Indeed they do but the £800k did not come directly from the IFA accounts either as they did not encompass the whole season. This figure was put to the the IFA at AGM and confirmed by them in respect of the past season.Originally Posted by Steve Bruce
Why Because Liam Coyle thinks we should?
I can assure you that very few Derry City fans want to see their team back in the Irish League.
As i have previously posted, I'd prefer to watch Derry in the 'A' League.
In my opinion we have very little in common with Irish League teams or fans.
Maybe it's just your choice of phrase, but in what way are DCFC and its fans substantively different from IL teams/fans (i.e. "have nothing in common with")?
And if DCFC did go completely "belly up", so that they could not play in the LOI Prem or 1st Division, would you really watch them eg at Castlebar or Tullamore, in preference to eg Coleraine Showgrounds or the Oval etc?
(Genuine questions, not a wind-up, since I'm interested in learning more what DCFC fans really think)
We've more in common with IL fans, than we do with most other so-called football fans on this island.
I'm probably in the minority of Derry fans, but I wouldn't mind us going back to the Irish League.
Travelling to Coleraine, is easier (and cheaper) than travelling to Cobh.
On this question of LFC's income from the IFA, without being able to quote exact figures, I know that at various times the income has fluctuated widely, depending on how many internationals were played in any given season, whether these drew large or small crowds and whether high admission prices could be charged.
Therefore, 10-15 years ago, the income might have been barely 6 figures per season.
Afaik, however with more games and (mostly) sell-out crowds at high ticket prices, recent seasons will have seen LFC's cut rise to closer to £500k per season.
However, the reason why the most recent figure will have been so high as £800k is because LFC don't just get their cut from a percentage of the gate receipts, but their contract with the IFA also gives them for a percentage of ground advertising receipts, programme sales and (crucially) TV revenues for internationals.
Of course, at the time the new Contract was drawn up (1984?), TV receipts were paltry. However, as we all know, that has since changed radically, so that the most recent £800k figure was greatly boosted by the inclusion of 15% the first year of the IFA's new multi-million pound deal with SKY TV to televise NI home games.
Faced with another two years of the SKY contract (at least), whereby LFC would continue to rake in huge amounts even if nobody came to the games, the other IL clubs are naturally up in arms.
This discontent has been further exacerbated as the clubs have greater contact/access with the IFA now that the IL is now run by the IFA and so are in a better position to ask questions* etc.
And the fact that LFC don't appear to have spent more than about tuppence hapenny of their own money on updating Windsor in recent years, adds even more to the other IL clubs' anger.
* - For example, it is only recently that a copy of the (104 year!) contract between the IFA and LFC has been made public, despite it having been originally drawn up 25 years ago.
As i said this is soley my opinion, but i will try to explain.
I should really have said 'very little in common in football terms' with IL teams and fans
I'm 34, therefore my entire time following Derry City has been in the LOI.
I also attend Rep of Ireland internationals.
As a football fan i am entirely comfortable in these surroundings, i don't look at myself or my club as merely Visitors to LOI football. This is all i have known.
I feel comfortable going to away games in Dundalk, Dublin or Galway. However when i have gone to both the Oval and Windsor I have never felt comfortable. Police everywhere outside the ground, wire cage tunnels to get into the grounds and sectarian chants (from both Home and away fans).
This is something that is alien to me as a LOI fan, however you as an IL fan have probably alot of experience of this.(I'm not saying as a participant by the way).
On top of this I just think that demographically Derry City are more at ease in the LOI, would you not agree?
Not because Liam Coyle says so, but because the club haven't made a very good hand of the LOI. Operating in the Irish League should allow the club to significantly reduce its cost base.
On saying that David Jeffrey's last comment in the article is lamentable.
While Derry City voted itself out of the Irish League, is was a constructive expulsion in that the Irish League made it totally impossible for the club to operate. The club had no alternative."Certainly I would welcome them back. My own opinion is that they should never have left but that was their choice."
Neale Fenn on retiring: 'I think once you finish you might as well finish rather than making all sorts of comebacks.'
SMorgan, It would also probably be cheaper and just as handy for Dundalk, Monaghan and Finn Harps to play in the Irish League.
Would you want to go there to play?
Derry City are a League of Ireland team and very proud of it.
It annoys me when other LOI fans say that we should go back there, I have have never been there, however my father, Uncles and Grandfathers have all been there and would never go back.
I can't understand either why other LOI fans are saying Derry should go back, i think it would be a disaster to lose them to the LOI. They have been a great addition to the league and have a great traveling support an always bring a good support to the showgrounds, and arguably the best thing that happened the league as far as i can remember in near 30 years of watching it.
There is a very obvious difference between the Derry City and the clubs you mentioned.
But I can't see how the IL would hold any attraction for Derry or anyone else in LOI (apart from the reduced travel cost). It seems to me to be a poorly supported stagnant league, with very few progessive clubs.
Derry and the LoI have been good for each other.
Not really Ezeikial. I know you will say "but you are in Northern Ireland" so that's the difference.
However you have to realise that Derry City FC and in some ways Derry City itself(certainly the West bank) is an enigma.
