Something isn't adding up at Oriel Park, but are the fans right in thinking that those running the club are not giving accurate information, or are those running the club correct in stating that income is just not enough to cover expenditure?
I just want to insert here how sad I am to see the recent departures from the staff at Oriel Park. These people were valuable to our club, and I wish them all well in the future. It is such a pity that we have ended up in this position where there doesn't seem to be any other option.
Some of those commenting on the current situation at the club have a fairly simplistic view of the entire situation. In their eyes the club is being run by a greedy businessman who is pocketing profits from the club while publicly looking for fans to support the club financially.
The club are insisting that they have no choice in implementing recent cutbacks on staff and other expenditure. They state that income is too low (and falling) to cover the running costs of the club.
Nobody can have failed to notice dwindling crowds at home games, where fans of other clubs can no longer afford to travel in numbers and Dundalk fans are also staying away. In the past, Dundalk people always have had an excuse for not attending matches - not enough locals, too many locals, disapproval of some decision or other at the club. The current two main ones are that support is being withdrawn until Gerry Matthews and/or Sean McCaffrey are gone from the club.
While everybody is entitled to their opinion, I can't help but wonder whether people have thought about the consequences of this, no matter what the outcome. There are three possible scenarios that can arise from this current boycott situation, depending on how long it goes on for and whether determination to be right outweighs love for the club.
First possibility is that the club are not exaggerating, that Gerry is not back-pocketing anything and the only option left to the club is to cease operating.
Second possibility is that Sean McCaffrey is let go, which will cost the club even more money that we don't have both in buying out his current contract and in finding a replacement who will work for such a small paypacket and withstand personal abuse on a regular basis.
Third possibility is that Gerry Matthews finally decides he has had enough and leaves the club. Seeing as there wasn't a suitable offer from any party interested in taking over the club when he first asked for expressions of interest, I for one am not confident that there is a person or entity with the interest and the funds to take over the running of the club.
(Obviously the second and third possibilities could both occur, in which case we'd have less funds into the club while trying to find a lump sum and extra money for the wages of a new manager)
From some of the discussion around the club, including on the world wide web, there seems to be an impression that players wages are the biggest (for some the only) outgoing and ticket sales on match night are the biggest income. Unfortunately, the second part may not be far from the truth (6-700 times €10 anybody?), while the first is likely to be a little less true. The club has so many costs on an ongoing basis that seem to be ignored and those are the outgoings that are currently not being matched by income. There is also an impression that once-off payments last season like transfer funds received for Daniel Kearns and Setanta Cup earnings are still hanging around the club unused and should be used to fill current gaps. Surely it's not a stretch to think that this money would have been used to cover shortfalls that occurred last season? When the sums involved are compared to the club's running costs it might be more obvious how it's possible that they might have already been spent!
There also seems to be a notion that Gerry Matthews is bleeding the club dry. If anybody honestly thinks that there is money free in the club for him to take then they haven't been paying attention to many League of Ireland news stories over the past decade or so! This is a man who has poured money (along with time and effort) into the club since he took over, and it seems quite petty to me to see those who he decided were not ready to take the club over when he saw their proposals turn against him with propaganda and what I would call whispering campaigns only there isn't much whispering involved! It's not a personality contest, nobody says you have to like the owner of your club, but credit where it is due he has contributed more to the club than any of us have and all the thanks he is getting is a boot in his back encouraging him to leave!
The club is in a bad place, most clubs are struggling with reduced income etc this season but the campaigns against our owner and manager have emphasised a bad situation and made it worse for us. As fans surely now is the time to get back in the game, get involved and support the club to ensure that we have a club to support next season and beyond? We have a choice, we can stand on the sidelines shouting about what we think is wrong or we can step on the pitch and get involved in the game.
This is not a recent thing, for as long as I've been attending Oriel we've had people who stood back and criticised without either knowing all the facts or offering a constructive solution and we've had internal power struggles which do nothing but distract from the main job at hand. Who knew a place on the board at Dundalk FC came with anything more than stress and responsibility, some seem to have their eyes on a position of power to the point where they are blind to the input, financial and otherwise, required from board members.
With nothing to lose, why not experiment? Why not try getting behind the club, financially and with attendance at matches. Why not try getting behind the team and encouraging them on to do better? We have a squad of young players at our club, which makes us responsible for them in my eyes, and the kind of abuse that they've been subjected to over the past weeks is horrendous. They are our players, they may not be perfect but who is? Screaming something like "you're sh*te" at a player who is just starting out in his career and who is working hard to improve does absolutely nothing positive for them, the club, or the person shouting at them. Shouting "you can do better", as an example, is such a different thing as it lifts a player's head and 9 times out of 10 he will do better the next time as a result.
We have a lot to lose if we don't try doing something different, doing what we have been doing just keeps bringing us back to the same point and only a fool keeps doing the same thing and expecting a different result!
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Sunday, May 20, 2012
Disillusioned fans at Oriel, there's a fork in the road
There was a mixed response to Dundalk's performance at Oriel Park tonight, with some acknowledging a significant effort while others are adamant only a new manager will rectify the current lack of points and disappointing position in the league table.
