What are you going to do about the future of Limerick FC?

**Nempton** · 06/11/2006, 7:18 PM

As for my final word... Friday night reflected very badly on both Limerick FC and the city as a whole. The excrement responsible are unlkely to be seen in Rathbane until the next time that Rovers are in town. The damage is done though, the club's name has been dragged through the mud and the city will continue to turn it's back on us. A complete and utter shambles from start to finish. Then to have to wade through this rubbish as well...

Well put Dar. I don't want this whole argument to start up again, but I'm sat in my office in London reading about went on against Rovers and I'm severely disappointed. Without going into details what strikes me is how disjointed Limerick supporters have become. We seem to be in a situation where things are far worse now than when we were under the stewardship of Michael O'Sullivan. I don't think we all suffer from goldfish memory that we have forgotten what that was like.

We have to realise that two seasons ago, Rathbane was the only option that we had so lets not forget that. Talk of Thomond and the Markets Field are unrealistic and thats a fact. For now and the coming years we are not in a position to change that. What we need to see is development of Rathbane and in conjunction eliminate from the supporters any bad apples (anyone who was at the match on Friday for the sole purpose of violence is not a fan and does not belong at Rathbane). We need to build up the club again by getting it involved in the Limerick community and giving them a reason to be proud of the club.

There was a lot of talk about building a 8,000 seater stadium etc., so far none of the promises made have come through. So what do we do? We need as a collective the Limerick supporters to voice their concerns and put pressure on Danny Drew as we did with Michael O'Sullivan. We need to voice our concerns to the public and galvinise their support behind us. The end result has to be that Danny Drew must outline to us the direction he wants to take the club and implement it. Allowing for what has happened since his involvement I think it is only fair that we get answers. This club and its support is so divided that it will only end up destroying itself.

I really do fear for the future of the club more so than ever. Let's not forget what happened to Dublin City earlier this season. Do you really want to be in a position where you no longer have Limerick competing against Harps, Cobh & Galway? I'm in London and its easy for me to say these things, I'm in no position to bring about action. Thats why a few years ago in Pike's clubhouse we started a supporters club. I know a lot of guys are lethargic about Limerick FC (the fact that fans seem more interested on in the 21's than the senior team reflect that) but people like John, Trev, Dar, Tom, Deckie along with TheLimerick, 4tothefloor and other posters need to do something. Forget arguing amongst yourselves and having unrealistic dreams the common goal for everyone has to be the welfare of the club and I feel things will only degenerate if we fail to act.

We need to have people involved in the supporters club again who are capable of leadership, organisational skills and action. There was talk of a meeting recently so whats happening? We are at a stage where people need to put up their hand and be counted.

Apologies if this appears as a Delia Smith rant.

**4tothefloor** · 06/11/2006, 11:01 PM

That's fine Nempton, but firstly only a supporters club that is completely independent of the club can work. Rightly or wrongly our SC wasn't independent of the club, it helped keep the club afloat during the O'Sullivan years but since Drew came into power it's been working in hand with the club. This season it has been non-existant mainly because all the hard working officers, some that you've mentioned above, opted out and you can't blame them cos they put in huge work and couldn't even enjoy the games. I'm involved in running my own business so there isn't a hope in hell I could put forward for the SC, I have enough work as it is and I simply cannot commit to anymore. I'm sure others are in a similar boat...

After that, the second thing is Danny Drew has to be taken to task about what exactly he is doing with the club. If you ask me, the man is a raving lunatic and one of the most ignorant *****s I have ever come across in my life. He may have control of the club, but he does not own it, it belongs to the fans and the people of Limerick. It is not his toy to fcuk around with. He needs to be taken down a peg or two, otherwise he'll destroy this club. The sooner fans wake up to that fact, the better. Look at his track record and all the problems in his short reign - it's there for all to see and the main problem is his personality because put simply - he's an oddball. I had a very enlightening conversation a few weeks ago with a current player, and legend, at the club. Lets just say that the stories we've been hearing about a certain jackass are all true

The third thing is Hogan Park - the only thing I disagree with you on. It's a non runner, there is no future there and putting money into it would be a waste of time. The area has a name and it will never lose that reputation, fancy hotels or not. JohnD and thelimerick would be of the same view I would say. Lets face it, it's a ****hole full of scumbags and if we stay there we will be forced to put up with their s**t for the rest of our lives 'cos these scumbags have no respect or care for the club so they cause havoc when they like. This is our biggest problem, we have no funds so we're in a catch 22. I have no solution to it so what exactly can be done?

All in all we're in a bad situation. The club is being led by a guy who is completely out of his depth and as a result there is a dominos effect throughout the rest of the club. Loads of money (apparantly...but i'm not so sure, think there's a lot of hot air there as well) but no common sense i'm afraid.

