Shelbourne FC Demoted to First Division - All Purpose Thread

Gareth, in some other thread in the last fortnight, I explained how I separate Shels fans from Shels the club. For the likes of Shels fans such as yourself (a minority), yes, I do feel sympathy on account of what youse have invested over the years, same as any of us.

However, for me, your club exists in a bottomless pit of loathing. You can bang on about history and 1895 and all that, but I only have to go back to 2002 to find plenty of reasons to enjoy watching Shels suffer.

Thanks for the Setanta spot, by the way.

Drogheda invited them to play games in utd park a couple of seasons ago .Dont think it was ever likely tbh ,more to do with the license application deadline coming up .

Originally Posted by pineapple stu

Is it yer man O'Reilly? I have the accounts somewhere; I'll dig them out and have a look.

Is it a guy called Richard Campbell?

Buller, it was closer to half that. If Tolka does vanish out of the frame, it leaves Rovers to sit back and enjoy a Dutch auction between us and Bohs, couldn't see them having to pay much more than a grand a game for either Richmond or Dalymount.

If it was down to me, I'd take yisser money no problem.

It's on the main computer, which is broken unfortunately.

Campbell doesn't ring a bell though.

Originally Posted by drummerboy

The developers must be rubbing their hands at the sight of the Shels meltdown.

I don't agree. The council own the ground; Shels own the lease. If Shels go bust, the council have a ground and would be in no real rush to lose another city-centre-ish amenity. The developers' only hope of getting their money is by getting Shels into a new ground alive.

Most of the times Ollie went to the courts he was proved right. The League was run so amateurishly they just made it up as they went along, setting stupid precedents that had to be challenged.
Many other clubs rode on Shels shirt-tails whenever we challenged another stupid ruling. That's something I'm rather proud of.

Originally Posted by steno

Your not alone there poor student I have lost count on how many times someone has said that they have heard that Kildare County would be the next club to go.

The loss of any club is a sad day for irish soccer simple as that. Shels do deserve to suffer the consequences of their overspending but I would never like to see them go to the wall. Hopefully the Eircom league clubs (and shels) will learn from this.

Well any club who refuse to show EL matches in their club bar (kildare county) as there was a premiership game on, no wonder people would be glad to see the back of you, asked could i watch the cup semi last season (cork V derry) and was told where to go, you can hardly claim to support the league,

as much as i hate $hel$ would hate to see them disappear, the league would be a much the worse without them, (or for that matter steady clubs like UCD)

Originally Posted by Gareth

I remember well the buckets galway supporters brought to other el grounds and finn harps play a match in all the grounds in 24 hours? Was that right?

I wish a bucket collection would help shels.

But it wouldnt be to help $hel$ it would be to help Oillie Byrnes finances as he owns the club, can see too many eircom league fans rushing to throw there money away to save oillie's finances.

It would be a completely different matter if the real $hel$ fans had control of the club.

That said i hope Finbarr Flood pulls it out of the bag and gets you to the end of this season in one piece.

Originally Posted by Gareth

I remember well the buckets galway supporters brought to other el grounds and finn harps play a match in all the grounds in 24 hours? Was that right?

I wish a bucket collection would help shels.

Indeed, I spent a late friday night in Baldonnel waiting for SBB ina shui and his mates to arrive.

Nobody stayed around to throw a few bob into the buckets as they were hours behind schedule, feeling sorry I gave them what remained in my wallet as a personal donation only for one pr ick, then a senior figure to compain that it wan't enough.

Garth, you didn't happen to notice all the goodwill that clubs like harps, Galway, Derry, Limerick and even Rovers received when they stared extinction in the face. Do you not ask yourself why el fans, almost to man, wished all those clubs well and donated money, bought raffle tickets etc etc

Now read the posts (still a moinority) wishing Shels would die and ask yourself why? If you can't find the difference or don't knwo the answer, there's no hope for Shels fans.

Originally Posted by Dr.Nightdub

Buller, it was closer to half that. If Tolka does vanish out of the frame, it leaves Rovers to sit back and enjoy a Dutch auction between us and Bohs, couldn't see them having to pay much more than a grand a game for either Richmond or Dalymount.

If it was down to me, I'd take yisser money no problem.

We know, you ****ing hoop

Like most people, I'm no fan of how Shels treated the league and other clubs around them in recent years but I still wouldn't want to see them go to the wall. I wouldn't want to see any club die as I know how I felt 6 or 7 years ago when it was us. We fought tooth and nail to save our club at the time and only cleared up the debts last year.

