Drogheda not able to pay their players

**Claret Murph** · 10/10/2008, 8:28 AM

Originally Posted by HarpoJoyce

Posters are responding to Drogheda realigning there finances and budgeting.
You are the first to use the B-word on this thread.

And the truth shall make you free.

Jee whiz HarpoJoyce you sound a bit like the Chinese Communist party

**sligored** · 10/10/2008, 8:38 AM

Originally Posted by dcfcsteve

A couple of observations on the unravelling of Eircom League club's finances :

1) There is nothing inherently wrong with the concept of full-time football.
- Paying players wages that you can afford is still full-time football.
- Paying players wages you can't afford - or that are 100% ncontingent upon the fortunes of other people (e.g. property developers) or other schemes (e.g. land re-zoning, court cases) - over which you have limited or zero control, is what is wrong.
- There is no reason why we can't have full-time clubs paying wages that they CAN afford (except, that is, for my next point).

2) It all began with Ollie Byrne (RIP) and thr property boom
- The reason why a series of clubs have been paying wages they couldn't afford for the last 4-5 years can be traced back to Shelbourne earlier this decade.
- They were the first club to 'raise the bar' of Irish football - in other words to throw money at players, secure the best ones, and buy the league.
- In the process, they did indeed lift the level of football in Ireland, by luring back players from England etc. But it was a house of carsd, and led to their (and Ollie's) demise.
- The last time this money was thrown at players to buy success in Ireland was in the late 1980's at Derry City : the difference being that City could afford to pay way more than anyone else at that time.
- For the 10-15 years following, Irish football didn't go silly on wages (and suffered in Europe etc as a result...).
- That changed when the property boom led Ollie Byrne to twig that his club were sitting on a pile of property cash; which then led him to forward-spend large chunks of it to buy success by paying wages beyong the reach of other clubs.
- Where Shels led, other clubs followed. The genie was out of the bottle - the wages version of an 'arms race' had infected Irish football, and given the limited revenues within the game, it was always going to end in teras for most if not all clubs.

3) There's a reason why Drogheda were consistently unsuccessful for 42 years.
- That reason is because they are a club in a relatively small town that has no strong footballing tradition/culture.
- Hence :whilst pretty much every club in the league from a larger urban area and/or a town with a soccer tradition experienced success in the years since Drogs joined in 1963 (Athlone, Waterford, Sligo, Galway, Dundalk, Limerick, Cork, Derry) success eluded them fior 42 years. In a fairly fluid league like ours, there is usually a reason when silverware eludes you for a whopping 42 years.

Just a few observations. I await the outrageous slings and arrows from Drogs and Shels fans.....

great post steve. full of hometruths.

seandrog , your idea of better to have tried and fail than not try at all is what has put the league in the situation it is in. Spend money you hope to have, enjoy two seasons send your club to the wall and be happy with your lot. i would expect more from a real drogs fan.

IMO The only way forward is to set a say 50-55% salary cap based on the previous years actual gate reciepts and this to be reviewed if a clubs circumstances change eg relegation, promotion or reverting to part time/full time. People on here were saying this at the start of the last 2 seasons about the dependence on developers and sponsorship being reckless has come home to roost. This is what the fai done wrong but the clubs including sligo bohs cork galway and harps were a little bit envious and tried their own little bit of living beyond their means. Beware pats before you fall into this trap also.

**sonofstan** · 10/10/2008, 8:43 AM

Seriously, I feel sorry for Drogheda fans; the last two seasons have been glorious for them, and to have it disappear at a stroke is tough. And I can't really view the whole thing without the uneasy feeling - a fact alluded to gleefully by many on here - that we could be next. My hope is this; at this stage the only full time sides left next year will be us, Pat's and Derry; with a large pool of players chasing a smaller number of contracts, a certain sanity might return to wage levels.

**bohs til i die** · 10/10/2008, 8:45 AM

Originally Posted by SkStu

it doesnt - its like the half time raffle at a game in
dalyer. Fun and a small wedge of cash for the winner but purely filler for the main show...

on a more serious note, best of luck to Drogs in the future (despite all the garbage this week towards Bohs). Anyone who thinks this is good in any wa for the league is a small minded moron.

