LoI Close Season Transfer Rumours/Gossip 2008-09

dfx-

Gavin shels wrote: »

That's a surprise, didn't he play near 100 matches for Rovers over a couple of seasons?

Rumours since the middle of last season, particularly after the fall out from the youth international..so not that much of a surprise.

Solid player for a couple of seasons, not good last year, but certainly not the only one in that regard.

pablomakaveli

City have signed a couple of Latvians.

Mezeckis and Silagailis.

Both used to play for FK Riga who former Bohs player Kalonas used to play for.

http://www.corkcityfc.ie/main.php

CiaranC

pablomakaveli wrote: »

City have signed a couple of Latvians.

Mezeckis and Silagailis.

Both used to play for FK Riga who former Bohs player Kalonas used to play for.

http://www.corkcityfc.ie/main.php

Wtf. How are city paying these players? How many full timers have you now?

pablomakaveli

CiaranC wrote: »

Wtf. How are city paying these players? How many full timers have you now?

As far as i know the starting 11 plus a couple of subs are full time. I'm not sure about the younger fringe players.

Wages aren't massive in Latvia so i doubt they were looking for excessive pay.

djpbarry

Fingal announce squad for new season:

Goalkeepers: Darren Quigley, James Hussey.

Defenders: Gareth Whelan, Philip Byrne, Stephen Paisley, John Frost, Shaun Maher, Brian Gannon.

Midfielders: Shaun Williams, Shane McFaul, Robert Bayly, Fiachra McArdle, Colm James, Conan Byrne, Alan Kirby, Daniel Corcoran.

Forwards: Ross Gaynor, Robbie Doyle, Eamon Zayed, Gary O’Neill.

http://www.eleven-a-side.com/loi/news.asp?n=35902

That's a hell of a squad for the 1st Division. I'm surprised the likes of Paisley and Zayed were prepared to take the step down.

doncarlos

djpbarry wrote: »

Fingal announce squad for new season:

http://www.eleven-a-side.com/loi/news.asp?n=35902

That's a hell of a squad for the 1st Division. I'm surprised the likes of Paisley and Zayed were prepared to take the step down.

Probably a good enough squad to stay up in the premier. I still think Shels will win the first. They've really strengthened their squad with players that know how to get out of the division.

CiaranC

Ian Bermingham to Rovers a probability

gimmick

Ross gaynor is a good player. I was hoping City would try and take him. Those 4 strikers are all very good. Should tear up that division, Shels or no Shels. That said, their manager is a bit crap, so Shels will have an advantage there.

DmanDmythDledge

djpbarry wrote: »

Fingal announce squad for new season:

http://www.eleven-a-side.com/loi/news.asp?n=35902

That's a hell of a squad for the 1st Division. I'm surprised the likes of Paisley and Zayed were prepared to take the step down.

Quigley

Gannon Maher Paisley Frost

Byrne McFaul Williams Kirby

Zayed O'Neill

Quigley, Paisley, Byrne, Zayed and O'Neill would be amongst the best in their positions across the whole league. Strength in depth isn't great but with that team they would comfortably avoid relegation in the PD.

Gavin "shels"

djpbarry wrote: »

That's a hell of a squad for the 1st Division. I'm surprised the likes of Paisley and Zayed were prepared to take the step down.

Money speaks. Saying that I find it ironic one of their biggest sponsors is Anglo Irish Banks, bet it was Fingal who got one of those huge loans.:D

Lamper.sffc

Robert Bayley has signed for Sporting Fingal. He was training with Pats but the deal obviously didnt go through for whatever reason. Former leeds player.

Squad is full of quality alright but i would feel better with a few more in the squad. 20 seems a bit on the light side. Definitely need one or two more in defense.

Paulw

From looking at things, looks like Sporting Fingal will have a very good team this year. Should make it interesting. I'm looking forward to the start of season now.

Nalz

doncarlos wrote: »

O'Donnell also very close to signing for Dundalk. We could have a very strong team this year. Should avoid the play-offs and maybe with a bit of luck push on.

Nice one! To be honest I think he's a poor CM

dreamers75

Lamper.sffc wrote: »

Robert Bayley has signed for Sporting Fingal. He was training with Pats but the deal obviously didnt go through for whatever reason. Former leeds player.

