Fair Play to the FAI

[Buile Shuibhne]

Whatever about $hel$ fans in general,
you certain shouldnt with all the crap you posted here
and on the $hel$ forum that there was nothing wrong with what Oillie Byrne
was doing to the club. Complete rubbish from you as usual.

I post very rarely here

My complete rubbish is every bit as valid as your complete rubbish.

[Mr A]

Eh, wasn't licencing supposed to stop this happening in the first place?

Yeah, pat on the back to the FAI for shutting the stable door...

Ideally licensing would have worked perfectly from the start, but then ideally the clubs wouldn't be such utter plonkers when it comes to money. It seems to be finally growing teeth as club budgets are being vetoed where they are over optimistic. It was always likely that licensing would be an imperfect and gradual process since the clubs seem so determined to undermine it and find loopholes where possible.

If things are finally getting a little better, why not recognise it?

[pineapple stu]

If things are finally getting a little better, why not recognise it?

Everyone's recognised the progress in vetoing budgets.

Bailing clubs out will only work if there's strict measures to ensure this doesn't happen again. Vetoing budgets may help, but history suggests this will happen again, albeit not on the same scale as the past couple of years. I don't think history repeating itself is to be praised particularly.

[pateen]

Have to agree, the FAI ARE doing a good job even if Fran Gavin's head is still in the clouds. Its a big learning curve for them so hears hoping for the 2009 season

[Dodge]

Gavin knows full well the sclae of things the league is facing. that he chooses to try and put a positive spin on things is a plus IMO

[EL123]

In the past weeks the FAI have:

* Put forward a rescue package for Cobh (albeit rejected by their members)
* Helped stop the budgetary madness at Harps by vetoing a budget that could well have sunk the club unless last year's mess is cleaned up first.
* Intervened in Drogheda's negotiations with the PFAI and are to act as guarantors for repayments from DUFC.

For all people tend to blame them for what is wrong in the league at the moment they are doing a decent job of trying to save the clubs from themselves.

It never ceases to amaze me how people react to things without taking into account the full history of the problem. I agree, for all intents and purposes it looks as if the FAI are bailing out clubs for the problems they have themselves created but as the FAI are the custodians of football and are the ones who set the rules in the first place wouldnt it have been better if:-

1. Cobh Ramblers problems had been addressed by the FAI earlier on in the season when it would have been obvious to the FAI through their moitoring systems that they were facing real trouble.

2. Ditto for 1.

3. Intervening in Drogheda's wages negotiations is not a matter for the FAI. The contracts were entered into between Drogheda United and their players. Again if the FAI had been monitoring, as we are led to believe, the situation at Drogheda over the past year, it would have been obvious that they were spending beyond their means and an embargo on signing more players should have been put in place. This wouldnt have sorted out the situation but could have stopped the unrealistic spending and prevented other clubs from losing valuable players.

It really looks like throwing sugar at the situation after the damage is done yet again, so that the FAI come out smelling of roses.

Sad really.

[A face]

Gavin knows full well the sclae of things the league is facing. That he chooses to try and put a positive spin on things is a plus IMO

I think so as well. There is enough blind negativity out there about the league so that slot doesn't need to be filled. Given his role, if he doesn't show the league in a good light with balanced opinion then who will.

[Mr A]

1. Cobh Ramblers problems had been addressed by the FAI earlier on in the season when it would have been obvious to the FAI through their moitoring systems that they were facing real trouble.

2. Ditto for 1.

3. Intervening in Drogheda's wages negotiations is not a matter for the FAI. The contracts were entered into between Drogheda United and their players. Again if the FAI had been monitoring, as we are led to believe, the situation at Drogheda over the past year, it would have been obvious that they were spending beyond their means and an embargo on signing more players should have been put in place. This wouldnt have sorted out the situation but could have stopped the unrealistic spending and prevented other clubs from losing valuable players.

What could the FAI do during the season for 1+2, cancel player contracts? They could have enforced transfer embargoes but presumably the clubs did not reach the 65% limit to allow that to happen. Licensing is the main tool at their disposal and they do appear to be tightening it up, and it is that that I welcome.

As for the Drogheda situation- yes it was obvious they were spending beyond their means but up until quite recently the 3 directors were footing the bill. As it turns out the guarantees given under licensing weren't worth a damn and the FAI obviously fecked that part up but their response seems to be correct at the moment in that they're limiting crazy budgets going forward rather than just seeking guarantees that they'll be covered. As for getting involved in the wage negotiations, I believe they are right to try to help save DUFC. The demise of the club would not be a good thing for Irish football, so whatever previous mistakes have been made attempts to keep the club in senior football are worth a go.

