Meeting Tonight

**Nathan** · 15/07/2008, 10:36 AM

Originally Posted by Rovers Maniac

I honestly don't think Cook has thrown in the towel on this, i only spoke to him after the Derry game. If we don't try and support this will we have a football club to support? Is there anything wrong going back to a strong semi professional program with a mixture of pros and locals?

Absolutely not!

**Mr A** · 15/07/2008, 10:42 AM

Basically the club is f**ked unless in the short term we can raise approx 150K

I know that in a time of crisis it's not particualrly useful to start finger pointing, but how has it come to this? Why didn't the Sligo MC flag this earlier rather than let it reach crisis point- or is there an element of scaremongering here to get the troops motivated? I agree with them that professional football is almost impossible to sustain currently without a sugardaddy though. In any case, I hope SRFC get through this and get things sorted.

**Rovers1** · 15/07/2008, 11:54 AM

Originally Posted by Mr A

Why didn't the Sligo MC flag this earlier.

forgive me if this sounds ignorant and uneducated:

from what ive picked up over the past year or so is that some of the members of the MC just want the club to float about the 2 divisions, getting gates of 2,000+, and just about surviving. They never thank the fans who urn up week after week after week, and plea for more support.This, IMO pulls alot of people/businesses away from potential sponsorship. EG. Earlier this season Forza Rovers donated �600 to the sponsorship of players wages. Most of us would be in the 15-21 age gap, some not working, paying rent, car loans etc. and gave �20/�50 to the club, which would be large slice of their income. The usual story is, anyone who sponsors a player during the season, is entitled a free season ticket, and receipt/letter of acknowledgement thanking them. We gave the club the money no problem at all, but we never even got a thank you on the website or anything.eventually we did get a mention in the program. Same craic with the trust who donated towards Boco's wages, no acknowledgement till only a few weeks ago, lterally a piece o paper,hand written, saying "Thank You". So what im saying n this part of my rant, is, that, the club seems to drag itself through the mud when it comes to sponsors, not giving back as good as they're getting.

I hear different stories every week about the devlopment of The Showgrounds and how offers were rejected to do this, that. People say not to heed everything you here etc. but some stories are hard not to believe.

There definetly are members of the board who are breking their balls to keep the club going, but it is obvious there is some driftwood,and there has been some driftwood over the years.

So whether its been mis-management over the years or a board trying to hide their problems, this situation is "same-aul,same-aul", and in my opinion, every EL club in the next 5 years+ will be in the same situation as us.

So, yeah, why didnt the Sligo Rovers MC flag this earlier?... surely we all knew what was coming, with players on big wages, ****ty gates, a budget of�20,000+ to meet. Maybe if the board had flagged this earlier then the business public would have been more willng to give, before this "recession" started. Maybe we wouldnt be in this trouble. "Maybe, Maybe, Maybe"

SRFC has been around 80 years,weve come away from worse situations, im sure we'll come away from this one too, with the right people at the helm.

**SligoBrewer** · 15/07/2008, 12:05 PM

Originally Posted by Rovers1

forgive me if this sounds ignorant and uneducated:

from what ive picked up over the past year or so is that some of the members of the MC just want the club to float about the 2 divisions, getting gates of 2,000+, and just about surviving. They never thank the fans who urn up week after week after week, and plea for more support.This, IMO pulls alot of people/businesses away from potential sponsorship. EG. Earlier this season Forza Rovers donated �600 to the sponsorship of players wages. Most of us would be in the 15-21 age gap, some not working, paying rent, car loans etc. and gave �20/�50 to the club, which would be large slice of their income. The usual story is, anyone who sponsors a player during the season, is entitled a free season ticket, and receipt/letter of acknowledgement thanking them. We gave the club the money no problem at all, but we never even got a thank you on the website or anything.eventually we did get a mention in the program. Same craic with the trust who donated towards Boco's wages, no acknowledgement till only a few weeks ago, lterally a piece o paper,hand written, saying "Thank You". So what im saying n this part of my rant, is, that, the club seems to drag itself through the mud when it comes to sponsors, not giving back as good as they're getting.

I hear different stories every week about the devlopment of The Showgrounds and how offers were rejected to do this, that. People say not to heed everything you here etc. but some stories are hard not to believe.

There definetly are members of the board who are breking their balls to keep the club going, but it is obvious there is some driftwood,and there has been some driftwood over the years.

So whether its been mis-management over the years or a board trying to hide their problems, this situation is "same-aul,same-aul", and in my opinion, every EL club in the next 5 years+ will be in the same situation as us.

