IT’S ALL CHANGE AT DUNDALK FC AS NEW OWNERS TAKE OVER
Dundalk fans praying for a pot of gold from US takeover
FROM THE CLUB’S POINT OF VIEW IT’S THE END OF A GLORIOUS CHAPTER AND HOPEFULLY THE BEGINNING OF A NEW ONE.
LAST Friday was one of those horrible days of winter 2017/2018. The rain was relentless and anyone out going about going their business was soaked through.
Yet there was a glowing rainbow over the sky above Oriel Park as the proposed takeover deal by Peak6 Sports was finally confirmed.
The worst kept secret in town was finally out in the open. All the rumours of December and the festive period were proved correct and Dundalk Football Club has new owners.
Still, the talk about town was more about the future, with conversations laden with questions, what now?
Will the new owners build a new stadium? In Oriel Park or a greenfield site? Will Stephen Kenny be getting his hands on some of the playing talent at Premier League Bournmenth?
So far, the questions remain unanswered and supporters will have to wait until the new owners arrive in town before they get the first signals as to what the deal will mean, but already General Manager Martin Connolly has indicated that manager Stephen Kenny should be able to finalise his playing squad, with a higher calibre player than he would have had prior to the completion of the deal.
With the new owners not in town last Friday, a circumstance that is completely novel in the long history of the club, it was left up to Martin Connolly, to field the clamour of questions from local, national and international media.
‘It has been a long process, which probably started last September and it is a relief that that end of things has ended, but there is sadness that the two boys have left’.
Of course Martin is a brother of one the two owners, Andy and wanted to pay tribute to their time at the helm of the club.
‘ They have been part of a massively successful period in the club’s history, plus the fact that I have been working with two good friends, one my brother Andy and one a person I know for 30 years.
‘From the club’s point of view it’s the end of a glorious chapter and hopefully the beginning of a new one.
‘ We all know the story of the success and they deserve all the praise that they get, they took a massive chance in taking the club on at the time. Two successful businessmen in their own right and people would have said they possibly put that in jeopardy by taking on the football club.
‘ They steered it in the right direction, the appointment of Stephen Kenny and being able to hold onto him was a massive decision for them to take and the success that followed, I think everyone in Dundalk would say that we have had nights that we will never forget.’
To that end Martin recalled the journey to Dublin on Thursday when he, Andy and Paul Brown recalled some of those magical moments they and Lilywhite supporters will never, ever forget.
‘ We were actually recalling some of those stories when we were travelling up to Dublin for the final piece of the transaction.
‘I remember the game in Iceland against FH Hafnarfjordur in Iceland, which myself and Paul were at, Andy couldn’t travel to that game. We were standing in the stand and if we had have lost that game it would have been a difficult end to the season for us financially, but because we won, it changed the whole thing.
‘I remember the game was two all and there was about six minutes to go and FH had a great shout for a penalty and I looked at Paul and he looked at me and we went white in the face knowing how things were run.’
That near escape was followed by some wonderful moments, he added. ‘On the other hand we had the BATE Borisov game in Tallaght, hair standing on the back of your neck job. The boys recalled the whole stand at the end of the game singing their names. For the two of them that memory is magical.
‘From a family point of view, you will never ever forget those moments, and people like our uncle who was a huge Dundalk supporter and our own father who has passed away.’
But while the success of recent seasons has been tremendous it has brought new pressures as expectations have risen amongst the fan base and the clear desire of manager Stephen Kenny to move the club onto the next level.
‘ We don’t have to be told about the
lack of facilities here in Oriel Park, we are well aware of it, so the next part of the project was to develop Oriel Park, keep the product right on the pitch, satisfy the supporters hunger and of course a massive part of this is to hold onto Stephen Kenny, to match his expectations for the football club, so I think if you were to ask the two boys to do all of that and run their own business was just a massive, massive task.’
‘I mean Andy has four children, family life is affected by all of this’.
‘We have been approached by a number of different people about taking over so it came to stage where maybe it was time to listen and see where it would go’, he explained adding that the pair only agreed to sell when they happy that the future of the club was in good hands.
Now for the first time, Dundalk Football Club is no longer owned by local owners, but Martin is not concerned about the change, seeing it is a natural progression given the way the world of football has rapidly changed in recent years.
‘I know understand and appreciate all the great work that all of the people who have been involved in this great club down the years, but the world has changed and I don’t think not having local owners is a major thing.
‘I think was is important is that the new owners are very attracted by the ethos of the club, the idea that everybody that is involved in the club owns it in some small way. That is more important than anything else.
‘ The new owners can guide it and implement it, but the supporters in all of us, if we see that is being run right, that the football is good on the pitch and the facilities are improving, that will satisfy people.
Having met some of the Peak6 members, he added, ‘I do think that the people who have come in are genuine football people who want to be part of a successful football club and if we can get the management of that part of it right we will be okay.
‘ When I met them first they were very struck by the whole Dundalk romantic story, you can’t get caught up in the romance too much, but they loved the whole concept of Dundalk, that the club was being run by three full time staff and the success that we have had, basically training in the evenings, having to play our European games 50 miles away in Tallaght, but you are quite right, by the very description of investor, they have to get a return, but what they are very keen on is to keep the Dundalk story going, develop it further, develop European success further than we have already done. I think if you are a Dundalk supporter and you hear that to get that you have to win the league or finish in the top three, then you have to invest in players, ensure that you keep your staff and manager, then it is only good news from that point of view.
One of the big quesions of course is the future development of Oriel Park, ‘ We were trying to manage expectations. People said that we won €7m, at the end of the day it is not €7m, by the time you pay bonuses, taxes, travel and accommodation, all of that and remember that we took the football pitch back, paying half a million to the former owner and then paying rates that were due to the Council and then we changed the football pitch, so there was a lot of money spent that people don’t see but it was spent.
‘ Then the next question you have to ask, is that if you have €3 million will you build a modern stadium with that kind of money, given construction costs in this country.
‘ To be fair we started that process of looking at designs with three companies and putting together feasibility studies. Are we better off moving to a green field site or what. We engaged Colliers International and their recommendation was similar to what we all thought, that with the history and the location close to town, we were better off to stay where we were. The next stage was to look at engineers and architects and see what we could do with the ground. We met the FAI and they were very keen that we took that further. They are very keen that they back six or seven projects and look for government funding’.
Looking towards the new season the pace of change Martin added a note of caution and patience saying, ‘I don’t think that you will see a new direction quickly from the new owners, what I think will happen there will be subtle changes around the administration and governance of the football club rather than structural changes. I think that they will take time and review everything’.
Part of that will be getting to know each other and he concluded by saying: ‘A couple of the new owners will be in town before the end of the month and we will organise an event for people to meet them’.