Peculiar hush surrounds exciting times in Athlone
IN NOVEMBER, world players’ union FIFPro surveyed members of the Professional Footballers’ Association of Ireland, among numerous other around the globe, and the results were stark.
It showed 82 per cent of SSE Airtricity League players’ gross monthly wage is €500 or less, 20.9 per cent take home under €300 while only one per cent pocket €4,000 or more gross per month.
Meanwhile 95 per cent of the 275 registered players with PFA Ireland were Irish.
This season, though, Athlone Town in the First Division is somewhat of an anomaly with players from Portugal, Latvia, Lithuania and Romania all in the first team squad.
No other team has a make-up quite like it and the continental feel stretches much further than that. Fran Gavin is one of the chosen few to have laid eyes on the mysterious investors, believed to be from Portugal, who have helped revitalise Athlone this season.
Not only that, the FAI’s director of competitions was fortunate enough to sit down and discuss their plans for the oldest club in the League of Ireland.
The arrival of fresh talent on the pitch as well as ideas off it is exciting but scepticism remains because of the reticence of those behind the scenes to come forward and enter into dialogue with supporters.
Considering the early success, you would think that the club would be happy to reveal the source of their cash influx as they bid for promotion to the Premier Division.
Not so. Chairman John Hayden had no comment to make when contacted at the Cheltenham Festival yesterday and fans remain none the wiser as to who is in control of the purse strings. Local journalists, meanwhile, were last week told there were to be no questions relating to the Portuguese investors.
Gavin said earlier this week that he met with them and that while they are ‘ambitious’, ‘you would wonder about what is their motivation’. He added: ‘If you’re an investor looking to get in and showcase players, the League of Ireland is attractive. Once it’s done right, success can come fairly quickly.’
And while it’s too soon to start discussing a scenario whereby other rich businessmen use the League of Ireland as an easy way of getting into Europe, the Athlone experiment could yet be the catalyst for something totally new in Irish football.