So, yeah, why didnt the Sligo Rovers MC flag this earlier?... surely we all knew what was coming, with players on big wages, ****ty gates, a budget of�20,000+ to meet. Maybe if the board had flagged this earlier then the business public would have been more willng to give, before this "recession" started. Maybe we wouldnt be in this trouble. "Maybe, Maybe, Maybe"

SRFC has been around 80 years,weve come away from worse situations, im sure we'll come away from this one too, with the right people at the helm.

****ing nailed on the head Rovers1.

**DocRovers** · 15/07/2008, 12:17 PM

Rovers 1 - that rant is way off the point. At the AGM last year the troubles were flagged, right from the off. There was a tax debt of �100K plus to be paid THIS season. Adam Hughes was not resigned because the MC correctly said we could not afford it. The club needs �130K by August. We will have played 12 home matches by then - if we attracted 600 more adults to each of these games at �15 a head, all would be rosy. The public, that is you & me, have NOT supported the cause as we have needed them - the team is way further up the league & deserving of support than if the MC had let all the players go at the start of the season. Some members of the MC (all of whom are voluntary & get nothing for their effort) have put in huge amounts of their own money to keep the club afloat this year & without thanks. To huff & puff because nobody fell over after your donation & then rant about the MC is ridiculous.

**red bellied** · 15/07/2008, 12:20 PM

Red Bellied x4

**Nah Nah Nah Nah** · 15/07/2008, 12:26 PM

http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2008/...igorovers.html

**deecay** · 15/07/2008, 12:37 PM

Originally Posted by Knappagh Red

Just back from the meeting, basically the club needs 130,000 euro before the end of August to function at its current level, they have organised a syndicate. Each syndicate card costs 1000 euro and is made up of 20 names at 50 euro a head.
Each syndicate card is entered into a draw for two corporate box tickets for Anfield, flights, accommodation and transfers, draw to take place on Sunday 3rd of August.The heading on the card is "Keep Premier League Football Alive in Sligo"
This seems to be a last roll of the dice for the club. I think we should try and fill a card from this forum. I'll organise it if there is the interest.

Lads I dont mean to burst anyones bubble here, but wasnt this a last resort last year aswell, when the same idea was made public at the big meeting we had in the Ark. Everyone jumped on the bangwagon for the first week or 2 and then, BANG! Nothing else was heard about it. Can anyone tell me what syndicate won the prize to Anfield last year?, because this just seems to be going back on previous ideas. And with these previous ideas being unsuccessful, we are now in this grave position.

**Rovers1** · 15/07/2008, 12:37 PM

Originally Posted by DocRovers

Rovers 1 - that rant is way off the point. At the AGM last year the troubles were flagged, right from the off. There was a tax debt of �100K plus to be paid THIS season. Adam Hughes was not resigned because the MC correctly said we could not afford it. The club needs �130K by August. We will have played 12 home matches by then - if we attracted 600 more adults to each of these games at �15 a head, all would be rosy. The public, that is you & me, have NOT supported the cause as we have needed them - the team is way further up the league & deserving of support than if the MC had let all the players go at the start of the season. Some members of the MC (all of whom are voluntary & get nothing for their effort) have put in huge amounts of their own money to keep the club afloat this year & without thanks. To huff & puff because nobody fell over after your donation & then rant about the MC is ridiculous.

ok fair enough, our opinions are our opinions.

your point about it being flagged at the AGM. Surely the club should have flagged it to the local and national media before a few weeks ago,and not keep it enclosed to a room of members, and then, more businesses may have been in situation to help out?

im not "huffing & puffing" over a donation, im just using that as an example, from what you hear day to day (and i know people will say "dont listen to everything....") but from what ive heard alot of financial assistance was offered to the club over the years and was rejected,or mis-used, although fair enough, it wasnt this current MC, so maybe its years of miss-managemnet from former MC's??

Dont know what Adam Hughes has got to do with your point though?

**Fivesilver** · 15/07/2008, 12:41 PM

An emergency general meeting of the club last night told that �130,000 needs to be raised in order to secure the professional set up at The Showgrounds

Then scrap the bloody professional set-up - Rovers do not need to be 100% full-time professional to survive in the Premier.

And if - as it appears - Cookie doesn't have the stomach for a fight, then maybe we're as well off without him. Even the best managers are judged on how well they do with the available resources - anyone can cry and sneak off when things are tough and then peddle the story that they never had a chance. If the boss decides he's not up to the job, then we should shake his hand and let him go - no hard feelings. But he'll have to realise that if he intends to become a successful manager, he's going to be tested at some stage.

No time like the present Paul - let's see what you're really made of.

The strongly worded statement claimed: 'It is a matter of fact that if Sligo Rovers Football Club do not raise substantial funds by the end of August 2008 the club will no longer exist in football.'

