Sunday Biz Post

[SeanDrog]

people slate alads for investing in Celtic and Sunderland but when lads like these plan the following for an irish club - they get slated - well done lads, well done - no wonder no one wants to invest in certain clubs.

from the Indo propoerty pages during the week.

A DEDICATED soccer stadium, about 2,500 new homes, shopping centres, leisure centres and a retail park are all part of a €1.5bn proposal for 170 acres just off the M1 at Bryanstown near Drogheda in Co Louth.

The new 12,000 seater stadium is being constructed for Drogheda United FC following a deal which will see the developer take over the existing run-down grounds opposite the hospital in Drogheda.

Instead, the Setanta Sports Cup winners last year and FAI cup winners in 2005 will tog out in a new stadium with training pitches, parking for 830 cars, an adjoining leisure centre, shopping centre and retail warehousing.

This 20 acre site is just 200 meters off the MI motorway and about the same distance again from the second 150 acre site for the residential element of the proposal which will include 2,500 new homes set amid local parks, three schools, community centre and neighbourhood centre. This land is adjacent to lands upon which other developers hope to build the same number of units indicating an entire new town for this area which is currently zoned for agricultural use.

However the land was identified in 2001 as a "strategic" and following the adoption of the county development plan next month it is likely a local area plan will be devised for the area which should allow for the rezoning of the land by next August.

Bill Doyle of Doyle Developments is behind the scheme and has spent the last 14 months negotiating with 15 different farmers with overall acquisitions costs estimated to be of €80m, rising to €110m overall when infrastructural costs are included. The agents are Bohan Properties.

Chairman of Drogheda United FC, Vincent Hoey, told Independent Property the proposal was a dream come true for the club and could not have happened without the support of the local authority, Meath County Council, who have committed to help the club bring the dream to fruition at the earliest possible date.

Clíodhna O'Donoghue

[OneRedArmy]

In fairness to those who are pointing out the similarities with Rovers:
1) your club is now owned by property interests who have a keen interest in selling your (valuable) current ground
2) nothing has been invested in United Park
3) your proposed ground is at least 2 years behind schedule, has changed locations twice and is now part of a wider area plan and landbank development that will not be re-zoned before August of this year.

Thats not to say you are going to get raped in the same way Rovers (and possibly Shels) have been, but you seem to be getting further away from a new ground as every month goes by.

[pineapple stu]

Thing with Drogheda is that, while they're clearly not a model club, their accounts show them only E100k or so in debt, which is quite manageable. The money is at least being put into the club for good, as opposed to shady loans.

[BohsPartisan]

Mosney is the name of an area, not just the old holiday camp. There are changing rooms, gym, video room, dining room, managers office, physio room etc etc as well as the pitches there. Thia was all built three years ago. Look at the 2006 Drogs dvd if you do not believe me.

I'm quite aware of the location of Mosney and the Drogs training facilities.

[GavinZac]

what exactly are the 1000 or so drogs fans going to do in their 12000 seater stadium?

[SeanDrog]

Thing with Drogheda is that, while they're clearly not a model club, their accounts show them only E100k or so in debt, which is quite manageable. The money is at least being put into the club for good, as opposed to shady loans.

Thank you Stu - a point the green eyes of some here fail to realise. One of our money streams is clearly our investors ie. people who put money into the club and its not built up as debt. They are investing int he future of the club.

Kind of makes those who call us the next Shels, look a little bit stupid.

Regarding the 12000 seats, clearly is big but you have to plan for the future, with the size of the town and its projected growth the directors clearly think they can attract sufficent numbers (debatable but its their stance) after all we brought 12 - 13000 to the cup final.

You see this is what gets me - lads invest in the future of a club and the old Irish mentality comes out to knock them and the club yet the same guys claim that it is a disrace that Irishmen spend their cash in clubs abroad. Even though a Stu has stated (and we all know his love for us - but at least he has integrity) our books are in order. People forget we won the fai and setanta cup, our merchandise sales ahve gone through the roof (nearly every second preson in the town has a drog iem of clothing), most of our recent signings have been on free transfers and we have investors puting cash into the club, as wel as having many local companies entering various sponsorship deals with the club (3-4 sponsors on our jerseys alone).

