Hull City owners to take majority stake in Dundalk?

[joey B]

This seems a bit unlikely to me but some family connections from up Ballybofey way were telling me that O'Doherty has given Harps money too. These would be sensible lads normally but I'm assuming there's no truth in it?

Complete bo**ocks,people seen a couple of 2 year deals and made up stories….

[Longfordian]

I thought so but as the discussion was about O'Doherty it reminded me.

[nigel-harps1954]

This seems a bit unlikely to me but some family connections from up Ballybofey way were telling me that O'Doherty has given Harps money too. These would be sensible lads normally but I'm assuming there's no truth in it?

That story has spread thick and fast around Donegal since the winter and it's hilarious.

[Martinho II]

Speaking of Waterford and the tie-up with Fleetwood they dont produce programs any more. With the increased change in ownership models in our LOI bethren does this mean the death knell of our clubs programs?

[wonder88]

Is Shelbourne's fan base all that far off the other Dublin clubs? I am not from Dublin so wouldn't know but would a bit a success and the Damian Duff name not create the sort of hype that could fill an 8k capacity Tolka. Also while the current FAI regime don't seem to have any interest, the future is likely to be an All-Ireland league another reason for investment in both the team and facilities.

[Philosophizer]

Is Shelbourne's fan base all that far off the other Dublin clubs? I am not from Dublin so wouldn't know but would a bit a success and the Damian Duff name not create the sort of hype that could fill an 8k capacity Tolka. Also while the current FAI regime don't seem to have any interest, the future is likely to be an All-Ireland league another reason for investment in both the team and facilities.

Shels are a bit off but not much. As per Nigel’s attendances thread Rovers average 6k, Pats and Bohs are almost neck and neck with about 4200 or 4300 per game while Shels have 3000 per game. That’s more than Dundalk and Sligo this year.
Bear in mind that they’ve spent most of the past 10-15 years in the doldrums, and have been starved of silverware and Europe. They’re still one of the most successful clubs in LOI history tho so if they make it back to challenging near the top of the table they could grow the attendance figure.

By the way, Tolka park capacity these days is a long way off the 8K capacity of old. Large sections of the ground are closed due to safety issues so current capacity is 4200.

[Philosophizer]

Shels are a relatively small club in terms of their support base but they did achieve a lot with the Save Tolka Park campaign so hopefully their fans can be involved in directing future plans for the club

As outlined above their attendances are not that far off Bohs and Pats.
Attendances around the whole league are booming now, and with the Save Tolka campaign and Duff at the helm it’s probably brought back a lot of lapsed support. The new ownership will probably give them a bounce too.

[JC_GUFC]

As outlined above their attendances are not that far off Bohs and Pats.
Attendances around the whole league are booming now, and with the Save Tolka campaign and Duff at the helm it’s probably brought back a lot of lapsed support. The new ownership will probably give them a bounce too.

But that's because Bohs and Pat's are limited by capacity. Shels attendances aren't bad to be fair and obviously lean times recently have knocked them back too but obviously at the moment they're very much the 4th Dublin club.

The recent ownership situation has been a bit confusing - I would imagine Tolka Park is probably a big problem for the club. The move to a renovated Dalymount Park would have made sense to anyone on a business sense but I can totally understand the fan opposition to it.

I wonder if Shels could put a new stadium anywhere they wished in Dublin where would it be? I'm not sure they'd choose Drumcondra - would they go back home to Irishtown/Ringsend though? Maybe somewhere like Coolock/Clare Hall? Sizeable population and I would imagine a lot of their newer support is taken from a North-East Dublin area, as opposed to Bohs who are North-west in areas like Cabra and out towards Blanchardstown.

[Philosophizer]

But that's because Bohs and Pat's are limited by capacity. Shels attendances aren't bad to be fair and obviously lean times recently have knocked them back too but obviously at the moment they're very much the 4th Dublin club.

Bohs are certainly limited by capacity but Richmond park has a bigger capacity (about 1000 more than Dalymount) so I don’t think Pats are hampered to the same extent.

[Nah Nah Nah Nah]

Pats seem to sell out the home section most weeks they play. It’s just that they have a massive away section of the official capacity.

[trevy]

Waterford did bring out a monthly magazine lately. I doubt if programmes will be coming back for each game. Most Waterford fans would have been happy with Fleetwood ownership as club being run in a more professional way than before, new club shop opened and more links to local community with a community officer being appointed. Of course Andy Pilley's conviction for fraud changes things and remains to be seen what the future is. He is due to be sentenced in a few weeks and is already in custody.

