Cork City now in trouble
According to the back page of the Star Cork City are the newest club in turmoil players have not been paid in 3 weeks and they owe the taxman and some other creditors 800k.
Why did they sign Joe Gamble only a few weeks ago for crazy money? Something is not adding up here.http://www.thefreekick.com/board/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tongue.gif
Jesus, are we seriously close to seeing the collapse of the entire league?
i think a hidden agenda is at work by those who want fintan druryâs wet dream of an AIL football league. they are making the most of some inexcusable behaviour by bohs,drogs,cork by broadcasting every negative issue involved in these clubs.
these clubs dont help themselves by âbending overâ for property devolopers like liam carrol, arkaga and whoevers funding drogs, to take it up the balloon knot for a few sheckles.
these clubs are paying medocre players massive wages despite the fact the average attendence at games for these clubs is around 2,000 people.
2,000 x âŹ15/20 = âŹ30,000 .
bohs weekly wage is âŹ27k .
fuckin idiots.
roll on tallaght and within our requiste budget as well .
If you ask any rovers fan about the game the other night they will all tell you that the game was viewed through the lens of perspective.
perspective in terms of our budget and their budget. and our future and theirs.
bohs were smiling about the result but we were smiling about the obvious inevitable outcome that awaits both clubs.
heep on hooping
[quote=âjosepi73â]
If you ask any rovers fan about the game the other night they will all tell you that the game was viewed through the lens of perspective.
perspective in terms of our budget and their budget. and our future and theirs.
bohs were smiling about the result but we were smiling about the obvious inevitable outcome that awaits both clubs.
heep on hooping[/quote]
Class and the more seasoned proâs won out the other night.simple.a keeper standing behind the wall he sets up is unforgiveableâŚrovers were destroyed through the middleâŚits all well and good having young lads that will be good in a few years but your assuming theyâll stick around to develop on low wages instead of going to the big payersâŚ
as your a bohs fan iâll keep it simple for ye eh !
your club are goin tits up and you wont have 500 people to keep it alive.
when liam carroll pops his clogs your supposed white elephant stadium in harristown is never gonna happen.you have a court case pending against the shopping centre owners about land you sold which was not yours to sell.
you owe a shedload of cash to various financial institutions who wont accept 4c in the euro like we got.
drogs and cork are going the same way , by the way.
finally : i agree about barry murphyâs positioning for bothe the free kick and the long range shot that got both your goals.
both were indeed class but in this day and age class does not come cheap and your club and not budgeting very well. hence the walk out of nugent.
[quote=âjosepi73â]as your a bohs fan iâll keep it simple for ye eh !
your club are goin tits up and you wont have 500 people to keep it alive.
when liam carroll pops his clogs your supposed white elephant stadium in harristown is never gonna happen.you have a court case pending against the shopping centre owners about land you sold which was not yours to sell.
you owe a shedload of cash to various financial institutions who wont accept 4c in the euro like we got.
drogs and cork are going the same way , by the way.
finally : i agree about barry murphyâs positioning for bothe the free kick and the long range shot that got both your goals.
both were indeed class but in this day and age class does not come cheap and your club and not budgeting very well. hence the walk out of nugent.[/quote]
No I donât follow Bohs or any LOI team and none of the names you mention mean anything to meâŚI tried to get into the league a while back but just found the bitterness between the fans(i.e.glad to see rival clubs going down the swanny) and their chip on the shoulder regarding the EPL and other sports very off puttingâŚIâd watch the games on tvâŚI thought Bohs wud have a good chance of getting 500 to keep it aliveâŚare they not run a similar way to rovers? as in there is no one owner just all members who elect other members to the board?
apologies.
i was of the impression you had a vested interest in the league.
as opposoed to someone who hadnt a fuckin clue what they were talking about.
silly me eh!
See thatâs utter shite Josepi. You hate people who support Bohs, you hate people who donât support Bohs. The league wonât survive or thrive when its supporters are so closed-minded.
