D-Day for licence to kill League clubs' euro dreams

[Ringo]

D-Day for licence to kill League clubs' euro dreams

Wednesday February 11th 2004


TODAY is D-Day for the 22 Eircom League clubs as the morning post will deliver news of their UEFA Licence applications.

The independent Licensing Authority spent the weekend pouring over the applications and were remaining tight-lipped last night about their deliberations.

Under the chairmanship of Ken Robinson, of the Leisure Managers Association, the six-person committee spent three days evaluating each application against the criteria set down in the UEFA Licence Handbook.

The other members were Donagh Morgan, chief executive of Campus Ireland; barrister John G O'Donnell; accountant Martin Reilly from Deloitte & Touche; engineer Eamonn Egan and FAI Security chief Joe McGlue.

Clubs must fulfil the necessary criteria under five categories - financial, legal, administration, sporting and infrastructure and have been awarded either A or B licences depending on much of the criteria they fulfil.

There has been no shortage of rumours about how many clubs will receive A licences but the prevailing opinion is that only a small number of clubs have a chance of being successful. The majority will receive B licences and there is speculation that several clubs may not be awarded any type of licence.

Clubs must hold an A licence to play in European competitions from this year and also to participate in the Premier Division.

The issue has the potential to throw the entire Eircom League into chaos and a special meeting of the League Management Committee has been called for tomorrow night to discuss the implications to fixtures.

If any of the clubs who have qualified for Europe fail to gain an A licence they will have to seek a dispensation from UEFA to play in its competitions.

Clubs unhappy with the Authority's decision have five working days to appeal the decision and that appeal must be heard within a further five working days.

Meanwhile, relegation-threatened Nottingham Forest have confirmed the appointment of former Irish international Joe Kinnear as the club's new manager, with the 57-year-old to formally assume control at the City Ground today.

Forest chairman Nigel Doughty sacked previous boss Paul Hart after Saturday's 1-0 home defeat to Coventry, the club's 14th-successive Division One match without a win.

Gerry McDermott



© Irish Independent
http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/ & http://www.unison.ie/

[IrelandUnited]

Au revoir Shams. You'll be sorely missed.

[A face]

Originally posted by IrelandUnited
Au revoir Shams. You'll be sorely missed.

Jebus ... hang on the a sec fella ..... there is no line in the sand just yet. I think people should look at their own motive for criticising before they actually criticise.

IU ... you could have a dig at Shams, which is fair enough but if it was anything more then that is why i responded like that.

[Schumi]

Is it coincidence that the two clubs who got no licence are the two that don't have a ground sorted out for next season? Hardly. When Rovers sort out playing in Dalymount, they'll get the div 1 licence.