Dundalk started strong, Rafter taking the lead for the home side within a minute of the kick off and the team putting in a much improved first half shift. The reaction from the crowd was positive, ripples of applause ringing around the stand in response to some lovely passages of play. The team were clapped off the field at the break and there was a feeling that there could be and possibly would be more goals in the game for Dundalk.
The second half started with a very sudden change in fortune, with Monaghan scoring an equaliser. Naturally, heads dropped for Dundalk's young players. A team's response to this scenario is an interesting one, with many influencing factors. Possibly one of the biggest is feedback from the crowd, which in this case was an immediate negative reaction that it could be claimed was not in proportion to the situation. From the time that the goal went in every error on the pitch was greeted with calls for the head of the player at fault or the manager (depending, arbitrarily, on which player had made the mistake). Heads were only going to drop further in the face of the noise from the sidelines, and it was not really a great surprise when the second goal was conceded. With some support and a feeling of the fans being on their side then it may have been possible to turn things around but that was not to be.
Those running the club must feel a similar reaction off the field to the one directed at the players on the field. Any attempt to push the club forward is greeted by scepticism and any move that appears to fans to be less than their idea of perfect is greeted by extreme negativity. The owner gets zero credit these days for the time, energy and most of all money that he has invested in the club from those who will contribute none of those to the cause. His alleged motives are used as an excuse/reason not to support the club, financially or otherwise, and those who see him as the latest fall guy can't see past the agenda to get him out of the club. In the process they are oblivious to the fact that trying to push Gerry or Sean out without a thought for an alternative solution is only going to cause the death of our beloved club.
I worry for Dundalk FC, I worry that our fans are slowly killing our own club. In similar positions, fans of Cork, Derry, Shamrock Rovers and others rallied to save their club. At Oriel it seems to be more important to be proven right and have a good moan than to do something constructive to get our club back on track.
It struck me at our game in Turner's Cross how different our fans are from the Leesiders'. Their fans turn up in numbers, get behind their team and manager and do whatever they can to assist in achieving a win. Our fans have not yet realised, after all this time, that we are no longer top dogs in the league but are now in a dog fight for survival.
Time to show your colours, lilywhites, can we do what it takes or are we giving up before the fight is fought?
Dundalk started strong, Rafter taking the lead for the home side within a minute of the kick off and the team putting in a much improved first half shift. The reaction from the crowd was positive, ripples of applause ringing around the stand in response to some lovely passages of play. The team were clapped off the field at the break and there was a feeling that there could be and possibly would be more goals in the game for Dundalk.
The second half started with a very sudden change in fortune, with Monaghan scoring an equaliser. Naturally, heads dropped for Dundalk's young players. A team's response to this scenario is an interesting one, with many influencing factors. Possibly one of the biggest is feedback from the crowd, which in this case was an immediate negative reaction that it could be claimed was not in proportion to the situation. From the time that the goal went in every error on the pitch was greeted with calls for the head of the player at fault or the manager (depending, arbitrarily, on which player had made the mistake). Heads were only going to drop further in the face of the noise from the sidelines, and it was not really a great surprise when the second goal was conceded. With some support and a feeling of the fans being on their side then it may have been possible to turn things around but that was not to be.
Those running the club must feel a similar reaction off the field to the one directed at the players on the field. Any attempt to push the club forward is greeted by scepticism and any move that appears to fans to be less than their idea of perfect is greeted by extreme negativity. The owner gets zero credit these days for the time, energy and most of all money that he has invested in the club from those who will contribute none of those to the cause. His alleged motives are used as an excuse/reason not to support the club, financially or otherwise, and those who see him as the latest fall guy can't see past the agenda to get him out of the club. In the process they are oblivious to the fact that trying to push Gerry or Sean out without a thought for an alternative solution is only going to cause the death of our beloved club.
I worry for Dundalk FC, I worry that our fans are slowly killing our own club. In similar positions, fans of Cork, Derry, Shamrock Rovers and others rallied to save their club. At Oriel it seems to be more important to be proven right and have a good moan than to do something constructive to get our club back on track.
It struck me at our game in Turner's Cross how different our fans are from the Leesiders'. Their fans turn up in numbers, get behind their team and manager and do whatever they can to assist in achieving a win. Our fans have not yet realised, after all this time, that we are no longer top dogs in the league but are now in a dog fight for survival.
Time to show your colours, lilywhites, can we do what it takes or are we giving up before the fight is fought?
Thursday, February 23, 2012
2012 Season launch
Dundalk FC launched the 2012 season tonight in Oriel. This included a launch of the new club sponsors, Fyffes, along with an introduction to the management and playing team for the coming season.
Emma Crewe, Fyffe's Marketing Manager, was very enthusiastic about the sponsorship deal, given that it is a link with the home town of Fyffe's, a sports team that ties in with their healthy eating message and the community activities at the club which promote that healthy eating message to children. She commented that a lot of people don't know about the community activities ongoing at Oriel Park. The shirt with the Fyffes logo was used for photos etc to launch the new sponsors. As has since been confirmed on dundalkfc.com, the sponsors logo will be smaller on the shirts when they are received later.
