Petition to wind up Accolade (Shels)

**Dodge** · 17/03/2006, 12:54 PM

Originally Posted by CollegeTillIDie

Ok on one level it might be amusing to some to see another EL club in trouble.

However on a more rational level it's not a good sign! If a club with the level of success that Shelbourne have enjoyed in recent years in Europe and reaching the final of the Setanta Cup etc, which means they have access to funding that other clubs do not get, what chance is there of other clubs of having a full-time professional team while at the same time balancing their books?

None. But thats the point. Sensible people have been saying for years that Shels simply cannot afford to be paying the wages they are. Rather tha do things properly, they spoke about how the rest were begrudging them and hlding them back.

Personally I hope they die and never come back

BTW (threads merged)

**CollegeTillIDie** · 17/03/2006, 12:57 PM

Dodge

Should we all just give up and go amateur then? I mean what is the answer

**bohs til i die** · 17/03/2006, 1:09 PM

Originally Posted by soccerc

The eL/FAI got involved with a senior official attending meetings with Shels and the Revenue to sort out the repayment terms. As a result of those negotiations a schedule was agreed and Shels received their licence.

that sounds well dodgy. Surely the FAI/EL shouldnt be getting involved in a club's business dealings?

**Dodge** · 17/03/2006, 1:15 PM

Originally Posted by CollegeTillIDie

Dodge

Should we all just give up and go amateur then? I mean what is the answer

No. Do it properly. Slowly bu surely increase your revenue, and you do, then increase the wages. If Shels are taking in 3 mill and have expenditure of 3 mill, then fair play to them but last year they lost 1 million euro on a turnover of 2 million. Thats suicide. And it sickens me when shels are shown as the leading lihts in the league and everyone else is "amateurish" when all most clubs are doing is trying to live within their means and not be wound up.

**sfc red** · 17/03/2006, 1:18 PM

Dodge your attitude is pathetic. We can hardly afford to lose on of the biggest clubs in Irish football whether it be Shels/Cork/Pats/Rovers/Bohs

**bohs til i die** · 17/03/2006, 1:19 PM

Originally Posted by CollegeTillIDie

Dodge

Should we all just give up and go amateur then? I mean what is the answer

the answer is to enforce the financial aspects of the UEFA Licence system to its fullest. Football clubs in this country are mainly run by fans of clubs in the spare time of those willing to do the work. There are exceptions to this but thats the general way it works. The reason clubs get into financial problems is that these people make decisions based on following dreams, not on a business model or plan.

Wage caps wont work because they cant be monitored properly, and cash payments will become the norm to players.

Top players at their peak like Crowe when he was scring 100+ league goals for Bohs can be the highest paid player in the league and rightly so but when average jokers come along looking for �1000 a week AFTER TAX then clubs inevitably are inviting trouble.

**chippie0001** · 17/03/2006, 1:29 PM

Originally Posted by Dodge

No. Do it properly. Slowly bu surely increase your revenue, and you do, then increase the wages. If Shels are taking in 3 mill and have expenditure of 3 mill, then fair play to them but last year they lost 1 million euro on a turnover of 2 million. Thats suicide. And it sickens me when shels are shown as the leading lihts in the league and everyone else is "amateurish" when all most clubs are doing is trying to live within their means and not be wound up.

Have to agree with Dodge here, it annoys me when people talk about Shels being so great when all they are doing is breaking the law. Not even football laws but the law of the land in not paying their tax. Now their chairman is quoted in the papers saying all clubs run their business like that. We don't and some have taken the hard decisions, Shels now want sympathy for the mess they put themselves in.

**Cosmo** · 17/03/2006, 1:40 PM

If I'm not mistaken it was shels and that pr!ck Jim Roddy that were putting pressure on us to get kicked out of the EL if we didnt sort out our finances a couple of years ago!!

That only cost us 100k to sort out btw!

As a result, I should probably want drogs to put the same pressure on Shels as was put on us, which nearly killed off our club (thankfully it all worked out for us though). However, Id hate to see us go down that route!! I hate seeing clubs trying to kick each other while they're down!

Good luck to shels in sorting themselves out!

However, I wonder if Jim Roddy will be putting the same pressure on shels, as he put on us - or was it just that drogs weren't expected to fight back and just go under easily?

**CollegeTillIDie** · 17/03/2006, 1:40 PM

Well let me see Full time professionalism has almost bankrupted... Bohs, St. Pat's, Shels and Shamrock Rovers in the past four years.... who will be next?

**sullanefc** · 17/03/2006, 1:46 PM

Originally Posted by sfc red

Dodge your attitude is pathetic. We can hardly afford to lose on of the biggest clubs in Irish football whether it be Shels/Cork/Pats/Rovers/Bohs

What we can afford to lose are clubs that are rotten to the core and have been flouting the laws of the game and the laws of the land for some time now. Shelbourne (the darling club of the media) have had an unfair advantage over other clubs in recent times by aquiring a big squad without being able to afford it.

