Shelbourne crisis

redspider

Someone else (LeixlipRed) took these notes at the meeting, I'll put them here for information exchange purposes:

I took notes at the meeting so I'm going to post up a summary of most of the topics that came up tonight for those who weren't there or had to leave early. It's not complete as I didn't note down everything that was said. Apologies for any ommisions or mistakes.

Firstly the good news,

A group of players (some still contracted some not) have rallied together and informed Ollie they will be staying with the club. Whether this is conditional on wages owed or not is unclear. The players are

Jamie Harris, Richie Baker, James Chambers, Greg O'Halloran, Dean Delaney, Steve Willians, Alan Moore, Dave Rogers, Jim Crawford and Gary Deegan. Also 4or 5 U 21 players are to begin pre season training along with these senior players. Mick Neville and Tony McCarthy are also to remain at the club. Geogho is our new manager atleast till the end of pre season. Ollie will sit down with him tomorrow to discuss his position.

Pre season trainin will begin on Tuesday.

Now for the less good news,

Wages owed to the players will be payed on Monday. The money owed to the players is c.174k. Awarding of our legue licence is based on the clearing of this liability. The money for this clearing of back wages is coming from two of our current sponsors who, after hearing Ollie on Liveline, stepped in to help out. The sponsors in question were not named. The sponsors will also pay the 75k it will cost to run the underage setup this season.

In 2006 the club's expenditure was 2.6 million euro of which:

500-600k - non football expenses (rates, etc)
35k a week for wages and RC = 1.82 million
75k for underage setup.

Slight disparity in figures there but Ollie didnt go into too much detail.

What is interesting is that Ollie specified that 1,25 million euro was spent last year on Revenue and wages (850k for RC and 400k on wages). This leaves 570k in unpayed wages/revenue bills if you take the 1.82 million a year figure from above. Ollie has specified that only 175k is owed to the players. So what happened to the missing 400k?

Ollie also alluded to the poor income from last year. Examples of this was a total gate receipt from the FK Vetra game of a paltry 7k.
Gate receipts were down a massive 40% this season on last years figures. Ollie never mentioned if this was offset by an increase in season ticket sales however.

Predicted income for next year includes 400k for CL and league prize money.

Now for the Tolka Park situatuion.

When Tolka was originally sold to A company called LH secreatries the understanding wass we'd be in Finglas in 4 months. Ollie claims the figure Tolka was sold for was a "fair price" for the time.
The company we sold Tolka to is run by someone called Ivano who brought Ossie Kilkenny in too help seal the deal. Ivano is the conduit through which Ollie drew money down of the slae price of Tolka. Now Ivano and Kilkenny are no longer speaking and this is part of the reason the current deal Ossie was offering has not gone through.

6m euro has been drawn down so far with 3m of that going towards purchasing the Donnelly's part of the lease. The other 3m obviously used to prop the club up the the past few years.

Ollie had agreed a deal with Kilkenny to fund the club through a compnay called Compupay Ltd. 25k a week would be givent o the club for one year. This money is obviously our own money from the Tolka sale. This deal was conditional on Ollie taking a reduced role (Director of foootball, no financial role). this deal fell apart and now Kilkenny may take a court injuction against Ollie for refusing to ste down. Ollie insists he did offer to step down and Kilkenny is lying.

Ollie also made a number of commitments to the fans. He promised that by March 16th a financial committee would be set up to take charge of Shelbourne's financial affairs.

He also promised to elect an SSDG member to the board in the near future.

On our future home, Morton is still an option but seems unlikely at this stage. Talk of groundshare with Rovers was not dismissed by Ollie. He intimated that rovers are very keen on such a deal.

That's about it. Apologies for the spelling mistakes that are probably there.

There is some newish information in that and some figures, but many are rough and are far from exact. It sounds like some of Byrne's friends have dug deep to keep him in operation. It remains to be seen whether this will be a 'stay of execution' or whether things will be run to budget from now on. I expect that a lot will depend on the number of fans that show up at games. Whether Byrne's expectations (business planning?) will match what will actually happen will be the biggest factor as to what happens this season.

The Shelbourne saga will continue .....

Redspider

redspider

By the way, I spotted this on Wikipedia about Dermot Desmond:

From an early age, it was obvious that Desmond was a natural salesman. The young Dubliner made a small fortune selling football programmes at Tolka Park in Drumcondra.

