Fight to save club in crisis
DENIS O’CONNOR is confident of securing Bray Wanderers’ longterm future but only if the club can be bailed out in the shortterm. Failing that, he will pull the plug himself on the Co. Wicklow club’s 32-year spell in the League of Ireland.
The Club Chairman was behind a press release issued on Friday evening bemoaning the low attendances at the Carlisle Grounds and subsequent financial issues. This was offset by a revelation from the club’s financer that he would be repealing his commitment to fund the club which led to Sunday’s announcement that the players could no longer be promised their wages.
O’Connor is now hunting for new investors and will explore all avenues as he seeks to secure the funds to keep the Seagulls afloat.
It has been an extremely quick turnaround from Friday when O’Connor got first notification of the possibility of funding being withdrawn.
“The statement was only prepared on Friday. It wasn’t premediated. But I was conscious of the fact that the guy that was supporting the club’s finances had indicated that he wouldn’t go on past the first of July for reasons to do with himself. So I felt that I had to get it out in the open. I wasn’t going to do it before kick-off and the press were there so I felt halftime was the time to do it – rightly or wrongly.”
Fast forward less than 40 hours and O’Connor was left breaking the news to the players that they could only be guaranteed one more week’s wages. Some players were perturbed that they had been left in the dark about the statement and had to find out via friends and family post-match but a senior member of the squad suggested that the latest development was best kept in-house. That idea did not last.
“On Sunday morning, the three directors met – Gerry Mulvey, Kieran Kelly and myself – met with Harry Kenny at around 9am and discussed it at length. The person that supports the finances reiterated that he wasn’t prepared to go on any further and then he agreed to cover at least one week’s wages.
“I went over and spoke to the players immediately with Harry present. Some of them were annoyed that I hadn’t shared the statement with them and I apologised for that.
“I told them where we were at and that the one individual who had been supporting the club financially – who had threatened to withdraw his support in April, May and June – was now adamant that he was withdrawing it at the end of June. On that basis, we’d agreed to pay the players on a week-by-week basis and we would therefore pay the players this week.
“Next week, I’ll have to clarify as we go on. I’ve undertaken to meet them tomorrow (Tuesday) night and Thursday night and keep them informed. I explained that I’d been talking to investors and then there was a brief discussion on their rights…then someone asked can we speak to other clubs so I told them I can’t stop them from doing that as it is the transfer window and if anyone gets a particular offer and they want to talk to me, then come and talk to me.
“One player then commented that since you’re (Denis) continuing this fundraising thing, it’d be good if everyone kept quiet and there was no loose talk. I said absolutely and disappointingly, it didn’t last very long.”
Almost within the hour, the PFAI had posted a misleading tweet that suggested that all players “can speak to new clubs about leaving”. There was also a screenshot of a picture sent by Gary McCabe, featuring other Bray players, captioned “we’re for sale”. These angered O’Connor as he feels the consequential negative media coverage may harm his chances of recruiting potential new investors.
As players are still under contract, they are not free to simply leave without getting a release form signed by the club.
“It makes my job harder. Investors will say what are we getting into here? Are we getting into a lorry load of trouble? It was made extremely difficult and then what the PFAI put out saying that I’d advised the players – I’ve had murder over that and I’ve proven that I didn’t say that. That’s wrong.
“I was disappointed with that tweet especially (from McCabe) as one of the senior players specifically brought up the issue of, in his words, “staying schtum”, and then I walked out the door and saw that (social media reaction). It’s unhelpful. It’s very unhelpful and it’s unfair to the rest of the squad. I’ve had messages from numerous players since and they’re all behind the cause.
“The players can’t leave unless we go into liquidation or I sign a mutual release.
“I spoke to Harry today. He’s delighted to hear that I’m not prepared to sign any release documents this week because he believes that it can be saved as do I.“
“Harry is there until it’s sorted. Harry will stick until we get a resolution.”
The resolution is an injection of cash and O’Connor will accept it in any form. He remains assured that if the club survives the shortterm, he will be able to steer the ship after that.
“There’s not a lorry load of money required to put this together. What is disappointing is the attendance figures – that’s of grave concern. We’re here in the county of Wicklow where there are a lot of successful businesses and we get no advertising support – nothing. Our main sponsors are from outside the county. You’d think that a motley crew of business people might get together and sort something out. I’d like to think that might happen but I don’t think it will so I’m working away at the other side.
“What I think the real solution is, I’m convinced I can get the investment in the medium to long term. But what we need to do is get finance in place in the shortterm. That’s my answer. What I’m thinking tonight is how to get that finance in place in the short-term. It could be by loan capitals or coupons or something like that – not someone who is going to mortgage their house – it’d have to be someone that’s in business that says they can throw €50k at this. There’d be strict conditions attached to it and buy-in options but if that came into being, it’d give me time to get the investment. “
Medium to short-term, as O’Connor sees it, would be up until the end of August or September.
He met with the FAI on Monday. Although tense at times, the outcome was that both parties will have ongoing discussions.
O’Connor met with a potential investor yesterday. While O’Connor will be hoping that encounter will lead to a payday, the players could be enjoying their last payday on Friday.
They are pencilled in to face Cork City on Friday week but European commitments could see that shifted to July 16 (two days later). The full squad of players will be obliged to attend that potential fixture.
“They’ll get paid on Friday. We have to tell them on Friday or Sunday if we’re going to pay them for another week or what we’re going to do. If it’s a no then, I’m not sure what happens legally.
“If we’re playing on Sunday week, that squad will be available. None of them will be gone. After
that (it’s up in the air). I don’t want to make any commitments that I can’t stand over but I feel that in the next day or two, I’ll get a lot more clarity. In one way, what happened has probably exploded the situation to a higher level but it may have just brought about a solution quicker in doing so.
“If on Sunday they don’t turn up without an excuse, they’re breaking their contract. They’re still under contract. We could have left payment until the end of July but we did the honourable thing and said we’d pay them weekly.”
If Bray Wanderers fans’ worst fears are realised and there is a mass exodus, they could be looking at the final days of their beloved club.
“I think if the seniors go, we’ll pack it in. There’s no point playing the 19’s in this league”.