Tommy Higgins is ‘honoured’ to be elected Rovers Chairman
HE’S been supporting Sligo Rovers for as long as he can remember, and now Tommy Higgins is set to cheer on the Bit O’Red in 2020 as club chairman.
Higgins was elected Chairman following a committee meeting which took place after Tuesday night’s AGM.
“It’s a huge honour,” he said. “I’ve been supporting the club since I was six years old, I used to go with my father to the games.
“This is fantastic. I’m really looking forward to it. There’s a great bunch of people here, absolutely stunning.
“I’m very enthusiastic about the committee. Everybody has different skills. It’s important too that there’s no divisions there. They are a good team.
“I always believe that you have to give something back to the community, if you’ve picked up something
“I’m following into footsteps that are very hard to fill. Martin was fantastic. It’s the right move for him. I can understand.”
Martin Heraghty (pictured) stepped down as Chairman having been in the position for four years, but he will now remain on the committee.
“It’s the best of both worlds, I’m not saying I’m not going to be any help but for Martin to be there it’s going to be a huge help.”
Higgins is not expecting things to change for him now that he is Chairman. He doesn’t believe that it will feel weird entering The Showgrounds now as Chairman.
He is positive about the year ahead for Rovers and the FAI and is hopeful that the League of Ireland won’t be left behind again.
“I think there’s huge hidden potential at Sligo Rovers. The shenanigans that went on with the FAI, we have to draw a line under that. I think the leagues will be reorganised, we don’t know what’s going to happen the All Ireland league, that will unfold. No matter what happens, I think there’s good times ahead for the league.
“I think Sligo Rovers will be well equipped for that. All the ingredients are there. There’s a fantastic group there. There was never a better team in place off the field. Unfortunately we can’t do anything on the pitch, that’s up to the manager.”
Away from football, Tommy is known for establishing Ireland’s first nationwide computerised ticketing company, Ticketshop.
As part of a joint venture with Ticketmaster, Ticketshop was rebranded Ticketmaster Ireland.
He previously served as Executive Vice-President of Ticketmaster Europe.
He also served on Ticketmaster’s Global Executive Management team, based in Los Angeles.
Tommy has already started doing his research, and wants to find a way to increase attendances at
The Showgrounds.
He is also keen to help the club find more revenue streams, so that they are not relying on the generous fundraising by fans. The Norweigan model is one HIggins has researched, and believes it is worth following.
“We have to look at a whole load of things. There’s a catchment area within an hour away of about 200,000 people. “We’ve done fabulous to get 2,000 average attendances last season. I’m going to try and see if we can increase that. I think that it’s out there. You need the help from who’s organising the league. I go back to 20/25 years ago, the rugby was in the doldrums. You look at what it’s like now, they’ve done an unbelievable job through marketing and more.
“Sligo Rovers are the only professional sports team within 80 miles. I know a lot of people who come from Longford and Westport for games. There has top be more there. The team went through a difficult period for the last 5 years and hopefully we can move it on up.
“We played Molde (in 2013 in the Champions League qualifiers), the town has the same population as Sligo. They have 7,000 season ticket holders so I’m going to look into that and see how they are doing that. Their average attendance is 8,000. They nearly know their budget at the start of the season. The challenge for Sligo Rovers, fundraising can only go so far. You can’t go out again for more. They’re at the peak. There has to be other income streams. We have to look at that. I’m not saying I have the answer now.
“The pressure on the committee in meeting the nut every week is quite a challenge.”
Higgins is also of the belief that the academies deserve huge focus, as clubs should aim to be bringing their own players through.
“The future will be about the academies. Every team in Europe has academies and that’s how you bring players through. They were always there, there’s now more of a focus there.”
All other office positions remain unchanged. Andy Dodd is vice-chairman, David Rowe is treasurer, Brendan Lacken has been elected secretary and Mark Cummins vice-secretary.
Sligo Rovers committee for 2020:
Officers: Tommy Higgins – Chairman,
Andy Dodd – Vice-Chairman, David Rowe – Treasurer, Brendan Lacken – Secretary, Mark Cummins – Vice-Secretary
Committee members: Marie Casserly, Michael Clancy, Stephen Gilroy, Paddy Houze, Anthony Quinn, Martin Heraghty, Marcus White, Michael Toolan, Roddy Murphy, Rory Houston, Martin McDonald.