In the Celtic thread, I was pointing out that Desmond is far from squeaky clean due to various 'business shenanigans' and alleged dodgy deals down through the years. Its on public record that he admits to giving CJH money, and we all know that wasnt just for fun or the sake of it. Thats just one.

But from the above, I would have thought that programme sellers were volunteers and all money should be returned to the club. Of course, were Shelbourne playing there at the time, I think they were, maybe someone can confirm.

But if it was Shelbourne, and if wikipedia is correct that he made a small fortune (for the times and his age no doubt), surely then he 'owes' something to Shelbourne?

Or at least can O.Byrne get the money back that Desmond, allegedly, pocketed from the programme sales, with interest and then some ?!?!

redspider

redzerdrog

redspider wrote:

By the way, I spotted this on Wikipedia about Dermot Desmond:



In the Celtic thread, I was pointing out that Desmond is far from squeaky clean due to various 'business shenanigans' and alleged dodgy deals down through the years. Its on public record that he admits to giving CJH money, and we all know that wasnt just for fun or the sake of it. Thats just one.

But from the above, I would have thought that programme sellers were volunteers and all money should be returned to the club. Of course, were Shelbourne playing there at the time, I think they were, maybe someone can confirm.

But if it was Shelbourne, and if wikipedia is correct that he made a small fortune (for the times and his age no doubt), surely then he 'owes' something to Shelbourne?

Or at least can O.Byrne get the money back that Desmond, allegedly, pocketed from the programme sales, with interest and then some ?!?!

redspider

dont be giving ollie any ideas:rolleyes:

bohsman

Shels arent in Tolka very long, Drumcondra FC were the original tennants.

Zebra3

bohsman wrote:

Shels arent in Tolka very long, Drumcondra FC were the original tennants.

Shels first played out of Tolka back in the fifties after the Irishtown Stadium project ran into difficulties.

On the Desmond thing, he could have been selling programmes for Shels or Drums, but until there is any evidence he done anything illegal, I don't see how he owes us (or Drums) anything. However if he wants to throw a few million our way, I'll even help him fill in the forms for claiming tax relief back.....

I suspect the story is a little bit of a "look at my working class background" credentials that some rich people like to bandy around. And the "small fortune" he made was probably relevant to his pocket money at the time.....

redspider

Zebra3 wrote:

On the Desmond thing, he could have been selling programmes for Shels or Drums, but until there is any evidence he done anything illegal, I don't see how he owes us (or Drums) anything. I suspect the story is a little bit of a "look at my working class background" credentials

I'm not saying he did anything illegal per se, but as with any cash from retail business there is a possibility of siphoning off stuff. Its only Wikipedia though and it would be interesting to see if he would agree with that description or not. I agree, the working class background aspect is a 'nice to have' and the small fortune might be relative to the times, but 'from small acorns do oak trees grow', as everyone needs to start somewhere.

However, even if Desmond has a soft spot for Shelbourne, he may not want to get involved in any way, and above all else in his business dealings he is far from philanthropic and he is unlikely to act as a 'sugar daddy' with Shelbourne as his 'trophy/entertainment' team.


Back to the money side, there have been mutterings that the Shelbourne financial figures divulged on Friday dont add up. No surprise there. There's a few things. One, Tax figures were higher last year as a consequence of paying the back taxes for PAYE and employer and employee PRSI. My understanding is that Shamrock Rovers got a better deal than Shelbourne did and other clubs which seems unfair to me.

Second, the figures look at costs. I think the club first needs to think of Income and lay those figures out for past years as well. Looking at an estimated budget going forward, and attempting to use realistic figures.

Gate Receipts: 1000+ or so a game, 15 or so a head, 20 home games = 300k
Prizes: 100k ? (? CL )
Sponsorship: 100k ?
TV: 50k ?
Merchandise (profit): 20k ?

That looks to me like a total of about 600k.

Taking out ground hire costs (???) and Insurance costs, and other staff costs, 75k for the u-21 league (why doesnt the FAI or Gov pick this one up for all clubs??), how much does that leave for players? Lets say its 400k. With a squad of 20, plus youth players, that would mean an average of 20k a year. Thats not enough. I wont draw too many conclusions because the figures are back of a napkin style and not based on actuals.

If Shelbourne fans want to get out of this mess, they need more of them, more gate receipts is the best way to drive a club.

