Drogheda not able to pay their players

[ColinR]

Can I genuinely ask why pretty much all Drogs fans are so unanimous in praise of Hoey et al? ...........how are the club going to pay the half million owed to Revenue in the next 12 months, for example

i don't know how many times people get told this, yet they still can't seem to understand. drogs fan back vincent becuase without him - the club would have folded on more than one occasion in the past. the last time we were in the **** - it was his own money that saved the club. (and previous occasions too). a supporter who does what he has done for the club deserves the respect and trust of the fans.

if vincent (and chris byrne & eugene o'connor) hadn't stepped in 5 years back, we would have gone to the wall then. it is not like they took over a well run football club and overreached and left it with nothing. they took over a club facing liquidation, gave it its best years of its life, gave people memories that they cherish. and if they walk away - well at the very least they have left the club in no worse a situation than when the found it!

yes - therir spending was unsustainable - but there was never a plan to continue spending that monry whilst the current income streams were maintained - only some idiots on foot.ie seem to believe that.

you can argue about the level of risk involved with the stadium project - the main loser is the three directors - they risked their own money, and lost their own money. the obsene level of 'political' opposition that the plans does create anger - as certain planning projects seem to get more scrutiny than others, and that is why the supporters blame the NRA, politicians etc etc.

if you compare the club's position now compared to when they took over and try and look for losers - the three directors are supposidly €12m down and are the only people left in a worse position compared to 5 years ago. everybody else involved has benefited more than they stand to lose now.

as regards the level of debt in the club - the last time i posted on here - you claimed the directors had passed a whole load of debt onto the club through their overspending. you were wrong then - as i pointed out that it was not in directors loan, as they had been transferred to shares. do you think there may be a possibility of you being wrong yet again - or our your sources certain this time!

[Straightstory]

they took over a club facing liquidation, gave it its best years of its life, gave people memories that they cherish. and if they walk away - well at the very least they have left the club in no worse a situation than when the found it!

I spent most of my childhood, my teenage years, and almost my entire my adult life dreaming about Drogheda winning either the Cup or League. They finally did both - thanks mostly to Vincent Hoey. My dreams came true.
At the end of the day which memories would I rather have - the glory of winning the Cup and the League - or the thought that my club was well run and didn't spend beyond it's means? Obviously, and without question, it's the joy of winning the two biggest trophies in Irish football - something which for most of my life was unimaginable.

Most likely the club will now go back to what it was like for most of the last forty five years: utilising part time players, hovering between the Premier and First division, and hoping for a good Cup run. Football, like life, has its ups and downs.

Were Vincent Hoey's and the other directors' efforts worth it?

Of course.

[pineapple stu]

drogs fan back vincent becuase without him - the club would have folded on more than one occasion in the past. the last time we were in the **** - it was his own money that saved the club.

That's all fair enough, but what he's done now is bring the club to its knees again. If you praise him for saving the club in the past, why continue that praise when he kills it again?

I'd argue that the club is in a much worse situation than it was five years ago (and this is speculation obviously).

the obsene level of 'political' opposition that the plans does create anger - as certain planning projects seem to get more scrutiny than others, and that is why the supporters blame the NRA, politicians etc etc.

But you can't go willy nilly building 5000 houses about the place - does no one in Drogheda seem to grasp this concept? Does no-one in Drogheda actually think that maybe the NRA were just doing their job?

as regards the level of debt in the club - the last time i posted on here - you claimed the directors had passed a whole load of debt onto the club through their overspending. you were wrong then - as i pointed out that it was not in directors loan, as they had been transferred to shares. do you think there may be a possibility of you being wrong yet again - or our your sources certain this time!

The money was initially in the form of a directors' loan. You then pointed out that it had been converted into shares, which was correct. The position had changed, so I accepted that fact.

In your last year accounts, for example, you were borderline solvent but owed Revenue E400-E500k. I think the assets in the club were something like the ground or some spurious player contract values; I can't remember. But the bottom line is that without the boys' money, what was a vaguely decent sum of money owed to Revenue is now a monumental sum. Revenue have problems with the league and the way it pays its tax - and rightly so - and won't let you off lightly on that, as Cork have found too. Where are you going to get E500k to pay them? This sum of money (and you can add moneys owed to Bohs, the rumours of moneys owed to Sligo, moneys owed in player wages, etc) is surely far in excess of the debts owed when the boys took over, so I don't know how you can claim the club is in no worse a position than five years ago. In addition, nearly a year has moved on since the last set of accounts - the boys were required to capitalise their loan for licencing last year; now that they don't care, who's to say they won't seek some of the money back?

I genuinely think Hoey is every bit a villian as Ollie Byrne was.

Most likely the club will now go back to what it was like for most of the last forty five years: utilising part time players, hovering between the Premier and First division, and hoping for a good Cup run

Most likely, the club will go to being a debt ridden First Division side with no real prospects of emerging in the near future, ultimately suffering a slow death in the graveyard. Like Shels. I honestly think the worst is yet to come for Drogheda.

Really wonder how any fan can think one league title is worth killing your club for.

[the-blue-harp]

we dont ask our players to take pay cuts we can pay ours!!

dont even start forza rovers, sligo's finances arent anything to boast about. sure ya can blackmail the people of sligo again next year to pay those inflated wages.

