Sorry Ciaraa i just meant some of the Drogs fans think that this is the only solution. Has the club looked at other areas? Have they tried to go back to the louth co co? Is there any junior clubs grounds that might be able to facilitate the drogs if they were done up? I think its a massive gamble to take that has no chance of coming off. It'll be bad for the league if drogheda go to the wall.
While I wish any LOI club trying to develop facilities the best, its fairly obvious here that Drogs are being used by a consortium of builders as a lever to try to get their way with Meath CoCo.
Cant see Meath CoCo being rush or bullied into this kinda decision lightly ... This WILL drag on for years!
bhs
It does seem that this is a property deal with a stadium development as a fig leaf to pressure the counsillors. If I were a Drogheda fan I'd be very, very worried.
Last edited by Mr A; 13/03/2007 at 6:07 PM. Reason: Typo
#NeverStopNotGivingUp
No it won't - Drogheda will be bankrupt or kicked out of United Park before then.Originally Posted by blackholesun
Its a sticky situation for sure. I believe other areas have been looked at but the problem is the massive cost of land coupled with the massive current development work on both sides of the river but especially the south side (to facilitate the daily commuter-ites). Other areas like Colpe and Beamore (southside) were mentioned but I think the cost of what is essentially prime development land was a hinderance. I really dont know of an easy solution. I dont know the state of Lourdes stadium which would be an athletics track first and foremost so its suitability (or accesibility for DUFC) would be debatable. Funnily enough the Louth County Ground is nearly on the same plot of land as UTD PArk. If the 2 organisations could pool resources it would be great - A nice 8,000 - 12,000 capacity stadium (no need for all seater in my opinion) that would definitely be big enough for any occasion either team might find itself in.
Of course we all know the likelyhood of this happening.
One thing that isn't clear to me - why are they in danger of losing United Park? Why would the FAI kick them out?
You can't spell failure without FAI
Doesn't meet licencing.
I think it was Hoey who was saying it in his e-mail (open to correction here), but the basic idea is that the FAI gave all clubs a derogation on improving their grounds a couple of years ago (and rightly so, because you can't just build 3000 seats like that). That's why ground criteria were suspended for a period. Many clubs - Athlone being the most obvious example - have used the time to get their grounds up to spec. Drogheda, however, haven't (assuming the new ground doesn't come on stream before the start of the new season) and it appears the FAI from next year will start refusing licences for poor grounds.
That's my interpretation of what's being said; not necessarily fact, of course.
Applying common sense, surely the value of the United Park site (urban) is considerably more valuable than surburban/rural land outside the town.
So why not do a Bohs (albeit on a smaller scale), swop the land for a completed stadium outside the town (or a significant contribution to a stadium)?
I can see no footballing need for the new ground to be tied into a wider property deal, save for the reasons outlined above, ie as a fig leaf for an otherwise unpalettable contraversion of the local area plan.
It seems to have been implied that they can't afford the building costs without selling some houses too.
You can't spell failure without FAI
And also, the FAI own the ground (or a decent part of it).
Okay, from the above it appears that that the FAI own a share of the ground, therefore Drogs share isn't enough to buy a greenfield site and build a ground.
But were the two previous sites identified not standalone, ie the only objective was to construct a stadium?
What has changed since then that requires 5,000 houses to fund the stadium?
Last year lots of the Drogs fans were on here telling everyone the stadium would be in place within a year. They obviously got this impression from within the club.
The whole thing stinks tbh.
At least in Derry's case the fans expectations have been managed appropriately, we are (unforttunately) well aware the ground re-development will be a long slog over the next 5-10 years.
My understanding is that the FAI own united park from the last time Drogs went bust. The deal is that Drogs can keep the bulk of any sale money so long as it goes towards a new stadium.
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The FAI own 100% of Utd Pk, also they have a clause in the deeds that it cant be sold until Drogs have been re-located (and playing) in another location.
Quite a smart move by the fai you have to say, as I think they purchased it for a nominal figure in the early 90's, and at least this clause protects the long term future of football in drogs.
As far as i know it was bought for £40,000. I remember a few years ago someone telling me that there was a deal that the drogs could buy it back at the price that the FAI paid for it as long as it was being used for football. Not sure if thats true or not
If the FAI own the stadium and Drogheda are just tenants, is it not at least partly the FAI's responsibility to keep it up to licensing requirements?
Last edited by Philly; 14/03/2007 at 2:29 PM.
Spot on. We pay something like 40-60k back to the FAI and keep the remaining money providing it is used for a football stadium. Pretty fair when you think of it
There was a meeting of east meath cc this morning and the motion to prepare the local area plan for the Drogheda environs as a matter of urgency was passed unanimously. Its the first step buts its encouraging.
http://dominichannigan.blogspot.com/
Hunky Dorys Park - could be worse, we could be going to Old Trafford every other week
Does Rule 42 not just apply to Croker?
Right, this still doesn't add up.
You are sitting on high value urban land worth many millions which you only have to pay 40k to buyback.
Why do you need to build 5,000 houses to fund a stadium development?
The Drogs are not building the houses. The developer is building them. Part of the entire plan is to build the stadium and associated sporting village. The stadium will then belong to the Drogs and United Park will belong to the developer (with the FAI getting their few quid).
Its very similar to the Bohs deal except the cost of the stadium is apparently the value of United Park. For Bohs the cost of building the stadium is far less than the value of Dalyer hence the additional money.
Hunky Dorys Park - could be worse, we could be going to Old Trafford every other week
It doesnt matter anyway as its a club side that owns the gaelic grounds not Louth GAA.
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