Very unhelpful statement. I wouldn't like to be known as a member of the committee that threw in the towel and let Sligo Rovers disappear after all these decades.

**celticV3** · 15/07/2008, 12:45 PM

Originally Posted by DocRovers

Rovers 1 - that rant is way off the point. At the AGM last year the troubles were flagged, right from the off. There was a tax debt of �100K plus to be paid THIS season. Adam Hughes was not resigned because the MC correctly said we could not afford it. The club needs �130K by August. We will have played 12 home matches by then - if we attracted 600 more adults to each of these games at �15 a head, all would be rosy. The public, that is you & me, have NOT supported the cause as we have needed them - the team is way further up the league & deserving of support than if the MC had let all the players go at the start of the season. Some members of the MC (all of whom are voluntary & get nothing for their effort) have put in huge amounts of their own money to keep the club afloat this year & without thanks. To huff & puff because nobody fell over after your donation & then rant about the MC is ridiculous.

I dont think rovers1's rant was way off, he is highlighting a serious flaw within the MC. While i know it is not part of their job to go around catering t the needs of each individual person who ewalks through the gates, but many people i have talked to about why they don't attent the showgrounds, more than a few people ahve mentioned the MC in their reason why they do not turn up because they are very elitist in the way they run the club.

In the reasons rovers1 has stated above they MC have shown that they are not interested in thanking those who are contributing financially towards the club and more needed/needs to be done to entice more people to try and contribute, especially members of the business community, and make sure that their contribution is aknowledged and they are really contributing to the running of their local football club. The elitism of the MC seems to push people away when really they should be trying to involve more people for the good of the club.

**red_away** · 15/07/2008, 12:45 PM

Rovers1 - i think your post is just what ISN'T required at the moment!

1. We dont get 2000+ fans every week
2. Why should you be thanked for turning up every week (the tannoy, poor as it is, always thanks the supporters for their ongoing support every week)
3. The business community in sligo is not greatly minded in supporting SRFC - they get plenty of other requests to sponsor lots of different events/teams.
4. The board is a part time volunteer based organisation - they miss a lot of each match carrying out official tasks - ticket selling, shops, turnstiles etc - is every one on this forum willing to do that?
5. Asking if they are “happy to float between the divisions” is better than seeing SRFC disappear – maybe in twenty years time you will change your mind when you have seen this a couple more times.

It is a pity that when supporters make gestures such as assistance with players wages etc that they don’t get official recognition swiftly but there is always something more pressing to be done!

An whatever about the surprise about the debt – members of this forum have been discussing the debt issue for months – the management committee obviously think it has reached crisis point and that this is the best way to react – if they were constantly doing this then no one would listen.

Stating that we will survive this crisis with such nonchalance is a very dangerous attitude to take, Leeds united had it and nearly disappeared!

I am, for the record, not an MC member and I think that they have done a lot of things badly!

We will all just have to do our best and assist that club and get to next season hopefully debt free and with a set up more befitting a club of our size, FT/PT mix!

**Rory H** · 15/07/2008, 1:14 PM

Originally Posted by red_away

We will all just have to do our best and assist that club and get to next season hopefully debt free and with a set up more befitting a club of our size, FT/PT mix!

Amen.

We all have to play our part now. finding fault with the MC is pointless. Most if not all have done their best. And while they waited too long to tell us the reality ( it is nice that they can alert the national media but not the supporters who go week in/week out that aren't members first) is ridiculous we just have to move on. An EGM next probably and I'm sure the same 30 people will turn up, but never mind that.

What we must do is stick together, supporters, MC, players, everyone connected with SR and survive this year. We have to sustain full time football for the rest of the year ( contractual reasons I am guessing) and get to next year where we can scale back. We took a risk that people would have complained about if we didn't and it didn't pay off. I'm glad we did, we had to find out if we could make it. We can't. So be it.

It is not a situation of bailing the MC out. It's about bailing our club out. €600 that forza gave.....so unimportant at this stage. Mismanagement of course, but amateur is what we are. And always have been. Blaming them is unfair, they did their best. It wasn't good enough. The club needed to be run by business people and when that doesn't happen the most committed supporters volunteered for the board. And moaning about them on the forum is pathetic, people don't understand the sacrifices they make. Vincent Nally is there now because at the end of his career he has the time and no business person can run a club and their empire at the same time.

I don't buy this 'we've been in worse' line. Most of us would be too young to remember if we were and even if we were it was once in the 80's that took so much to get out of from what I hear. So let's all pull together. I'm donating the money I got for writing about Rovers this season and Knappagh Reds or a possible Forza Rovers syndicate is where it will go. That should raise near half a syndicate so lets see if we get make up the full one. It is easy to say that it is only 130k and that someone will be the saviour but who is prepared to take that risk. Lets show Sligo Rovers have the one of, if not the, biggest loyal fanbase in the country and do our bit.

