Cork City denied a licence; club to be wound up; FORAS to enter First Division

[yiddo]

forgive us if the opinions of outsiders dont shape our thinking. Were doing whats best for our club in our eyes. Well soon see if it works.

voted against it but agree with your re outside opinions. we've made our decision and we move on together just like we've done since day1.

[Mad Moose]

Just to clarify.

The no.1 aim of FORAS, which you can find on our website, is and has always been to get a shareholding in Cork City FC and a meaningful role in the running of the club. The aim has never been to start again on our own and try to buy the name and history back. That was always a safety net, nothing else.

Last nights decision gave us the chance to fulfil our main aim, it also gave us the chance to have a meaningful role in the decision making of our club, Cork City FC. That mightnt mean much to you, but it means a hell of a lot to FORAS members, all of whom are Cork City fans.

If it comes to it we will rise from the ashes from liquidation and start again, but while there's any hope of saving the club in its current form then we will take it. Yes, itl be harder to honour the debts rather than just write them off and start again, but the same people who are whinging about this decision were calling Derry cheats for doing exactly that.

This deal will allow us to achieve a 20% shareholding in our club. Yes there are risks, but I have full faith in teh strength of our membership to pull us out of the hole we're currently in.

This is step one or a long process where eventually we will entirely own our club, and when we get there we'l know we did it the right way, paying what was owed, working hard and building up OUR club Cork City FC to be great again.

Weve done everything we can, its up to Tom now. If he turns it down then at least we can face the new season with starting again knowing we did everything we could to stop the old company from folding and screwing all the creditors.

We discussed the ins and outs of this in detail for hours, we know the risks and we aso know the advantages and forgive us if the opinions of outsiders dont shape our thinking. Were doing whats best for our club in our eyes. Well soon see if it works.

Very well put honest post on why FORAS have decided as they have. Always always nice to have honesty in decision making and the integriy that with goes along with explaining the decision, warts and all. I say warts and all because while I respect the decision and honesty of the decision I think FORAS will in supporting the maintenance of the current position will fuel Tom's claim that he is responsible for saving and ensuring the future of the club. With Roddy Collins in place there is only one outcome and a sad outcome associated with this. Its easy to focus on all thats wrong with this decision though my hope is that FORAS will succeed. It really is. I think your post is one of the better posts I have read on this forum for some time. Far from doing a Derry City and cheating in its existence before cowering into administration and leaving unpaid creditors, FORAS are prepared to take a gamble and rise from the flames and create something out of it. Lets just say one thing this league needs is honesty in decision making. I always think that the majority of people will always resond to honesty and though not everyone will agree with the decision I think they will appreciate and support the integrity and honesty. As I say I hope it pays off. As a personal wish I hope a first decision is getting rid of the anthithesis of honesty and integrity that is Roddy Collins on the basis that his contract is not a legitimate one based on how he took the post while still contracted to Floriana. As a condition of the offer FORAS must be very forthright on what it demands happens as a condition of coming on board.

Above alll good luck to all involved.

[weecountyman]

Just spoke with my buddy who works with the Floriana keeper, he said that on Maltese TV last night (they have carneval there) the club president, the great Joe, said that the club have filed papers with the CAS and will proceed with a prosecution if Cork don't do the right thing. However this gives an out to the new "rainbow coalition of good". Roddy illegally signed a contract with CCFC, he admitted this himself (he had to as the papers were going to publish copies of contracts and correspondance). So FORAS and co can simply tell him to hit the road without owing a red cent. In fact if they try to use Roddy in a competitive game they themselves will be subject to a lawsuit and liable to pay up what the Maltese are owed. So maybe it'll work out well for all concerned :-)

[El-Pietro]

Just as a comment there Harpsbear

we couldn't give a flying Fudge what Tom goes around telling people once our club is saved.

It will be interesting what Shelbourne and UCD fans etc, who have for a long time been giving out about clubs not paying their way and paying back everything they owe will think of our stance.
Had we decided enough was enough, we would be starting fresh and be screwing over our creditors, ex players, suppliers, sponsers etc. But we would be in the first division.
If this goes through (though nothing is guaranteed) it appears we will get some form of Premier License (with sanctions I would imagine, be they fines points deductions or whatever) but we will have paid our way. Granted we havent met the deadlines, but if we do manage to pay everything we owe, wouldn't we deserve a shot at the premier (with a severely weakened side)

It wouldn;t be that much of a fudge from the FAI considering their rules state that the sanctions for missing licensing deadlines start with a €15,000 fine.

