Quite right. I'm just pessimistic based on our inability to get people interested in the past.
Quite right. I'm just pessimistic based on our inability to get people interested in the past.
Author of Never Felt Better (History, Film Reviews).
Must have been kind of a deja-vu for Clarke. Wasn't he part of the Sporting Fingal squad when they folded?
Who's the left back and centre backs for Limerick? And are they any good?
I might know a man who's looking for someone in those positions...
There seems to be some contradictory reports about the situation.
Among other claims, the Paul O'Hehir Irish Mirror article linked in the opening post says this
https://www.irishmirror.ie/sport/exc...e-max-12636424The entire Limerick FC squad is free to leave the crisis club after wages went unpaid, Mirror Sport can reveal.
Club officials broke the disappointing news to players immediately after last night’s 1-1 draw with Bohemians at Markets Field.
The frustrated players have not been paid since the end of April and there are no funds to pay their May wages.
Once a player goes four weeks without pay, they become a free agent under FIFA rules.
While Alan O'Brien, of the TacticsTruck website, says the follow in a series of Twitter posts
https://twitter.com/alanob2112Having spent the day contacting a variety of #LimerickFC stakeholders here's what I know so far:It is not the club's position that players are "free to leave", nor are they yet legally free to do so -- contrary to an article published by The42 earlier.
May wages have already been lodged for some players, with the rest due to follow before the end of next week.Another meeting is planned for Monday, during which voluntary wage cuts -- and mutual terminations for some of the 7 or 8 higher earners -- will be discussed.
Without the Galtee Fuels income stream, the "budget" will now finally be cut. The largesse Pat maintained at the start of 2018 -- contrary to the repeated assertions of the Irish Mirror and others -- can no longer continue.Reality has, belatedly, set in.
Late wages, common throughout 2015, are nothing new at #LimerickFC, which has long been run by O'Sullivan on an ad-hoc financial footing.Not one player went public with those delays back then, for what it's worth.
Finally, Pat O'Sullivan's well-being is the elephant in the room here.It's common knowledge that his family have been urging him to retire for some time now.There is a good reason for that.Anyone still snarking at his behaviour, knowing this, is absolutely disgusting.
I used to have a lot of time for Alan, but he's consistently reported the club line for a while now, and seems intent on instigating online scraps with journalists/reporters (Andrew Cuneen and Paul O'Hehir are the targets this time). The penultimate paragraph above, which I assume is a slightly veiled swipe at Brendan Clarke, strikes me as a pointless whinge from a man who has complained about just such behavior from others.
And the last paragraph, I don't know what POS' health is like, but I know screaming from the stands for more effort from players who haven't been paid in months isn't far off "absolutely disgusting".
Author of Never Felt Better (History, Film Reviews).
Ah AOB, as I’ve said before he’s the Lisa Simpson of Irish football. The answer to the question nobody asked. The man is a walking contradiction of himself and how the club allow him through the gates every second week is beyond me. Rovers did the right thing banning him.
As an example, no matter how dreadful the senior hurling team have been at times over the years, the great sporting city will still send thousands to see them stay in 1B for years and take early exits from the Championship, and when they take a good turn, like they are doing this year, they'll flood stadiums. 35'000 to see them draw with Cork tonight (obviously I don't know how many of them were Limerick fans, but it stands to reason a significant proportion). GAA is just set-up to be more exceptional in perceptive terms. Limerick FC would need to be on a Dundalk level to be getting 3 or 4k, and we'd still struggle with the perceived drudgery of Irish club football, like all clubs do.
Author of Never Felt Better (History, Film Reviews).
Half time break was coming to an end when our PA guy announced he had a quick quiz. He had just got 2 corporate tickets to Ire v Usa from someone who could not go. The question (from our ex supporters club head man) was name the only LOI player in the current Ireland squad. Guy runs up and wins after giving the Graham Burke answer. Q massive boos from the Bohs end as Shane Supple runs out smiling. That's the type of football brains we have involved in our club...