**Rovers Maniac** · 15/07/2008, 1:24 PM

Originally Posted by Rory H

Amen.

We all have to play our part now. finding fault with the MC is pointless. Most if not all have done their best. And while they waited too long to tell us the reality ( it is nice that they can alert the national media but not the supporters who go week in/week out that aren't members first) is ridiculous we just have to move on. An EGM next probably and I'm sure the same 30 people will turn up, but never mind that.

What we must do is stick together, supporters, MC, players, everyone connected with SR and survive this year. We have to sustain full time football for the rest of the year ( contractual reasons I am guessing) and get to next year where we can scale back. We took a risk that people would have complained about if we didn't and it didn't pay off. I'm glad we did, we had to find out if we could make it. We can't. So be it.

It is not a situation of bailing the MC out. It's about bailing our club out. �600 that forza gave.....so unimportant at this stage. Mismanagement of course, but amateur is what we are. And always have been. Blaming them is unfair, they did their best. It wasn't good enough. The club needed to be run by business people and when that doesn't happen the most committed supporters volunteered for the board. And moaning about them on the forum is pathetic, people don't understand the sacrifices they make. Vincent Nally is there now because at the end of his career he has the time and no business person can run a club and their empire at the same time.

I don't buy this 'we've been in worse' line. Most of us would be too young to remember if we were and even if we were it was once in the 80's that took so much to get out of from what I hear. So let's all pull together. I'm donating the money I got for writing about Rovers this season and Knappagh Reds or a possible Forza Rovers syndicate is where it will go. That should raise near half a syndicate so lets see if we get make up the full one. It is easy to say that it is only 130k and that someone will be the saviour but who is prepared to take that risk. Lets show Sligo Rovers have the one of, if not the, biggest loyal fanbase in the country and do our bit.

Fair Play Rory nice touch doing that. Agree with what you said the only thing the blame game will do is end up hurting the club.

**avvenalaf** · 15/07/2008, 1:27 PM

Knappagh Red - you should open a separate thread for the syndicate so that we know where we are and the names don't get lost in the discussion forum.

**Paraic** · 15/07/2008, 1:43 PM

Originally Posted by avvenalaf

Knappagh Red - you should open a separate thread for the syndicate so that we know where we are and the names don't get lost in the discussion forum.

new thread created 'knappagh red syndicate'..

**Rovers1** · 15/07/2008, 1:51 PM

Just got a phone call from a memeber of the MC, who is one of the people in charge of this syndicate. He cannot give his number out on a public forum for obvious reasons, so whoever is intersted in conributing please call me (David) on 0872186351 and ill give you his number.

There is a Supporters Trust meeting to discuss this tomorrow at 7pm Glasshouse, everyone should do their best to turn up with ideas, opinions etc.

**Nah Nah Nah Nah** · 15/07/2008, 5:13 PM

[quote=Fivesilver;981998]

And if - as it appears - Cookie doesn't have the stomach for a fight, then maybe we're as well off without him. Even the best managers are judged on how well they do with the available resources - anyone can cry and sneak off when things are tough and then peddle the story that they never had a chance. If the boss decides he's not up to the job, then we should shake his hand and let him go - no hard feelings. But he'll have to realise that if he intends to become a successful manager, he's going to be tested at some stage.

No time like the present Paul - let's see what you're really made of.

quote]

Yes getting on Cookies back is exactly what we need at this time

**Rovers fan** · 15/07/2008, 6:28 PM

Lads,while i know it costs a lot,I would urge anybody who can to become a member.

**red arrow** · 15/07/2008, 8:41 PM

i think lads if anybody can afford the membership or make the effort to raise the cash to do so would be a great help to the club. sometimes we have to make huge sacrifices in life to help our "beloved bit 'o red ". i know we are now at an all time low but there will be better times and remember rovers is 80 years old this year we need to be still around to celebrate a big party in a few months time. i know e 635 is a large sum of money but do we not get great joy supporting the bit o red. i would suggest to any of yee young loyal supporters try to gather the money to become a menber and try to get a suuport buddy to do the same . in years to come yee will be glad yee made this decision we cannot let sligo rovers die what would johnny and packie say
and all the other great volunteers. we must not let sligo rovers die. we would be a huge loss to the eircom league. so as some earlier post said lets show the rest what we are made off. i myself will be assisting my beloved club by selling the syndicate ticket. think of it lads e635 cost of a weeiks holiday in the sunshine or a contribution to assist sligo rovers to survive for ever.
if we keep the faith things will turn for the better. we must always remain positve in times of crisis