**Monkfish** · 07/11/2006, 3:35 AM

An S.C. meeting was proposed for wednesday the 8th for all past 'present' and future members, however with the fallout from the rovers game it probably wont happen this week, however we better make dammed sure it does happen before the Athlone game. We need to kick start it for the start of next season. I for one will be putting my name in the ring as will another regular poster to make sure we dont have a repeat of last year. (our current chairman only took the job cause no-one else wanted it) So lads, if every poster who posted on the last tread could respond to this and say which time and date would suit. Fact is, you probably wont, your too busy ****ing and moaning about things that are out of our hands DD, Hogan Park, lease, ect ect.. Our job is to organise the odd bus to away games, purchase a new flag now and again, we could even lend a hand doing a bit of paint work around the ground, small steps that are being neglected.

Now we're not all going to get along, i personally have an issue with '4 to the floor' calling all those who stand in the shed gob****es. I always stand smack bang in the middle of the shed, and to be called this smacks of snobbery, however for the sake of the club we need to come together, if only for an hour and sort it out.

**PinBallWizard** · 07/11/2006, 8:13 AM

Organising a supporters club is all well and good, but will in the end be nothing but a futile exercise. It will not be recognised by the aforementioned lunatic unless he knows everything that is going on in it, and lets face it, he already has one 'mole' that blabs everything to him about fans stuff etc anyway. An independent supporters association is the way to go, but I'll lay odds with ye that its members will be banned from the ground.

I will never support the club again as long as this guy is in charge. He is a cancer on the game of senior soccer in Limerick, with a dangerous ego and an evil streak to match. He has proven this since he sacked Noel O'Connor without having a replacement lined up. He always had eyes on managing himself for a while-just to see what it was like. I have spoken to some players that han;'t much time for the butcher, but would have him back in the morning rather than listen to 'Daft Dave' or Daft Danny, whatever...its hilarious.

There is money there within his family, but it ain't going to last forever...thats for sure. Then he heads for the hills, leaves the club in total disarray, both financially and organisationally...just watch.

Oh, and a final little titbit...those of you who think the Michael O'Sullivan era is gone, have a long hard look at who Drews advisor is....

Pinky and the Brain......

**Tir Oilean** · 07/11/2006, 8:36 AM

Have a look at a supporters Trust rather than supporters club. There is loads of info on the web regarding clubs like Northampton in the UK. We have got info from the UK bodies involved and it seems a much better route. We have elected members on the Board and Executive committe. It will earn you more of a say in the club you love. If you want more info PM me and I will get it for you.

**JohnD** · 07/11/2006, 8:41 AM

The SC tried very hard to work with the club in previous years to no avail. There will be no future for this club until we get away from the area of town we are stuck in. People can be stubborn if they like but we will not prosper until we leave.

I will not be putting my hat into the ring for an SC that is not independent of the club. I have done my little bit over 3 yrs and feel it's incumbent on others to run with this now. Last Years' AGM was a farce and a Committee was elected this year to eun the club. The SC did not fold this year We had an elected committee who did not do ther jobs I'm Afraid.

Polease don't bother getting involved unless you are going to do some work and not leave it all to Gael (Who btw was not even on the Committee this year). It's the same old Talk..talk..Talk..

I will support any indepependent SC all the way, whose agenda includes the leaving of the SH **thole, proper stewarding, Better (Any !)Club v SC relationship. It's time to face Realities We are in a dreadful situation with poor prospects.

John

**jebus** · 07/11/2006, 12:40 PM

Agreed we are in a dreadful situation, but what can be done about it? All this talk about leaving Rathbane is all well and good, but where are we going to go to?

Back to Pike and back to having 50 people at the games? All that would achieve would be to drive Danny and any future investors away and would result in the death of Limerick FC. The Markets Field and Thomond are non-runners at this point so there's no point even discussing that, so the only other place that springs to mind is Jackman Park which, and this is assuming the LDMC would allow us in there, wouldn't solve people's problems with Rathbane, as we would have the same crowd coming in, a similiar shed scenario (and I agree with Monkfish about what 4tothefloor said) and would get the same trouble if Rovers came down to play us again. Moving the club outside of the city centre would be a disaster as far as I'm concerned (as was proved in Pike) because the good people of Raheen or Castletroy or wherever may indeed behave themselves more at games, but that's assuming that they would care about Limerick FC in the first place and would actually turn out for games, something to which I'm 99% certain of that they wouldn't.

