Pat is some man. So they are all left on the books?
These are just underage lads.
I know ya but Iâd read an article lately that suggested all the young lads had gone off and signed back up with local clubs because of the mess and that the transfer window was passed to get them back. Then Iâd heard most of them had transferred to the new side and were training with them etc
Crazy stuff senior soccer in Limerick taking a major nosedive
Someday , someone might explain the financial benefit of running an underage soccer club involved in as all ireland league. Is he hoping to unearth the next Messi??
Rovers are using it to fund their first team. Itâs the only âassetâ of value the club actually has
Flesh that out a bit?
I think what Julio is getting at is that with this new underage structure it is tying aspiring professional footballers into an affiliated senior club. The fee agreements that are signed when these lads go to the UK will now come to a senior club rather than the junior side.
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The academy players are all contracted to the club for free basically. All the coaches etc are more or less free as well, so it has very little cost to the club.
The dream is one of these lads is snapped up by a club over in England for a few quid, even if they go for free or whatever the club is still entitled to compensation if they are ever sold again.
Basically for little cost you have an asset thatâs potentially worth money. You put say 15 lads a year through the system and surely the odd one will be decent.
In contrast senior players are paid a wage and most are on one year contracts and can leave for free or for very little whenever they want. They are worth nothing, a cost really.
Rovers sold that young keeper for âŹ500k and theyâve gotten a few bob for other lads as well. The likes of Kevinâs boys have done very well out of it as well in the past.
The whole academy thing is relatively new for Irish football so we wonât see the feed through of it fully for another few years, but itâs already promising enough and Rovers etc. have invested heavily in it, while Bohâs have linked with Kevins boys.
If the club had folded, any player who went through and compensation due for that time wouldnât have been payable to anyone. Now that Pat has kept the shell alive, that intangible asset may have some value some day (or it may not). Itâs no goldmine, but itâs the only asset the club has now as they donât own the field and I donât think they own the white elephant in Bruff or wherever it is.
Interestingly itâs in stark contrast to England, where the likes of Brentford just got rid of their academy because it was costing them a fortune and they werenât getting any senior players out of it.
Difference being I guess itâs costing Irish clubs fuck all, thereâs far less competition for decent players in Ireland than the UK and the standard required at the end to play âseniorâ isnât as high.
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Irrespective of what rovers are doing to raise funds etc,theyâve got great backing so definitely are on the up up and when they get there theyâll be hard to shift, Dundalk may have another season at the top bit itâs shifting
Sweet divine Jesus
I was just thinking yesterday, Pat OâSullivan is a genius. Every other club will be bankrupt paying players. Pat was the only one who had the foresight to have a club with no players to pay
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Thought crossed my mind also 
Theyâll end up in the premier next year because no one will be left
Theyâre hoping to get the league going again in JuneâŚ
Thereâll be a shot of them bankrupt even if they manage that
A lot of clubs have released their players already. I doubt very many LOI players are getting paid at the moment
Whatâs the story with mike aherne ? Seems really odd timing to leave now.