[weecountyman]

Just as a comment there Harpsbear

we couldn't give a flying Fudge what Tom goes around telling people once our club is saved.

It will be interesting what Shelbourne and UCD fans etc, who have for a long time been giving out about clubs not paying their way and paying back everything they owe will think of our stance.
Had we decided enough was enough, we would be starting fresh and be screwing over our creditors, ex players, suppliers, sponsers etc. But we would be in the first division.
If this goes through (though nothing is guaranteed) it appears we will get some form of Premier License (with sanctions I would imagine, be they fines points deductions or whatever) but we will have paid our way. Granted we havent met the deadlines, but if we do manage to pay everything we owe, wouldn't we deserve a shot at the premier (with a severely weakened side)

It wouldn;t be that much of a fudge from the FAI considering their rules state that the sanctions for missing licensing deadlines start with a €15,000 fine.

El Pietro, I think you're getting confused on things, everyone wants FORAS to suceed, and there is no reason why they shouldn't as a completely new start up club, not burdened by the idiots dragged in before the supporters had a hand in their own destiny. Going ahead as is now means spending all available money on covering others, and still being stuck with more to pay and no working capital. No matter what sponsors and investors will be worried about touching any new entity that is so tainted and there is every chance that FORAS will be sitting with money in the bank with no club, no licence and fans disillusioned even more. Again, nobody would begrudge FORAS stepping out alone, with a new licence, let Tom and his clowns sink into oblivion and if O'Connell and the "Milwall sponsor" are serious they'll row in behind the new club and have it well set and moving.

[El-Pietro]

Neither O'Connell nor Gray seem to want any long term involvement. It would appear that O'Connell is owed money by CCIFL and is willing to convert his debt to shares, but from what we can gather he would be very much willing to allow us to purchase his shares from him in the short to medium term.

As for Gray, he lives in Kinsale, and we don't know a whole lot about him but in this new consortium he should have enough power to run the company on his own but has actually allowed us to have far more of a say than our 20% should allow.

We don't want a new club. We support Cork City FC. If we have to we will pick up the pieces and start again, but as has been said, while there is a chance we can save our club then we are going to do whatever it takes to save it.

If you would like a say in what FORAS does then you are more than welcome to join at any time, its just €120 a year for an adult, while there are also options for students, u16s, OAPs and the unwaged. All quite reasonable I might add. http://www.forastrust.ie

[weecountyman]

Neither O'Connell nor Gray seem to want any long term involvement. It would appear that O'Connell is owed money by CCIFL and is willing to convert his debt to shares, but from what we can gather he would be very much willing to allow us to purchase his shares from him in the short to medium term.

As for Gray, he lives in Kinsale, and we don't know a whole lot about him but in this new consortium he should have enough power to run the company on his own but has actually allowed us to have far more of a say than our 20% should allow.

We don't want a new club. We support Cork City FC. If we have to we will pick up the pieces and start again, but as has been said, while there is a chance we can save our club then we are going to do whatever it takes to save it.

If you would like a say in what FORAS does then you are more than welcome to join at any time, its just €120 a year for an adult, while there are also options for students, u16s, OAPs and the unwaged. All quite reasonable I might add. http://www.forastrust.ie

El Pietro, I don't deny for a moment your sincerity and dedication to the cause, however I emboldened a few pieces that are rather telling in their betrayal of underlying feelings.

One question, if this "takeover" founders and falls, and the club goes out of business on Monday or whenever, and the name is still there but unable to be bought - who are you then? Do FORAS start up Cork FC? Or simply transfer allegiance to local clubs in the Munster League or a reformed Cobh?

[micls]

We still have the licence application for the 1st division, the same back up it always was. we have voted on a budget and all other things we'd need, have deals in place and are basically ready to go if needs be.

This possible deal doesnt change any of that, all of which was voted on before we moved on to discuss the deal last night.

But it's still the fallback option, as it was designed to be.

[weecountyman]

We still have the licence application for the 1st division, the same back up it always was. we have voted on a budget and all other things we'd need, have deals in place and are basically ready to go if needs be.