Squad is full of quality alright but i would feel better with a few more in the squad. 20 seems a bit on the light side. Definitely need one or two more in defense.

you offered more money :eek:

very good player was hoping he would sign for us.

_blank_

Torpedo Fungal are spending too much money to sustain.

They'll be the next Dublin City

DSB

Definitely.

bohsman

20 too small a squad? :eek::eek::eek:

DSB

If Cork don't manage to pay everyone off and get relegated, could this be another end to a sequel in the series? How would they pay that massive wagebill they've signed in the First Division?

_blank_

DSB wrote: »

If Cork don't manage to pay everyone off and get relegated, could this be another end to a sequel in the series? How would they pay that massive wagebill they've signed in the First Division?

Delaney will make sure that doesn't happen

Lamper.sffc

bohsman wrote: »

20 too small a squad? :eek::eek::eek:

Yes

Gavin "shels"

dreamers75 wrote: »

you offered more money :eek:

very good player was hoping he would sign for us.

They did aswell to keep Peter Hynes at Fingal, but well look where he is now.:cool: Supposely offered Flood a contract with better pay and he's still at Shels.:cool:

bohsman

Lamper.sffc wrote: »

Yes

We're in 5+ competitions, I dont think we need more than 15-16 in the squad along with a few A team players training with the first team regularly.

doncarlos

Trilla wrote: »

Nice one! To be honest I think he's a poor CM

You must be in the minority so as everyone else says he is quality. Including past managers. I suppose we'll see in less than two weeks time

DmanDmythDledge

Gavin shels wrote: »

They did aswell to keep Peter Hynes at Fingal, but well look where he is now.:cool: Supposely offered Flood a contract with better pay and he's still at Shels.:cool:

Same with Ian Bermingham.

_blank_

Lamper.sffc wrote: »

Yes

Tell me this.

Are you not in the least bit worried about the amount of money your club is spending?

The way it is using loopholes to get around the 65% of Turnover Wage Cap?

The way you get less than a hundred fans to home games?

CiaranC

DmanDmythDledge wrote: »

Same with Ian Bermingham.

Bermingham turned Final down? Do you mean to stay at UCD or move to Rovers?

News update: First Match in Tallaght Stadium confirmed (14th March vs Sligo) as going ahead by club. Cant believe its really happening.

In other news, second permanent stand going in on the far side, construction to start shortly, completion by June.

Im a happy hoop.

_blank_

CiaranC wrote: »

In other news, second permanent stand going in on the far side, construction to start shortly, completion by June 2020

CiaranC

Des wrote: »

The stand will be so big youll be able to see it from the AUL

stovelid

CiaranC wrote: »

In other news, second permanent stand going in on the far side, construction to start shortly, completion by June.

LOL, not many tickets for Bohs on May 16th so.

CiaranC

I think its very likely that Bohs will get 150 tickets for that fixture.

monkey9

Paulw wrote: »

From looking at things, looks like Sporting Fingal will have a very good team this year. Should make it interesting. I'm looking forward to the start of season now.

I hardly think Fingal walking that division makes things interesting

monkey9

Lamper.sffc wrote: »

Robert Bayley has signed for Sporting Fingal. He was training with Pats but the deal obviously didnt go through for whatever reason. Former leeds player.

Squad is full of quality alright but i would feel better with a few more in the squad. 20 seems a bit on the light side. Definitely need one or two more in defense.

Just out of curiousity, when Sporting Fingal doesn't exist in six years time, will you support another team or just have a neutral interest in the league?
Or will you lose interest altogether

stovelid

I heard Sporting Fingal will be charging €400 per supporter on the gate for home games to break even?

gimmick

From todays Sun

GARETH FARRELLY is taking Cork City to court over unpaid wages — after blasting the FAI for its role in the affair.

Farrelly, 33, had his contract cancelled by Cork’s examiner in October having been out of action since May after suffering a life-threatening stomach aneurism.

But the midfielder, who is back in full-time training, has initiated legal proceedings to have his wages paid up in full, arguing he is entitled to it under the terms of his contract.

In a revealing interview, frustrated Farrelly told Sunsport how: The club stopped paying him on August 12 after the club applied for examinership.