But hey according to clearly objective posters like sduffy - I am just putting a spin on it.

[Celdrog]

I find comments like that incredible. Could you tell me why Drogheda United isn't another Shelbourne waiting to happen? Expenditure that many times greater than anything they can ever hope to generate at the turnsiles or from commercial activity. Or maybe you believe that fairytale Sean is spinning.

sduffy, for 5 years now you have been telling us on the Drogs MB that the directors were a few months away from pulling out.
Based on your statement above can you please share with us as to what our expenditure is? I don't know. I suspect it is a lot less than some figures being bandied about. But I am really interested, so tell us, seeing as you know.

[GavinZac]

You see this is what gets me - lads invest in the future of a club and the old Irish mentality comes out to knock them and the club yet the same guys claim that it is a disrace that Irishmen spend their cash in clubs abroad. Even though a Stu has stated (and we all know his love for us - but at least he has integrity) our books are in order. People forget we won the fai and setanta cup, our merchandise sales ahve gone through the roof (nearly every second preson in the town has a drog iem of clothing), most of our recent signings have been on free transfers and we have investors puting cash into the club, as wel as having many local companies entering various sponsorship deals with the club (3-4 sponsors on our jerseys alone).

thing is, all of that is true for cork city too. the only quantifiable difference is that someone is pumping capital into drogs at the moment. its all well and good saying that you'll "grow into" a set up but city had the same idea 10 years ago which nearly ended in disaster. disregarding my annoyance at your (drogs fans in general) bohs-esque chest beating, nobody wants another club finding themselves in an unsustainable position. shels too thought that by paying big cash to become successful they would attract interest but it doesnt work like that. drogs may have more to offer in terms of the proposed hotel/complex but i do wish you'd try to attract 5000 before building for 12000

[GavinZac]

sduffy, for 5 years now you have been telling us on the Drogs MB that the directors were a few months away from pulling out.
Based on your statement above can you please share with us as to what our expenditure is? I don't know. I suspect it is a lot less than some figures being bandied about. But I am really interested, so tell us, seeing as you know.

www.cro.ie look it up yourself.

[Student Mullet]

(3-4 sponsors on our jerseys alone).

And one for the Drogheda Indedent placed attractivly on the shorts.

[GavinZac]

And one for the Drogheda Indedent placed attractivly on the shorts.

nothing wrong with dan conner's ass being for sale at €50 per friday night

[Celdrog]

nothing wrong with dan conner's ass being for sale at €50 per friday night

[SeanDrog]

Gavzac - I would generlaly agree with you caution but remember the drogs didn't start thi thread, we have only defended oursleves as people say we are like Shels - P.Stu has shown that we are not.

[Peadar]

Gavzac - I would generlaly agree with you caution but remember the drogs didn't start thi thread, we have only defended oursleves as people say we are like Shels - P.Stu has shown that we are not.

We're not having a go at you, SD, we're having a go at PaddyField. The guy is clearly growing something funny in his field. Anyone from Galway, who couldn't see the great work done by their own club, yet cites Drogheda as a model, is clearly lacking the nutrients of a balanced diet.

[pete]

While I have said Drogs not a model club I also don't see as another Shels off field anyway.

As long as the benefactors pay the debt & don't add it onto the Drogs balance sheet ye will be ok. Problems occur when monies borrowed on the back of the club thereofre ensuring a Shels situation.

[pineapple stu]

Thing with Drogheda is that, while they're clearly not a model club, their accounts show them only E100k or so in debt, which is quite manageable. The money is at least being put into the club for good, as opposed to shady loans.

