QuoteBased on the reports linked here, Fingal could find themselves in trouble. All new clubs should follow what clubs are doing in the A Championship. Better off working gradually and build up a club. Rome wasn't built in a day.
i work for one of their sponsors and the lads only have to go to HR and they get whatever free tickets they want for the games,in fact if they cant get them in time they wont go down and pay on the gateOriginally Posted by White Horse
Based on the reports linked here, Fingal could find themselves in trouble. All new clubs should follow what clubs are doing in the A Championship. Better off working gradually and build up a club. Rome wasn't built in a day.
It does seem that the answer to the original post is "No" though. Looks like Bohs will beat them to it.
The High Court has approved the appointment of an interim examiner to Pierse Construction. Counsel for Pierse Construction Rossa Fanning said that the company had suffered a precipitous collapse in turnover and a reduced cash flow due to a downward spiral in a demand for houses. He said that the company was owed €30m in bad debts. This included a bad debt of €16m from Gannon Homes, which is now in the National Asset Management Agency.
http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/1012/pierse.html
Sporting Fingal's property developer benefactor Mr. Gannon has been cited in the High Court as a major driver behind the collapse of a major construction company.
Is this another reminder that Fingal are built on quicksand?
The worst thing that will happen is that they have to cut their cloth for next season, anything else is simply wishful thinking and opposition "fans" glorying in a club's difficulties. Getting into Europe will mean enough money to come in to finish outside of relegation next season, the worst thing is they lose some players and survive or battle to finish in a relegation play-off. Non-story that will be picked up on by a journo visiting the site and turned into fodder against our league again!
With the backing of Fingal County Council, I think Sporting Fingal will have a sound long term future even if they do take a step back for a while. It'll be better to take a step back than go bust. FINGAL County Council have a plan for a major new sporting facility in Lusk. A move like that will be good for Irish football and will be a rival to Shamrock Rovers set-up in Tallaght. If the clubs integrates successfully in their community they'll have a successful future.
Especially if they keep playing Rovers
The Model Club
Tell all the Bohs you know
that we've gone and won two-in-a-row
and it's not gonna be three
and it's not gonna be four
it's more likely to be 5-1.
I think that's very naive, Spud. Gannon gave them E750k last season, and they still lost E50k after winning the Cup. So there's probably a hole of a million there all told. Qualification for Europe - if achieved - has commonly been noted on here not to be the windfall people think it is. E90k less the costs of going to the mid-Atlantic for a few days? Add in the effects of a weaker team - crowds further dropping, prize money going down - and I think you've very much understated Gannon's importance. They mayn't go broke alright - unless they've players contracted to beyond when Gannon puts money in - but I don't see anything to suggest that the entity without Gannon (and, presumably, Anglo) has enough about it to survive in the Premier.
Also, in light of Gannon's E750k contribution to SF last year, it clearly isn't a non-story that he's forfeiting on millions of debt.
Also, without knowing about the Fingal situation, all county councils have been told to make severe cutbacks. There'll be nothing new constructed for a while. They'll be left in Morton for a while
54,321 sold - wws will never die - ***
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There are lots of ifs in this business plan.
Without Gannon and Anglo, Fingal are left with a very small paying fan base and Fingal Council.
With public finances being devastated, I cannot see how Fingal Council will be able to justify pumping hundered of thousands (at least) per year into a football club. While I admire the work the club do in promoting the game, their appeal to the north Dublin public has been miniscule. There is little prospect of an extra couple of thousand paying fans turning up to keep the club going.
It is also worth bearing in mind that paying for attendance is the least that fans of other clubs do. There are "patron" type schemes and voluntary work that adds enormously to keeping a club afloat.
I find it difficult to see a future for the club, nevermind a successful one.
Not naive Pineapple Stu, just a fact that they won't go belly up because one man won't throw in a large amount of money. Which is the stroy being pushed. Belly up is over and out, good night and god bless. Fingal Co Co won't be too keen to see their project fail, though I agree 100% that one pivot might be how long players are contracted for.
Clubs with a small following survive in Irish football for a multiplicity of reasons, we only have to look at my old alma mater and your side, UCD, for proof of that. If SF can move along similiar lines, perhaps with DCU, then there is a strong possibility of survival in the Premier. At worse they plod around in the 1st for a few years, building up their youth structures and when the time is right Lusk goes ahead and they re-emerge with a solid side that gets back up into the top flight. All clubs are in precarious positions (even Shamrock Rovers - if SDCC refuse to sign the lease.....).
this, for me, is a major point in the story. Any idea that the club had of moving to a new stadium and building up a support base there is probobly in the dim and distant future.
Would be surprised if S Fingal have not factored in the loss of the Gannon money for next season (and beyond) but hope the plan "B" does not revolve around any expected rise in support in a "new" stadium.
