FAI board rejects Cobh Ramblers’ proposal

[jamesd]

i dont agree with dropping a division, we can get 11 players to accept A league pay (if it exists) and play in the first, it wont be the first team weve had the last few years, the standard would be pretty poor,


lads we have financial trouble, the best way to solve it is to make as much money as you can, and that means playing as high a standard of football possible,


rams72 is right we need to move on this as soon as possible, we need to start fundraising, and get the 400 club up and running, and also why cant more people stop by the clubhouse, thats the best way to get money into the club at the moment

Don hang on a sec, check the text first on RTE. The Chairman has been quoated as saying that the Club in Finanically Secure!!

What in God's name are we now listening to?? First the Chairman rams home the proposal to the members and now he says he was never really hopeful of success with the FAI!!

While all the time everyone has been taking pot shots at the Friends of Cobh Ramblers, the Chairman has been putting his plan in place to take us out of League of Ireland.

Any Chairman that would suggest going down a division is good for the club is NO Leader and only proves more so how useless the entire committee are in not having their house in order to secure the Licence.

[rambler14]

Were not financially sound that statement today was a crock of sh!t!

We have at least €500,000 debt!

[jamesd]

Were not financially sound that statement today was a crock of sh!t!

We have at least €500,000 debt!

R14, I couldn't agree more with you. I have to admit I was shocked to read the damn thing on teletext and again in the press!!

My fear now is that the suppliers will also have read it and now come knocking on the door looking for their money. And you know something, I woudn't blame them!!

The other thing that annoys me, is that with all the apparent grief over the having the last EGM and vote, the Chairman now tells the media that he never really believed that the FAI would agree in the first place!!

[gael353]

lads can i ask

(A) how much of the debt was there before the present chariman came into being?

(B) when you got to the premier division, whos idea was it to double the playing budget (of what was a first division team) was it the chairman alone or was it a management committee/members?

[Ram72]

The other thing that annoys me, is that with all the apparent grief over the having the last EGM and vote, the Chairman now tells the media that he never really believed that the FAI would agree in the first place!!

Well if he had his doubts about the proposal being accepted he should have had a plan B in place.
I think it is time now for the chairman to come out and tell us members what plan he has now to save the club.
The creditors are looking for their money and they are not going to wait much longer for the club to get it's house in order. And if they push for their money they will end up just closing the club and selling it.

[theboywonder]

Don hang on a sec, check the text first on RTE. The Chairman has been quoated as saying that the Club in Finanically Secure!!

What in God's name are we now listening to?? First the Chairman rams home the proposal to the members and now he says he was never really hopeful of success with the FAI!!

While all the time everyone has been taking pot shots at the Friends of Cobh Ramblers, the Chairman has been putting his plan in place to take us out of League of Ireland.

Any Chairman that would suggest going down a division is good for the club is NO Leader and only proves more so how useless the entire committee are in not having their house in order to secure the Licence.

Jamesd, the amount of sh*t you spout on about why dont you go on the commitee and sort it all out, no one wants to drop a league but its better than nothing at all, do us all a favour and pi*s off elsewhere please

[Ram72]

Jamesd, the amount of sh*t you spout on about why dont you go on the commitee and sort it all out, no one wants to drop a league but its better than nothing at all, do us all a favour and pi*s off elsewhere please

It is this kind of attitude that we can do without. Everyone is entitled to their view.
I would agree with Jamesd on this because it feels like the membership have been taken for a long walk off a very short pier by our chairman.

[rambler14]

I'm a Ramblers fan get me out of here!

[Redshanks]

I agree with the above, that the Chairmans last statement is confusing and he has some answers to give the members on Sunday. But I seem to remember the other day when the bad news broke that everyone, especially Jamesd, called for people to pull together and to not enter into the blame game.
I agreed with that approach, even though I and many others knew that Jamesd and Co. were really saying, dont blame the FOCRs for all their interference by legal communication with the FAI. Its incredible for anyone to say now that their actions had no part to play in the FAI's final decision.
Far be it for me to defend or try to make sens of the chairmans public statements, but i do know that what he did say, was that he always expected it to be rejected once the Focrs went legal with the FAI.
As for the club now being secured, I can only guess that he knows something the rest of us dont, and maybe on Sunday we'll get to find out!

[jamesd]

I agree with the above, that the Chairmans last statement is confusing and he has some answers to give the members on Sunday. But I seem to remember the other day when the bad news broke that everyone, especially Jamesd, called for people to pull together and to not enter into the blame game.
I agreed with that approach, even though I and many others knew that Jamesd and Co. were really saying, dont blame the FOCRs for all their interference by legal communication with the FAI. Its incredible for anyone to say now that their actions had no part to play in the FAI's final decision.
Far be it for me to defend or try to make sens of the chairmans public statements, but i do know that what he did say, was that he always expected it to be rejected once the Focrs went legal with the FAI.
As for the club now being secured, I can only guess that he knows something the rest of us dont, and maybe on Sunday we'll get to find out!

