Irish Daily Star - Inside Sport
I love Dalymount, I’ be sad when the lights come down
‘If we behave like other clubs we have no prospect of competing at all...’ BUT Lambert’s EXCITED for new Era with Bohs and managing rappers KNEECAP ‘Ther ago from I’d g
SPREAD around. the word
It’s Wednesday morning in Phibsborough and Bohemians’ Chief Operating Oficer Daniel Lambert is holding one of the club’s new Thin Lizzy jerseys.
This away kit commemorates the band’s iconic 1977 Dalymount Park gig and has already created plenty of interest amongst fans of the club and the band.
“I have the original Hot Press from the day,” says Lambert.
“It says the grimmest thing on the day was the line of people queuing for very bad fried chips.
“Not a lot has changed at most League of Ireland grounds!” he adds, laughing.
Not quite Dino’s Bar’n’grill … Jim Fitzpatrick’s artwork from Thin Lizzy’s Black Rose album sleeve has been incorporated into the design and 10 per cent of the profits will go to bringing music to disadvantaged children across Dublin.
It follows previous kits featuring the likes of Bob Marley, Fontaines DC, Aslan and Whipping Boy and merchandise has become a lucrative income stream for the club.
“It’s now about 40 per cent of revenue, which is insane,” says Lambert.
But not everyone is happy. “You’re always going to have detractors, you’re always going to have people saying: ‘Why can’t we just be normal?’there is a bit of that,” says Lambert.
Innovative
“If we don’t behave innovatively we might as well just sell the club. The members don’t want to sell the club. The merchandise is a way of being innovative.
“But we’re running out of gigs now,” he adds, laughing.
Lambert likes to keep busy.
In a previous life he worked as a diplomat for the Department of Foreign Affairs and once sat beside Benjamin Netanyahu in the United Nations.
These days, along with helping to run Bohs, the 37-year-old is also manager of Kneecap, the Belfast Irish language hip-hop act about to take the world by storm in a new movie co-starring Michael Fassbender.
They were the toast of the recent Sundance Festival, have been praised for breaking barriers with the Irish language and a new album is imminent.
Oh, and they’re taking legal action against the British government, with Joe Brolly on their legal team.
But more of that later …
With Bohs, the turnaround in fortunes off the field has been plain to see for Lambert.
Attendances and membership numbers have increased and the club is in a healthy financial position after nearly going out of business in 2015.
But Bohs men’s first team are without a major trophy since 2009 and the pressure for silverware never dips.
“A couple of years ago a club official from another club said to me, ‘This is unbelievable the stick you get’,” says Lambert.
“But you’re involved in a football club, you know no matter what you do there’s going be a bunch of people who decide you’re a f***ing eejit.
“The facts around Bohs, our membership numbers, our merchandise, in every area the perception, the profile of the club has never been bigger.”
Bitter
Two FAI Cup final defeats in three years have been bitter pills to swallow, likewise missing out on European football
But Lambert is sure the club are on the right path.
“You get people saying: ‘But you haven’t won anything’. We haven’t won anything because the league has changed.
“If we had been doing what we’re doing now six years ago we’d have the biggest budget in the league,” he says.
“There’s very wealthy owners out there involved now and they make very big losses.
“The vast majority of clubs, us and Shamrock Rovers are probably the exceptions, are surviving on match day incomes and benefactor losses.
“If we behave like the other clubs we’ve no prospect of competing with them at all.”
A number of League of Ireland clubs have changed hands in recent years and the strength of Bohemians’ brand has attracted the attention from outside investors too.
“We get approached. There was an approach two weeks ago to the club president from an investment firm,” says Lambert.
“Personally, I wouldn’t be involved with the club if it was sold.
“I wouldn’t like to work for the club, I think I’d give up my membership.
“To toss all that aside, 135 years of volunteer boards, I’d struggle to see the logic. It’s so short term.
“And that new owner can do whatever he or she wants a year or two later.”
Despite the pressures, these are exciting times for the club.
On Monday, Dublin City Council gave the green light for a €40 million redevelopment of Dalymount Park after years of false dawns.
The new plans will increase capacity to 8,000, with 6,240 seats and room for 1,794 standing, but there will be little of the old ground left when it’s completed.
“Not a lot at all, no. It’s a full redevelopment. Think Lansdowne to the Aviva,” says Lambert.
“I love Dalymount, I’ll be really sad when the lights come down.
“We’re going to try and keep some stuff. We’ve some turnstiles in shipping containers we hope to get put back in in some way.
“We’re going to try and keep some of the murals and the gates. It’s hard, the builders will want to get in and get out. But you can still do a lot. It’s up to us.”
Lambert believes Bohemians’ future lies in an all-island league some day facing the likes of Linfield — although he feels it’s a still a long way off.
“I think it has to happen. I can’t see any there’s any football argument against it,” he says.
“It’s a very politically interesting time in the North, a lot of change. Ultimately, that’s probably made an all-island league more difficult.
Dominance
“There’s a sense amongst Loyalists and Unionists that their position of dominance politically is over, that’s probably a hard thing to grapple with if you’re a Loyalist or Unionist.
“To have that happen in your political environment and then have that happen in your sporting environment — probably a difficult sell.”
Although Lambert does have the ear of the DUP, at least right now.
“I don’t think I’ve the right ear,” he says, laughing.
Lambert has recently found himself clashing with the DUP over Kneecap — the provocative