He reckons he is entitled to six months’ compensation, or the remainder of his contract to be paid up, under the terms of his deal.
He says he was relieved he took ill in England because the Cork club’s insurance did not cover his illness.

He claims he has not heard a word from City despite repeated letters from his solicitor. The FAI refuses to get involved, despite his claim of it falling under their remit through Club Licensing.

He complained to the Rights Commissioner last month after concluding that the FAI would not act.
Farrelly revealed: “They stopped paying me on August 12 right until the end of my contract.
“I was let go because they classified me as a non-essential playing member, I had been sick.

“I wanted to play, I made three attempts to come back and each attempt was declined by the club. The examiner was saying: ‘you’re not being paid so you can’t come back’.
“I had to go through a period of my rehabilitation trying to get better while I was getting letters sent to my house from the examiner, who believed his duty was to sack me. When they went back to the High Court to come out of examinership, the examiner appeared to state that my case should be held and heard under the terms of the FAI, which resorted back to the licensing issue.

“Within the High Court, I was classified as a contingent creditor and that, I believe, should be looked upon and covered under the rules of the FAI. But the FAI have not acted on that.
“As far as I am aware, Cork have ignored all correspondence — they haven’t acknowledged it at all.”

He claims that Cork have stated the problem should be dealt with by the examiner.
But he wondered: “How would the examiner be handling the case when they are three months out of examinership?”
Cork City were last week awarded a licence to compete in the league next season, on condition they continue to pay back wages to three other players — but not to Farrelly.

According to FAI Chief Executive John Delaney, any cases that have gone down the legal route are exempt from licensing regulations, meaning Farrelly’s complaints were not considered eligible for FAI involvement.
But the Dubliner points out that the Employment Rights Commissioner can only act if a complaint is made within six months, meaning that Farrelly had to file his report before January 12.

And he admits his previous dealing with the FAI — when he joined Cork City but was blocked from playing for four months under FIFA’s three-club rule — convinced him not to leave his case solely in the hands of the Association.
Farrelly added: “I had a six-month window. I had to be very, very careful and knowing the FAI as I do, even going back to the FIFA Two case and the three-club rule, I knew how the FAI operate.

“From where I sit now, how can Cork be given a licence? I felt I couldn’t trust the FAI to get it right. And that’s why I had to look at possibly taking legal action.”

He also revealed he felt let down by the club from the moment he took ill when on a short break in England.

Farrelly began to suffer problems when driving, forcing him to be taken by ambulance to hospital where he underwent life-saving stomach surgery and was given just a 10 per cent chance of survival.

Following the operation, there were still fears his aneurism was cancerous, though he was soon given the all clear.
And he has since learned that his illness was caused by a blow to the stomach playing football, probably a year to 18 months previously.

But his medical bills were covered by the NHS in Britain, and Cork’s insurance did not cover him for private hospital.

He admitted he felt lucky to have taken ill in Britain rather than in Ireland. He added: “It was lucky it happened in England so they got looked after over there.
“The NHS covered it. When I was ill, the club doctor spoke to the surgeon. I had two surgeons operating on me because of the seriousness of my situation. They spoke about the insurance.”
Farrelly insists he was under the impression that his treatment would be covered by Cork’s insurance policy, although he found out that was not the case only after being moved to a new hospital.

The former Bohemians player-manager said: “After four days of intensive care, I was to be moved to a hospital across the road, a private hospital, so I’d to have an ambulance transfer across the road to be told within an hour-and-a-half that Cork City’s football insurance didn’t cover my illness.
“So I had to be transferred back to the surgical ward where I was.”

and..................

GARETH FARRELLY was recently recounting to an old friend how he returned home with fresh hope for the League of Ireland.

His friend laughed and told him: “You should have spoken to John Giles and saved yourself the trip.”

And after spending most of the last four years in the league — first as player-manager with Bohemians and then as a player at Cork City — the Dubliner is turning his back on the League of Ireland.

Just as Giles quit Shamrock Rovers 30 years ago, the 33-year-old’s hopes and dreams for the league have been worn down by financial crises and a lack of faith in the FAI.

Farrelly said: “I won’t play here again or manage here again.