What should happen is a big points deduction leading to Shelbourne's relegation and ultimately it's demise, but we all know the FAI will bail them out and things will continue as normal.

**Poor Student** · 17/03/2006, 1:50 PM

In Slovenia they fecked out NK Olimpija Ljubljana for doing the same thing. A club who recently knocked Shels out of Europe coincidentally. The club finished in a European spot and were denied their place as they had no licence and ended up dying despite being the most famous club with the strongest tradition in the country.

**Mr A** · 17/03/2006, 1:55 PM

Let's try and keep some level of perspective here- Shels may be the most high-profile overspenders but they're by no means the only ones. We have fans of clubs that are total financial basket-cases themselves howling for Shels blood without a hint of irony. The league is still riddled with this financial madness and ultimately its hurting everyone- the clubs that do it because they endanger their future, and the clubs that don't because they must compete against them.

That said, and club/business can get into trouble- a bad season and gates etc drop off and cash flow problems can happen, that's just the way of the world. What we're dealing with here is continued spending of money that clubs have no realistic hope of taking in. For the good of the league and all its clubs this has to be stopped somehow. It's time to take a long term view and build things up gradually rather than always looking for one big hit that's going to suddenly take the club on to 'the next level'.

**Poor Student** · 17/03/2006, 2:00 PM

Galway, the proposed restructuring of the league is about trying to have your cake and eat it. I've been told by a club official that "the eircom League is not viable" but what they simply mean is that we cannot sustain this level of expenditure in the current set up. I've been told that if balancing the books is the height of ambition in this league then we shouldn't bother. The big clubs want to continue to spend big and engineer a set up that yields higher income to allow it to be sustainable. So instead of copping on the attitude seems to be "How can we get around this?".

**chippie0001** · 17/03/2006, 2:12 PM

Originally Posted by Poor Student

The big clubs want to continue to spend big and engineer a set up that yields higher income to allow it to be sustainable. So instead of copping on the attitude seems to be "How can we get around this?".

And the terrible thing is I would not mind this idea in a way except that we all know the new structure, new format etc is not doing to deliver bigger crowds, more income cause it is still flawed.

**sullanefc** · 17/03/2006, 2:15 PM

Originally Posted by Galway Harps

Let's try and keep some level of perspective here- Shels may be the most high-profile overspenders but they're by no means the only ones. We have fans of clubs that are total financial basket-cases themselves howling for Shels blood without a hint of irony. The league is still riddled with this financial madness and ultimately its hurting everyone- the clubs that do it because they endanger their future, and the clubs that don't because they must compete against them.

What other clubs are dodgy?

**chippie0001** · 17/03/2006, 2:18 PM

Originally Posted by sullanefc

What other clubs are dodgy?

There are plenty of clubs that are still living with their past mistakes or still making them. Bohs/Pats/Waterford etc are all still getting over massive overspending. Rovers were relegated as a result of it. Dundalk had to sell their training pitch to cover football losses etc.

**gael353** · 17/03/2006, 2:23 PM

Originally Posted by sullanefc

What other clubs are dodgy?

i wouldnt call them dodgy but every club owes money to creditors and the tax man. The least owed by a club is in the region of 40,000 and thats by a munster first division club who wear blue

ive heard storys of one other big dublin club who might be going to the courts very soon similar to shels. The tax man could pull all 22 clubs up before the courts straight away on outstanding tax issues but have cut deals of repayment with lots if not most. Shels are being used as an example case imo. I hope shels probs are sorted out soon as i dont want to see any club going out of business, not like what the media are pushing.

**Strabane_Harp** · 17/03/2006, 2:40 PM

Finn Harps debt will be cleared by end of the year

**bohs til i die** · 17/03/2006, 2:59 PM

Originally Posted by Galway Harps

Let's try and keep some level of perspective here- Shels may be the most high-profile overspenders but they're by no means the only ones. We have fans of clubs that are total financial basket-cases themselves howling for Shels blood without a hint of irony. The league is still riddled with this financial madness and ultimately its hurting everyone- the clubs that do it because they endanger their future, and the clubs that don't because they must compete against them.

That said, and club/business can get into trouble- a bad season and gates etc drop off and cash flow problems can happen, that's just the way of the world. What we're dealing with here is continued spending of money that clubs have no realistic hope of taking in. For the good of the league and all its clubs this has to be stopped somehow. It's time to take a long term view and build things up gradually rather than always looking for one big hit that's going to suddenly take the club on to 'the next level'.

how many other clubs have had high court action taken against them to date for non payment of tax?

**A face** · 17/03/2006, 3:00 PM

Cork City is nearly full pro and we dont have massive debts ... i'd say it isn't as rosie in the garden as some people would have you believe but we are a million miles away for this sort of caper. People give out about Lennox not spending but the fact is .... if you dont have it to spend then you cant do it, end of.

There is no reason what so ever why it cant be done properly.