Red, I am entitled to my point of view and all I am responding to is the Press Release sent out by the FAI and more so the comments of the Chairman. The Chairman did say "That for the FAI to get involved with one club, it would set a precedence"

Look, over the past months and weeks, we have all been engaged in mud slinging and trying to shout the loudest fighting for what we all thought was right.

I for my part, accepted the democratic decision of the members to accept the proposal. But would be it have been too much to ask for honesty from the Chairman if he always believed, as he stated to the press, that he had doubts as to whether the proposal would get the green light from the FAI??

All this time spent arguing has only been wasted time, time that could have been spent by the entire membership rowing together to do everything possible to raise the necessery funds to save the club. But as appears now, the Chairman has been keeping his eggs in one basket only.

We can't be worse off now, so perhaps it is time to give FOCR the chance to do something. If they really believe that they can come up with a plan to keep us in League of Ireland football, then no stone should be left unturned to assist them. However time is running out and action needs to be taken now.

[Redshanks]

Now Jamesd, you are not being entirely honest there, You have once again refused to accept or even acknowledged what was done to scupper the deal by the people you are now saying should be given a chance.

They had a chance to show us all, what eggs were in their basket. I am not going to speak for the chairman but myself, and I was one of two people who promoted the FAI deal in an open letter to every member, and I can honestly say, there was no other deal in town, except the socalled focr one which they blatantly refused to show the rest of us their deal (Boycott remember).

Its very easy now to blame the person they all hate and wanted removed anyway, but dont tell me that they had no part in the FAI's decision. We all know they sent a delegation to Dublin and met with Delaney, so spare us the innocence. They were a disgrace, and should be ashamed to call themselves members, let alone friends of any club.

You say they should be given a chance now, so let them prove how genuine they are by putting their money on the table (no preconditions), and the rest of us members can democratically decide if our chairman has a future running our club, or not.

Interesting to note that you didnt wait long before you flip-flopped on your own call to unite and not start the blame game Jamesd. But you are right about one thing Jamesd -you are entitled to your opinion -and thats what we are all doing here!

[jamesd]

Now Jamesd, you are not being entirely honest there, You have once again refused to accept or even acknowledged what was done to scupper the deal by the people you are now saying should be given a chance.

They had a chance to show us all, what eggs were in their basket. I am not going to speak for the chairman but myself, and I was one of two people who promoted the FAI deal in an open letter to every member, and I can honestly say, there was no other deal in town, except the socalled focr one which they blatantly refused to show the rest of us their deal (Boycott remember).

Its very easy now to blame the person they all hate and wanted removed anyway, but dont tell me that they had no part in the FAI's decision. We all know they sent a delegation to Dublin and met with Delaney, so spare us the innocence. They were a disgrace, and should be ashamed to call themselves members, let alone friends of any club.

You say they should be given a chance now, so let them prove how genuine they are by putting their money on the table (no preconditions), and the rest of us members can democratically decide if our chairman has a future running our club, or not.

Interesting to note that you didnt wait long before you flip-flopped on your own call to unite and not start the blame game Jamesd. But you are right about one thing Jamesd -you are entitled to your opinion -and thats what we are all doing here!

Red, firstly I am not aware of any delegations going to the FAI. All I am aware of is what the FAI decided and their reasons for making the decision they made. Like it or not, we have to respect it.

You talk about the members democratically deciding whether the Chairman has a future or not.

Any member, Chairman or otherwise who comes out to the media and says the club is financially sound is living in a dream world. This can only cause anger amongst creditors who have been waiting very patiently to be paid and also sends the wrong signals to the FAI.

The bottom line here is that the Chairman and his supporters went cap in hand to the FAI to bail us out and hopefully no questions would be asked of why we are where we are. Its amazing what people will do to hold on to power.

But alas, none of this is helping to save the club and as long as you continue to make demands of those who want to help save the club, then we are going no where.

I personally couldn't care less who is in charge of Cobh Ramblers provided they are people with a vision for the future of staying in League of Ireland football and not the current crop who admit they wouldn't have an issue in dropping out!!

Interesting really when you consider that the current regime wants to do what ye have all been accusing the FOCR of wanting all along!!

[don ramo]

the FAI deal was suppered by the friends, why is it unfair for the FAI to help us when they done the exact same for bray a few years ago,

who would go near the thing with people like ****** and friends threating legal action, if the FAI buy our ground,

and james you and your friends had yer chance to come before us members and you treated us like dirt at least the chairman had the decency to show up for meetings he was asked to show for,

and by financially sound im sure he means that were capable of turning a profit, which makes more sense than financially sound being debth free, and the club is finanacially sound with the systems in place, we are capable of turning a profit this year and that is more likely what he meant,

[pcplod]

well said DR I think people have to read between the lines a bit when taking all this in and hopefully we will all have a clearer view come sunday, It will be interesting to see if the FOCRS can manage to turn up to this meeting my bet will be yes as they will be trying to use it to their advantage and start another big row. I bet id get a real small price in the bookies for them to turn up and cos trouble.

