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?

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.

Change ahead at Oriel Park

The dogs on the street are aware by now that there is change in store for the club and it is going to happen soon. Rumours, as usual, are rife and vary drastically in levels of accuracy.

Current owner, Gerry Matthews, has given his all to the club for the duration of his ownership. This writer was extremely sceptical about his takeover initially but it didn't take long for it to become clear that his intentions were as good as his work ethic and that he was willing to put adequate finance into the club to drag it kicking and screaming from near-extinction to its current strong position. I admire the honesty that was evident throughout his ownership, he stated quite clearly that he was not willing to be a cash cow indefinitely for the club but that he had a 5 year plan to transform the club into a self financing entity. He was offering us something infinitely more valuable than money, he was offering business acumen and his time. For the most part it has been a successful operation, with Dundalk FC now closer to the holy grail of self sufficiency than it has been for a very long time. Thanks to Gerry Matthews, instead of the club hitting the wall and dying a tragic death, we now have a setup that is the envy of the majority of clubs and is in a strong position to move to the next level. Gerry's 5 year plan is up, he feels he has done what he came to do and he now plans to move on to other challenges.

In typical Dundalk fashion, however, it seems that it is impossible for some fans of the club to thank Gerry for his significant input and work with the current custodians of the club to ensure that we make that next step up. Instead, we have seen a campaign of spin and bluster which has diminished the success of Gerry and the board in the minds of many Dundalk fans. It's not clear yet what the purpose of this is, but at a guess it has been an effort by those wishing to take over the club to force the current owners' hands and improve their own standpoint in negotiations.

It is very disappointing to see the path that this process has followed, and it can only be hoped that this is not an indicator for the way that the club will be managed post takeover. If worst fears come to fruition then those who think this season is a low point will see what that truly looks like.

Here's hoping all parties involved can find a way to work together for the good of the club we love. Unfortunately I am not hopeful enough on that point to hold my breath.