I disagree. I think this is great for the league. The only way the mentality will change is if clubs are forced into serious change. Drogheda were seen as the next great hope when the directors were throwing cash about the place. Other clubs, including Bohs, wanted to keep up. Drogheda will probably spend 25-30% more on squad alone this year but will finsih miles behind us.

IMO Bohs have a squad that will cost �1.6 million but is only really worth �1.1/1.2 million. The days of players costing clubs over �1250 a week (total cost to club) has to come to an end if full time football is to be made viable.

I dont know about other club's income but I do know a bit about the income at Bohs and I think a sustainable full time setup can be achieved if it is done right and the club is run properly.

The only way full time football can survive in this country is if clubs are run by people who exist in reality and not in some fantasy football bubble.

**Angus** · 10/10/2008, 8:51 AM

Until we accept that there simply is not enough people in ireland willing to show up to football each week to justify a professional league - End of.

Even if the standard improved - say it is mid League 1 or top League 2 at present - even if it improved to mid championship, there is not enough interest in soccer to justify the money

Sorry but outside of the fans, we are a nation of Match of the Day soccer fans

If only there was some organised fans forum or meeting where we could express this......

**redobit** · 10/10/2008, 8:54 AM

The LOI title comes at a cost!

**all drogged up** · 10/10/2008, 8:57 AM

here bohs tid - are you for real? Bohs current money is comning off the back of the prtoperty deal for dalyers - your crowds don't sustain your wage bill (which is admittedly probably less than drogs bill). Have you seen the direction of property prices? have you seen the tightening of credit? Have you ever heard of the word recession - there's as much chance of the Dalyer deal coming to fruition as there is of the Drogs new Stadium being built at this stage.

Ireland can support a full time league - but we need facilities, more quality players and then the fans will come - drogs tried put team then stadium in place. Planners stopped it - directors couldn't afford to cover overflows anymore. End of!

When a club goes bust not only does it drag the average level down of the entire league it's also demoralising for everyone in the LoI (except P Stu and a few others)

btw someone said Drogheda's lack of success was down to it being a small town - it's been second to dundalk or first in terms of population size in Ireland for most of the existence of the league with only Dublin Cork Limerick Galway and Waterford bigger again.

**bohs til i die** · 10/10/2008, 9:06 AM

Originally Posted by all drogged up

here bohs tid - are you for real? Bohs current money is comning off the back of the prtoperty deal for dalyers - your crowds don't sustain your wage bill (which is admittedly probably less than drogs bill). Have you seen the direction of property prices? have you seen the tightening of credit? Have you ever heard of the word recession - there's as much chance of the Dalyer deal coming to fruition as there is of the Drogs new Stadium being built at this stage.

Ireland can support a full time league - but we need facilities, more quality players and then the fans will come - drogs tried put team then stadium in place. Planners stopped it - directors couldn't afford to cover overflows anymore. End of!

When a club goes bust not only does it drag the average level down of the entire league it's also demoralising for everyone in the LoI (except P Stu and a few others)

btw someone said Drogheda's lack of success was down to it being a small town - it's been second to dundalk or first in terms of population size in Ireland for most of the existence of the league with only Dublin Cork Limerick Galway and Waterford bigger again.

Read what I said again. I said I think Bohs can sustain a wage bill of approx �1.1/�1.2 million if the club was run properly. I am not including any money from the sale of Dalymount in this.

If you assume our wage bill is slightly higher then it was last year, thats a drop of approx �400k. If the club was run more efficiently and the marketing of games was taken seriously we could increase our income significantly too.

Our crowds dont sustain our wage bill, I never said they did. I also know that currently we are surviving off the back of the sale of the ground.

The problem with investors in football clubs is once they get bored and stop signing the cheques to prop the whole thing up the clubs are fukk'd

**gufct** · 10/10/2008, 9:33 AM

BTID your current wage bill is "allegedly" �2.3m and that doesnt include your management,Coaching and Admin wages. Derry will not be fulltime next season and pats are looking at unsustainable losses for this year as well.