The only thing for it as far as I'm concerned is to stay in Rathbane, try to get the Priest to sign over the lease (a tall order I know), cash in those FAI grants and try and get Hogan Park up to speed, including better security, secure parking, and an entrance on the Cork Rd, its the only option we have as far as I'm concerned. And let's not let this descend into stereotyping the people who live around the Rathbane area and let's also not let this descend into what happend in the Lims-Shams thread, of which I was apart of I know.

On a sidenote I think we are also going to be stuck as far as a supporter's club is concerned. Personally I would back a SC that works hand in hand with the club to promote Limerick FC in the city, and works together on fund-raisers. But the danger with that is that we would still have to have the freedom to criticise the club, the manager, the players, the chairman and even the shop assistants in the ground if we so wish. This would require a chairman who would appreciate that we are all trying to work to better the club and would allow us our right to an opinion, and that type of chairman is something we are in desperate need of at this moment.

**thelimerick** · 07/11/2006, 12:45 PM

I aggree with John completely, I think its about time people realise how dire things are at the club. Obviously its not good enough to just know this, to do something about it is vital. Its good to hear people asking the question of what people are prepared to do for the future of the club.
Its worth remembering that plenty has been done by those not in control of the club, and without whose help the club would be far worse off than it is. It's also worth noting they get very little thanks either.
I think a Limerick FC supporters meeting with Danny Drew present has to happen. We need and deserve answers to our questions, we need to hear Drew's side to things and leave both the supporters rumours and the clubs spin/blatant lies outside. Thats the first step. If things are clearer afterwards then we can talk of hands-on work. If not then as far as I'm concerned the supporters need to take a more visibly stronger course of action.
If the supporters galvanise they can make a difference.

**4tothefloor** · 07/11/2006, 1:21 PM

Listen Jebus and monkfish, apologies if you're offended by being called gob****es but I stand over my statement as the crowd hanging out in the shed has changed notably this season, and there is a more scum element in there whether you like it or not. Especially to the left side of the shed as you're looking down on the pitch. These are the people I'm referring to and they have been present all season, cos I can remember them from the start of the season and even moving out of the shed because of it. Now because of these people, I watch the games from the near or far side. I don't want to be in there with them. Of course there're sound lads like JohnD, Lim till i die etc also in the shed but I don't know everyone that's in there. So maybe apologies for painting everyone with the same brush in a heated debate, but they're in there whether you want to admit it or not....

**Lim till i die** · 07/11/2006, 2:12 PM

Thats fair enough but I could name you some gob****es on the far and near sides aswell

Can we agree on a form of words acceptable to all and move on? Something along the lines of:

"Gob****es can be found within the ground,
Not everyone within the ground is a gob****e"*

*For the purposes of this treaty it is generally accepted that the densest proportion of gob****es is located in a section of the shed. This is in no way a reflection on the non gob****e population which exists within said shed

**Lim till i die** · 07/11/2006, 2:16 PM

First off I'd like to welcome back Nemptons long winded, well meaning but ultimately soothing rants, they were missed

As for what can be done to help out the club I for one would happily donate lots of time to anything worthwhile. But.............

IMHO an official supporters club simply wont generate enough interest and an un-official supporters club simply wont fly

**jebus** · 07/11/2006, 5:16 PM

Originally Posted by 4tothefloor

but they're in there whether you want to admit it or not....

I never said there wasn't any gob****es in there, I just took exception to this

Originally Posted by 4tothefloor

I don't hang around with any of the gob****es in the shed, 'cos that's all they are, anyone from the now defunct S.C. or anyone else for that matter. The only people I've any respect for off here are JohnD and Gael353, and they're nearly always either doing something around the ground, or in Johns case he's about the only non prat when he's in the shed, apart from SLK until he left it.

Mostly because you included SLK on your 'Good Guy List'

**jebus** · 07/11/2006, 5:31 PM

From re-reading back through this thread it seems that what we are going to do about the future of Limerick FC is skip to the end of Nempton's post and then go around in circles talking about Danny, Rathbane and the Supporter's Club (oh my!) and end up back here again next year. Jesus perhaps we should find the nearest support group for people who fear change and get them to tell their friends that Limerick FC is the club for them

**sadloserkid** · 07/11/2006, 5:44 PM

Originally Posted by jebus

perhaps we should find the nearest support group for people who fear change and get them to tell their friends that Limerick FC is the club for them

It might be one way of getting our attendances up.

**Nempton** · 07/11/2006, 8:49 PM

only a supporters club that is completely independent of the club can work. Rightly or wrongly our SC wasn't independent of the club, it helped keep the club afloat during the O'Sullivan years but since Drew came into power it's been working in hand with the club.

