New owners at dundalk

[Ezeikial]

If you are saying that Peak6 are going to bank on European revenue to make a profit on Dundalk then I would have concerns, and those concerns can be summed up as follows:
Ollie Byrne, Arkaga, Platinum One.

I have no idea what their plans are and personally I have lots of concerns about the venture.

At least you gave me a chuckle with linking Peak6 with Ollie Byrne

[EatYerGreens]

Yeah, you did.

If you are saying that Peak6 are going to bank on European revenue to make a profit on Dundalk then I would have concerns, and those concerns can be summed up as follows:
Ollie Byrne, Arkaga, Platinum One.

I've been pretty consistent on this topic. I suspect that this goes one of two ways. Either its a complete success and Peak6 lead Dundalk into a new and prosperous era, in which I suspect Cork City and Shamrock Rovers ride the coat tails to profit and European success but other clubs struggle to keep up, or it goes tits up pretty quickly in a similar fashion to Arkaga. I hope Dundalk fans are preparing for the worst.

Or it could do both. Lead to initial success before fizzling out a bit, after which Peak6 head for the hills leaving a financial corpse. Because if you're spending big on a model that required European money to work, then your model is inherently shaky.

The broader issue is that it could turn the League of Ireland into an utterly uncompetitive structure like Scotland or Wales - dominated by one or two clubs, boring as hell for everyone else and thereby effectively compromised as a 'product'. Which would affect every club's value, including those at the top.

[sbgawa]

Officially announced finaly

[Nesta99]

http://www.dundalkfc.com/us-investor...ke-dundalk-fc/

[Nesta99]

Or it could do both. Lead to initial success before fizzling out a bit, after which Peak6 head for the hills leaving a financial corpse. Because if you're spending big on a model that required European money to work, then your model is inherently shaky.

The broader issue is that it could turn the League of Ireland into an utterly uncompetitive structure like Scotland or Wales - dominated by one or two clubs, boring as hell for everyone else and thereby effectively compromised as a 'product'. Which would affect every club's value, including those at the top.

Or it could be the start of serious investment in the league where the FAI have to step up in terms of how serious they are about the league. Who knows and time will tell. But a leap of faith in the past that didnt work doesnt mean that we as supporters of domestic football in Ireland should shun things just in case. Dundalk fans know all about being asset stripped, being a cash cow maybe for an 'invester'. We have little choice but to roll with it for now. The seeds of a supporters trust are there, its more a reactivating rather than a start from scratch. Its all very limited in information still anyways with just confirmation of the takover.

[pineapple stu]

Or it could be the start of serious investment in the league where the FAI have to step up in terms of how serious they are about the league.

Ha!

Let us know how that one pans out.

[placid casual]

Ha!

Let us know how that one pans out.

Well done, you've managed to encapsulate in one sentence everything that is wrong with the LOI.

[Sam_Heggy]

Are you being deliberately obtuse?

Ha, sorry to hijack a perfectly normal foot.ie argument but the use of obtuse as an insult made me laugh. Always make me think of Shawshank Redemption.
Carry on.

[osarusan]

I imagine the concern is that for investors looking to make a profit, the most likely way to go about that is to spend a lot on players, hoping that it brings European progress, and the prize money can then be pocketed. It's not a plan that considers the long-term welfare of the club.

It may work for a while, but the danger is that at the end, you are left with much the same club as you have now (by which I mean that you have not really improved in terms of underage structure, training facilities, owning your own ground, and so on), but saddled with a mountain of debt which is now unpayable.

It would be great to put conditions on the takeover, but I imagine they want carte blanche to do as they wish.

[El-Pietro]

I can't wait to hear about the plans to build a massive all seater stadium with hotels etc. We've never heard that before...

[ciaraa]

I can't wait to hear about the plans to build a massive all seater stadium with hotels etc. We've never heard that before...

It will be different this time - there will be a stadium, hotel, leisure centre and maybe a few houses / apartments as well built on the edge of town on a greenfield site with a bus on matchdays to bring the fans to and from the stadium.