[quote=âjosepi73â]apologies.
i was of the impression you had a vested interest in the league.
as opposoed to someone who hadnt a fuckin clue what they were talking about.
silly me eh![/quote]
what have i said that shows i havenât a clue? ok i havenât got the bitterness and resentment from standing on the terraces beside a muppet like youâŚbut iâd know enough about the league and more importantly footballâŚthat is what weâre talking about isnât it⌠footballâŚor are we??
People who donât follow the Eircom League were accused of being football snobs on here last week. Josepi has shown who the true snobs are.
thereâs your answer in oneâŚunfortunately a lot of eircom league fans are more than happy to have the league and the empty stands to themselvesâŚ
A league living way beyond its means
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Also in Irish
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Irish Home
Friday August 08 2008
IF thereâs one thing that underpins and yet constantly undermines football in Ireland at all levels â the appalling culture of expectation that has grown up around the game here like a noxious weed.
From FAI CEO John Delaney down to the lowliest eircom League foot soldier there is an expectation that someone, anyone, will come riding to the rescue with a bail-out package when the numbers are added and subtracted and the inescapable reality of a bankrupt domestic football industry becomes clear.
Many people cooperate with this fantasy world of never-ending grants and subventions and the worst of them are supposedly concerned journalists who believe that good news is the only way forward for the game in Ireland and lazily refuse to address the same issues that have been eating away at the foundations of football in Ireland for decades.
For that and other reasons, any effort to put structure and manners on the League of Ireland is always diluted by the fact that nobody ever takes responsibility for failure or insolvency and nobody ever takes them to task as a result.
Put simply, the show will roll on regardless of whether the money is there to pay for it or not. Thatâs the way it has always been and thatâs the way it always will be.
But the bizarre twilight zone inhabited by those who continue to ignore fundamental problems has been turned inside out in recent years and not by anyone within football. Our friends in the Revenue Commissioners are providing the unwitting catalyst for change.
For years the Revenue Commissioners treated the FAI and the LOI with remarkable generosity and in the face of catastrophic debt, were happy to sit down and try to find a way for clubs to shift to a fully tax compliant mode â writing off an 11m bill in the process.
Lately, the Revenue have been showing teeth and the grapevine suggests that civil servants are currently examining many different areas of taxation that have remained untouched for years, as well as reminding eircom League clubs of their statutory obligations.
The League of Ireland constantly hangs on the brink of insolvency and crisis. Anytime someone sticks his head up to highlight the fact, the status quo shifts into gear and the wagons circle.
Itâs long past the time for the poor mouth and the begging bowl. Ireland has moved on, Irish sport has moved on but there are many in the football family who still believe that association footballâs peculiar tradition in this country allows them to run the game without even the basics of sound business practice.
Because football was repressed for so many years through the actions of the GAA and politicians of all hues, there are still those who believe implicitly that the world owes the League of Ireland a living and that normal business practices can be ignored with impunity.
This is not new. Clubs have been going bang for as long as anyone can remember. Without trying too hard, hereâs a list: Cork Hibs, Cork Celtic, Cork United, Cork Athletic, Limerick United, Limerick FC, Shels, Drumcondra, Shamrock Rovers, St James Gate, Dublin City, Newcastlewest, St Francis, Thurles Town, Longford Town.
Some of the above disappeared without a trace; some reinvented themselves while others reverted to amateur status and survived.
Almost every League of Ireland club has reached a moment when extinction has been a live issue. The list is long and relentless and if Bohemians join it, the writing will really be on the wall.
Just a few years back, even this cynical witness to the League of Ireland decline believed that Bohs, through the sale of their prized asset Dalymount Park, might just have found a way to fund a club that might buck the trend and establish itself as an organisation to look up to and copy.
Because Dalymount was and is worth so much, Bohs appeared to have the resources they needed to flourish but the demise of the Celtic Tiger has, at the very least, created circumstances that make the development deal less than rock solid.
The Celtic Tiger is running on fumes right now and like many other LOI clubs before them, Bohs are spending money they simply donât have.
Essentially, they are surviving on thin air while eating remorselessly into their only asset â Dalymount Park.
The numbers being crunched in Phibsboro donât make for happy reading. There has been an exponential growth in loss-making, based on the funding available from the proposed sale of the ground.