“There’s no chance of that. There are good people there but they get drowned out, have become disillusioned and are lost to the league.

“I don’t think I will be seen as being lost to the league as I was never one of ‘them’ anyway.

“That is part of the problem. There are people who are looked after — they’re all old pals, the pals are the wrong people to be in there. They’re stopping the game here getting better.”
The former Ireland midfielder believes the problem is deep-rooted at all levels and admits that, within days of taking the reins at Bohs job in 2004, the reality of the job hit him.

When he was appointed, Bohs’ then secretary Gerry Cuffe spoke of the club’s ambitions to reach the Champions League group stages.

But not long after, Farrelly realised he would struggle to hold onto key players because of financial problems and nine of his first team squad leaving at the end of the season.

Farrelly added: “I had a dream and I had a plan.

“But that didn’t materialise. I can remember one of my first board meetings when someone turned around and said it’s time for draconian measures.

“We should sack all the players and re-sign them tomorrow on reduced contracts. I remember thinking: 'Oh my god, what’s going on here?’

"In that two-year time frame, I looked at the budgets that Bohs operated on compared to what other clubs did at the time and we couldn’t even sustain the budget we had.

“But when Bohs went to the wall, Shels were there to take all the players, Shels went to the wall, Drogheda were there. Now the unfortunate thing that has happened to the players is there hasn’t been anybody there to take it up.

“But yet we still thought it was sustainable. I know what we did at Bohs, we kept them going when they could have gone to the wall. We didn’t say it because we just got on with it.

"I resigned, I stepped out of it and it was down to me. How far do you go?”

Farrelly then joined City, but the move had a bad start as he was blocked from playing for the first four months under FIFA’s three-club rule having played for Blackpool and Bohemians within the previous 12 months.

The rule was later changed, but it was too late for Farrelly.

Last season was also a disappointment, as he was not part of new manager Alan Mathews’ first team plans and made just two substitute appearances.

His whole experience of the league has left him disappointed and angry at the League of Ireland.

Farrelly added: "People will turn around and go: ‘ah that’s how it is’. But how is it going to change?”

Farrelly looks at the Australian A League and sees what can be achieved.

He added: “You’ve got a scenario over there where the Australian government were embarrassed by the state of the national team.

“They decided they’d pump money into soccer on the basis that they could appoint people themselves.

“You look at how they did it and I don’t believe it’s enough to say: ‘Ah the League of Ireland, that’s what it’s like’.

“You’ve got such an old guard of people who have been around it for so long that it’s never going to get better.

"It’s a joke. It’s all smoke and daggers. You would expect someone to be accountable for what’s gone on. If it’s a shambles, do they have to be culpable and take responsibility?
"Until someone looks at the bigger picture, it’s all spin. The FAI are still talking about how two years ago attendances were up!

“St Pat’s had big plans and then this season they’re going part-time. Even for Bohs players, they go and win the double and the club approaches them and they’re asked to take pay cuts.

“So those players who are full-time, have mortgages and families agree to that and the money freed up is used to buy other players.

"Drogheda United were paying signing on fees for players upwards of €40,000 and what have they got to show for it?"

CiaranC

Fair play to Farrelly. Cork could be relegated yet.

_blank_

Shambolic treatment.

He's right.

How the fúck did Cork City get a licence?

This league, once again, has been shown for the absolute jokefest it is.

Headed up by the circus of clowns in Abbotstown, and followed closely by clubs who think rules shouldn't apply to them, and quite obviously they are right and correct.

How is this being allowed to happen?

How much longer will it go on for?

This is not a "bitter Shels fan" speaking here, it is a disillusioned fan of the League Of Ireland.

Why the hell should anyone bother with this fúckfest any more?

monkey9

Great interview with Farrelly!!!

_blank_

the league is in absolute meltdown, and those at the top are doing nothing more than standing around with their fingers in their ears going "nyah nyah nyah, lalalalalalalalala, we can't hear you, lalala lalalalalaaaalaaaaaa"

Muppets.

stovelid

What's really depressing about Farrelly's comments (in the second quote) is that they could be a verbatim reuse of Giles' and Dunphy's comments after they turned their back on the league following the Rovers debacle.