[El-Pietro]

I should say I'm not suggesting that peak6 aren't genuine. I have no idea what their intentions are, its just that we've been through this before time and time again at about half the clubs in the country and it very rarely works out well. Maybe this time will be the time its different but I'm skeptical. HOPEFULLY there are enough Dundalk fans who share my skepticism and are starting to organise themselves to pick up the pieces in 9 months, or two years or whenever in case they are needed.
Theres every possibility that this works out well, and doesn't require European success, or for kids to be farmed off to England, and a trust may never be needed, but its much more likely given the history of the league of Ireland that at some point down the road Dundalk will be left in debt with players they can't pay.

Please reach out to Shamrock Rovers, Sligo Rovers, Cork City, anyone who has a members organisation in place and find out what you need to do to get set up effectively. It can't be done overnight but my club will help you if you ask for it. FORAS have helped several clubs get trusts set up in the past. If Dundalk fans don't take the opportunity to organise themselves now, please don't come around with buckets looking for donations in a year or two.

[derm]

There still seems to be a lot of confusion over who owns Dundalk. Extratime and even the Irish Times are reporting that PEAK6 has bought the club, but going by reports up to now and the statement released by the club, it seems that an American consortium backed by Peak6 has bought the club.

This would make more sense. Venture capital firms invest in startups or companies that are about to go into an expansion phase. It seems to me that the consortium believe that Dundalk qualifies for the expansion phase and Peak6 are providing the investment.

Peak6 will have people on the board to oversee their investment and will provide all assistance they can to see their investment succeed. But VC firms make their money by cashing in on their investments. They typically look for 3 to 5 times what they invested. It looks to me that the plan is to build Dundalk up so that it can be sold on, either to the other members of the consortium or to new owners. VCs rarely stay for the long haul but no one can know how long Peak6 will stay before looking for their money.

[White Horse]

The vast majority of fans of other clubs want the American takeover of Dundalk to fail. A quick look at the posts on this thread confirms this.

There is no surprise in this as parochial concerns outweigh everything else.

[Ezeikial]

but the use of obtuse as an insult made me laugh.

It was not intended as an insult

[Ezeikial]

Theres every possibility that this works out well, and doesn't require European success, or for kids to be farmed off to England, and a trust may never be needed, but its much more likely given the history of the league of Ireland that at some point down the road Dundalk will be left in debt with players they can't pay.

Please reach out to Shamrock Rovers, Sligo Rovers, Cork City, anyone who has a members organisation in place and find out what you need to do to get set up effectively. It can't be done overnight but my club will help you if you ask for it. FORAS have helped several clubs get trusts set up in the past. If Dundalk fans don't take the opportunity to organise themselves now, please don't come around with buckets looking for donations in a year or two.

Dire warning noted.

9 months to Armageddon, or maybe 1 or 2 years before the bucket collections and bag packing?

As a regular lurker and occasional poster on orielweb you will be aware that among Dundalk supporters there is a mixture of caution, fear, giddy optimism and a 'lets wait and see' attitude.

Thanks for the FORAS help offer - can you send up Mark McNulty as the head of delegation please?

[Ezeikial]

Credit to Mairt on Twitter - too good not to share!

Beleave

[EatYerGreens]

The vast majority of fans of other clubs want the American takeover of Dundalk to fail. A quick look at the posts on this thread confirms this.

There is no surprise in this as parochial concerns outweigh everything else.

Yaaaaawn.

I don't think LOI fans want any club to fail tbh. Confusing that with genuine, obvious concerns probably says more about you than the fans of other clubs on here to be honest.

[disgruntled]

The vast majority of fans of other clubs want the American takeover of Dundalk to fail. A quick look at the posts on this thread confirms this.

There is no surprise in this as parochial concerns outweigh everything else.

I certainly don't want Dundalk or any other League of Ireland club to fail but if you want to bury your head in the sand then be my guest.
Some of us have been around a long time & we've seen this before.
We've learned to recognise the signs.

All people are saying is have a back up plan ready.

Good luck with Mal Brannigan as your new CEO / MD.
All I would say is good luck with the venture but be prepared in the event that it doesn't work out.

[osarusan]

Yaaaaawn.

I don't think LOI fans want any club to fail tbh.

I have no problem with Dundalk failing to be successful and all that, in fact I hope it happens. I'd be happy if they brought in a few big signings that didn't work out at all for them. I'd feel the same about every other club too.

I don't want them to fail to the point that they are massively in debt though. I don't want that for any other club either.