Players Meeting?

[Drogman.]

Completely objective point of view:

Fair play to Drogs fans for all their efforts, a lot of credit is due to them.

BUT

These players are FULL TIME PROFESSIONALS. They have held up their end of their contract by attending training and playing matches. The club's end of the contract was to pay them the agreed salary. I

If the club could not guarantee payment of this, why enter into the contract in the first place?

Let's put it into context....

Mr X works for company Y.

His contract is for 50,000 euro per year. He only recieves 45000 of this. The company go bust.

Drogheda will go bust and it will be good enough for the idiots running it. I mean what did Hoey and Byrne think was going to happen is Plan A didn't work out?

The angel fcuking Gabriel????


No disrespect intended to the ordinary fans

That's fair enough, and that opinion has been expressed a number of times by fans, like me, who have been attending the meetings with the club over the past 4/5 weeks.

Now the current board of directors will not be running the club next season if we survive, and that has been made clear to us.

At the moment, we're not concerned about what was done wrong in the past, that'll be for another day to review, we are just concerned about saving the club and then working on building a sound foundation that will last long into the future.

So can everyone who wants to bitch about the board please let it go, as you all sound like a broken record at this stage. The issue has been dealt with and now saving the club is the priority.

[Juanace]

Looks like your close to done.

http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2009/...hlonetown.html

[ndrog]

more nonsense reporting , there was no squad members at the meeting last night whatsoever

[OneRedArmy]

Is the money to the Revenue available to be paid?

If you haven't even raised that yet what the players will or won't settle for is immaterial.

Hard to escape the view, as expressed on here by many posters, that you have wasted 4 weeks that could've productively been used to start from scratch again.

[passerrby]

So this is above any wish for Monaghan United to do well or for you and your family to have good health and happiness.

Your dearest wish is for a football club to go under.....

Weird.. Well actually its incredible.

I have many a wish amoung them is peace on earth goodwill to all men Except galway and also that clubs with a puffed up idea of themselves go puff and if you bothered to print the rest of the line you would have undestood me which is bad management will see you club go bust full stop with no get out clauses then and only then will clubs stop spending what the cant afford
i would have thought a football supp would have understood that .. then again maybe not
also seeing a league of Ireland club go under can be seen as a healthy thing and not like wishing the pox on someone ,drogs will return stronger and more wiser or have you not heard of the circle of life ....i think its on dvd

[Drogman.]

Is the money to the Revenue available to be paid?

If you haven't even raised that yet what the players will or won't settle for is immaterial.

Hard to escape the view, as expressed on here by many posters, that you have wasted 4 weeks that could've productively been used to start from scratch again.

Well the money available is what we have at the moment, so a portion of that will go towards paying the revenue among others.

The examimer still has to do his scheme of arrangement based upon what is available, so that is what was happening this morning and what the outcome of that will be, I don't know but I'm not holding my breath.

[Mr A]

Statement:

Statement from The Drogheda United Emergency Committee
on 06 Jan 2009 03:01 by TC
Tuesday, January 6th, 2009.





The Drogheda United Emergency Committee met on Monday January 5th 2009 to discuss the Examinership process involving Drogheda United football Club.



The Committee, having canvassed opinion widely among supporters and contributors to the emergency fund, decided tht they had no option but to again offer the club�s players the previous financial settlement that was rejected on Friday January 2nd 2009.



This decision was arrived at by the Committee based in the knowledge that no other funding is available to the club other than that raised by fans and the people of the town and surrounding areas by general appeal since the Public Meeting held on December 3rd 2008.




The committee representative Dermot Mc Kenna spoke with Stephen Mc Guinness of the PFAI this morning to further explain that this money has come from general fundraising and donations by the fans and friends of Drogheda United. He also stated �it is not possible to increase this offer in any way and to do so would jeopardise the chances of Drogheda United�s future participation in the League of Ireland�.

The Emergency Committee have set a deadline for acceptance of 5pm tomorrow evening and is asking the players to seriously consider the terms of the offer.


Jim McArdle

[higgins]

Can anyone answer me why the option of paying the players what they are owed over a longer timeframe isn't been looked into ?

At Shels we paid all the players back over time.
Players will accept this!! ,,, they have to

[Schumi]

The players are quoted in today's Times as saying that they'd accept the current offer if they got more money over the next year or so. Whether Drogheda will have enough money next season to pay them is another matter.

[higgins]

Well that is Droghedas problem for making silly agreements.

They should be made to pay back everything that is owed over the next few seasons and except the problems that go along with that i.e. your expenditure will be restricted over the coming seasons.

I think it's called tough sh!t...

[Drogman.]

Well that is Droghedas problem for making silly agreements.

They should be made to pay back everything that is owed over the next few seasons and except the problems that go along with that i.e. your expenditure will be restricted over the coming seasons.

I think it's called tough sh!t...

That's been looked at already, however, there are couple of problems associated with that.

1) The money will not be available next season to fund the club AND pay off outstanding debts for a couple more years. It's simply not there, and we'll be in the same boat next season with no money to pay players because of the debt involved. I know it is tough sh*t, but at the end of the day, it won't be tough sh*t when the club dies. Some money will have to be carried over and paid off over time, however not the massive amounts the players are looking for.

2) One of the players "digging his heels" in for the full amount is a player who was trying to tap up players during the season to join a rival club. Do you honestly think that this guy deserves to get his full wages?

The majoirty of the players are in favour of taking what their offered now and going. There are only 3/4 players who are looking for more. Now in most unions I would expect a ballot to be carried out among the members and if the majority vote in favour then that is passed.

