VE A EURO DREAM
Takover not Arkaga Part II
over the club and it has been an amazing journey. The backroom team that I’ve worked with from day one has been the same with Vinny Perth, Steve Williams, Graham Byrne and Noel Walsh. All the team have been magnificent and all the players who have joined since. They’re a wonderful group of players that we’ve had.
‘It has been an amazing journey. You have all been a part of it and have seen it grow from very paltry crowds to 33,000 in the Aviva against Legia Warsaw. You’ve seen all those great European nights but to be fair Paul and Andy felt they wanted the club to grow again.
‘With the investment from the new owners, they felt they were the right owners to come and take over the club. Apart from the financial side of it, what has been impressive to me has been just the sheer enthusiasm that every member of the new ownership group has.
‘They’re very enthusiastic and very passionate about every aspect of it and that has come across to me. Some of the individuals involved have investments in Bournemouth and Swansea and so forth but they really feel that coming to Dundalk and getting complete ownership to have the opportunities that exist here, they’re so excited about it. That fills me with optimism going forward because they want the club to go forward.
‘I know everyone in Dundalk is very proud of the club’s relationship with the town and with the community and the way that we’ve been so representative right throughout Europe. That has made everyone so proud but I feel there’s more great European nights ahead.
‘We’ve had a great period of success over five years but it doesn’t have to end there. There’s further chapters to happen. I’m proud to be manager here but we want continued success and for it to be the most successful period in the club’s history and to prolong it for more great nights in the future hopefully,’ said Kenny AFTER Sunday’s Q&A with supporters in the YDC, new Dundalk board member Jordan Gardner spoke to the media about he and his fellow new owners’ plans for the club.
The San Francisco native spoke about their aims for Dundalk FC, their plans for Oriel Park, the possibility of adding further staff off the field, his hopes of seeing the side competing in Europe and much more.
He also said the current takeover by the Peak6-led consortium was nothing like the disastrous Arkaga experience that Cork City had endured a decade ago and added that if and when they do move on, they would leave Dundalk FC in a better state than they found it.
Q: In general terms what are your aims out of this? Is it a kind of sporting hobby or a serious investment that you expect to turn a profit on or a mix of the two?
JG: I think we’re all football people and we love the game. Obviously we have strong business acumen so I think for us, we see it as a good investment for obvious reasons. I don’t think there is any doubt about that but in reality we think this club can continue to be something very special and make runs in Europe and for us as football people that’s something very exciting but it’s a combination of a lot of different things. This community has very much rallied around what we’re doing and we’re very excited about that.
Q: The lack of kind of firm news on the stadium, for a lot of supporters that would have been a sign that you guys were coming in and putting a lot of money in up front. In the absence of that it’s very hard to gauge the scale of what your commitment is. Can you quantify that for us?
JG: The takeover just closed two weeks ago so we’re still taking some time to evaluate the club, the infrastructure, Oriel Park and what we need to do in the short term and the long term. Clearly in the short term there’s infrastructure at Oriel Park that needs to improve, whether it’s the puddle or some new seats or some paint on the wall. They are things we’re already looking at addressing. In regards to any larger capital projects, that’s something that we have not made any commitments to quite yet. We realise that the venue most likely will need some improvements down the road but we want to be very measured and very focused on how we’re going about that. We may be working with the local government or the FAI to discuss what is best for the club in the long term but we don’t have every detail worked out quite yet.
Q: One of the aspects of the story in 2016 was that the club only had two full-time employees on top of the playing staff. Is that something you’re looking to address in terms of adding support staff there full-time?
JG: Everyone knows we have moved the players to full-time and that was a big priority for us. From a front office staffing point of view, we’ve brought on Mal Brannigan who is a very experienced CEO and we have Martin (Connolly). I do think when the time comes we will be adding additional full time staff but the backbone of the club is still volunteers and the community members that help out the club and in many ways we don’t want to change what’s working with the club. We’re going to need some time to evaluate what’s working and what’s not working.
Q: What sort of timescale are you putting on this project in terms of wanting to achieve your goals?
JG: That’s a good question. For now everything is focused on one year. What are we doing this year and how are we assembling the best team to give Stephen the tools to succeed this year? Beyond that we’re looking at three, to five to seven years at each area whether it’s the youth academy, Oriel Park or the different aspects of the club and building off what they have built already. We don’t have all the answers right now.
Q: Only two Irish clubs have ever made the group stages of European football. Do you think you can change that?