And that brings me back to my suggestions for the LOI from last year. There are just too many Dublin clubs and no one club has any sufficient mass of support to get any momentum going t drive its success. A reduction in clubs in Dublin (and the greater Dublin area) is the only way going forward I think.

Redspider

bohsman

"A reduction in clubs in Dublin (and the greater Dublin area) is the only way going forward I think."

Bohs on the Northside, Pats South Inner city, Rovers Tallaght. UCD in their own little world. More than enough.

_blank_

bohsman wrote:

Bohs on the Northside, Pats South Inner city, Rovers Tallaght. UCD in their own little world. More than enough.

:rolleyes:

Blahblahblah, you sound like a bitter little man, you do realise that don't you?

Dance on the grave of Shels all you like, but does your mind fail to realise that we ARE NOT on the brink of existance? Are you that foolish not too realise that even if we went into administration/liquidation we wouldn't go out of business, the money from the sale of the freehold on Tolka Park is more than enough to pay any debts the club has.

Sure, we'd probably have nowhere to play, but we could go to Tallaght, the FAI and Government would love that.

The Morton people would then see money in our account, and allow development.

FFS, you need to get a grip.

DerekD Goldfish

. A reduction in clubs in Dublin (and the greater Dublin area) is the only way going forward I think.

and who are you sujesting step asside for the good of the league?
Leaving UCD out of the equation as they will never be a well suported club but they way they are run will never need to be there are 4 dublin clubs
Dublin has a population of roughly 1.5m greater manchester has a population of 2.5m and suports Man Utd 70k, Man City 40k, Bolton 30 k, Wigan 25k,Oldham 13k, Bury 11K, Rochdale 10K, Stockport 10K, Altrincham F.C. 6k, Stalybridge 6k, Droylsden 3k, Now granted these are rough capicitys rather than attendances(I dont have that much time on my hands) but still it means in an area with a populatipon of 2.5m they have teams with a total capacity of roughly 224K.
Comparing the premership to here is often dangerous but Im just pointing out that in theory a city of dublins side should easaly be able to suport 4 teams (and ucd). A merger would not bring any extra fans through the gates people who stay at hoem because the Eircom league is "Crap" whould not go just because North Dublin Utd and South Dublin Athletic were formed and it would turn a good number of fans away from the game I wouldnt go to suport St. Shamrock Athletic or Patrick Rovers and im sure many would be the same.
A reduction in teams is not the answer.

_blank_

Shelhemian FC ftw :rolleyes:

SectionF

seansouth wrote:

Shelhemian FC ftw :rolleyes:

Didn't John O'Donoghue and Ollie already try to pull that stunt?

Big Ears

A reduction in Dublin clubs would only reduce the overall amount of fans in the league .

If Shels went that would just be 1200 less fans in the league and none of them would go to another club . If all the Dublin clubs went away and North/South Dublin were formed , they would lose the vast majority of Bohs/Pats/Shels/Shams/UCD and retain about an equal number of fans to which Dublin City had for their games .

The way to get more fans is to improve things as they stand not make Australian like rash ideas(which may have worked for them) and start disbanding clubs and seeting up franchises .

bohsman

seansouth wrote:

:rolleyes:

Blahblahblah, you sound like a bitter little man, you do realise that don't you?

Dance on the grave of Shels all you like, but does your mind fail to realise that we ARE NOT on the brink of existance? Are you that foolish not too realise that even if we went into administration/liquidation we wouldn't go out of business, the money from the sale of the freehold on Tolka Park is more than enough to pay any debts the club has.

Sure, we'd probably have nowhere to play, but we could go to Tallaght, the FAI and Government would love that.

The Morton people would then see money in our account, and allow development.

FFS, you need to get a grip.

Slight overreaction there, I was replying to redspiders lets reduce the amount of clubs suggestion which I dont agree with. London has far more clubs than Dublin taking size into consideration.

Bateman

SectionF wrote:

Didn't John O'Donoghue and Ollie already try to pull that stunt?

John Delaney you mean

SectionF

Bateman wrote:

John Delaney you mean

Him too.

Bateman

No need for the . After all, we defeated them.

super_furry

Can't believe anyone is still believing the 'figures' Ollie is pulling out of the air. I still think Shels are in real trouble, and until the fans take matter into their own hands, their club is in very real danger.

Bateman

Ollie's going to be on Near FM on Wednesday. More paranoia and waffling I expect.

MrJoeSoap

Bateman wrote:

Ollie's going to be on Near FM on Wednesday. More paranoia and waffling I expect.

