Dundalk ground improvement plans

**Celdrog** · 19/10/2009, 5:26 PM

Outside of the grant money, who is putting in the other €5.25M? Is it Gerry Matthews.

And who will use the facility - is it Dundalk youths or anyone in the town? It seems strange to spend €5.5M when the players had to take a pay cut.

**dfclilywhite** · 19/10/2009, 6:01 PM

Originally Posted by Celdrog

Outside of the grant money, who is putting in the other €5.25M? Is it Gerry Matthews.

And who will use the facility - is it Dundalk youths or anyone in the town? It seems strange to spend €5.5M when the players had to take a pay cut.

http://blackandwhitetown.squarespace...interview.html

Some supporters have queried whether the money should go back into reducing the deficit now rather than into a centre that probably won't see a return on your investment for maybe 10-15 years. What would you say to that suggestion?
I said I wasn't going to pump everything I had into the first-team. I made it very clear when I took over the club. I outlined it and I was honest with people. People had a chance to either go with what I said or reject it, I had no problem either way. I said I wanted to see something tangible and you can see that in Oriel Park. Since I took over in 2006 we have built new dressing rooms, redone the Shed, put a new roof on the stand and now we are building a youth centre. Oriel Park was let fall apart and I'm not going to let that happen again.
Apart from maintaining what we have, it's important to expand and the centre will create a lot of interest from both the town and its surrounding areas. We think the results will be two fold. It will produce an income and it will encourage more youth to come to Oriel Park.

**rebelarmyexile** · 19/10/2009, 6:36 PM

Originally Posted by Ezeikial

This is the original plan, which has since been modified slightly.

Will they be putting seats in the covered section or will it be left terraced? What sort of capacity?

Looks great.Could provide a great source of income.

**Celdrog** · 19/10/2009, 7:20 PM

Originally Posted by dfclilywhite

http://blackandwhitetown.squarespace...interview.html

Pardon my confusion - is that saying that Gerry Matthews is putting €5.25 Million into a youth centre in Oriel, which he will probably never see a return from or is he just very civic minded?

**White Horse** · 19/10/2009, 8:19 PM

Originally Posted by Celdrog

Outside of the grant money, who is putting in the other €5.25M? Is it Gerry Matthews.

I struggle to see how the structure as pictured will cost €5.25m. There is no freehold land purchase involved. I seem to recall GM saying that the steel had been purchased for some time and they were awaiting clearance of grant money before erecting the structure. However, your question about funding is one Dundalk fans are already asking.

Originally Posted by Celdrog

And who will use the facility - is it Dundalk youths or anyone in the town? It seems strange to spend €5.5M when the players had to take a pay cut.

It is a community based facility. As I'm sure you know Dundalk is a bif football town with many clubs.

Preferential rates have also been offered to Drogheda United (double the normal price from what I hear

)

**SkStu** · 19/10/2009, 8:30 PM

Originally Posted by White Horse

I struggle to see how the structure as pictured will cost €5.25m. There is no freehold land purchase involved. I seem to recall GM saying that the steel had been purchased for some time and they were awaiting clearance of grant money before erecting the structure. However, your question about funding is one Dundalk fans are already asking.

It is a community based facility. As I'm sure you know Dundalk is a bif football town with many clubs.

Preferential rates have also been offered to Drogheda United (double the normal price from what I hear

)

as in Brian "Biffo" Cowan?

Big Ignorant F'in...

**Nesta99** · 19/10/2009, 9:16 PM

Originally Posted by Celdrog

Outside of the grant money, who is putting in the other €5.25M? Is it Gerry Matthews.
It seems strange to spend €5.5M when the players had to take a pay cut.

See the GM interview in other threads for the answers to these questions! I have my doubts over the time scale of this development and its completion, but hey the foundations are in, the steel structure is up - a lot further on than Drogheda's wonderful plans ever got

**Celdrog** · 20/10/2009, 8:35 AM

So, in summary,a great facility for the use of all in Dundalk, that will cost nowhere near €5.5M and nobody knows who is paying for it.

Hard to get a straight answer from these Dundalk lads

- althoug didn't Sean Connor, on MNS, allude to serious financial problems if there is no European football in Oriel because of those biased refs

Anyway, at the end of it all, like I've said several times, I think Gerry Matthews is a very good bloke and great for the LOI. Best of luck to him with it.

**Ezeikial** · 20/10/2009, 12:17 PM

Originally Posted by Celdrog

So, in summary,a great facility for the use of all in Dundalk,

Great facility that will be for the use of all of so choose - not just in Dundalk but in the wider region.

Originally Posted by Celdrog

that will cost nowhere near €5.5M and nobody knows who is paying for it.

It would be great if you can make it cost way less then the budgeted figure. This "nobody" guy always seems to know it all!!

**Dillonman** · 20/10/2009, 12:55 PM

I would like to point out that the whole building isnt goign to be entirey finished straight away as GM said they coudlnt afford to complete the whole planned development straight away, they wanted to get it up and running and generate some sort of cash flow from the use of the indoor pitches. The astroturf from the old pitch has ben kept and is stored behind Oriel. This will be used inside for the smaller pitches. I presume the gym will be completed this time around for the use of the players and then for the public.