As much as politics and sport should not mix the reality of life is that they do. The majority of our fans are from a Nationalist/Republican Backround, the Brandywell stadium is in the heart of on of the biggest republican areas in Ireland, it is about 1 mile from the Border with Donegal, 000's of Derry people now live in the donegal villages of Muff, Killea, Carrigans, st johnston and Bridgend which are now really Derry suburbs. Football wise most of our fans if asked would say they support the ROI national team with many like myself being active supporters(as in attending games regularly).
So can you not see that not only in terms of football do we see the LOI as our home but in real terms most Derry people would have an affinity to Derry's natural hinterland (Donegal) than anything on the east side of the River Foyle.
I readily accept all that you say, and am fully supportive of Derry City competing in the LoI.
However there are very real differences between the situation with Derry and the clubs you mentioned (Finn Harps, Monaghan and Dundalk), beyond national political boundaries. None of these clubs are situated geographically within the jurisdiction of the IFA (and probably could not join the IL even if they aspired to), and don't have any historical association with the Irish League.
EG,
I'd have to agreed with you, I think if we did end up in the A League there would be 100 max at the games, whatever people's posturing on internet message boards.
It wouldn't be "I'd rather watch them in the A League than the IL", for the vast majority it would be "Ah, A League? Not watching that".
I'd be split on what'd I'd go for, but if it ever go to such a scenario it should at least be voted on.
The Irish League is not the answer to Derry City's problems.
Not spending money we don't have is the answer to Derry City's problems.
Whether that happens in the League of Ireland, Irish League or the Highland League - it still stands as the answer.
And whilst the costs of travelling would be lower in the IL than the LOI, security costs would be dramatically higher and income noticeably lower (much less prize money, no TV income, lower gate receipts).
If the Irish League is being presented as the answer, then it is the question that needs changing - not the jurisdiction we play in.
See that Kop Stand that cost £4Million. Linfield paid 2M of that out of our money (though loans etc) whilst the IFA put in very very little, the rest of the money was mostly grants.On this question of LFC's income from the IFA, without being able to quote exact figures, I know that at various times the income has fluctuated widely, depending on how many internationals were played in any given season, whether these drew large or small crowds and whether high admission prices could be charged.
Therefore, 10-15 years ago, the income might have been barely 6 figures per season.
Afaik, however with more games and (mostly) sell-out crowds at high ticket prices, recent seasons will have seen LFC's cut rise to closer to £500k per season.
However, the reason why the most recent figure will have been so high as £800k is because LFC don't just get their cut from a percentage of the gate receipts, but their contract with the IFA also gives them for a percentage of ground advertising receipts, programme sales and (crucially) TV revenues for internationals.
Of course, at the time the new Contract was drawn up (1984?), TV receipts were paltry. However, as we all know, that has since changed radically, so that the most recent £800k figure was greatly boosted by the inclusion of 15% the first year of the IFA's new multi-million pound deal with SKY TV to televise NI home games.
Faced with another two years of the SKY contract (at least), whereby LFC would continue to rake in huge amounts even if nobody came to the games, the other IL clubs are naturally up in arms.
This discontent has been further exacerbated as the clubs have greater contact/access with the IFA now that the IL is now run by the IFA and so are in a better position to ask questions* etc.
And the fact that LFC don't appear to have spent more than about tuppence hapenny of their own money on updating Windsor in recent years, adds even more to the other IL clubs' anger.
* - For example, it is only recently that a copy of the (104 year!) contract between the IFA and LFC has been made public, despite it having been originally drawn up 25 years ago.
My point is, your last point is balls.(of the big paragraph) However the rest I can say is probably the most accurate way of summing up how things have went I have seen from a Glenman
The Hallion Battalion Molests football.:D
Not to mention, that being an also ran in the LOI is seen as better than being an also ran in the IL..........Again.
PS: I'm just playing with ya
The Hallion Battalion Molests football.:D
You 100% sure about that?
The whole IL debate is an unhelpful diversion from what the real problem is, which is willful and sustained atrocious financial management.
We are no different to Shels, Cork and probably in due course Bohs in that, to use a baseball analogy, we weren't content to swing slower and take base hits, we wanted the home run. Except we swung and missed repeatedly and are now out.
I can possibly see the argument that we'd not have got into this position in the IL, but thats hardly a cure. Its the footballing equivalent of going to a remote treatment centre and cutting yourself off from fellow addicts IMO.
Personally, I've no interest whatsoever in returning to the IL as long as sectarianism is still rife and that kind of societal problem isn't going to change overnight.
I enjoyed our many battles with Derry down the years. Our rivarly with them went back to late 80s when both sides were prommoted in the same season and continued right up until 2006 with the 2 clubs fighing it out fo the league title. Played each other in 2 FAI cup finals and a league cup final to. I'd like that to continue to be honest(although it dose'nt look like we're leaving div 1 anytime soon)
Overall as much as i would'nt exactly be their biggest fan i would'nt like to see Derry out of the league of Ireland. I think they've been good for the league and gave it a lift in the late 80s when they appeared on the scene.
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