If he says anything along the lines of "I've great hopes that the financial stability of Shelbourne FC will be assured within the next ten days" then I may just cry.

therecklessone

new sig...:D

_blank_

Ollie was rushed to hospital with chest and arm pains.

Zebra3

Made the front page of today's Indo.

Hope he gets well soon, but reports of another €100k tax bill can't have helped, if true.

_blank_

Rumours abound that it is a brain tumour :eek:

He's to have an operation anyway.

redspider

That's unfortunate for Bryne and for Shelbourne. This article doesnt state what it is or how serious, but all operations are serious in their own right:

www.rte.ie/sport/2007/0124/shelbourne.html

Obviously everyone wishes him a speedy recovery health wise.

One question from a footballing/club business perspective - is there a contingency plan in place so that the club can operate whilst he is out of action, or is it a case of "No Ollie Byrne, No Shelbourne". I would doubt if there is a contingency plan. This may force him to bring in some others into his trust of information and with the running of the club and hence may in fact help the club in the long run.

Time will tell .....

Its likely that the stress over the last while/years has been a factor.

redspider

SectionF

Best wishes to Ollie. Here's hoping he can make a full recovery.

Zebra3

I think Alan Moore is the only player left at the club now.

Guy:Incognito

Zebra3 wrote:

I think Alan Moore is the only player left at the club now.

there was 8 players in the player profiles section yesterday or the day before, now theres 5.

If it's down to 1 then alan moore betttre ring a few of his mates before the 1st game.

Töpher

Moore, Deegan and Chambers (whats it, 1 senior game each for the last two?) I think.

Crawford, Williams, and Greg O'Halloran want to stay apparently. That's about it I think!

Töpher

http://www.elevenaside.com/eircomleague/irish_soccer_detail.asp?newsid=26261

Di Stefano makes renewed Shels plea

January 29, 2007

Giovanni Di Stefano, the controversial legal advocate who has represented Saddam Hussein and Slobodan Milosevic in the past, has issued a renewed plea to the eircom League’s crisis-ridden champions Shelbourne.

Shels have been left without their entire title-winning squad, a manager (since Pat Fenlon left to take charge of Derry City) and chief executive Ollie Byrne, who is convalescing in hospital following a health scare.

With up to €150,000 owed in unpaid wages and a six-figure tax bill from the Revenue Commissioners sent out last week, the club is staring into the abyss.

But Di Stefano, who previously held a majority stake in Scottish club Dundee, says he is willing to re-engage in talks, almost ten months after Shels turned down an offer from the Anglo-Italian lawyer.

He told the Irish Daily Mirror: “Everything that has happened could have been avoided. Last summer I was willing to inject capital into the club and they refused.

“Now they are in crisis and I can still help them. I can put matters right and move the club forward.

“They have my number – they can just give me a call and we can get moving.”

Hmmmm.... :mad:

Guy:Incognito

I'd be worried, his past clients seem to be dead.:) not a good sign.

_blank_

http://www.shelbournefc.ie/news.php?id=562

As always, the Shels BOM release a statement that says exactly nothing.

ciaran76

Glen Crowe back to Bohs too !!!

Zebra3

Back page of today's Star doesn't look good.......

€12M!

LizardKing

Zebra3 wrote:

Back page of today's Star doesn't look good.......

€12M!

any chance you could explain for all of us who have not seen the paper and won't be buying it ?

cheers

_blank_

The Star have run a story reporting that Shelbourne's total debts are to the tune of twelve million euro.

This would seemingly include the six million, outlined by Ollie and the supporters meeting, that has been drawn from the developers already.

I honestly didn't think it was anything like twelve million. God.

Jonny Arson

Here is what is on the back page of The Star

The Star wrote:

Shels €12m in the red
Shelbourne's very future is in doubt with news that the club's debts may total €12m.
As Reds' owner Ollie Byrne yesterday underwent brain surgery, the extent of Shels' problems began to surface.
The estimated figure of their debts is at least €10m - €6.5m of this comprising the cash loaned to the club by Ossie Kilkenny and Jerry O'Reilly.
A further €110,000 is owed to the Revenue Commissioners, at least €1m to a variety of firms, at least €2.5 to up to 25 individuals and a minimum of €120,000 owed to players in unpaid wages.
Sundry other amounts could add a further €2m.

