Sporting Fingal Gone Belly Up

**hoops1** · 04/02/2011, 9:53 AM

Sporting even turned down a bid from Celtic for star midfielder Shaun Williams, who could now leave for free if his contract is breached by continued non-payment of wages

Thats LOI in a nutshell.

**Dodge** · 04/02/2011, 10:14 AM

Originally Posted by hoops1

Sporting even turned down a bid from Celtic for star midfielder Shaun Williams

100% not true. He was on trial at celtic and Wolves. neither offered him a deal

**mick dundee** · 04/02/2011, 11:20 AM

Originally Posted by hoops1

Sporting even turned down a bid from Celtic for star midfielder Shaun Williams, who could now leave for free if his contract is breached by continued non-payment of wages

Thats LOI in a nutshell.

he cant go now as the transfer window is closed

**Dodge** · 04/02/2011, 11:24 AM

Originally Posted by mick dundee

he cant go now as the transfer window is closed

He could leave for a LOI club

**Spudulika** · 04/02/2011, 11:30 AM

Originally Posted by Dodge

100% not true. He was on trial at celtic and Wolves. neither offered him a deal

Dodge, please, don't talk sense. It's far better to let wummers take hold :-) I heard the same thing as you, plus he was being chased by a Premier club but nothing coming close to a half decent offer came in. he's out of contract this year so I reckon the Scots figured they'd pick him up cheaper in the summer or for nothing in November.

I truly hope they survive as, coming from the Fingal area, they've done a massive amount for local communities, which should be held up as a benchmark. Instead it'll show that they were trying to be too Pollyanna instead of concentrating on football.

@Ezekial - clubs gazump others all the time, I still worry about business models across the league, especially with the Model club (tm Tallaght). Nobody is more than a step from disaster, not just in Ireland, jesus last week one of the best run clubs in Russia went belly up because the local council told them they a) couldn't host concerts in the stadium they own, b) the council wouldn't fund them (20% of the budget), c) they had to hire "independent security" (ie some connected local's security firm). In total they faced losing 40% of their budget and couldn't carry the contracts they had. So they resigned from the league and dropped down, they were debt free. If you remember how it was in Dundalk in 99-01, it was never more than a bounced cheque from collapse, only for the local business community to be understanding and the boom begin to take hold. As supporters it's important to point out when clubs are acting up, however the tone on here, and other parallel threads, smacks too much of nasty triumphalism from people whose own clubs hardly covered themselves in glory.

**eelmonster** · 04/02/2011, 11:54 AM

Can't wait to see the back of them, they were the final death fart of the Celtic Tiger, the epitome of its deception, corruption and greed. So long Sporting Franchise.

**bluemovie** · 04/02/2011, 11:57 AM

Originally Posted by Longfordian

Here's the club's official press release.

__________________

Sporting Fingal has been seeking to restructure over recent months ahead of the 2011 campaign.

It had developed what it believed to be a viable business plan on a reduced and prudent scale having secured new investors and some sponsors. A number of commitments which would be crucial to its viability have, in very recent days, not materialised.

The club has regretfully, for the first time since it�s inception in 2007, not been in a position to pay players� wages at this point and are urgently attempting to resolve the issue.

The FAI and the players� union, PFAI, have been informed of the situation.

What exactly was Fingal's proposed business plan based on? Some bloke in a pub saying "I'll have that money for you Tuesday" only to backtrack this week "Jayziz I clean forgot about that. I'm a bit strapped now. I'll have to leave you down"?

**Charlie Darwin** · 04/02/2011, 11:59 AM

I'll have to bookmark this thread so I can laugh at a few people when their clubs inevitably go bust.

**noddy102** · 04/02/2011, 12:11 PM

Originally Posted by Dodge

100% not true. He was on trial at celtic and Wolves. neither offered him a deal

100% not true, 100k offered and rejected. Outrageous now

**The Lep** · 04/02/2011, 12:12 PM

It was nowhere near 100k.

**bluemovie** · 04/02/2011, 12:20 PM

Originally Posted by Charlie Darwin

I'll have to bookmark this thread so I can laugh at a few people when their clubs inevitably go bust.

Personally, I don't want to see them go bust. I just can't understand how this can keep happening over and over again. I have mixed feelings about them. I always felt they're a nothing club - a pretend-rich man's plaything with very few fans and no history and that we didn't need another start-up Dublin club spending grotesquely. In other ways, they played fantastic football and, if they bulit slowly over time, could have been a good addition to the league.