[Redshanks]

Its hard to take you serious when you say Jamesd -you couldnt care whos in charge, when you have spent months attacking the current committee, and the FAI deal before it was even voted on. Yes they went to the FAI with with cap in hand Jamesd but they were up against others from Cobh who went there with solicitors letter in hand. (and Yes as I'm sure you knew they met Delaney seprately).
It was easy for you to say you respected the vote afterwards, when your friends had already scuppered it Jamesd.
You still havnt answered my question Jamesd -Will you now call on your friends to step up with their war chest and help keep us in League of Ireland Football -without preconditions -Or was this their game plan all along -criple the club by scuppering the only (FAI) deal and then try to take control of the club by default?

[marty]

You say the chairman meant we can turn a profit but also said something about dropping down a division,how can we make any money in the A league?? While I agree with some of the stuff said from both sides it has all come tumbling down around us now we must be the laughing stock of the whole league--and if anyone thinks we will have people at games next year its madness supporters like myself are losing patience with the club in general--though I may still attend games none of the lads with me lastyear will and there wont be a chance of me supporting the club financially if this pity of a board who are caught in headlights aren"t removed

[jamesd]

the FAI deal was suppered by the friends, why is it unfair for the FAI to help us when they done the exact same for bray a few years ago,

who would go near the thing with people like jamesd and friends threating legal action, if the FAI buy our ground,

and james you and your friends had yer chance to come before us members and you treated us like dirt at least the chairman had the decency to show up for meetings he was asked to show for,

and by financially sound im sure he means that were capable of turning a profit, which makes more sense than financially sound being debth free, and the club is finanacially sound with the systems in place, we are capable of turning a profit this year and that is more likely what he meant,

With respect Don, I would ask you to withdraw the highlighted remark above. I have never threatened anyone or the club at any time on anything.

And I repeat again, I am not now or have I ever been part of FOCR or any other grouping within the club.

If the FAI are so inflenced by FOCR then they shouldn't be there in the first place.

But again all of this is a mere smoke screen by people who want to hold on to power no matter what the cost. People here would rather divide the club than unite it and I for one don't believe ye will ever unite it.

Sad to say that everyone, myself included, is too caught up in personalities rather than on keeping Cobh Ramblers in League of Ireland Football.

The FAI have made their decision so live with it and move on.

[don ramo]

well james you have never said anything on here that wasnt on the friends mandate, for someone who had there own side yours looks very much like the friends side, its kind of hard for 2 seperate entities, who have exactly the same interests not to be in line with each other,

doesnt make sense to me or anyone else on this forum, and as far as were all concerned you are a friend guilty untill proven innocent im afraid,





the thing is if barry were to step down, whos to say the next person will do better, itll take them half a year to get ready to take on the issues, so ill just repeat myself saying we need a CEO and an accountant, and dedicated people willing to help fundraise for the club,

[Redshanks]

Well it was always a question of who would start the blame game first. And Jamesd does Blame well.
From what i could see, 83 of the 91 people who showed up to vote for the FAI deal, did so because there was no other offer on the table, or in the room (BOYCOTT), most genuine members went there to see what the focr's had to offer.

I for one suspected all along that the focr proposal was a load of hot air with little substance. I and 22 other members summoned the EGM (not the chairman or committee) to allow the members to hear the focr proposal and to vote again on the FAI proposal. The focrs appeared to confirm my earlier suspicions with their organised and delibrate boycott.

So all that was left, was the FAI proposal. We now know what happened to the FAI proposal by other club members and former members. Could anyone really imagine that happening with any other club in the country?

So here we are facing into A League football. If someone or some group is to be blamed for this, who should it be? Those who put a proposal together and gave it their best shot with the FAI, or those who used every trick in the book (legal and otherwise) to make sure it would be rejected?

The focrs refused to produce the goods when their bluff was called. They may still insist next sunday that they have some money. €100,000 maybe only €50,000 or just €20,000. But let no-one have any doubts but they deprived the club of a good deal which would have secured it €500,000.

I have no illusions why and who is responsible for us facing into a season of A League football, and I have a sneaking feeling there is a lot more to be revealed about that FAI story yet!

[jamesd]

Why can't people accept the FAI decision for what it is??? The FAI made it clear on an issue of licencing but also suggested they would be open to financial support post licencing. It can't be clearer than that.

From reading tonight's Evening Echo, the figures just seem to get bigger all the time and one wonders just what €500 k would have done. Now we are in debt to the tune of €750 k. Can anyone at all explain why we owe this amount in the first place??

Everyone is quick to blame FOCR or anyone else that asks questions, but yet no one seems to want to ask why or who got us in to this situation in the first place??

I do admire people's passion in supporting their Chairman and Committee, but surely even the FAI would steer away from getting involved in any club that creates such huge debts without anyone even batting an eyelid!!