Stadium Updates (All Clubs)

**4tothefloor** · 06/09/2015, 12:29 AM

Originally Posted by oriel

Great documentary on last year 'the crazy gang' (Wimbledon) Fash or Vinny Jones did just that to the 'this is Anfield ' sign, they made sure they were out first and took a black marker to it and wrote 'bothered' then sat in a circle on the pitch laughing, I think they beat them too. Horrible club, but a funny story all the same.

Watched that Docu twice and don't recall that story being featured at all. Also most of what Fashanu & Jones said in the Doc has since been disproven by former Wimbledon players and management and even opposition players. They basically told a load of bull**** and lies to play up to the cameras.

**Dunny** · 08/09/2015, 1:57 PM

Matthews looking for 0.5 million to leave OP

http://talkofthetown.ie/2015/09/08/m...of-oriel-park/

Was worth €5m back in the day

http://www.dundalkdemocrat.ie/sport/...ntre-1-1981331

**White Horse** · 08/09/2015, 2:40 PM

Originally Posted by Dunny

Matthews looking for 0.5 million to leave OP

http://talkofthetown.ie/2015/09/08/m...of-oriel-park/

In my opinion, €0.5m is a good price for ownership of the YDC and the transfer of the lease. The club cannot afford to enter into a period of stagnation. The ground needs to be re-developed and pitch needs to be replaced.

**Dunny** · 08/09/2015, 2:57 PM

Originally Posted by White Horse

In my opinion, �0.5m is a good price for ownership of the YDC and the transfer of the lease. The club cannot afford to enter into a period of stagnation. The ground needs to be re-developed and pitch needs to be replaced.

Do you honestly believe that that barn with a bar is worth �5.5 million? Thank the lord your not running the club and no disrespect to you.

**White Horse** · 08/09/2015, 2:58 PM

Originally Posted by Dunny

Do you honestly believe that that barn with a bar is worth €5.5 million?

No. But I think it might be worth €0.5m to have possession of the leasehold and the YDC.

**nigel-harps1954** · 08/09/2015, 3:00 PM

He's obviously casting out the net suggesting such a figure. He'd probably bite your hand off for 250k.

**Charlie Darwin** · 08/09/2015, 3:03 PM

He definitely gives off the impression of a man who would literally bite off anyone's hand for 250k.

**Dunny** · 08/09/2015, 3:08 PM

€150k with the license for the bar.The place is stone dead.

**dundalkfc10** · 08/09/2015, 5:12 PM

Originally Posted by Dunny

�150k with the license for the bar.The place is stone dead.

Totally agree

It has 3 astro turf 5 a side pitches bringing in what �1000 a week tops

Their is never anything on in the YDC apart from the odd charity night.

Its biggest waste of space ever built!

**oriel** · 08/09/2015, 10:29 PM

Originally Posted by 4tothefloor

Watched that Docu twice and don't recall that story being featured at all. Also most of what Fashanu & Jones said in the Doc has since been disproven by former Wimbledon players and management and even opposition players. They basically told a load of bull**** and lies to play up to the cameras.

Maybe it was another show I saw it in then, but I definitely remember it, then again for some reason I was telling a few guys today about Ireland v Switzerland in 1985, oh how the mind works at times !!

**oriel** · 08/09/2015, 10:45 PM

Originally Posted by nigel-harps1954

He's obviously casting out the net suggesting such a figure. He'd probably bite your hand off for 250k.

I'd agree its sounding like his first shot ok, but it's amazing timing for the former owner to at last come out with a statement around the time that the football club starts taking in some decent money. He knows full well that UEFA monies will be paid soon, and other prize money, increased gates, merchandise sales etc have put the club on a decent footing. You would imagine he is angling for a deal. The new owners want the lease, first and foremost, he wants money and settlement for a lot of other things, and then there is the YDC.

It sounds like there are few more rounds of this bout to go.

**Dunny** · 08/09/2015, 11:06 PM

Wot GM said on the matter

https://medium.com/@McLaughlinGavin/...t-d2ec9b0a5e0f

**Dunny** · 08/09/2015, 11:16 PM

Originally Posted by oriel

I'd agree its sounding like his first shot ok, but it's amazing timing for the former owner to at last come out with a statement around the time that the football club starts taking in some decent money. He knows full well that UEFA monies will be paid soon, and other prize money, increased gates, merchandise sales etc have put the club on a decent footing. You would imagine he is angling for a deal. The new owners want the lease, first and foremost, he wants money and settlement for a lot of other things, and then there is the YDC.

It sounds like there are few more rounds of this bout to go.

There is not a penny being made in the barn despite GM'S spin.Nobody plays football there anymore and no party's are held.You're right,perfect timing from the spin doctor with Dundalk closing in on a second league title and Europe again.Looking forward to Skinny Bonds response.