I'd prefer to see them survive as a proper football club. Partly because it would be some kick in the stones to see third-placed Monaghan go up when they didn't win the play-off series outright. This business of starting up a new club, outspending everyone to get promoted, win the cup, play in Europe and then (possibly) go bust all in the space of three years is absolutely crazy.

**Guinney** · 04/02/2011, 12:39 PM

Originally Posted by Spudulika

Guinney, it's as simple as this, I didn't compare Fingal with anyone else, I simply stated that all clubs are no more than a footstep away from trouble in Ireland, that "fans" who delight in watching other clubs crash and burn are the reason why supporters feel queasy about following the LOI and before you start ranting again, read your own posts and some others on the recent pages of this thread - ignorance of facts and reality doesn't come into it. Stop making excuses for your posts or qualifiers, rather, that it was about how "they run their club", you specifically mentioned one transfer that has been discussed ad nauseum and while I'd love to see that player (Bolger) in Oriel, I'd have to accept that signing for European football with a good manager (no disrespect to Foster, he's going to be better in the future and at a higher level) swung it, especially as the money was the same. Don't feel inferior about knowledge, we all know more or less the same, the difference is all about thinking of the future or our own club and the league rather than short term blinkered views which have gotten the LOI into the state it's in.

I don't wish the demise of any club (please don't tell me to look back at my other posts again), but really once Gannon was in financial trouble and with him eventually pulling out alot of us on here questioned Fingals future. Some like myself also questioned things like is there really much of a need for another club in the Dublin area as it is saturated with clubs and how would Fingal ever gain a decent support, these questions still remain unanswered. No matter about what other clubs do and how close they are to financial ruin, the way Fingal where going to be financed this season was and still is very questionable more so than any club in the league at the moment, so that’s why its gaining a lot of debate at the moment. I don't mind a new club setting up in the league and if possible gradually grow into a decent club that is sustainable but Sporting Fingal (like its cousin Dublin City) basically saw the bright lights, gambled and overspent to get to the top without building at the grassroots. As a result I don't have sympathy for them and personally feel this reckless way they went about their business when they still where in their infancy as a club has no place in the league and yes I understand they are not alone in reckless spending any person with any knowledge of the league knows this.

Please don't say again this is an ignorant view and that LOI "fans" like me only think of the success of their own club even if this means the ruin of other clubs because in my case this is not true - I never wish what happened to the likes of Bohs, Cork, Shels, etc – but these clubs due to their history and tradition are corner stones of the league (their reckless spending however can’t be excused) but in my view have to be looked in a different light then the likes of Dublin City and Sporting Fingal which came in and had great intentions but really had little else.

**eelmonster** · 04/02/2011, 1:04 PM

Originally Posted by bluemovie

Personally, I don't want to see them go bust. I just can't understand how this can keep happening over and over again. I have mixed feelings about them. I always felt they're a nothing club - a pretend-rich man's plaything with very few fans and no history and that we didn't need another start-up Dublin club spending grotesquely.

Or spending ratepayers' money. Or having pretend rich men investing in pretend clubs solely to have land in a pretend county rezoned for pretend housing.

**Macy** · 04/02/2011, 1:15 PM

Originally Posted by Spudulika

I truly hope they survive as, coming from the Fingal area, they've done a massive amount for local communities, which should be held up as a benchmark. Instead it'll show that they were trying to be too Pollyanna instead of concentrating on football.

Anyone with half a brain can, and will, see it's the money they spent on the team that has them screwed, not their community work.

**pineapple stu** · 04/02/2011, 1:22 PM

Originally Posted by Dodge

Apparently Fingal are about to remove the previous press release as it was overly negative

New one paints a slightly more optimistic picture

Did this more optimistic press release issue?

**Spudulika** · 04/02/2011, 1:26 PM

Originally Posted by Guinney

I don't wish the demise of any club (please don't tell me to look back at my other posts again), but really once Gannon was in financial trouble and with him eventually pulling out alot of us on here questioned Fingals future. Some like myself also questioned things like is there really much of a need for another club in the Dublin area as it is saturated with clubs and how would Fingal ever gain a decent support, these questions still remain unanswered. No matter about what other clubs do and how close they are to financial ruin, the way Fingal where going to be financed this season was and still is very questionable more so than any club in the league at the moment, so that’s why its gaining a lot of debate at the moment. I don't mind a new club setting up in the league and if possible gradually grow into a decent club that is sustainable but Sporting Fingal (like its cousin Dublin City) basically saw the bright lights, gambled and overspent to get to the top without building at the grassroots. As a result I don't have sympathy for them and personally feel this reckless way they went about their business when they still where in their infancy as a club has no place in the league and yes I understand they are not alone in reckless spending any person with any knowledge of the league knows this.