[Rovers1]

dont even start forza rovers, sligo's finances arent anything to boast about. sure ya can blackmail the people of sligo again next year to pay those inflated wages.

blackmail???

is that what they did to me!!!

screw this, im off to to follow Sellthick

[SMorgan]

... some spurious player contract values; I can't remember. ...

I don't know much about company accounts, but the listing of players contracts as assets did seem very strange to my untrained eye.

Okay, if another club wanted the players concerned or the players wanted to buy out their contracts they would have to pay the club the remaining value of the contract. But contract values appear to me to be a very theoretical asset that could never ever be realised. I'd nearly have put them down as a liability

[Celdrog]

Was the NRA's objection not based on the fact that the outer orbital route may start at the stadium, some time in the future and require a serious upgrade of the junction and not against a development of 5,000 houses - which isn't even in the planning application.

Or is Stu talking through his hole, as usual.

Mind you his words that the NRA will not permit this development will be a shock for An Bord Pleanala who actually have the final say.

Once again he compares Vincent Hoey to Ollie Byrne. One gambled the only asset his club had on the basis that would get into the CL group stages. every year. The other poured millions of his own money into securing a long term revenue stream that would support the club on an ongoing basis (a bit like having a big college as your mammy to give you enough pocket money to buy your sweets and comics)

And don't you just love how he knows the current liabilites of the Drogs - all based on supposition.

When we are bottom the first division we will still have 10 times the crowds UCD have with only a quarter of the people within a five mile radius as locals.

I'm going down SeanDrogs route and ignoring this gob****e from now on. Best of luck in the future Stu - hope you get relegated.

ColinR - great post, couldn't have explained it better myself.

[Poor Student]

When we are bottom the first division we will still have 10 times the crowds UCD have with only a quarter of the people within a five mile radius as locals.

You don't even have that now.

[higgins]

Most likely, the club will go to being a debt ridden First Division side with no real prospects of emerging in the near future, ultimately suffering a slow death in the graveyard. Like Shels.

Nice to see you think we're going places..

In 4 weeks time we could both be in different divisions!

[Celdrog]

You don't even have that now.

I'm excluding away fans (hence the five mile radius clarification). You only reach treble figures of paying punters due to away fans.

[pineapple stu]

Was the NRA's objection not based on the fact that the outer orbital route may start at the stadium, some time in the future and require a serious upgrade of the junction and not against a development of 5,000 houses - which isn't even in the planning application.

I remain suspicious of the roundabouts which were, as far as I'm aware, still in the final application.

When we are bottom the first division we will still have 10 times the crowds UCD have with only a quarter of the people within a five mile radius as locals.

Going to quote this for posterity.

Still amazed that people think Hoey's great. Rovers under Maguire had more success than in the past decade - league runners up, Cup semi finallists twice in a year (I think), relative success in Europe (Odra) and yet it ultimately went tits up in the same way youz have just done. Do Rovers fans admire Maguire for this, or do they realise how close he brought the club to extinction and despise him for that?

higgins - let's see how Shels do with no ground, no Rovers rent income and creditors still lodging judgements against the club, eh?

[Poor Student]

I'm excluding away fans (hence the five mile radius clarification). You only reach treble figures of paying punters due to away fans.

I know what you said and I stand by what I said. There's about 200 UCD regulars and you're not getting average attendances ten times that and you certainly wouldn't have anything approaching it in the first division let alone at the bottom even when you add in your conditions. Your comment is nothing more than petulant hysterical rambling.

[higgins]

higgins - let's see how Shels do with no ground, no Rovers rent income and creditors still lodging judgements against the club, eh?

We've had no ground for a few years now and are getting by just fine.
Rovers rent will go of course but then you take it out of the budget and of course cut the wages or else find that money from somewhere else. Promotion would be a big help!
Creditors will always go the judgment route. It's nothing major to be honest just a note to say they are owed money. Nobody has ever claimed there were no creditors waiting on cash. In fact I've said on here before that there are and that the list is fairly long and it adds up to millions.
However, that list is NOT growing and the total figure owed is NOT growing.

Slow death ?

You wish!!

[WindmillWarrior]

Mattock won the senior championship against the blues didn't they and the dreadnots won the intermediate and the Nicks won the juniors. Are they not roughly all drogheda teams.

No, certainly not!

[McLovin]

No, certainly not!

Windmill knows his gaa.He's a lover of all balls

[Cosmo]

IMO we should now fold rather than revert and regress,

Unbelievable statement to make!! Thankfully its not shared by any other Drogs I know!!

[ndrog]

No, certainly not!

The blues ( from drogheda) beat mattock ( from collon) .The blues are the most succesfull senior gaa team in the county if that means anything re Drogheda not being a football town , which it most definetly is FFS.

[SeanDrog]

Unbelievable statement to make!! Thankfully its not shared by any other Drogs I know!!

I wish to retract that gut reaction statement - it was made minutes after I heard the news. The thought of divison hopping, going to games hoping for a draw, being the whipping boys - all came flooding back in one sorry hour what a depressing day that was

Hopefully this time next year things will be a lot better - I can only presume we will be in the 1st as our ground will not allow a premier licence (and no new stadium on the horizon)

We will rise again.