Shelbourne count the cost of future success

[thejollyrodger]

Looks like the club is fairly moving !! I hope they come to an arrangement to a new stadium soon !

Shelbourne count the cost of future success
Sunday November 21st 2004
http://www.unison.ie/sportsdesk/stor...=12&si=1291494
SEÁN RYAN

THE cost of winning the eircom League of Ireland title has risen dramatically in the past decade - and Shelbourne, who retained the title for the first time in their 109-year history on Friday night, signalled a further rise by signing three of the League's highest earners for next season.

In 1992, when Shelbourne ended a 30-year barren spell with a League victory, it cost the equivalent of €250,000 to run the club, with the players' wages accounting for approximately €112,000 of that. At the time, there were only two full-time players on the staff, and wages were paid for the duration of the playing season, which was roughly 40 weeks.

When Shels completed the League and Cup double in 2000, the cost of running the club had risen to €750,000, there were still only two full-time players, but all staff were paid for the 52 weeks of the year. Players' wages accounted for approximately €528,000 that season.

This season, the cost of running Shelbourne has risen to €1.8m, with players' wages accounting for almost half of that figure. The club has a totally full-time set-up now, with over 20 players plus managers and coaches to be paid.

In what has undoubtedly been the best year in the club's history, incorporating a best-ever performance by an Irish club in European competition, it must be a worry for the directors that gate receipts (excluding the Lansdowne Road game against Deportivo de la Coruna) brought in only €450,000, just 25 per cent of what the club needs to break even.

It is a constant battle for Chief Executive Ollie Byrne, Chairman Finbarr Flood and the other directors to raise the remainder of that €1.8m, but by signing Glen Crowe, Colin Hawkins and Bobby Ryan from their main Dublin rivals Bohemians, they are clearly stating their confidence in the club's future. However, they are not breaking the bank in doing so, for the newcomers' wages are factored into continuing European success.

Shels raised the bar for League of Ireland clubs in Europe by advancing to the third round of the Champions' League and Chairman Flood states: "It is essential that we do that again. Once you have a full-time squad you have to make the breakthrough.

"We have learned an awful lot on the business side as well as the football side from our extended run in Europe this year. The clubs we played have all shared their knowledge with us. And the first thing you learn is the size of the task - it costs €80m to run Deportivo and €35m to run Lille, that's what we were dealing with.

"The most striking thing you learn is that none of the clubs on the continent own their own ground - they are all supplied by the municipal authorities at nominal fees. Lille are having a new ground built for them by the city council. At present, we in Shelbourne are paying for five different places for our teams to play and train in, at a cost of €120,000 a year. If we had one complex for all that it would be a big saving."

Shels have problems with their home ground, Tolka Park, when it comes to the Champions' League games. They had to move the Deportivo game to Lansdowne Road, as Tolka would not have passed UEFA's requirements for a game of that magnitude.

Flood revealed that plans are in train for a move to another stadium.

"The City Council were prepared to give us land in Finglas for a stadium which would have been held in trust for Shelbourne and the council. We would pay for the building from the sale of Tolka Park. Unfortunately, the residents objected to that move.

"We are looking at various options, but want to make a move as soon as possible. The problem with Tolka Park is that we can't increase its capacity, and if you're going to compete at Champions' League level you have to be equipped to do it."

Chief Executive Ollie Byrne emphasised the club's ambitions when he said: "If we advance to the group stages we have a problem with our ground and with our lights. We are hoping to deal with that very very shortly. The indications are that we will be making an announcement before the end of the year."

Shelbourne director Martin Fitzpatrick, who is also the business correspondent of this paper, makes a good case for investment in his club.

"If properly supported and properly managed, a League of Ireland club could be a very interesting business. Shels' experience shows that if you are a venture capitalist and want an off the wall investment, you couldn't go far wrong with a League of Ireland club, especially one guaranteed European football. The risks aren't all that high.