When we founded the supporters club Michael O'Sullivan and co. did attempt to tie us in with them. But we remained firm and established ourselves autonomous from the club. Nothing has changed in that respect, we are still a separate organisation. The only people the Supporters Club is accountable to is its members and we should be making Limerick FC answerable to ourselves. While Danny Drew represents his own interests, we represent the supporters. If organised and united then we are in a strong position to force Limerick FC to address numerous issues. Look at the success we had when we protested about the loan move of Derek McCarthy to Waterford last season.

Danny Drew has turned out to be nothing more than a white elephant which requires a united front by supporters under the visage of the Supporters Club. It is true that this years current Supporters Club have failed in their responsibilities, but most elected onto the committee were not interested in the job in the first place. The supporters club were in decline before then and it is understandable why Trev and John walked away. We need to address and resolve our own problems first. Limerick supporters want to see action taken but are too afraid or lazy to be the instigators of it. Its about making a choice whether or not you want to save Limerick FC from further decline and embarrassment. The same issues that existed a few years ago are slowly emerging again. But to be honest I think John summed it up best and its quite sad

I have done my little bit over 3 yrs and feel it's incumbent on others to run with this now. Last Years' AGM was a farce and a Committee was elected this year to eun the club. The SC did not fold this year We had an elected committee who did not do ther jobs I'm Afraid.
Polease don't bother getting involved unless you are going to do some work and not leave it all to Gael (Who btw was not even on the Committee this year). It's the same old Talk..talk..Talk..

I think its quite simple if you care any bit about Limerick FC then you will get involved, the first step has to be the Supporters Club organising a meeting with a strong turnout. So Damien, Dar and Tom need to get the ball rolling on this one.

**Nempton** · 07/11/2006, 9:34 PM

From re-reading back through this thread it seems that what we are going to do about the future of Limerick FC is skip to the end of Nempton's post and then go around in circles talking about Danny, Rathbane and the Supporter's Club (oh my!) and end up back here again next year.

For once Jebus is correct

so I'm going to address everyone's concern one by one

1. Danny Drew - At the present moment we are in a position where we find that there is no alternative to Danny. We have no one in the background who will rescue Limerick and return them to the Markets Field so we must be realistic in our thinking. The only alternative is to negotiate or force Danny into action about the well being of Limerick FC which is beneficial, open, professional and progressive to the fans, players and Limerick community. This is not as easy as it sounds but we need to eradicate the mistakes he has made and encourage Danny to take the right steps and build on them.

2. Rathbane - Again like Danny we have no alternative in the short or long term. Again realism needs to be applied to this point. Other possible venues in Limerick do not exist. Moving back to a pitch owned by a junior soccer team is not a step forward but a step back. Plus under the Club Licence we need to have our own stadium otherwise Limerick FC will fold. Rathbane provides this and if correct the FAI now hold the lease then that bodes well for the club (I know that this is still a grey issue and has not been fully clarified). The FAI like the Supporters Club can be another safe guard to Danny and ensure the best for Limerick.

I know people have recently expressed concern about Rathbane and surrounding area. However, lets not forget last season where we had the best atmosphere created at Limerick home matches that I have witnessed for a long time. Unfortunately this season has not been helped with the clashes with Shamrock Rovers but if a bad element has entered the shed then why vacate and leave it to them. This does not give you a moral victory but rather it plays into their hands. The correct thing to do is for the supporters to unite and to sing and shout with the aim of drowning out the racist or threatening language of a small minority. Tell them to leave, make a complaint to the stewards but just don't walk away because all it shows is that your either too afraid or don't care to do something.

3. Supporters Club - With a strong and effective Supporters Club there is no reason why the above points cannot be addressed with an outcome that everyone would welcome. Overall if people start focusing a little time and energy on the Supporters Club then the rest will take care of itself.

**4tothefloor** · 07/11/2006, 10:36 PM

Originally Posted by Nempton

But to be honest I think John summed it up best and its quite sad

I think its quite simple if you care any bit about Limerick FC then you will get involved, the first step has to be the Supporters Club organising a meeting with a strong turnout. So Damien, Dar and Tom need to get the ball rolling on this one.

True, but at the same time there's no point in getting involved if you cannot commit to the workload/meetings/organisation etc. This is the major problem as not everyone has the spare time to devote to this. By all means get involved if you can commit to it hand on heart, otherwise the same thing will happen as this season with people taking positions that they maybe cannot perform or commit to.

**Lim till i die** · 08/11/2006, 10:40 AM

Originally Posted by Nempton

I think its quite simple if you care any bit about Limerick FC then you will get involved, the first step has to be the Supporters Club organising a meeting with a strong turnout. So Damien, Dar and Tom need to get the ball rolling on this one.

And there in my honest opinion lies the crux of the issue

A meeting could be organised for anytime within now and Christmas and I can guarentee you, as sure as I'm sitting here, that there would be less people at it then have contributed to this thread