This possible deal doesnt change any of that, all of which was voted on before we moved on to discuss the deal last night.

But it's still the fallback option, as it was designed to be.

I truly hope FORAS have the main stake in the club, it is the only progressive way forward for clubs in Ireland - community and supporter backed with local authorities showing goodwill. Cork is a genuine sports city (from soccer to GAA to boxing to athletics to basketball to rugby all have good following) and the right set up will flourish. But what will happen with the players currently wondering about their future, and Roddy. Will the new administration keep the "big man" and pay his current employers what they're owed to release him, or give him his marching orders? After all, Floriana are owed by Cork (the amount is somewhere on this thread I think from an Indo or Echo article).

[yiddo]

El Pietro, I don't deny for a moment your sincerity and dedication to the cause, however I emboldened a few pieces that are rather telling in their betrayal of underlying feelings.

One question, if this "takeover" founders and falls, and the club goes out of business on Monday or whenever, and the name is still there but unable to be bought - who are you then? Do FORAS start up Cork FC? Or simply transfer allegiance to local clubs in the Munster League or a reformed Cobh?

oh don't worry bout the name we have that sorted since last night but it will cost you 120 euro to find out

[tiktok]

.........and there is no reason why they shouldn't as a completely new start up club.

Wanting to give our club every chance of survival is reason enough to be fair, that it gives people stung by Tom Coughlan the chance to recoup what they're owed is an added bonus.
Are there risks, of course there are, they were debated last night, but they're worth taking if our club can get through this.
If Tom gets greedy or doesn't sign, then we still have Plan B, but it's always been Plan B. Buying in is Plan A and we have to pursue it.
The one regret I have at the moment is that we weren't in this position a couple of weeks ago, we might have hung onto Dan Murray and Danny Murphy.

[Buile Shuibhne]

There's a post over on the Cork forum saying:

money from the other 2 investors is only available to a premier divison Cork City club.

Does this mean that Peter Gray & Michael O'Connor will only proceed with their takeover IF/AFTER they are assured of a Premier Division license by the FAI Independent Licencing Committee?

[higgins]

It will be interesting what Shelbourne and UCD fans etc, who have for a long time been giving out about clubs not paying their way and paying back everything they owe will think of our stance.
Had we decided enough was enough, we would be starting fresh and be screwing over our creditors, ex players, suppliers, sponsers etc. But we would be in the first division.

I think what FORAS are doing is great...
Makes sense to me.
If you pay off all your debs, fair play to you... that's all you can do.

Didn't help us at the tme,, they fecked us out of the league even though we had agreements in place with all creditors! it was even before any licence 65% came in. We were not let pass any deadlines,, in fact we were told if we didn't hit the first deadline we'd not even get a first division licence! best outcome for us was a first division licence.

I'm ****ed off the FAI are bending over backwards to give you every chance although i fully agree with you going in to save the club! You have to do that!!! This rubbish of simply starting again is not what it's about...

[yiddo]

I think what FORAS are doing is great...
Makes sense to me.
If you pay off all your debs, fair play to you... that's all you can do.

The debs are grand like, tis the debts that worry me

on your general point don't blame ye one bit for being hacked off.

[Mr_Parker]

Who and how was Cork City, with no tangable asetts valued at 1 million??????????????????

[jan molby]

Cork dont deserve a Munster license never mind a Premier license .Good riddance I say

[tiktok]

Who and how was Cork City, with no tangable asetts valued at 1 million??????????????????

It hasn't been valued at 1,000,000
I don't know where you pulled that figure out of. It's effectively been valued at 0.00.

[Schumi]

Who and how was Cork City, with no tangable asetts valued at 1 million??????????????????

Foras are supposed to be putting in 100k for 20% which puts the whole lot at 500k which would just be the debts I'd imagine.

[passerrby]

[QUOTE=tiktok;I don't know where you pulled that figure out of. It's effectively been valued at 0.00.[/QUOTE]

its amazing how that will raise when roddy leaves

[gael353]

the figure of one million was mooted by Roddy a few weeks ago. He was the only one who suggested a price. Tommy and himself are only trying to get a pay out before they leave. Wouldnt be surprised if Tommy only appointed him as a more media friendly, face of crappness