There's a couple of great lines in your post, but it still does not address the fact that he is challenging what the Mirror and other publications have been saying. It seems from his most recent tweets and the Joanne Cantwell interview with Brendan Clarke on Saturday Sport (about 1:13 on the link below) that the all players are not "free to leave" but that negotiations with players aimed at reducing the budget are set to take place which could result in some agreed mutual terminations.
https://www.rte.ie/radio/utils/radio...14_02-06-2018_
https://twitter.com/alanob2112/statu...15809362190336Should have been stronger on this: @BrenClarke1 was wrong to go public on FridayAnd thanks to RTÉ's excellent Joanne Cantwell, I now think he knows that.JC: 'But did they say you were all "free to leave"?'BC: 'That's what I took from it, [but] that wasn't what was meant.'
https://twitter.com/alanob2112/statu...15809362190336
And here's the link to yesterday's Saturday Sport show, featuring Brendan's interview from around 1:10:00.Corroborates the version of events it took me hours, and countless phone calls, to discover yesterday. #LimerickFC #LOIhttps://cdn.rasset.ie/manifest/audio/2018/0602/20180602_rteradio1-saturdaysport-saturdaysp_cl10884451_10887296_261_/manifest.m3u8 …
Alan O'Brien @alanob2112 2h2 hours agoMore
Brendan deserves credit for retracting what he said on Friday. We all take things the wrong way at times, after all.However, this is far from the first time local media here has kicked bull**** up to the nationals. The reason for Neil McDonald's departure comes to mind. #LOI
Maybe you’re right, I’m not taking this incident in isolation though, there’s been years of this from him in Limerick at every level. A self appointed guru who picks fights in phoneboxes, who has insulted many established and respected people, media personnel and otherwise to make some kind of name for himself. He claims he provides a service for people who want to look deeper into every game and demands respect for doing it. But doesn’t offer any to those offering their own coverage, in fact he does the opposite.
So big al is dancing on the head of some imaginary pin to win some imaginary internet argument he's having.
"So I'm free to leave?"
"No, absolutely not. Where did you get that idea? We merely want to negotiate to reduce the budget the results of which could be mutual termination."
"I'm not willing to negotiate on my wages"
"Well then I suppose it's mutual termination."
I will say that a lot of people think he’s a wind up artist, came from nowhere, nobody knew who he was, watched games on tv and reports on them like he was there etc and if it’s true then bravo, I fell for it and it’s been hilarious that I and so many others got wound up by it and I mean that.
If it’s not true then he’s just a tragic figure trying to be noticed by being condescending on Twitter. I just fear the next stop is an I Don’t Like Monday’s style breakdown.
I think if it comes down to a difference of "Players are free to leave" and "We will soon negotiate mutually agreeable terminations", then getting worked up about the difference while the club figuratively burns to the ground is a little silly. Brendan Clarke "going public" hardly strikes me as a terrible action given the circumstances (and when he said he was going to play in the next game regardless, the only player to have said so!).
And as others have stated, this isn't in isolation. Hell, even with this story, Alan seems more intent on provoking a personal argument with his choice of words, rather than correct the record.
This is a ridiculous little side show though. I'm more interested in knowing if Limerick will be able to field a team for their next game. If the players aren't being paid, then there's no guarantee that they'll make themselves available.
Author of Never Felt Better (History, Film Reviews).
Can the U-19s be called up en masse?
Edit: I mean, in terms of squad registration, etc.
Author of Never Felt Better (History, Film Reviews).
Agree with this.
It's one thing to go ahead with a game when you're only told about wages a couple of hours before the game is supposed to start. It's another to make that decision a week later.
I haven't heard any news on whether the players have all been paid or not, and what was the outcome of yesterday's meeting which aimed to reach deals on either reduced terms or mutually agreed termination of contracts.
I am also not sure just how long they went unpaid, and if they are simply entitled to walk away as a result.
I believe they are missing the wages for April and May.
Author of Never Felt Better (History, Film Reviews).
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