Going to have to correct myself here (sorry SeanDrog!), even if it means dragging an old thread up. Drogheda trade as Hinge Trading Limited, not the more obvious Drogheda United (O2) Football Club Limited, who are merely the parent company. Drogheda made a loss of E1m in the year to October 2005 (which is Shelbourne-esque), and were E1.5m in debt at that stage, albeit mostly to directors. They had previous history of defaulting on Revenue payments, and had a repaymnt scheme in place. Even if prize money from the Setanta and Europe reduced their 2006 losses by E500k, they must still be E2m in debt or so at this stage.

Very interesting thread on their new ground on the Drogheda forum here. In the Drogheda Independent during the week, the chairman is quoted as saying "By pushjing the project (the new ground) back 18 months to two years in would effectively result in Drogheda United losing their playing licence, putting the club out of the League and out of business. We can finance the club for another year but time is running out." The ground, however, appears to be completely stalled because the chairman wants to build 5000 houses as well as the ground, and isn't being let build the latter. Says they can't afford to build the ground without the houses. Phoenix in the thread appears to have a good idea as to what's going on, and seems to have a history of getting things right too.

And to complete the Shels analogy, some fans don't seem overly concerned -

"thanks for the advice (to start a trust) but we have managed to stay in buisness for a long time now .How many langer clubs have gone out of buisness over the years ?"
"Does nobody else think that this is mind games from Vincey and co?"
"Yes a supporters trust will build us a new ground"
"Gentlemen, absolutely nothing to worry about....."
"i dont think there be a problem lads... to be honest. there is one man in this club, that has worked day and night to make this happen. and dont think it would be a problem. as soon as the road work starts to begin that will mean the stadium will be able to comense its work and start building."

So I take back my earier comments about Drogs' debt being manageable and different to Shels' debt.

[Louth4sam]

sduffy, for 5 years now you have been telling us on the Drogs MB that the directors were a few months away from pulling out.
Based on your statement above can you please share with us as to what our expenditure is? I don't know. I suspect it is a lot less than some figures being bandied about. But I am really interested, so tell us, seeing as you know.

Its over 50k a week acording to vincent hoey as he said that the owners are pumping that ammount in every week. So its 50k plus whatever money the club takes in, so maybe 60k a week?

Vincent Hoey:"It is costing us 50,000 a week - every week we loose"

In fairness though lads it seems to be a completely different situation then the shels one. The owners of Drogheda utd are spending money from their own pockets not the clubs so if worst comes to worst they will just go back to being a part time club. So Drogs if you dont win the league this year you never will!!

[bohs til i die]

Its over 50k a week acording to vincent hoey as he said that the owners are pumping that ammount in every week. So its 50k plus whatever money the club takes in, so maybe 60k a week?

Vincent Hoey:"It is costing us 50,000 a week - every week we loose"

In fairness though lads it seems to be a completely different situation then the shels one. The owners of Drogheda utd are spending money from their own pockets not the clubs so if worst comes to worst they will just go back to being a part time club. So Drogs if you dont win the league this year you never will!!

The Drogheda directors are spending this money so they can make multiples of the investment from the residential/commercial rights to the new stadium site. If/when the new stadium is built, I'd expect to see these directors getting their money back, otherwise Drogheda might find themselves in a very tricky position

[Frankfurt Hoop]

The same as almost every other non-members club. The directors' "investments" are listed as debts. It's laughable how people swallow this bull**** from these Club Directors.

United Park is gone. Drogheda's new stadium seems to be part of the sweetener in development that will gross over E250m. Meath CC are, not suprisingly, balking at this.

Drogheda fans need to start getting organised.

[pete]

United Park is gone. Drogheda's new stadium seems to be part of the sweetener in development that will gross over E250m. Meath CC are, not suprisingly, balking at this.

Thats the way it looks. I used to think the stadium would be paid for by the revenue from the wider sports complex & only heard of the 5,000 new houses last week.

While Drogs won't be threatened with going out of business like Shels if the cash dries up won't be able to pay players wages. Winning the league won't make a difference as it doesn't bring in enough money to make up the loses.