The Friends of Dundalk FC scheme was presented by Colm Murphy of the DFC Trust and the DFC Board, who confirmed that any subscriptions will go directly to the club to be used for Sean's playing budget. He also confirmed that the benefactor mentioned previously will match any money up to €30,000 although he was a bit wary that if interest in the scheme is too low this year then it will be a harder sell to continue that arrangement in the future.
Sean McCaffrey spoke about his squad, he has a lot of faith in their ability and spoke strongly about their ambition, energy and the need for fans to back the players through the season. He admitted it may be a slow start, but pointed out that a slow start is better than being fast out of the blocks and tapering off to a disappointing finish as in previous seasons.
Sean spoke about the confusion currently that seems to equate youth with inexperience, pointing out that the squad he has signed is full of great players who have lots of experience but also have the energy and ambition of youth. He said we won't win the league this year as the squad don't know each other long enough, but is confident that we will be strong.
He asked fans to be true fans and get behind their team this season to give them the best possible chance of doing well. He has no doubt that they will, is not in the least worried about the season, but hopes that fans will be supporters not knockers. I can only hope that most people will pay heed to this request!
He was asked about our first match away to Monaghan, given our track record there, and pointed out that this is a different squad of players who don't have that mindset. He said that previous teams went to Monaghan and paid them too much respect, we will be going there to win and if every player does what he is capable of then he is fairly confident that we will win.
John White introduced the captain, Chris Shields, and the vice captain Stephen McDonnell. These guys are being given the role based on the respect they have earned from their team mates as well as the management, and I for one will be interested to see how the team functions with the captaincy team side by side in the middle of the pitch. The rest of the players seemed to be very enthusiastic about the decision. Chris Shields spoke (briefly!) about the coming season and his respect for the manager. Stephen McDonnell was also very positive about the coming season.
It was more than a little disappointing to hear some petty remarks tonight about various aspects of the way the club is being and has been run. It is also disappointing to see the negative reaction to the event tonight from people who didn't attend. Personally I traveled a 100 mile round trip to be there as I wanted to see things for myself and am glad that I did. There is optimism in the air around Oriel Park, it is a shame that some are missing it.
Emma Crewe, Fyffe's Marketing Manager, was very enthusiastic about the sponsorship deal, given that it is a link with the home town of Fyffe's, a sports team that ties in with their healthy eating message and the community activities at the club which promote that healthy eating message to children. She commented that a lot of people don't know about the community activities ongoing at Oriel Park. The shirt with the Fyffes logo was used for photos etc to launch the new sponsors. As has since been confirmed on dundalkfc.com, the sponsors logo will be smaller on the shirts when they are received later.
The Friends of Dundalk FC scheme was presented by Colm Murphy of the DFC Trust and the DFC Board, who confirmed that any subscriptions will go directly to the club to be used for Sean's playing budget. He also confirmed that the benefactor mentioned previously will match any money up to €30,000 although he was a bit wary that if interest in the scheme is too low this year then it will be a harder sell to continue that arrangement in the future.
Sean McCaffrey spoke about his squad, he has a lot of faith in their ability and spoke strongly about their ambition, energy and the need for fans to back the players through the season. He admitted it may be a slow start, but pointed out that a slow start is better than being fast out of the blocks and tapering off to a disappointing finish as in previous seasons.
Sean spoke about the confusion currently that seems to equate youth with inexperience, pointing out that the squad he has signed is full of great players who have lots of experience but also have the energy and ambition of youth. He said we won't win the league this year as the squad don't know each other long enough, but is confident that we will be strong.
He asked fans to be true fans and get behind their team this season to give them the best possible chance of doing well. He has no doubt that they will, is not in the least worried about the season, but hopes that fans will be supporters not knockers. I can only hope that most people will pay heed to this request!
He was asked about our first match away to Monaghan, given our track record there, and pointed out that this is a different squad of players who don't have that mindset. He said that previous teams went to Monaghan and paid them too much respect, we will be going there to win and if every player does what he is capable of then he is fairly confident that we will win.
John White introduced the captain, Chris Shields, and the vice captain Stephen McDonnell. These guys are being given the role based on the respect they have earned from their team mates as well as the management, and I for one will be interested to see how the team functions with the captaincy team side by side in the middle of the pitch. The rest of the players seemed to be very enthusiastic about the decision. Chris Shields spoke (briefly!) about the coming season and his respect for the manager. Stephen McDonnell was also very positive about the coming season.
It was more than a little disappointing to hear some petty remarks tonight about various aspects of the way the club is being and has been run. It is also disappointing to see the negative reaction to the event tonight from people who didn't attend. Personally I traveled a 100 mile round trip to be there as I wanted to see things for myself and am glad that I did. There is optimism in the air around Oriel Park, it is a shame that some are missing it.
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