The bubble has well and truly burst for el players and never mind a wage cap id say there is going to be a wages ceiling put in for next season and any club that breaks it well be turfed out immediately. Can see one league for next 4/5 years until this mess is sorted.

**Duffman** · 10/10/2008, 9:35 AM

Originally Posted by SeanDrog

IMO we should now fold rather than revert and regress, we tried it all and we ultimately failed but at least we have some great memories. Couldnt face partime football back in the doldrums and potentially playing sides who are tenants of a college rugby side - I can go to leinster senior league and watch Boyne Rovers or Drogheda Town if that is the level of our expectations.

Just out of interest, how long have you been following DUFC? I can't believe that any fan would take the line that its better not to have their club in existance. Hope its just disappointment on your part, it would be a sad day for DUFC to cease to exist.

**WindmillWarrior** · 10/10/2008, 9:38 AM

Originally Posted by Duffman

Just out of interest, how long have you been following DUFC? I can't believe that any fan would take the line that its better not to have their club in existance. Hope its just disappointment on your part, it would be a sad day for DUFC to cease to exist.

Damn right, snap the f*ck out of it Sean

**Dodge** · 10/10/2008, 9:45 AM

Originally Posted by gufct

pats are looking at unsustainable losses for this year as well

Pats are well up on budgetted income.

**bohs til i die** · 10/10/2008, 9:45 AM

Originally Posted by gufct

BTID your current wage bill is "allegedly" �2.3m and that doesnt include your management,Coaching and Admin wages. Derry will not be fulltime next season and pats are looking at unsustainable losses for this year as well.

The bubble has well and truly burst for el players and never mind a wage cap id say there is going to be a wages ceiling put in for next season and any club that breaks it well be turfed out immediately. Can see one league for next 4/5 years until this mess is sorted.

Who says our wage bill is 2.3 million?

When Fenlon took over, he signed Byrne and Konopka. Brennan and Oman had already been signed and he wasnt allowed to sign anybody else until he offloaded players. I'd be amazed if our wage bill is anywhere near 2.3 million.

**Knappagh Red** · 10/10/2008, 9:49 AM

Well Harpel Singh is on 2000 a week and he's only a reserve

**bohs til i die** · 10/10/2008, 9:51 AM

Originally Posted by Knappagh Red

Well Harpel Singh is on 2000 a week and he's only a reserve

I seriously doubt that.

**Straightstory** · 10/10/2008, 9:57 AM

Originally Posted by dcfcsteve;
[U

3) There's a reason why Drogheda were consistently unsuccessful for 42 years.[/U]
- That reason is because they are a club in a relatively small town that has no strong footballing tradition/culture.

Absurd, factually inaccurate, untrue and actually rather insulting.

**Dodge** · 10/10/2008, 10:01 AM

Don't worry about it. Steve has a hard on for complaining about "towns". He rubbishes every non city team at every availabel oppurtunity. Conveniently forgetting about the likes of Dundalk and Athlone.

**headtheball** · 10/10/2008, 10:04 AM

Originally Posted by gufct

BTID your current wage bill is "allegedly" €2.3m and that doesnt include your management,Coaching and Admin wages. Derry will not be fulltime next season and pats are looking at unsustainable losses for this year as well.

The bubble has well and truly burst for el players and never mind a wage cap id say there is going to be a wages ceiling put in for next season and any club that breaks it well be turfed out immediately. Can see one league for next 4/5 years until this mess is sorted.

Derry City are remaining full time next season.

**WindmillWarrior** · 10/10/2008, 10:07 AM

Originally Posted by Straightstory

Absurd, factually inaccurate, untrue and actually rather insulting.

Damn right! Drogheda is bigger than some of the other towns he mentioned anyway - D*ndalk, Athlone, Sligo.

Drogheda have been very unlucky for years and years on the pitch, we've gotten to plenty of cup finals and semi finals over the years. Always made a balls of it though!