JG: Yes, absolutely. What Stephen, Paul and Andy have done is pretty remarkable and with our football knowledge, resources and backgrounds we feel that we can only elevate the club. We fully anticipate the club to be a perennial contender in Europe and to win the League of Ireland every year.
Q: How integral is Europe to the business model?
JG: It’s very important. Obviously three, potentially four teams in Ireland make the qualifying round of the Europa League or Champions League group stages so we feel very confident that we will be able to finish in the top three or four every season and be in Europe. Once we’re in Europe, two to three rounds would be a success. It is a big piece of what we’re doing. We talk about reinvesting and the youth academy and a lot of that does depend on success in Europe.
Q: Outside investment in League of Ireland clubs hasn’t been well managed in the past. People will point to Cork City most recently. How do you convince fans that this is going to be something different?
JG: Obviously we have read about what happened in Cork but this is a completely different situation. We’re serious investors who have stakes in global football clubs, investors who have business acumen, football acumen. We have been on the ground for quite some time now. I was in Spain with the club the other day and talking to Stephen. We bring to the table a completely different level of investment and experience than any other club has invested in the League of Ireland.
Q: You mentioned Cork. When Arkaga came in it was the first time that an outside investment firm had come in and it ended very badly. What’s the worst case scenario? Can you guarantee fans that you’ll leave the club in a better state than you found it?
JG: We haven’t even looked at worst case scenarios yet. The success that the club has had over the last five to seven years, analysing the success and what we bring to the table and what Stephen brings to the table, we feel very confident that we’re going to be able to achieve the goals that we have set out. I’m confident in saying that we will be able to leave the club, whenever that time comes or if that time comes, in a better place than we’ve taken it over.
Q: How would you describe the financial situation that you’ve inherited here in terms of where the club is at?
JG: Obviously there’s not a lot of the financial side that I can speak about but the club is in good shape financially. Obviously we bring to the table significant financial backing that can hopefully elevate the club. This is not a situation where the club is in significant debt or is in trouble. We’re happy with the state of the club.
Q: Will you work with supporters to setup a Trust?
JG: We haven’t talked about that. Obviously the supporters are an integral part of what we’re doing. We haven’t discussed the idea of a Supporters’ Trust. I know it is something that does happen at some other clubs but that’s something that as time progresses we will discuss.
Q: Is there anything you can take from Bournemouth or Swansea in terms of ideas?
JG: Yes there’s so much we can take from those clubs whether it’s from operational, marketing, social media and the way they operate as professional clubs at the highest level to player recruitment and academy development. When the time comes to really build out the academy here, and that’s something we’re talking about in the long term, we’ll want to go to the likes of Bournemouth, Swansea and Roma to see how they do things at the highest level.
Q: How did you guys get together on all of this? How did Dundalk happen and how did this particular group assemble?
JG: There were a group of like-minded individuals who were interested in football and the business side of football. It was just mutual connections, people in the States who were interested. We got connected to the Peak6 guys who own Bournemouth and then they connected us with another group. It kind of was one thing led to another and we all got in a room and realised this was a really unique and interesting opportunity. There was so much that was right here in the community that had been built by Andy and Paul so it wasn’t one thing. It was momentum that built over time and then we said let’s do this, this is something really excited. We met with Andy and Paul, came out here and went to a game and that got us even more enthusiastic about the project.
Q: Have you worked together on projects before?
JG: No, each of us have our own series of interests and this is us coming together for the first time in many ways but we all get along very well. We’re all like-minded individuals and all have a similar philosophy on how we think a football club should be built and run.
Q: How many people are there involved in the group altogether and will all the faces be making an appearance regularly?
JG: There’s about eight to 10 of us. Obviously it varies because we all have different businesses and other clubs but I’m pretty confident to say that once every six to eight weeks at least one of us will be here. I know personally I will try to be here once every two months hopefully. It’s a long trip from California but it’s important that we are not absentee owners. That doesn’t work with other clubs.
Q: Do you know the make up of the new board yet?
JG: There’s five of us on the new board and three of us were up there – Mike (Treacy), myself and Fred (Spencer). Then there are two other members, one other member who is here and one who is not here. Q: Can you name them?
JG: I don’t believe it’s public quite yet but it will be very soon.
Q: Have you a ballpark figure in your head what sort of change or escalation in turnover you see the club generating over five or 10 years?
JG: We have some financial projections but I can’t speak about those quite yet. Financially we feel pretty confident in the health of the club and the way we feel moving forward the club is in a good position. It’s abundantly clear that doing well in Europe is good for the club financially and that’s where we see a lot of upside.