Over 30 years ago.

monkey9

Des for the Chief Exec of the FAI!!

gimmick

At this stage I am gone beyond caring. Its a joke. And to think I will still blindly hand over my season ticket money on Monday. Hard to blame Farrely really.

antomorro-sei

Des wrote: »

The way you get less than a hundred fans to home games?

Similar to yourselves...

No club can slag anyones crowds in Ireland.

Lamper.sffc

Des wrote: »

Tell me this.

Are you not in the least bit worried about the amount of money your club is spending?

The way it is using loopholes to get around the 65% of Turnover Wage Cap?

The way you get less than a hundred fans to home games?

Yes i am worried about the money

We have broke no rules

Lets not get into an argument about attendances. I know ours are s**t but to over exaggerate and say we get less than a hundred. Make a point and use facts to back it up please. You wont find me exaggerate any of my points, so can i at least expect the same from you.

monkey9 wrote: »

Just out of curiousity, when Sporting Fingal doesn't exist in six years time, will you support another team or just have a neutral interest in the league?
Or will you lose interest altogether

We are going to survive 6 years now. Great thats an improvement on what most people think cheers. So when we dont go under next year will it be 8 years maybe.:)

To answer your question. I would say I would take a neutral interest in the league and probably start attending some local football. The fact the club represents my area is the reason I started to support them. I have been thinking of supporting a team for a while but didnt want to just jump into one and go hey look im a Bohs fan or Shels fan. I heard fingal was starting a club and i thought great. I knew very little about the club except that we would be competing in the A league so I decided i would go to games in that league. I had no idea we would get into the 1st division like we did and I had no idea we would have the financial backing we have. I decided to support them purely because they where in my area and new. So if they do go bust I would feel a hippocrate if i went and supported another existing team.

SectionF

stovelid wrote: »

What's really depressing about Farrelly's comments (in the second quote) is that they could be a verbatim reuse of Giles' and Dunphy's comments after they turned their back on the league following the Rovers debacle.

Over 30 years ago.

I can understand Farrelly's frustration (although he was probably as guilty as everyone else in deluding himself that there was money, or potential money, in the league to fund a sudden shift).

But I don't think that his take can be compared with those of Dunphy, who has had his own, selfish reasons to dismiss LoI as 'small-time'. Farrelly wasn't involved in trying to promote the Dublin Dons or any such hare-brained scheme.

stovelid

SectionF wrote: »

But I don't think that his take can be compared with those of Dunphy, who has had his own, selfish reasons to dismiss LoI as 'small-time'. Farrelly wasn't involved in trying to promote the Dublin Dons or any such hare-brained scheme.

It's not a statement of support for Dunphy, who also supported Kilcoyne, as well as the Dublin Dons, like you say. Just comparing the things GF said with the same lack of help and opposition that Giles and Dunphy encountered during their time at Rovers.

djpbarry

Farrelly makes some fair points, but what's his solution? The A-league. Fantastic.

Gavin "shels"

So what happened to the FAI's "Cork City... were given licences on the basis that financial commitments they have made will be honoured within the agreed dates before the start of the 2009 season."

I'm guessing that if Farrelly goes to court over this it won't be sorted by the 6th Feb?

Is it any wonder that clubs get away with murder in this League, when the FAI break their own licensing rules and don't have the bottle to demote teams.

antomorro-sei

Do Shels fans actually think they deserve to be promoted if one of the Prem Division teams were demoted?

Gavin "shels"

antomorro-sei wrote: »

Do Shels fans actually think they deserve to be promoted if one of the Prem Division teams were demoted?

No, I think it's just the general fact we took the sh*t and live with it, whereas teams can go into examinership, pay a tiny bit of what they owe and start all over again with a 10-point deduction, whereas we paid every penny we owed and still got demoted. Double standards?:rolleyes:

And then Pats going over th 65% at the start of last season, what happened a €1,000 fine or something, when the FAI said there would be huge penalties.

As of now I've given up on the League, I will do nothing to convience people they should attend matches (unless they're Shels matches), from now on I'm a Shels supporter and riddance to any teams who cross any lines, good riddance to any side who get trashed 10-0 in any European competition, good riddance to be looking out for Irish teams in Europe, I'm still of the poxy FAI who bottle everything that comes their way.

/rant over

stovelid