I am not aware of any great liabilities on the club (unlike Bohs 4+ million) so this allows them some flexibility to "cut their cloth"....... presuming of course they have not commited to long term contracts with players.
If for example all players were out of contract at the end of the season what is to stop Fingal simply recruiting on the basis of the available budget for 2011 ? I appreciate they are likely to have some contractoral obligations but to suggest their options are the current business model or bust would appear a little pessimistic.
I think we're in agreement on that so. What I do think we disagree on is just how strong their foundations are. People are talking about this Lusk thing and how sorted they'll be when they go out there and how the Council are right behind them; I just see another Drogheda story - money being poured in to make a successful football club be at the centre of a plan to build loads of houses.
Maybe I'm wrong obviously, but I'll remain sceptical.
I think it's time to take off the blinkers and get real. Sporting Fingal have neither a fan base nor tradition and they simply will not be in existence in 10-20 years. Similarly the brain boxes who felt it would be a good idea to allow the likes of Mervue United and Salthill Devon to join the league should take a bow as they play to home crowds of considerably less than 100.
The most important thing in terms of improving the League of Ireland is increasing attendances as this will help to improve clubs revenue streams which can subsequently be reinvested in better facilities and eventually better players. Clubs with neither fans nor potential will not help! So in summary Fingal will go bang, it's simply a question of when and the League will be no worse off without them.
Its only a matter of time that Gannon's funding goes and Sporting Franchise are short at least 750,000.
Then Fingal County Council is no safe bet either.
In the current economic climate CC's are being told to cut back massively.
Im afraid Sporting Franchise will be simply seen as the luxury it is.
If not now maybe in a year or two when the CC is re-elected and those who had a fetish for having their own local club will be gone, most likely being Fianna Fail heads.
One way or another I would be utterly shocked in SF lasted more than a decade.
The idea of a football ladder is that clubs can build at a certain level. If Fingal can't maintain their Premier status in the next few seasons, there's no reason they can't cut their cloth to suit there needs in the First Division for a few years and look to build. On Mervue and Salthill, if the First Division is beyond them, well if they drop to the A Championship they might wind up back at their level but at least they will be in existence and they too can look to build at that level.
I would see two things being important for the league. At the top in the Premier filtering down to the First Division, clubs getting better support and being able to run a pro set-up and have better facilities and players.
At the other end then in the A Championship, I would see it important for new clubs and regions to get involved in the league, being able to build up their base at their level while improving the game and promoting the league in their area. If football comes on in Mayo, Kerry, Carlow and Offaly, it surely will be a good thing.
Pineapple I do have my own gritted teeth feeling on how they were going to finance the stadium and it's surrounds, especially when it's a developer involved, however writing off a club because they're new, or don't have a large following, neither of those reasons can wash anywhere. If so then Monaghan don't deserve to be in existence as they don't have 4 figure attendances, or getting rid of Bray, or Cork City Foras, or Derry. There is enough to go around for all clubs and if only there was a strong development plan in place for football in Ireland then all would be well. Not all the blame can go on the FAI's feeble shoulders, clubs behave irresponsibly because of any number of reasons, while players will get what they can for as long as they can and fans will come and go with a core always suffering through. It's life as the LOI knows it.
Absolutely. Wexford Youths, for example, are doing grand, it seems. But I'm not sceptical about Fingal for those reasons.
I wouldn't write a club off because they are new, but I disagree with previous posters in relation to the level of following. If a club does not attract a large crowd, or have the potential to do so, they should not be allowed into the league. My own club, Finn Harps are not currently doing good crowds because they are going through bad times but they have shown over several decades that they have the potential to attract big crowds when they are going well. Several clubs cannot say the same. I note Monaghan were cited above as an example of a club who should not be discriminated against because their crowds are poor. Why not? They bring nothing to the party and have little or no attraction for sponsors and television.
In several previous threads I have listed 6 or 7 clubs who should be removed from the league and the idea of a promotion/ relagation play-off to secure access to senior football should be scrapped.
I appreciate I have gone slightly off track but I feel Fingal need to be considered in the context of a wider debate about the excessive number of clubs in the League.
Finally the artificial backing Fingal receive from the developer and the Council skews things badly as other teams have to compete for players signatures with them and this forces wages upwards at a time when clubs can ill afford it.
Totally agree that without Gannon, Anglo and cutback in Fingal CC monies that SF cannot operate the current business model. There is a long way between where they are and having to wind up completely - could they not operate next season on a part time basis like many other clubs do (subject to contract commitments) ?
I have not seen/heard yet why SF must either be full time outfit (as now) or collapse completely. In my own view there are likely to be no "full time" (52 week teams) next season *that does not mean they are all going belly up.
* contracts permitting
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