Like you, I'm not sure about seeing this as a simple matter of competition/catchment etc.Originally Posted by Nesta99
Otoh, Larne have a "problem" in that there are 3 or 4 other senior clubs within a few miles.
Oto, that just reflects that Antrim - and especially South East Antrim - is a real footballing heartland and always has been. Meaning that it can sustain more clubs than you might expect when simply looking at the geography and population etc.
And tbf to Bruce, while he has obv pumped a lot of money into players and coaches etc, he has also spent serious money on infrastructure, facilities and community etc, which should stand to the club even after he has retired/moved on.
The other gain from his involvement is that he has prompted other clubs to up their game, most notably Linfield, who might have gone f-t long before they actually did, but as serial winners formerly didn't feel the need to.
My initial concern about Bruce was that having made his name in the property business, he was only buying into Larne to move the club from Inver Park and take a profit from redeveloping the site. But while he apparently considered moving the club, he concluded that he could do a job on the existing site, and so it has proved.
The improvements in the infrastructure and team are fantastic. He has worked wonders. If any LOI clubs who have been taken over were to see the infrastructureand team improvements similar to larne they would come in droves to support their club. Had the pleasure of meeting him several times in the club loungee and he said he's in it for the long haul.
He is a true diehard fan from before he made his money. Has spoken about standing on the terrace with a few hundred people and wishing he or some other fan had the money to do something. He has that sentimental attachment that fans dream of in owners or of becoming owners themselves with the money to make a difference, a no strings attached - land swaps, ground sales to claw back 'investment'. Even as a fan EG mentiones suspicion that Bruce was a developer in for a land grab. If it were Dundalk with such a fan owner there would be fan protests cause of the american connection from a trip to Disneyland once!
In my own defence, before Bruce ever arrived on the scene, the club itself, in dire financial straits, was looking to move somewhere else after the Council (the then stadium owners) sold Inver:
(From Oct.2008)
"Larne Football Club is to quit Inver Park and is planning to move to a new green-field site, with its current council-owned ground being sold to a supermarket for more than £5million.
The club’s shareholders voted has in favour of the Council’s proposals to sell the land it owns at Inver Park to Tesco for retail development.
The £5.1 million sale of the land to Tesco will mean the complete redevelopment of the Inver Park site which will create a welcoming approach to the town and traffic flow systems which will enhance business opportunities for traders.
Larne Football Club will relocate to a new stadium when Planning Permission has been secured and this move has been made possible by a very generous contribution from Tesco."
https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/s.../28450618.html
That dragged on for whatever reason, but even when Bruce took over he was open to the idea of moving, too.
But in his defence, his motives were clearly to get the best for Larne FC, eventually deciding that buying the ground and redeveloping it himself was best all round.
Meanwhile, he's taken in outside investment (a minority stake) from the USA which again, I'd normally wonder about, but you have to trust Bruce to handle it wisely:
https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/s...447216947.html
No need for a defence, I believed that Gerry Matthews took ownership of Dundalk just to get his hands on Oriel Park. I'm still not totally convinced that he wasnt at all thnking that he could swap out a cheap brownfield site in an industrial park for prime housing development near the town centre and train station. A look on Google Maps and you can see how big that tranche of land still is between Oriel, Joes Field, Grammar School/Hiney Park, Furrey Glen, CIE land if they could be merged - absolutely perfect for a stadium development and urban sporting quarter between two main roads in to town, one and potentially both with close access to the M1 and eastern corridor rail links. Those same things obviously making it a prime housing development location if land could be rezoned. Im really surprised that a new stadium at that location was never proposed as part of housing development ever. Residents would have objected to both but the lesser of two evils imo would be a new football ground where one already exists but with improved infrastructure in the area eg traffic management, upgraded water supplies, park and recreation amenity on their dorrstep and arguably less traffic every 2nd week on average than cramming high density housing in to the area..
In hindsight Gerry Matthews put significant money in to the club and made improvements to Oriel to a guestimated value of near €2m. It went sour when his own back was to the wall with a global financial collapse and he was scrambling to eek every cent out of his assets which included holding the Oriel Park lease to ransom, basically get the planning levy for the YDC paid by the club rather than by GM for a development he had little need for or benefit to him, reducing his debts - he is also a particularly stubborn man at times and that can make him a bit of a nighmare to deal with. Anyhow, we should a lot more grateful to GM than aggrieved on the balance of thngs retrospectively. He was nowhere the scale of Bruce, as self professed non football person, but did his bit.
Last edited by Nesta99; 07/05/2024 at 11:31 AM.
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