Well, yeah. 72 years left on it. Hopefully PEAK6 actually do knock down some things!
I don't think history will be kind to Matthews at all, even though he put a lot into the club. The way it ended, over the last couple of seasons, and some of the other things, will taint it. Hiring Sean Connor (especially after the treatment of Gill) was the start of it really, that 2009 season left us in a hole.
Still shouldn't be forgotten what he did. On the football side got us back into the PD (and by a large stroke of luck Europe), and a cup final which at the time was huge for us.
Probably isn't given enough credit for the facilities side of it. Built the Shed, toilets and extra dressing rooms in the ground, seats in the ground, put a new roof on the stand, built the club shop and offices, the sponsors lounge, the YDC (ok you can talk about the rates etc but it's now a very valuable asset to the club), put in the entrance and roadway around the ground and the underground carpark obviously.
I don't think there's been a tap done since he left (bar the toilets on the Carrick Road end) and the Enda McGuill Suite (which was ok as it was I thought) in the past year.
But yeah, all the other stuff that went with it and the way it ended will be in people's memory most I suppose.
Happens with a lot of owners, although not the Fastfix lads who funnily enough walked away with a very handsome reward at the end of their tenure. Fair play to them, it's been some run, but very rarely it works out that way for owners.
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