"An investment of €2m - €3m would guarantee success in the League and European football. Then you only need three wins and you're in the knock-out stages of the Champions' League or the UEFA Cup, which would guarantee a €5m return.

"The payback for the investment involved is very short term, which is crucial for financiers. The risk/reward ratio in League of Ireland football is thus potentially very high."

However, while the hope of a venture capitalist throwing in his lot with the club is greater than the expectation, the directors have to get on with raising that €1.8m which will keep the Reds afloat in 2005.

That means a lot of hard work in the months ahead, especially when there is no income from football. Raffles, dog nights, golf classics and a dinner at which Bobby Robson is guest speaker are all planned. The two bars at Tolka Park will tick over, there will also be rental income from the ground itself, sponsorship money and season ticket sales. It's a hard slog.

The rewards for being champions of the League are not as great as might be expected. The prize money from eircom amounts to €18,000, and there is also a guarantee of TV income as part of an agreement with a continental TV company which takes an option on Shels' European games.

Of more immediate importance is UEFA's contribution, which is due in December. For qualifying for the Champions' League in 2004, Shels receive 150,000 Swiss Francs, plus 80,000 Swiss Francs for each of the four rounds of competition in which they participated. This amounts to a welcome Christmas windfall of €300,000.

A meeting to outline the plans for the future of Shelbourne FC has been arranged for Tolka Park on Thursday, November 25 (8.0) to which all the club's fans have been invited. It should be an interesting evening.

[thejollyrodger]

Fenlon determined to build on success
http://www.unison.ie/irish_independe...issue_id=11721

Despite capturing the league title on Friday night, Shelbourne manager Pat Fenlon has showed his intent to push on by signing three new players Picture: David Maher/Sportsfile

AS a statement of ambitious intent, Shelbourne secretary Ollie Byrne's post-match announcement that three key players were making the short hop across the Tolka from Bohemians was stunningly portentous.

The audacious swoop for Glen Crowe, Bobby Ryan and Colin Hawkins, all of whom are set to sign contracts with the club this week, represents a commitment to manager Pat Fenlon's desire to remain at the forefront of the domestic game.

"We can't afford to sit on our laurels because each and every one of the clubs behind us are getting stronger and stronger and they want to knock us off our perch," said Fenlon in the aftermath of the Richmond Park draw which secured his side back-to-back titles.

With the club having invested enormously in financial terms to secure their domestic pre-eminence, the grim reality is that they must replicate their minimum seven-figure annual investment. The frightening thing is that they must, and have, swelled their outlay for next season to ensure they remain ahead of the pack.

"Our achievements in Europe this season have shown that if the hard work and effort is put in on and off the field than the rewards are there," adds Fenlon. "But it's up to us to drive it on because it's not just going to happen again by turning up.

"This league was the hardest to win because we were in the spotlight from the European games and each match in the league was an enormous challenge because you're a huge scalp.

"But we enjoy that challenge, that's where we want to be. It's a tribute to this team and this club if other teams are trying so hard to emulate us. We need a strong league and what we've done seems to be rubbing off on others."

Off the field, the club are set to abandon their restricted headquarters in Tolka Park and re-locate to a nearby venue which, Byrne hopes, will enable the club to attempt to maximise their revenue, a seemingly intractable problem which they still encounter despite their unprecedented success.

"We are limited in terms of how we can develop a fan base in Tolka Park," says Byrne. "There isn't a population base there and we need to channel our efforts into a community so we can build up a significant fan base.

"It's probably not stretching it to say that we were all playing for our livelihoods on Friday night, because if we didn't win the league we would be playing in a less attractive competition with a limited income stream. Accordingly, we would have been forced to cut our cloth to suit that a little bit and it's something that we would have had to look at. It would be nice for us though to be working in an environment where there is a little more support from outside.

"And I mean that on a couple of levels, whether that be in terms of people investing in the club or even the game as a whole, because we always seem to be shooting ourselves in the foot, instead of working together."

