Yes, there are problems at the club.
There seem to be financial pressures and organisational pressures.
But whatever the situation, most fans are content to go along to the matches (or not!), maybe discuss/moan about the club in the pub or online, and that's it!
While I only expect a minority to have any serious interest in the actual running of the club, it is disappointing to see that the level of discussion here rarely gets above calling for certain people to be sacked and replaced by people who occupied certain positions in past incarnations of the club! If those who ran the club in the past were so great, how come we find ourselves where we are now?!!? There are very few actual concrete suggestions emanating from this forum!
I have nothing against people who were previously involved being involved in the current setup. Mistakes were made in the past, but valuable lessons can be learnt from those mistakes. As long as those people have learnt the right lessons from their experiences and are motivated for the right reasons, they can play a very useful role in the potential success of the current club.
While luck can sometimes help you get over organisational problems in the short term, eventually those problems will be exposed. The debacle over the table quiz is one small example of this. Should it emerge that there are bigger financial problems, that would be a more significant indication of underlying organisational problems.
I don't believe there is anyone involved in the club at the moment who isn't capable of doing a very good job. But no organisation can function as a small group of individuals. It must work as a cohesive unit with a clear plan and focus. It must also have enough people involved to spread the workload, with everyone properly motivated and pulling their weight. If those involved are carrying too heavy a workload the cumulative effect of such pressure/stress can over time lead to poor decision making.
While I am disappointed with the performance of certain people in the club, I think their shortcomings are more due to a lack of direction rather than them being incapable. To an extent, this is perfectly understandable given the conditions: a new club has been formed, with most of the people involved new to their respective roles.
I do think that a little more clear direction would begin to help this situation.
This is Ger Finnin's job. But in order to do so more effectively, I think he probably needs to be relieved of some of the duties he currently carries out.
The only thing that really disappoints me at the moment is the lack of say the supporters have in the running of the club. The openness that I had hoped for is not quite there. While there is a position on the board for a non-voting supporters' rep, from what I can gather, in practice the rest of the board seem to regard this as a discretionary position when it comes to holding meetings.
The surest way of building the club is through the current cohort of regular supporters. While positive media coverage can help build up a buzz around the club, most of this will go over people's heads unless it is accompanied by word of mouth from actual real life fans who have actually witnessed a real live match!
In my opinion, the direct involvement of supporters in the running of the club is the surest path to success.
Some examples:
- It is the current fans who will recruit new fans to the cause of Limerick 37 on the pitch.
- A little market research among supporters would yield information that could inform a targetted advertising/sponsorship campaign.
Although the Supporters' Club has made some progress this year, it too has some way to go to get properly organised. But it's on the right path.
Even if it doesn't own any shares, a well organised Supporters' Club can (and always should) wield great influence within the club.
After all, without the fans the club is an empty shell...
(Wow, that took so long, I see everyone else has now gone to bed...
I think I'll follow suit!)
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