Giants
The FAI is expected to call for an immediate update on the club licensing process that is seeking Shels to produce its accounts for the 12 months to November 30 last.
If the accounts include items that were not mentioned in the clubs accounts for 2004 and 2005, the Dublin giants could be relegated to the First Division.
This could result in Derry City taking Shels' Champions League place and St. Patrick's Athletic being entered into the UEFA Cup

Full story on page 74

There is a degree a sensationalism from The Star here which is disapointing and where they are exactly comes across as very vague with too many maybe's and if's in the main article

The €6.5 taken from the Tolka fund is widely know so I'd hardly consider it a debt since it will be taken out of the €25m sale of the ground.
€110,000 to Revenue Commissioners we know about
as do €120,000+ owed to players.

It's remaining €5m is sceptical on. I'm certain we owe a big sum to Creditors and others but €5 million!

I not be surprised by anything at this stage after the past few months so don't say I'm ''burying my head in the sand'' but if the what The Star are saying is 100% legitimate regarding debts and our dubious licence application the end may be near.

redspider

The Shelbourne story continues to unfold .....

The debts, whether 7m, 10m or 12m, is one thing, but if the assets are 24m or 25m, then at least on the financial balance sheet side of things, the club is not bankrupt. However, getting access to convert those assets, which are also subjective to DCC planning applications, into liquid cash is another thing. And also, the club has been 'burning' its assets each season over the last while so the trend in financial management has been poor. A major change in that trend is now needed.

Overall though, if those figures are anywhere close, the money side of things may very well work itself out. That said, Shelbourne will be back among the weaker forces of the league.

I think the serious aspect of this (apart from the health problems of Ollie Byrne) is whether the licences that were granted in the past were based on mis-information. If Byrne has been participative in 'imaginative accounting' and if the information supplied was not the whole truth, then the FAI may have no choice but to sanction Shelbourne. The extent of that sanction remains to be seen, maybe someone has the rule book.

The Shelbourne 'soap' continues, albeit that it is real life rather than a soap. Have the women of Ireland tuned onto it yet?

Redspider

Guy:Incognito

Assuming the €12m is a correct figure and includes €6.5m forwarded from the developers, what did they do with that €6.5m? since they didnt use it to pay debts off. If they did then it means they were €12m in debt before they go the money.

It all seems like a holy mess.

KdjaCL

Shels have withdrawn from the setanta cup....


pats are in i also fancy our chances in that group too anyway another thread


kdjac

redzerdrog

Shels have been pulled out of the setanta cup according to their message board:eek:


http://forum.shelbournefc.ie/chat/viewtopic.php?t=7821&sid=5e7b4131c37d89917bcdcd83dffa6f76

It doesnt make sense to me as they are losing valuable revenue.

KdjaCL

http://www.shelbournefc.ie/news.php?id=564

On Tv3 too, costs a few quid to pay players, travel, security etc:

Club rumoured to pull out of Europe, League and to cease trading this week.

kdjac

Töpher

Approx €3m went back to the Donnellys. The remainder resumably on the squad?

redspider

The saga continues, still in a steep spiral from a Shelbourne point of view, with the pulling out/being pulled out of the Setanta Cup.

My understanding is that this decision was made after a meeting with the FAI this afternoon. Now, trying to put the dots together, to me it would seem that the FAI are no longer 'certain' of Shelbourne's licence to play. I think that rather than revoking their licence publicly, they have requested Shelbourne to withdraw, and thereby giving Shelbourne some much needed time.

Its true that having any team, 15 lads and a manager and playing in the Setanta Cup would see some revenue coming in, and that is badly needed of course. So pulling out was not a voluntary choice is what I am guesstimating.

Whilst the actual extent of the problems are being discovered, it remains to be seen whether the stand-in CEO and new board/mgmt cmte can steady the ship, which is badly holed and sinking fast.

The rumours I am hearing at the moment aren't good for the prognosis of the future. They are rumours so all we can do is wait and see what unfolds.

Stekelly wrote:

Assuming the €12m is a correct figure and includes €6.5m forwarded from the developers, what did they do with that €6.5m? since they didnt use it to pay debts off. If they did then it means they were €12m in debt before they go the money.

It all seems like a holy mess.

