I agree with this, although it's worth noting that Harps and Sligs are ahead of us because they're overspending too, so you've got the same problem lower down the league too, whereas your post consigns it to the top four.
Edit - and on reflection, I don't think you're right to say the top four would be ahead of us regardless of spending. The last time Bohs and Pat's spent sensibly (and by that I mean running up a loss equivalent to half our turnover instead of three times our turnover) was in 2006, when we finished ahead of both. And we both recall what Drogheda were like before Hoey started pouring money in. In fact, the only team I don't recall finishing ahead of is Cork. So while I agree with the gist of your post, I don't agree with your summary dismissal of other clubs' spending as the cause of it, at least in part.
Your most recent accounts show a loan of E2.6m from one of Kelleher's company, so I think it is fair to say that if he goes, you're screwed. Best case is that you go back to the way you were (you can decide if that constitutes "screwed" for yourself!), worst case is you get lumped with a load of bills (PAYE arrears in particular) which you suddenly can't afford to pay.
Harsh; I think you've not taken Titan's point fully. We've four U-21 internationals in the team, and Brian King's better than any of them, for example. We have a couple of poor players; we've no "terrible, terrible" players. But Titan's point in part was that if clubs were spending sensible amounts, players would be asking for sensible wages and so we'd be able to afford a forward who would have us a few extra points. That's all. It's like the way Dublin City were able to outbid us for players, creating false wage inflation even at our level. We're clearly deservedly fighting relegation, but if the sillier clubs weren't bankrupting themselves signing forwards so that we can't afford them, we'd be better off.
As it happens, we'll probably go down, regroup, come top four next year, come up the year after and be back annoying people soon enough. Just like the last time.![]()
Bookmarks