New stadium can bring back the glory days
TEN years ago this week Drogheda United famously won their one and only Premier Division title and now they find themselves heading for the backwaters of the First Division for the second time in two seasons.
The Drogs, once known as the ‘yo-yo club’ because of their constant ups and downs between the top flight and second tier, are back in the same rut - but current chairman Fiachra Kierans says he believes the planned new stadium will unlock the door to an exciting new era for the Boynesiders.
There have been several false dawns in the past in terms of leaving United Park, of course, but with each passing year the old ground becomes that bit more dilapidated and at long last there seems to be a concerted effort to make things happen.
If it goes ahead the facility will serve the whole sporting community, and from Drogheda United’s point of view generate income without having to rely heavily on gate receipts - or benefactors as was the case during the glorious Paul Doolin era when the Boynesiders also won the FAI Cup and two Setanta Cups and held their own in Europe against the likes of Dynamo Kiev and Helsingborg.
As a supporter, Kierans enjoyed those successes as much as anyone, but he argues that ‘boom and bust’ is the perennial problem with League of Ireland soccer - hence
Drogs chairman Fiachra Kierans.
the period of relative stability but no silverware under his chairmanship.
‘It costs a bit more than €1 million a year to run Drogheda United and I’m more than capable of running a business with that turnover, but I know my limitations and it’s about knowing what you can do and what you can’t do,’ he said.
‘Historically clubs have got to the stage where it’s that boom and bust for no other reason than the people who get it to that level aren’t capable of recognising that it’s time to walk away and give it to the people who know what they are doing.
‘For me it all started around 2005 with the Cup win against Cork where was great spirit and camaraderie about that squad and you could see there was potential coming, but the business of Drogheda United wasn’t paying for it - it was individuals.
‘There’s two problems with that. Individuals are often the saviours of clubs and they are often the reason then that clubs subsequently fail because all they do is paper over the cracks.
‘They are well meaning and well intentioned - I absolutely accept all of that and it doesn’t take away from what was achieved - but the price of that success was the subsequent decline over the next 10 years.
‘There was no policy about what was going to happen in three years’ time, five years’ time, as long as someone kept writing the cheques. Enjoy it and live for the moment.
‘Yes, it was the golden era, but it was built on fragility.’
Drogheda came out of examinership and after years of dicing with relegation they enjoyed a brilliant runners-up finish in 2012, with Mick Cooke in charge of a part-time squad. However, by the time Kierans came onto the board in 2014 their Premier Division status was once again under threat.
This time there was no question of the club spending beyond its means and a year later they were relegated, but Kierans had no regrets then and doesn’t have any now.
‘The first thing I did was stabilise the business end of what we do, he said, ‘and when we were relegated at the end of the Johnny McDonnell/Mark Kinsella season and went into the First Division we increased our turnover and cut costs.
‘We increased our turnover again this season, we increased our ground boards, we had every match sponsored and every player sponsored, so that’s not bad going in the climate that’s out there.
‘But for us to be a top-six Premier team we are short about €600,000 a year. That’s the harsh reality of it. If somebody came in and said ‘I’ll give you €600,000’ it would improve the playing budget, but €200,000 would have to go towards paying a general manager, maybe somebody in marketing and maybe somebody in the office.
‘Apart from our financial controller who gets an extremely small stipend for his work, nobody on the board gets any money, me included.
‘We know we are not going to generate that kind of income in our current home. We have people who would happily invest in Drogheda - maybe two or three in at €100,000 each - but they will only do that in a new stadium.
‘We were prepared for that, and it does mean treading water for two or three seasons. It does mean the harsh reality of being in the First Division next season and very probably the season after that.’
And despite some criticism of manager Pete Mahon whose team have failed to win any of their last 20 league games, the chairman believes he’s the man for the club.
‘We’ve had to put the emphasis on youth players. We didn’t spend any of next year’s money and would have looked very foolish if we had if you look at the calibre of the teams around us battling relegation,’ Kierans continued.
‘So I’m happy we’ve achieved as much as we possibly could with the resources we’ve had available, and I think we’ve been very, very honest and up front with our staff and our players in how we’re doing it and what we want to do.
‘When I came in, the headline in your own newspaper was ‘No chairman, no manager, no squad’, and now we have given supporters of Drogheda United an incredible