Byrne was furious that Bohemians dropped Hawkins, Ryan and Crowe for the potentially decisive clash in Cork; had City staged a remarkable ambush and captured the league title at the expense of Shelbourne, there would have been uproar.

As it was, Byrne's post-match comment on television, when he referred to the fact that Bohemians' small-mindedness prevents them from being a big club, indicated the depth of enmity which now exists between the northside neighbours.

Meanwhile, Fenlon pointed to a crucial 1-0 win in Cork during the summer as arguably a critical point in their campaign. Mentally exhausted, and arguably physically drained too, after their 0-0 draw against Deportivo La Coruna three days earlier, Shels snatched a 1-0 win thanks to their only real coherent passage of attacking play in the match; the three points earned was ultimately the difference between first and second.

"That was a huge one for us," admitted Fenlon. "But winning against Waterford last week, when we knew we absolutely had to win, was also vital. We've grown so much as a team this year, I feel, and we will keep developing and getting stronger next season.

"We'll enjoy this for a couple of weeks maybe, but then we'll have to get down to the hard work and start again because we know that everyone else will be snapping at our heels."

The knowledge that everyone wants to emulate their achievements is bound to insure them from the risk of succumbing to their prospective worst enemy, complacency.

Looks like Shels are really determined to move out of Tolka. I just hope they get a decent new location for the new stadium and it is of a decent size.

[Éanna]

apparently the new ground will be 6,000 seater according to some posters on the shels site. talk about showing ambition

[DolansWaistcoat]

apparently the new ground will be 6,000 seater according to some posters on the shels site. talk about showing ambition

Sur they'll barely fill that anyway.

[thejollyrodger]

thats a real shame, I thought it would be a lot bigger than that. 10,000 would have been a great start.

Well I just hope that whatever they do build they can increase the seating capacity at a future date.

[DolansWaistcoat]

Ya,it would have been nice to have a team with a five digit capacity in the EL.

[Slash/ED]

Yeah someone with one post in their history on Shelsweb comes on and announces our plans on our future stadium and you all believe him

AFAIK the plan is to have everything on one big campus sort of thing, so our training pitches and everything our together and our youth teams are all in the same place. That'd save the club a packet, and there would be plenty of room for expansion if that's the case. It's supposedly alot like the plan for tolka valley park, which I'm reliabley told was to have something like the Drumcondra End new stand going around the entire pitch, not sure what capacity that would be, with plenty of room for expansion if needed for European games, and all our training facilities around that along with retail outlets to make money. Not sure what the current plan is but I'm told that's what the Tolka Valley park plan was and I doubt it's far off that.

[Slash/ED]

Ya,it would have been nice to have a team with a five digit capacity in the EL.

Tolka Park is a five digit capacity stadium as it is. I think, nobodys quite sure but it's around the 10,500 mark.

[drummerboy]

I think Morton Stadium will be the “new stadium” Shels are talking about. At the moment, the long jung and sand pits have been removed and the pitch is being widened to international standards. A lot of money has already been spent on the surface which is as good as any in the eL.

[Shelsman]

I remember a match about 10 years ago when Rovers were playing at the RDS and one of the players feet dropped around 4 or 5 inches when he stood in a hole in the pitch! Things really have moved on in terms of facilities around the eL since then!!!

[pete]

Shel$ would do well to learn from the experience if Hadjuk this year when they unexpectantly got knocked out by smaller club & almost went bankrupt.

[higgins]

football clubs would do well to follow the lead of shels and take a risk and maybe it might pay off!!!

Hajduk are currently on top of the croation league and look set for a go in the 2nd round of the champions league again

what in gods name is the point of a football club not taking a chance??? If you want to be realistic budget and never go for it and finish there or there abouts each year then fine but no club ever made it big without taking a chance (apart from chelsea!) ...

Actually shels should sell the players put the money in the bank and finish mid table and then we can the club with the most money in the bank isnt that what its all about?? didnt think so...
You have to take chances ...