I'm not saying the FAI are perfect or brilliant- I'm just saying they seem to be getting better than they were previously. The tragedy is that the clubs should not need big brother to keep them from killing themselves.

[EalingGreen]

I know it's hypothetical, and may well never happen, but what would be the implications of FAI bailouts etc for any future All-Ireland League?

Presumably in an AIL, all the constituent teams would remain Membership of their respective Football Associations (FAI & IFA), with some sort of Organising Committee, whose Members would be drawn from the two FA's, responsible for running the competition.

That being so, it could hardly be acceptable e.g. to the IFA and its participating clubs if the FAI were to support Drogheda, or vice versa (e.g. if the IFA were supporting Coleraine), since this would prevent a "level playing field".

Indeed, it could conceivably skew the Setanta Cup (if it ever comes back) if, mid-tournament, say, the FAI were to pay the wage bill of one of their clubs, so that they didn't have to sell players, just before a Cup game against a Northern side. It's unlikely, I know, but there is potentially serious money in the Setanta for those clubs who are in with a shout of winning it.

Obviously, it is for each Association to determine how it runs its own financial affairs (Licencing etc). Nonetheless, whilst with a domestic League, every Member has a say in what their own Association does (to an extent), on a cross-border level, EL clubs cannot influence what the IFA does, nor IL clubs what the FAI does.

Just a thought.

[pineapple stu]

I'm not saying the FAI are perfect or brilliant- I'm just saying they seem to be getting better than they were previously.

It's kind of like those newspaper articles saying no English fans were arrested at their most recent game, and aren't they great.

[SligoBrewer]

Whatever about $hel$ fans in general,
you certain shouldnt with all the crap you posted here
and on the $hel$ forum that there was nothing wrong with what Oillie Byrne
was doing to the club. Complete rubbish from you as usual.

Completely disagree. Shels were punished for the actions. Relegated and not given any help by the FAI. Drogheda have been helped by the FAI and not punished. Despite doing THE EXACT SAME THING. This is double standards.

[pineapple stu]

not given any help by the FAI.

Their transfer fees were paid for them FFS. How much more help do you want?

[SligoBrewer]

Their transfer fees were paid for them FFS. How much more help do you want?

I retract that if true.

[red bellied]

Their transfer fees were paid for them FFS. How much more help do you want?

They can sort out monies owed to Sligo Rovers for Faz's transfer so.

[pineapple stu]

I retract that if true.

They paid the Alan Cawley fee (plus interest) after Shels refused to despite losing a court case. I recall Fintan Cassidy rather smugly posting here that they'd never paid the money, but we received it from the FAI.

[SligoBrewer]

They paid the Alan Cawley fee (plus interest) after Shels refused to despite losing a court case. I recall Fintan Cassidy rather smugly posting here that they'd never paid the money, but we received it from the FAI.

Ok. Fair enough.
Going a bit o/t here but were Shels expected to pay the FAI back?
Probably not is my guess.

Drogheda should not be bailed out anyways and fully punished. It wasn't but 6 months ago they were still shelling out 'funds' to buy players. Namely from us.
But double standards should not be employed either.

[Bald Student]

Their transfer fees were paid for them FFS. How much more help do you want?

The Cawley money was 24,000 euro. The Drogs hole is much bigger than that.

[pineapple stu]

We don't know how much the FAI have given though. (They're surely not plugging the whole lot, are they?!)

I've agreed that I don't like the idea of giving stupid clubs money, but my point is to dismiss Shels fans' notions that this is an inconsistency on the FAI's part compared to what happened them. It's the exact same.

Going a bit o/t here but were Shels expected to pay the FAI back?

I think at the time, there was a suggestion the amount would be stopped from Shels' prize money at the end of the season. That was probably more to placate the other clubs though. Never happened, however.

Edit - on my first point, the (abridged) quote from the paper is

United officials have agreed to make some additional payments to the players over the next three months, and it is understood the FAI have guaranteed those payments.

So the FAI have underwritten "some" of the payments, but we've no idea how many.

[passerrby]

to get back to the main point I think it was more to do with saving face and not let the league crumble on there watch

[LeixlipRed]

Shels fans will NEVER be in any position to pontificate to supporters of other clubs about financial matters.

Back to the topic in hand - I agree with the majority - the FAI are trying to be proactive with regards to future budgets - which is a good thing

So when you go bust next season will you not be allowed to pontificate either? Just so I'm clear....