Cumulative losses over a decade or so amount to 4m but the rate of leakage has picked up pace and is certain to cruise past the 1m mark for this year.
Whether the asset youâre sitting on is worth 1m or 100m, it makes no sense at all to apply a spend, spend, spend approach to day to day operations.
Because Bohs are currently locked in a court case over ownership rights, the Liam Carroll consortium has put a hold on all financial subventions and cash that was factored into the yearly budget has been withheld.
This has ramifications across all aspects of Bohsâ operations. They may be head and shoulders above everyone else at the top of the Premier League right now, but to what end and can they afford it? The simple answer is they canât and applies to all League of Ireland clubs working under the current ridiculous and discredited model.
This requires success at European level as the next step up and is all but unachievable, a fact never so well illustrated than by Ollie Byrneâs extraordinary and profligate use of the cash from all sorts of sources to provide a platform for Shelbourneâs attempt to reach the Champions League knock-out stage.
For three decades, those who remain passionate about the domestic game have been kidding themselves that they are just a step away from the big time and if only one club could make the breakthrough in Europe, all problems would melt away.
Ollieâs efforts were both heroic and insane and in that weird mix of motivation lies the essential truth about the League of Ireland.
Only someone with an obsession that allows rules to be bent at right angles would pour his heart and soul into a failed entity that has not worked for four decades and will never work while it suits so many people that it should fail.
There are many individuals cleaning up in the football industry and this has always been the case. Everyone now knows that Joe Gamble was offered an astonishing 3200k salary to switch from Leeside to Inchicore. Players are earning salaries that have no connection whatsoever with the support they generate.
At least Gamble can be judged on the pitch as will all the other players â well-paid or not. But there are many others throughout football in Ireland who do very nicely indeed from the game and couldnât kick a ball out of their way.
For 30 years and more, the League of Ireland has been living beyond its means and without any real budgetary control. Clubs with poor administrative structures have always been wide open to widespread financial leakage.
In every other industry, people follow rules and if they fail to do so, they go out of business.
But many football people believe that football is different and while they do, while they expect someone with deep pockets to cover the bills, nothing will change.
Sensible strategy vindicates Super Blues
August 2008
By Brian McDonnell
WHEN the news filtered through that Cork City had officially lodged a petition with the High Court to force the club into examinership on Tuesday evening you could have forgiven Limerick 37 CEO Andrew Mawhinney for allowing himself a wry smile.
Cork Cityâs financial policy has seen debts spiral wildly to âŹ800,000 with the club now looking for potential investors to take over from current owners Arkaga.
Limerick 37, under the stewardship of Andrew Mawhinney, have followed a very sensible strategy and their solid financial base contrasts starkly with that of numerous Eircom League clubs who now find themselves in severe difficulty.
Andrew Mawhinney isnât prepared to gloat however: "In a way youâre comparing apples and oranges when you compare Limerick to Cork City.
"I do feel vindicated about what weâre trying to do here when stories break about clubs like Cork, but I feel even more vindicated when I hear stories about clubs in our own division. Clubs are simply paying their players too much and are not managing their affairs in a sensible manner.
âTo be fair the way we run the club is the only way we could have run it. Weâre still going to make a loss at the end of the year and Jack McCarthy (owner) is going to lose a six-figure sum. If we didnât have Jack to back the club we wouldnât be in business - no club can survive on a average gate of 250 people,â explained Andrew Mawhinney.
âWe run the club in a whiter than white way because we want the club to be run that way. A lot of clubs are taking chances and come January, when clubs go looking for licences from the FAI, there is going to be a fall-out. We donât want to find ourselves in that position ever again.â
Speaking to Leader Sport this week Andrew Mawhinney was also quick to praise the players for the commitment they have shown to the cause.
âOur budget, based on a turnover of âŹ230,000, is very tight,â admitted the CEO.
"We have lots of players on our books, but none of them are being paid very much.
"Thatâs a tribute to the players. Theyâre committed to the club and we appreciate that commmitment to what weâre trying to do in Limerick.