It is a holy and a holey mess. The debt of 10-12m is backed by an asset, which may have a value of 25m or less, some ources are quoting higher. But getting through the current cashflow situation is a problem, with no income and no/little cash in the bank and the fact that the asset is question is not realisable or liquid. In fact, it is perhaps dependent on a planning decision and decisions so its a long way off. Planning Permission takes time, and Shelbourne do not have the luxury of time. They have to pay bills, yesterday.

The 6.5m: seemingly 3m or so was paid to buy-out the Donnelly's ground shareholding (or indeed their share of Accolade Ltd) and 3m or so has been spent on players and salaries and other costs over the last few seasons.

Whats owed: back payments for TAX/PRSI, etc. Seemingly, it is being paid in amounts of 104k per month, although if it is only 110k then that would be reasonable.

Players are owed back-pay, another 120k.

The Star article indicates 2m owed to others. That could be to sponsors, which were mentioned at the recent Ollie Byrne/SSDG/Supporters meeting, and others that have helped out over the years.

But overall big big problems .... Fans must be very frustrated.

One thing I would comment about is that when Shamrock Rovers went to the wall the Revenue Commisioners struck a deal and my understanding is that they paid a low percentage of what they owed. Making Shelbourne pay their tax amounts owed in full (I realise other clubs are having to do it) is crippling them and clearly wasnt built into any cashflow 'model' that may have been in use. My understanding is that the amount owed was in the region of 900k or something. Surely Revenue could do something in terms of delaying payments required.

Shels fans could do worse than lobbying Bertie about it, it being in Drumcondra and all.

And for the FAI League as a whole, it is hugely embarassing to see the league winners disintegrate in a matter of months. Not even Lees Utd demise was so severe as this one might be .....

no doubt there will be more on this saga ....

Redspider

20 Times 20 Times

12 million in debt , with that sort of money i could have shels in the champions league group stages in two years .

woodyg

The end of Shels??

http://www.rte.ie/sport/2007/0131/shelbourne.html

If they pull out of the league id say that's it as a club.
They chased the dream and did a Leeds its a shame.

redspider

woodyg wrote:

The end of Shels??
http://www.rte.ie/sport/2007/0131/shelbourne.html
If they pull out of the league id say that's it as a club.
They chased the dream and did a Leeds its a shame.

This is the article:

Flood confirms Shelbourne will compete
Wednesday, 31 January 2007 09:37
Finbarr Flood, the interim Shelbourne Chief Executive, has confirmed that the club is putting plans in place to fulfil its requirements in the Champions League and Eircom League.

It had emerged that Shelbourne were likely to concede their right to play in this season's Champions League and the eircom League Premier Division.

Shels have already sensationally declined to take part in this season's Setanta Cup.

If anything, this is some good news for Shelbourne this morning, with the stated intention of competing in the FAI league and the CL. However, I am sure it's not a case of plain sailing, so only time will tell if it comes to pass, but essentially Flood has scotched the rumours that Shelbourne were pulling out of everything and were about to stop completely. I have no doubt that a lot is going on behind the scenes and I would imagine that if anything the FAI are trying to help and facilitate Shelbourne as much as they can.

The roller-coaster ride isn't over yet ....

Redspider

_blank_

Finbarr Fllod has been back on to RTE regarding thet story.

He told them that the club has no intention of pulling out of the Premier, or Champions League.

gimmick

Playing devils advocate here now, but he would say that wouldn't he? He is hardly going to turn around and say now that Shels will fold by the end of the week.

Guy:Incognito

gimmick wrote:

Playing devils advocate here now, but he would say that wouldn't he? He is hardly going to turn around and say now that Shels will fold by the end of the week.

Nope, that was only for the "unnamed source, close to the club" to say in the papers.

I reckon they stopped a bloke walking by Tolka. technically he was close to the club.

super_furry

redspider wrote:

One thing I would comment about is that when Shamrock Rovers went to the wall the Revenue Commisioners struck a deal and my understanding is that they paid a low percentage of what they owed. Making Shelbourne pay their tax amounts owed in full (I realise other clubs are having to do it) is crippling them and clearly wasnt built into any cashflow 'model' that may have been in use. My understanding is that the amount owed was in the region of 900k or something. Surely Revenue could do something in terms of delaying payments required.

Redspider

The only reason the Revenue accepted those terms was because Rovers had no assets. Allowing them to continue to exist meant that they would at least recoup some of the money owed - it was one of the few times that not having a stadium worked in our favour because, had we had one, we most likely would have been wound up and the stadium sold off. Shelbourne do have assets and that may yet to prove to be their downfall.