[Neish]

This seems a bit unlikely to me but some family connections from up Ballybofey way were telling me that O'Doherty has given Harps money too. These would be sensible lads normally but I'm assuming there's no truth in it?

In other news Sheikh Mansour has decided to give Manchester United 500 million to create some competition between the rival clubs

[FTA-1895]

The recent ownership situation has been a bit confusing - I would imagine Tolka Park is probably a big problem for the club. The move to a renovated Dalymount Park would have made sense to anyone on a business sense but I can totally understand the fan opposition to it.

The club would have died in Dalymount. We'd have lost alot of fans and stood very little chance of attracting new fans sharing with Bohs.

[JC_GUFC]

The club would have died in Dalymount. We'd have lost alot of fans and stood very little chance of attracting new fans sharing with Bohs.

Yeah - I'd agree. But business people with no knowledge of the league/club wouldn't have been able to foresee this. They'd have looked at the brand new stadium for free. That would have been fine in a greenfield site but moving to what would have always been known as Bohs stadium wouldn't have worked.

[EatYerGreens]

Yeah - I'd agree. But business people with no knowledge of the league/club wouldn't have been able to foresee this. They'd have looked at the brand new stadium for free. That would have been fine in a greenfield site but moving to what would have always been known as Bohs stadium wouldn't have worked.

You don't get to have the kind of money that can be invested/wasted on a football club without having at least some degree of smarts. Even a cursory glance at Irish football would tell you that Bohs are curretly just a couple of kms from Shels and get bigger crowds. So it wouldn't take much intelligence to work out who would be in the stronger position of the 2 if Shels were to move into Bohs' stadium/area.

[legendz]

Shelbourne to sell Tolka Park in move to Donabate

Shelbourne FC is planning to sell off Tolka Park stadium in Drumcondra, North Dublin for €40m to developers and open an integrated facility in North County Dublin


Tuesday December 14th 2004


SHELBOURNE FC is planning to sell off Tolka Park stadium in Drumcondra, North Dublin for €40m to developers.

This will allow it fund a top-of-the-range integrated sports campus in Donabate capable of holding up to 8,000 people.

The current Eircom National League champions have already held discussions with developers and with Dublin city councillors going back over 18 months about getting its Drumcondra power base rezoned as suitable for residential use.

At the same time, Shelbourne is in talks with Fingal Country Council about getting a greenfield site in Donabate rezoned to allow them fulfil their ambitious stadium plans that will also include a gym, junior soccers pitches and all-weather playing field.

The complexity of these negotiations, according to club chairman Finbarr Flood, means the club is unlikely to leave Drumcondra until at least three years' time.

"Our objective is to get all of our activities on to the one site," he said, adding the club currently uses five different locations to train and play matches.

Mr Flood said having everything on the one site would lead to major synergies both in terms of improving the quality of facilities available to its players and eliminating the €130,000 a year it currently costs it to rent pitches around North county Dublin.

The Shelbourne chairman stressed that any move would be subject to getting local councils' approval and was ultimately designed to allow the club to better compete in Europe.

The story first emerged in the Fingal Independent which quoted Senan Turbull, a senior Fingal County Council executive, as saying the move was "a great opportunity to have a premier team in Fingal".

It is understood the FAI has had no direct talks with Shelbourne. However, they are expected to do so next year as part of major talks with all of the Eircom League teams about their structural development.

In a separate development, Shamrock Rovers has also turned to property developers for help.

Businessman Conor Clarkson is in the process of buying out Mulden International, a property development firm led by Bernard McNamara, who half-built the Hoops unfinished stadium in Tallaght for under €3m.

Mr Clarkson is expected to invest around €8.5m in buying out Mulden and getting the stadium back on track early next year.

He is then expected to attempt to get the surrounding land around the stadium rezoned to allow him build a leisure complex and retail space strategically located opposite The Square in Tallaght.

Tom Lyons



© Irish Independent
http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/ & http://www.unison.ie/

Shelbourne FC is planning to sell off Tolka Park stadium in Drumcondra, North Dublin for €40m to developers and open an integrated facility in North County Dublin

Shelbourne owner Acun Ilicali: 'We found a hidden treasure in Dublin'!

[cláirseach]

Steven Beacom reporting in the Sunday life on potential investment in Coleraine.

[joey B]

2 million over 5 years doesn’t sound like a lot really….

[cláirseach]

2 million over 5 years doesn’t sound like a lot really….

Agreed. Not enough to outspend the current professionals and still too much to ever expect to pay back.

[nigel-harps1954]

I'm not sure, I'd be quite happy to see 400k a season thrown into Harps at the minute!