It looked as if we were in big trouble but we survived and have one of the most modern football stadia on the island beginning construction in the next few months. It was us, the fans, that saved Finn Harps. It was the same at Derry, Rovers, Galway, Dundalk and Cork.

Shels are a big name and I'm sure there are people out there who will help. If the fans care enough to save the club, you will survive. It won't be the Shelbourne you know, you'll have more in common with Monaghan and Kilkenny for a few years but at least you'll still have a club.

Hopefully something will work out for yis Gareth. You are one of the good guys and I do feel a lot of sympathy for the genuine Shels fans. You will get a lot of goading (Shels fans weren't exactly renowned for being good winners) and slagging. But that is football.

I know what you are saying about the eircom league but when it really, really comes down to it - most football fans don't give a flying fúck about any other team or club in the world apart from their own.

Originally Posted by Dodge

Fans wouldn't care either.

Oh I geddit, the whole rest of the Pats community is allowed not care but if I have no problem, it's U-turn city?

I just like the idea of Rovers covering half the cost of Joey Ndo's wages and Shels' former Setanta spot covering half the cost of Gary O'Neill's wages.

Originally Posted by Dr.Nightdub

Oh I geddit, the whole rest of the Pats community is allowed not care but if I have no problem, it's U-turn city?

Exactly...

Originally Posted by pineapple stu

I don't agree. The council own the ground; Shels own the lease. If Shels go bust, the council have a ground and would be in no real rush to lose another city-centre-ish amenity. The developers' only hope of getting their money is by getting Shels into a new ground alive.

The council still own the actual land regardless of whether Shels stay afloat or not.

The developers are likely to end up controlling the lease on Tolka regardless of whether Shels stay afloat or not (as a result of the deals previously done by Shels).

To be honest, in terms of developing the Tolka Park site, the fate of Shelbourne FC is basically irrelevant at this stage.

Wouldn't happen anyway, as the residents would go bananas. They kicked us out of Richmond when we were there before. Then when we were back in, they insisted on us playing at a ko time that suited them. There are other grounds available with half the hassle of playing there.

Originally Posted by Dr.Nightdub

couldn't see them having to pay much more than a grand a game for either Richmond or Dalymount.

If it was down to me, I'd take yisser money no problem.

Considering how much we had to pay Pats and Bohs the last time, why would the price suddenly be dropped by a third this time?

Well i know what its like to nearly go out of business, we faced that horror about a year and a half ago, it got so bad 1 night about 20 of us (yes thats all) hit a few local housing estates to try and sell lotto tickets to pay for wages for that week etc..
No LOI club should go out of business, we need every club in it, but in fairness the way shels traded over the last few years in 1 way i dont pity them , they bullied their way around and in merrion sq.
Its up to the FAI now to sort this mess out and implement their so called great new policies and also the ideas that in which the IAG set out to invite clubs into the premiere should now be closely looked at in shels case, obviously there was serious cooking of the books and lies told to obtain their licence.
No shels should be left survive, maybe a few years down in the 1st division to regroup might be the best thing ever happened to them ,as they say a stark dose of reality works wonders.
Good luck to them and Ollie should now F***off for the sake of the club and its fans.

I definately would not like to see them go to the wall but
they should definately be reprimanded for their actions
be it demotion/points deduction etc.

Its not nice when any team goes out of business as it
reflects badly on the League that we all are trying to promote

Originally Posted by mcgonigle

Any of those wishing Shels demise should think of their club in Shels position and what it would be like, lets face it, it could happen any club at any time

You're missing the point. We were in a position nearly as bad and as a result we did what any normal club would do. We scaled back. Shels solution was borrow more, get into more debt, they have themselves to blame. Pure greed has left them where they are now.
As we said, go to Shelsweb and see what they were saying when it looked like we might go to the wall. You're right that what goes around comes around and its coming around for Shels right now.
I feel sorry for people like Gareth alright but lets face it, theres not many Gareth's down Tolka way. Take a look at the Dalymount groundshare thread at Shelsweb, see what prominant Shels fans such as Cassidy were saying about us then rethink your sympathies.

On the publicity factor, I agree clubs going out of business mean bad publicity for the league but Shels have brought plenty of that over the years anyway with their court cases and what not.