What are the realities for next season??
Which clubs are genuinelly in danger of not being around??
Is anyone in danger of a Shels like relegation of a few years ago??
Its all so up in the air at the minute.It would be great if we had some sort of stability.
Only another 9 titles till Drogheda become pride of county louth!!!
Originally Posted by shep
I don't anyone knows to be honest. Going to be a very nervy 4 months thats for sure.
Never a dull moment. I can't see the FAI leaving any club going bust because there are so many that are close to doing so.
Let's hope this season has opened many eyes and next season will have some stability.
For all the latest League of Ireland news visit www.extratime.ie
This season could be a watershed for the LOI. With many clubs have financial problems (especially trying to get under the 65% wage cap), it might just mean we have a stronger LOI going forward. One thing is for certain, the days of the huge wages that some clubs were paying to players is gone. Something like three-quarters of all players are out of contract at clubs at the end of this season, so for the first time in a long time the clubs are holding the trump cards in relation to players wages. However, all it takes is for one club (ala Shels in the late 90's) to start throwing around the money again and the same thing will start over again.
Hopefully all clubs will have learned from this season and we will have a stronger, more level playing field going forward.
Bohs, Drogs, Shels (yes, shels!) in most serious danger at the minute
Thats what we all said after $hel$
Its the best league in the world by a mile. They should market it as a soap opera and we'd have worldwide viewing figures in the middle.
Seriously, there's no league like it
54,321 sold - wws will never die - ***
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4 months that can't end soon enough tbh..
The Model Club
Tell all the Bohs you know
that we've gone and won two-in-a-row
and it's not gonna be three
and it's not gonna be four
it's more likely to be 5-1.
You only have to look at it this way...Before the FAI took over the running of the league, what, last year or the year before...the clubs ran the league and nobody was in financial trouble or had scams(betting problems) or Teams being docked aload of points etc(except the odd time here or there)...now since they took over, most clubs have been reporting huge losses, had to take wage cuts,release players during mid season and the potential possibilty of at least 3 clubs not existing for the start of the 2009 season, and the loss of the main sponser of the major Irish competitions...Its the FAI....they havnt a clue, never have, and never will, and are making a further joke of Irish soccer!!
I say get them out and go back to the old regime!!
Summer soocer may it last!!!
The reason all of this is happening is because clubs are readjusting to the wage caps etc. It is a transitionary period and hopefully the mess at present will be tempory.
I don't think examniership or losing court cases has anything to do with the wage cap.
no it isn't really for them cases but for the likes of galway, harps, bray ... etc i think it is. granted galway at the least were sailing fairly close to the wind but the wage reductions and player releases were directly blamed on the wage cap.
however the cases of drogs, cork and bohs are directly problems related to overspending monies that just are'nt there. perhaps if these clubs were to only offer wages they could actually afford then they wouldn't find themselves in the situations they are.
i don't know where the league goes from here but i can't see how even the best players should be on more then €1,000 or absolute max €1,500 per week. considering clubs struggle to get 2,000 through the gates every two weeks (whats that about €15,000 per week!!!). Sponsorship is going to be harder to come by also in the coming seasons so a hard line has to be taken.
I'll agree with that alright, although with Galway being E300k in debt at the start of the season and trying for full time, many people here were predicting what happened well in advance, so I'd say while the wage cap pushed youz (and others) over the limit, it would have happened anyway.
You must be joking! Rovers, Shels and Dublin City had financial collapses every bit as big as any of the ones this year before the FAI took over and there have been points deducted for every one of the last 8, I think, seasons.
Last edited by Schumi; 07/11/2008 at 2:08 PM. Reason: forgot Dublin City
We're not arrogant, we're just better.
Reality bites for the clubs that will still be around next season. Full time football in ireland at present is not a runner. If one or two clubs with sugardaddies want to continue that way for a while let them be. For the rest, its back to part timers on season long contracts, and at a fraction of what went on before. I'd say 8-9 clubs in Premier will not have any player costing them in excess of 30,000 pa. In the first a lot of clubs will have a handful of pros probably costing no more 5,000 pa.
It had to come to this, and players will find it very hard being offered contracts at a fraction of their previous contracts, but players come and go, always do, clubs when they go, they don't come back, at least not in the EL.
afaik the club were at a nil balance from the previous season. any short comings from 2007 were taken care of by directors who underwrote any potential losses. nowhere near €300k though (open to correction on this but seriously this is the first time i heard we were 300k in arrears at the start of the season).
you have a point though in that going full time straight after "promotion"/election (questioned ad nausea by a lot of supporters) was hasty and in hindsight careless. however we coasted through our first year of full-time without much problems and it was in the second season we struggled.
this season the projected stream of revenue was reliant on increased crowds at increased prices on the back of promised improvements. even at that our budget of 1.5m (which has been curt drastically) is very modest in comparison to most clubs.
Looking forward to next season personally, hopefully it will be a more level playing field but who knows what might happen between now and March.
www.CRO.ie - you can get your accounts there and check for yourself.
afaik the club were at a nil balance from the previous season. any short comings from 2007 were taken care of by directors who underwrote any potential losses. nowhere near €300k though (open to correction on this but seriously this is the first time i heard we were 300k in arrears at the start of the season).
Probably pushing half a million of debt at this stage?
No i don't believe the FAI is the problem. What happened before is the clubs where being bailed out directors loans et al. That dodgy system now has been abolished thankfully. The clubs are the problem, they have to abide by the guidelines and keep the wage bill down so they should be able to use the remaining 35% to tackle o/s debt and improve facilities. I don't think we are out of the woods yet but players wages are going to plummet next season.You only have to look at it this way...Before the FAI took over the running of the league, what, last year or the year before...the clubs ran the league and nobody was in financial trouble or had scams(betting problems) or Teams being docked aload of points etc(except the odd time here or there)...now since they took over, most clubs have been reporting huge losses, had to take wage cuts,release players during mid season and the potential possibilty of at least 3 clubs not existing for the start of the 2009 season, and the loss of the main sponser of the major Irish competitions...Its the FAI....they havnt a clue, never have, and never will, and are making a further joke of Irish soccer!!
I say get them out and go back to the old regime!!
Summer soocer may it last!!!
The problem is the clubs and until they start running the clubs like businesses.
Elaborate on shels a little bit more please!
Long Live King Kenny
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