"But we also want to grow as a club. This year our weekly wage budget is around âŹ2,500, but we want that to grow to âŹ5,500 next season. We must take that step if we want to compete.
"Our biggest problem is still a stadium. Unless we have an asset we canât expand. Jack is even prepared to pay for an asset if he sees value in acquiring that asset.
"We will keep working hard at improving the club structures and the playing squad.
âGood, prudent housekeeping has kept the club going, but were it not for Jack weâd be out of business.â
Meanwhile the club hosted a series of fundraising events last weekend.
These included a very well-attended race night in the Still House Bar, Thomas Street entitled âThe Ken-Duckey Race Nightâ which raised âŹ8,500 for the club. Limerick FC would like to thank all the local businesses and individuals who got behind the event especially Carlsberg who were the overall weekend sponsors.
On Saturday night over 3,000 little blue ducks braved the elements in the duck race on the Abbey River. The overall winner was Ger Hanrahan and he won a once-in-a-lifetime weekend for two in New York. Other winners included Maria OâHalloran whose second place secured a weekend for two at any Marriott Hotel in Ireland.
The club are also running a season ticket special for the second half of season at a cost of âŹ70. Season tickets are available from The Super Blues Store, 27 Davis Street, Limerick or at Jackman Park on home match nights.
Contact: info@limerick37fc.ie or 061 609798/609805 for details.
do you ever go to games SS?
Iâve been to about five Limerick FC games in my life NCC, personally I think the move tor Rathbane killed that club in the public minds, no one would go down there to games, the Market Fields was in the heart of the city, Rathbane was in the badlands. The new guys in charge are sensible though and have been since theyâve taken over, every penny is accounted for. They havenât much but they make the best of what they have, itâs unspectacular but they are giving themselves a chance of survival.
thats good to see - hope it goes well for them
Drew bids to buy stricken Cork City
Tuesday August 26 2008
CORK City received their first bail-out offer yesterday when local businessman and former Limerick FC chairman Danny Drew launched a formal bid to invest in the financially stricken Leesiders.
In a first step towards saving Cork from bankruptcy, Drew offered to clear 30pc of the clubâs current debt in one lump payment before clearing the rest over 10 years.
Yesterday, Drew clarified that he wanted to buy the club from the Arkaga group: âWe are only interested in buying the club outright rather than pumping money in with Arkaga still in place.â
On the pitch, meanwhile, Cork will face Derry City in the FAI Ford Cup quarter-final in the pick of the round after yesterdayâs draw.
âItâs a brilliant draw with the two best-supported teams in Irelandâ, said Derry boss Stephen Kenny, âWeâve Cork in the league next week and the last match I lost with Derry in the Cup was against Cork in Turnerâs Cross so itâs always a big game for us.â
Non-league side Wayside Celtic bagged a massive draw against Eircom League champions-elect Bohemians in a repeat of a near-colossal upset in 2005, when the Leinster Senior League side took the Phibsboro outfit to a replay before being beaten 2-1.
The match is expected to take place in the Carlisle Grounds and Lennon ruled out any chances of allowing Bohs to switch the venue.
"You must give yourself every opportunity. Weâre not going to raise the white flag by switching it to Dalymount, especially when you have the option of going to Bray.
âWeâll probably go for Sunday too as thatâs when we normally play. The last time we played Bohs, over the two games we made âŹ9,000, which was massive for us.â
Sporting Fingal boss Liam Buckley faces his former club St Patrickâs Athletic for the first time since taking over at Santryâs Morton Stadium while Galway host Bray during the weekend ending September 14.
FAI Ford Cup Quarter-final draw â Cork City v Derry City; Galway v Bray Wds, Sporting Fingal v St Patâs Ath; Wayside Celtic v Bohemians.
The Cork players have been told by the examiner that they have to take a 70% pay cut according to reports. Certain staff members are being let go such as the Assistant Manager, Marketing Manager and others too.
Fucking ridiculous having the media call all the shots like that. They should just tell Thomas Crosbie to fuck off.
Gareth Farrelly is now off the books aswell⌠They must be in a very bad way financially. Sad for those involved in this caper, when will these clubs learn?