Sure haven't the Portaloos been upgraded for away fans - thats a stadium development. Dont forget the footpath installed, tarmacing beside the stand and the puddle being sorted!! Embroidered seats!!!
Seriously though since mid 2000's about €2mil has been spent on Oriel most recently a supposed 500k spent fitting out the YDC. The problem with old crumbling grounds is that you can spend a fortune and it hardly be noticed. Nothing was done to Oriel from the 70s through to 2000s well a few things were done; Would you believe that the away terrace was one of the more recent additions to the ground prior to improvements in the 2000s. There used to be 2 rows of RSJs obscuring the view from the stand rather than the 3 that are there now and the fencing around the pitch were removed.
New roof on the stand and side glass replaced, stand brought up to health and safety standards as seating used to be planks with lines painted on them indicating a 'seat', shed terracing replaced and seats installed and new roof, YDC, concourse resurfaced including the lane that away fans use, it used to be a muck track. 2 or 3 versions of the pitch, a proper exterior wall behind the Carrick Road end was built, toilets built behind home terrace, floodlight pylons and lights refurbished, graveled areas on the town side of the stand has been properly surfaced. Due to the nature of how things ended up with Gerry Matthews as owner people have kinda forgotten how much he did when at the club - more than the last owners and the current owners tbh.
A lick of paint would go amiss and about as much improvement as we're likely to get in the foreseable future. We're told that an assessment of options was undertaken by a company eg whether to develop a greenfield site or stay in Oriel and staying in Oriel was the decision. Plans were also said to have been drawn up and meeting held with LCC including Delaney attending though his involvement could have been to do with Drogheda's project also. If we were to reach the group stages in Europe again then maybe there would be pressure on the owners to announce concrete plans if you pardon the pun.
It would be interesting to survey what clubs lose with falling attendances due to the intensity of the fixture list early season against what may be saved by not lengthening the season by a month or so!
Last edited by Nesta99; 12/06/2019 at 7:08 PM.
Shels have looked into moving back to Irishtown before - the residents have made it clear they don't want football there. Historically, they've been very successful at getting football clubs founded there to move somewhere else.Originally Posted by RathfarnhamHoop
Mark Devlin (Dundalk CEO) hinted at maybe a stand behind the town end goals at some stage in Oriel. You can hear his interview on Between the Stripes LOI podcast from last night. Again, no major plans afoot for Oriel it seems
Apart from the objections of local residents (I think both shams and shells explored this before) there is the little matter of funding any new base. Government money committed for next few years (at least) FAI close to.... well, not in a healthy financial position ! So unless they find a Father Christmas (in June) its not even a pipe dream.Cost of property down there has increased dramatically due to new tech companies (on a Friday evening English not often the most spoken language in some local pubs !) so while I get your point it ain't going to happen.
Phase 2 of the Brandywell is meant to be coming at some point. Martin McGuinness promised that the money would be there. Not exactly sure how that's going to go now.
TBH, the capacity of the ground is adequate for the vast majority of games. Personally, I don't think there's a need for much rush on it.
First time in the new Brandywell a few weeks ago and its a fine facility,easy in easy out ,away section still a bit far from the bottom goals but apart from that a fine ground,its a bit heartbreaking to see what can be done with state help compared to what we've endured in the last 12 years....
Irish by birth ,Harps by the grace of god.
The Brandywell was council work, rather than 'State'.
Stormont is supposed to be funding the second phase of work to the stadium, but with Institute needing a new home I think that's looking slim now myself.
1984 in Showgrounds, about 40 cork
That's a great crowd in Sligo
Not really great. 2300 last weekend.
I think people get used to the Saturday nights going to the match and changing it doesnt help but all clubs have similar issues.
A statos dream figure playing Cork City!
#DundalkFC - First Irish club to win an away game in Europe (1963), first Irish club to win points in a group stage in Europe (2016).
1,358 in Richmond
Must be some of the most fickle fans in the league.
Not sure if above is sarcastic, but I don't think many Pats fans would disagree they are at best 3rd biggest club in the city, and were 4th when Shels were in the PD, and that is probably on the cards for next season. I wouldn't imagine FH had too many away fans either.
Would think between 1500-2000 would be probably the top end of what they could expect for a game like this, so its not too far out.
Last edited by oriel; 15/06/2019 at 10:54 PM.
#DundalkFC - First Irish club to win an away game in Europe (1963), first Irish club to win points in a group stage in Europe (2016).
I don’t blame the fans who didn’t go, it’s a form of self abuse going to watch Pats this season. 1,800 at our first game against Harps in Richmond and that was on a Monday night. The crowds will just keep getting smaller and smaller with Kenny in charge.
Huh ? Bit strong given the disenchantment with recent form and not like Harps are a big draw. Actually getting close to 2 K is a decent crowd.
5015 was a nice crowd to have in Tallaght. To use that well worn line 'a great advertisment for the league' - crowd, stadium, atmosphere, decent game, a quality goal against the run of play, little bit of controversy maybe too so there will be some post game chatter!
Great crowd , these two teams will be pulling decent crowds for a good while I reckon
600-800 in the bowl.
535 in Limerick
Posting Permissions
Quote
Bookmarks