That doesn't seem to be case with this. The PFAI seem to be only representing a minority of their members and not all their members.

[Louth4sam]

That's been looked at already, however, there are couple of problems associated with that.

1) The money will not be available next season to fund the club AND pay off outstanding debts for a couple more years. It's simply not there, and we'll be in the same boat next season with no money to pay players because of the debt involved. I know it is tough sh*t, but at the end of the day, it won't be tough sh*t when the club dies. Some money will have to be carried over and paid off over time, however not the massive amounts the players are looking for.

If the 210k is spread out over 5 years that would be 1400 per week. Surly it would be better to reduce the playing budget by 1400 for 5 years than to have no club at all

[holidaysong]

The money will not be available next season to fund the club AND pay off outstanding debts for a couple more years. It's simply not there, and we'll be in the same boat next season with no money to pay players because of the debt involved. I know it is tough sh*t, but at the end of the day, it won't be tough sh*t when the club dies. Some money will have to be carried over and paid off over time, however not the massive amounts the players are looking for.

Go amateur next year and pay off the players the money they are owed instead of going and paying new players.

[Drogman.]

To reply to the 2 post above.

The players will only accept a structured amount over a number of years unless they get a certain amount up front. It's either that or they don't accept. What they are looking for over a number of years is not worth going down. If it was reduced then it could be looked at but this is why were at this stand off.

The team will be semi-pro/amateur next season, if we survive. No doubt about it. Some costs will have to be given to the players, but it'll be nothing compared to the crazy money that was being paid out over the last few years.

I have and will ask again that any new management board includes a strong supporters representative so that the clubs affairs can be monitored closely, and this debacle not happen again.

[holidaysong]

The players will only accept a structured amount over a number of years unless they get a certain amount up front. It's either that or they don't accept. What they are looking for over a number of years is not worth going down. If it was reduced then it could be looked at but this is why were at this stand off.

I can understand why the players refused €90k to wipe out a €300k debt completely, but €90k up front with the rest to follow over 5 years would seem only fair and could surely be sorted out somehow, perhaps even delaying payments for one season. It's a weak excuse for the club to refuse the players what is owed to them because they will need the money to run the club next year.. If I was a player I'd probably call their bluff in the hope that the directors bail the club out rather than see it go under.

The team will be semi-pro/amateur next season, if we survive. No doubt about it. Some costs will have to be given to the players, but it'll be nothing compared to the crazy money that was being paid out over the last few years.

I have and will ask again that any new management board includes a strong supporters representative so that the clubs affairs can be monitored closely, and this debacle not happen again.

That's good to hear at least.

[iceman]

Meeting with Players 07th January 2009
Statement 7th Jan 2009

At a Meeting at the FAI in Abbotestown today chaired by FAI CEO John Delaney a useful exchange of views took place and significant progress was made in our efforts to reach a settlement with the PFAI.

A new offer has been made to the players and at the request of the PFAI the deadine has been extended to allow consultation wih all the players to consider the new offer. The Club was represented at the meeting by Vincent Hoey and Dermot Mc Kenna while the PFAI delegation was headed up by Stephen Mc Guinness.

In further news Vincent Hoey stated "I have just received communication from the high court that the hearing has now been listed for the 22nd January which gives us more time to sort all issues out". He added "We are indebted to FAI CEO John Delaney for his efforts over the last few days and for facilitating this meeting".

[higgins]

That's been looked at already, however, there are couple of problems associated with that.

1) The money will not be available next season to fund the club AND pay off outstanding debts for a couple more years. It's simply not there, and we'll be in the same boat next season with no money to pay players because of the debt involved. I know it is tough sh*t, but at the end of the day, it won't be tough sh*t when the club dies. Some money will have to be carried over and paid off over time, however not the massive amounts the players are looking for.

2) One of the players "digging his heels" in for the full amount is a player who was trying to tap up players during the season to join a rival club. Do you honestly think that this guy deserves to get his full wages?

The majoirty of the players are in favour of taking what their offered now and going. There are only 3/4 players who are looking for more. Now in most unions I would expect a ballot to be carried out among the members and if the majority vote in favour then that is passed.

That doesn't seem to be case with this. The PFAI seem to be only representing a minority of their members and not all their members.

Are you serious here ?
OK I'll go through the points...

1) You owe players 300k. You have about 100k of this. Surely you can offer the other 200k over two seasons. Supporters trust and fundraising can easily get the 100k a year with some effort. You raised over 100k in the space of a few weeks.
You can easily do this... you're fooling nobody.

2) Yes he deserves his money. Drogheda signed the contract so that's that. Or else try to sack him if what he done was against the contract.

3) I take it each player is down as a creditor and you have to have all creditors with an agreement. You can't simply lump them together and take a vote.

[ndrog]

The player in question deservers fcukin nothing but a good slap .How would you feel about it if it was your club he did it to .And as far as sacking him goes there hands were tied and couldnt go down that road .

[higgins]

Well it was my club at one stage and the players wanted all their money and deals were made to pay them all back over time.

You should agree to do likewise and stop trying to get out of this debt free!!

[Celdrog]

Well it was my club at one stage and the players wanted all their money and deals were made to pay them all back over time.

And its the same boys again. Pity you paid them a couple of years ago


Tell me, when did you finish paying them or is it still going?

And I agree with ndrog, Stuey Byrne should have been fired on the spot (I don't understand why he wasn't) and Pat Fenlon hit with a huge fine.