Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
LUCID DREAM
Businessman Kieran is thinking big but plans are far from a reality
A MAJORITY of Irish League clubs remain unconvinced that a new and historic all-island league would be the way forward for football in Northern Ireland.
Local chairmen met with their League of Ireland counterparts in Dundalk last night, where tech millionaire Kieran Lucid laid out his proposals in a three hour meeting.
Lucid’s aim is to establish a new cross border league consisting of a 14-team top flight and two regional 10-team divisions, with April 2021 the dream starting date. It is understood December is being sold as ‘decision time’, where northern and southern clubs will be asked to indicate whether they’re on board or not.
Irish League clubs were impressed by the “slick and professional” nature of last night’s presentation and Glentoran issued a positive statement afterwards.
The Oval club said there was “enough detail in the proposal” and “merit in continuing with more in depth discussions” with further talks planned before Christmas.
Cliftonville have already aired their reservations about the proposal and Mirror Sport understands other clubs also have major concerns around the certainty of future finance and the number of UEFA spots available in any new format.
One source said: “It’s clear the League of Ireland clubs can see the benefits of a new all-island league but they are already full-time operations.
“For the vast majority of Irish League clubs it would be cost prohibitive in terms of travel and going full-time. Questions also remain over the number of UEFA places on offer.”
Lucid’s goal is to build a league that can generate an overall annual revenue of €10 million, but clubs were told last night that future incomes cannot be set in stone until they give a firm commitment they are on board.
Another Irish League source said: “It was a very slick presentation with lots of videos and information, but there was nothing really new there that isn’t already in the public realm.
“For a lot of clubs, it still boils down to a lot of ifs, buts and maybes. A lot of people went with an open mind, but it would be fair to say major concerns still exist.”
The planned make-up of the 34 clubs involved in any new league is 20 League of Ireland sides, 12 Irish Premiership outfits and two from the
Championship. It is thought the top eight southern and top five northern clubs would be in the top flight, with the final spot decided by a play-off between the sixth-placed Irish League side and League of Ireland First Division champions.
After last night’s briefing, Dundalk FC chief executive Mark Devlin said: “It was an excellent presentation.
“Of course there will be challenges, but nothing worthwhile is ever achieved without hard work.
“It is definitely a very exciting project and there is great potential but obviously there is more work to be done.”