**oriel** · 09/09/2015, 9:48 AM

Originally Posted by Dunny

There is not a penny being made in the barn despite GM'S spin.Nobody plays football there anymore and no party's are held.You're right,perfect timing from the spin doctor with Dundalk closing in on a second league title and Europe again.Looking forward to Skinny Bonds response.

It�s also worth bearing in mind that the funding for the YDC was part financed by Capital Sports grants that GM would not have got if he was not the owner of DFC at the time, so it was not all his money that went into it.

He did put his own money into other improvements, but a lot of supporters at the time would have preferred if he had also spent money on spectator improvements, I think he did pay for a new roof on the stand for example, and that�s something that wouldn�t be noticed, but also there was talk about the club getting insurance on this, it all seems a bit messy.

Hopefully the 3 parties, GM, Current DFC owners, and Casey Family (owners of Oriel Pk) can get together to resolve things, but its clear GM has surfaced just at the time when he knows DFC will have some decent monies incoming.

**brendy_�ire** · 09/09/2015, 10:00 AM

Originally Posted by SeanDMRooney

Still no word on work in Doire ?

Still nowt.
Vague mutterings about �20 million coming from the council just. http://www.derryjournal.com/what-s-o...oost-1-6935831

**Nesta99** · 09/09/2015, 10:16 AM

GM's eyes have turned a very deep shade of green. It is alleged (ahem) that he used the club as cash income for other ailing businesses. Now he is seems to be copping on to to the monies he could have had available to an entity he owned and he missed out by mismanagement. A self confessed non football man how never saw any potential in Dundalk FC when many others knew that Dundalk run well could be a success. In within a couple of seasons of his departure the club made the €800k (gross guesstimate) in prize money and gates and with an international brand as shirt sponsors, the amount GM bought Hiney Park (and by default Dundalk FC) for and sold a few months ago for €60K. But he a shrewd operator and probably learned from the Neal Fenn incident and he held on the the paperwork for Oriel Park. He now wants his piece of the returns on this successful patch. I can understand why he feels he is owed something, he saved the club and if people complain about Oriel Park now, just think back before GM took over - the whinge about Oriel from Rovers fans then was getting their Burberry runners mucky at the away entrance laneway, lines of sight was never mentioned. He tarmaced it...the entire forecourt, and as someone who is currently paying for a drive way a fraction of the size it is fooking expensive!!

It think the problem with GM is his m.o. of brinkmanship, lack of engagement with people as necessary, and a tendency to say but not always do. Which is a pity for a chap who put his money where his mouth is when others didnt and is now becoming like a cartoon villain!

**colonelwest** · 09/09/2015, 11:28 AM

The YDC is a cracking facility to be fair even with it's mismanagement the past few years. Not that I'm the one paying the bills but I'd be of the mind, as was said to negotiate to 250k for it from him. From the kids up to the first team it can be used for training, seminars, the summer camps, then even gigs or the like and a million and one other things either to the benefit of the club and to the bank balance. Sure they could rent out the underground car park for the train station, even simple stuff like that would be an earner. Plus if we have it it'd be great to have for the portfolio of the club to get grants from the sports council/ fai/ government with using Oriel as a RDC.

GM may think he has the club over a barrel with it but as was said before more the opposite is the case with his situation these days. Also re: the 5.5m, that was run through his building and other businesses to build so it's not exactly like it came out of his pocket, it would have gone through the books on them etc.

**Dodge** · 09/09/2015, 11:39 AM

Originally Posted by Nesta99

GM's eyes have turned a very deep shade of green. It is alleged (ahem) that he used the club as cash income for other ailing businesses.

LOI football being a well known cash cow

**Nesta99** · 09/09/2015, 1:24 PM

Originally Posted by Dodge

LOI football being a well known cash cow

It is when expenses are paired back to the minimal and bills are not being paid! 1000 attendance at an average €10 is €10k that can be pocketed every second week and then drip feed creditors to just about keep them at bay then call bankruptcy. Hence the 2012 efforts to raise enough to stay alive and hope the club will be sold on if those debts are taken off the then owners plate. An unfair dismissal award was paid by Dundalk FC not GM for example, or a function in the YDC where substantial profit was made but the club billed/payed (or not) for the expense of the event but not benefiting from the spoils. LoI can be a cash cow if those running a club are there to cash strip and then walk away. Rovers fans would know all about it from 30 years ago almost now.

Isnt there something about tax relief or write off available for a loss making subsidiary of a company too that would generate a positive balance sheet elsewhere?

**ThePrisoner** · 09/09/2015, 1:43 PM

The Gerry Matthews company that ran the club until the end of 2012 was Dundalk Football Club Limited CRO 438422.

Some figures from the abridged audited accounts at 30/11/12:

Fixed assets at cost €3,426,306. Assumption - this relates almost entirely to the building behind the shed?

Gerry Matthews is owed €1,705,900

Am I right in saying that the building did not cost as much as stated in one of the articles and GM is not owed as much as claimed?