willing to back our club.
Where this potential has failed in my opinion rests with our chairman. His conduct has been a disgrace throughout the entire season, with one disaster following another. I could document each and every single one, though we are all very aware of these already. His promotion of the club has been lazy at best, his decisions eratic and his temprement disruptive. He has talked a good talk without delivering. If you think for one moment i sit back and celebrate his failures your absolutely wrong. Had he come in and not act like a demented lunatic and instead followed through on his "vision" and provided this city a club and ground we could all be proud of, despite the results i would have been delighted for him.
Instead our team has been falling apart as the season has gone on, we've lost our coaches, his talk about developing the ground was not properly thought through, his complete lack of respect for people has been severely disruptive, his playing of the media has backfired, i could go on and on. No the pike days weren't a joy to behold but neither is this false dawn. Yes we need an alternative to both situations, thats the point, we need something else at this club, something other than the current situation, BECAUSE its just not good enough. Its simply more of the same incompetance that has plagued this club for too long now.

I absolutely agree with the first two paragraphs thelimerick. Very well put.

Thinking about this away from the screen I think the critical mistake here was not making fans aware or not fessing up about the lack of a long-term lease. It is clear that the development mooted at the start of the season (which was the cause of a lot of the positive feeling) could not go ahead while the lease was unsorted. Westside is right when he says that nobody would undertake ground development before the current trustees of the ground sign a long term lease for the club. But a lot of grief would have been spared if we had been told this at the start of the season. If DD has said "This is what I want to do and I will do when I get a long term lease" we would have accepted that, whereas now it is being used as a stick to beat him with (ie false dawn etc etc).

In his other 'escapades' he ahs reminded me of Ollie Byrne and Ronan Seery. Not people to aspire to - but Limerick is not alone in having a chairman that may go off on one. That can be very difficult to deal with.

I know the frustrations come out of a genuine love for the club but speaking for myself I might moan or groan about certain players, manager or chairman but come kick-off time I support the blues, and so would find it hard to boycott .:ball:

I agree with LFC on this one :D i think that with no long term lease secured i think it would be foolish of DD to invest vast sums of his money in Limerick FC at this time. Now i know some basic work will have to be done on the ground to get/retain a first division licence but running off and building stands at the moment would be a non runner. Also it has come to my attention that one of us has a VHS copy of Fr Joe giving an interview in the early 90's shortly after the purchase of Hogan park for limerick fc (not the locals of southill) is there anyone here who can copy onto a dvd and post it on this as link so we can put this mans (and john o wafflacies) mental termoil at ease? :rolleyes: we can sell it everywhere then to show up the clown for going back on his word.

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Originally by Lim Abroad
have to feel sorry for noel,i know the man and know about how much of the donkey work he did for this club,just shows what sort of cowards are running the club these days.sacking a man by fax...give me a break

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Could someone please tell me what contribution Noel made to Limerick FC because as far as I'm concerned its certainly been over-exaggerated. I can't recall one worthwhile contribution he made to the club. With Noel only one club ever came first and that was Corbally as he so poignantly pointed out in the Leader. I can understand the furore over how he got sacked, it's certainly not pleasant nor am I entirely happy to see Michael O'Sullivan back in the fold. But in reality Noel benefitted from the club whereas we got nothing in return from him.

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Originally Posted by Nempton

With Noel only one club ever came first and that was Corbally as he so poignantly pointed out in the Leader.

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He was committed to Limerick, I can assure you.

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Originally Posted by Roadend

He was committed to Limerick, I can assure you.

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Id think so too but in fairness to nempton hes only quoting from said anti limerick newspapers.