Please don't say again this is an ignorant view and that LOI "fans" like me only think of the success of their own club even if this means the ruin of other clubs because in my case this is not true - I never wish what happened to the likes of Bohs, Cork, Shels, etc – but these clubs due to their history and tradition are corner stones of the league (their reckless spending however can’t be excused) but in my view have to be looked in a different light then the likes of Dublin City and Sporting Fingal which came in and had great intentions but really had little else.

You've shown your colours very clearly in a less than decent manner Sporting Fingal (like its cousin Dublin City) - when you can write a sentence without a dig you'll show greater consistency.

I heard back in 2000, it was in our national media, whether it was better for one team in Louth. Two senior league sides were too many. I thought then it smacked of ignorance and lack of information and ambition. At the time Dundalk were the junior partner. It's great that you'll allow a team in the league if they build up from the grassroots, not trying to do both at once. It's thinking like this which has good junior sides happily staying out of senior league football as it's not worth the hassle.

Macy, read what I wrote again, it might take more than half a brain to do it, you have more than double, so see what I wrote, if they'd solely focused on football, with ALL resources, they might just have survived. You probably know that this wasn't the case. Trying to be all things to all people in Ireland will always end in ruin, no matter how good the motives are.

**John83** · 04/02/2011, 1:52 PM

Originally Posted by The Lep

It was nowhere near 100k.

So there was a bid? Or are you talking out of an orifice other than your mouth again?

**marinobohs** · 04/02/2011, 1:54 PM

Originally Posted by bluemovie

What exactly was Fingal's proposed business plan based on? Some bloke in a pub saying "I'll have that money for you Tuesday" only to backtrack this week "Jayziz I clean forgot about that. I'm a bit strapped now. I'll have to leave you down"?

According to todays Herald problem arose when a sponsor ( UK based finance company) pulled out yesterday. Hope they can pull through but strange that they appeared to be spending (realitively) big with all thier eggs in one ,rather risky, basket

**Charlie Darwin** · 04/02/2011, 2:01 PM

Originally Posted by bluemovie

Personally, I don't want to see them go bust. I just can't understand how this can keep happening over and over again. I have mixed feelings about them. I always felt they're a nothing club - a pretend-rich man's plaything with very few fans and no history and that we didn't need another start-up Dublin club spending grotesquely. In other ways, they played fantastic football and, if they bulit slowly over time, could have been a good addition to the league.

I'd prefer to see them survive as a proper football club. Partly because it would be some kick in the stones to see third-placed Monaghan go up when they didn't win the play-off series outright. This business of starting up a new club, outspending everyone to get promoted, win the cup, play in Europe and then (possibly) go bust all in the space of three years is absolutely crazy.

Most people would agree with all of this. I just don't understand the people who would prefer Fingal to go bust instead of being humbled and operating a scaled-back model like most other clubs.

Originally Posted by Guinney

Some like myself also questioned things like is there really much of a need for another club in the Dublin area as it is saturated with clubs and how would Fingal ever gain a decent support, these questions still remain unanswered.

They've been answered time and time again. All of the clubs in Dublin, with the exception of Fingal, are sandwiched into a 5-mile-or-so radius of heavily urbanised land in South Dublin and Dublin City. Until recently there were no senior clubs in West or North Co. Dublin which are, coincidentally, the two fastest-growing parts of the city/country.

Fingal's support has remained small because a) they're a new club and b) Irish people rarely support their local teams and when they do it's usually because their parents did. It has nothing to do with geography.

**WeAreRovers** · 04/02/2011, 2:04 PM

spudulika - It take a hell of a lot of provocation (or booze) to get me to post on here but your smugness and condescension are almost without parallel on the entire internet.

But what really grates is that these attractive traits are thrown into stark relief by the fact that you are also materially incorrect in almost all your posts.

Apologies to the rest of you for the interruption, carry on.

KOH