Galway United

james no.1

lavaghball wrote: »

Just wondering what the public opinion on League of Ireland soccer is? As a frequenter of Terryland Park i find it astonishing that a city of over 75 thousand people, plus however many live in the county, can only attract a crowd of 1,400 max for home games.
Is it the Friday kickoff that people dont fancy or is Galway too much of a GAA town?

if you think that's low, ucd generally get about 3/400 at matches, the league needs better support, i find it amazing that so many ppl dont even take notice of the fact that 4 of our clubs are only a few games away from a major european competition

tribesman78

Galway United are putting their entire squad up for sale in the forthcoming summer transfer window. All players are being made available for sale.

Can't help but feel this is the beginning of the end. I hope not and really the way things are loooking we are going down so cut costs now and take in players on a voluntary basis.

Any chance of putting a few places in the squad up for auction i.e.- people pay to play for Galway United. I know i would love to pay to train with Galway United and get a chance of playing in Terryland. Probably against the rules though.:(

beeintheknow

tribesman78 wrote: »

Galway United are putting their entire squad up for sale in the forthcoming summer transfer window. All players are being made available for sale.

Can't help but feel this is the beginning of the end. I hope not and really the way things are loooking we are going down so cut costs now and take in players on a voluntary basis.

Any chance of putting a few places in the squad up for auction i.e.- people pay to play for Galway United. I know i would love to pay to train with Galway United and get a chance of playing in Terryland. Probably against the rules though.:(

Are they? I was under the impression that all players are only contracted until the end of the season anyway, same as last year.

Pinturicchio

Galway United statement

tribesman78

Ya imagine they all are on only 1 year contracts. Suppose its a case of cutting costs and getting them off the books as early as possible. Makes a bit of sense really, if we are going down which it looks like we are then maybe now is the time to cut the squad, bring in some youth and prepare for next season if the club can survive its financial difficulties.

restingpilgrim

I think because they have not been paid they are entitled to move on a free so club will get no funds from this

CrowdedHouse

Why do you think they haven't been paid ?

ben.schlomo

restingpilgrim wrote: »

I think because they have not been paid they are entitled to move on a free so club will get no funds from this

And why would you think they are worth anything anyway?

Malice

gaillimhabu wrote: »

Galway United FC Jerseys

All that seems to be available there is a jacket unless I'm missing something.

Pinturicchio

Malice wrote: »

All that seems to be available there is a jacket unless I'm missing something.

That is all that is available. I think Rival/Elverys are out of stock of everything else.

restingpilgrim

The reason I do not think they have been paid and will be allowed to go on a free is that whole squad has been put up for transfer and on the rte website it says this is after consultation with the Professional Footballers Association of Ireland. If there was not a problem why would they be involved in this decision

civis_liberalis

The guys running the club now prefer to taker a proactive approach to problem-solving, rather than lying, becoming non-contactable, screwing people and then blaming it on others when their head is forcibly pulled out of the sand. They were paid up to date a few weeks ago anyway.

The reality is that thousands are needed every week to service the debts left behind by the former CEO.

People are owed money all over Galway City and County. No doubt there are others also.

The management committee that was elected by fans to run the club have done an amazing job getting the club this far since February.

I think the decision to transfer list / release anyone that wants to leave is 100% correct. The wages and/or expenses being paid to players are not very much in most cases, but they are still far more than the club can afford right now.

It's heartbreaking to see thousands upon thousands going out of the club to pay for the lunacy of a few years ago, money that could do so much more than secure a competitive squad, but be invested in tangible assets such as a training ground and maybe improved facilities in Terryland along with some money being made available to field a few youth teams.

People talk about folding the club, but while that may sound very very tempting, there could very well be no guarantee that the club would be still able to compete in the League of Ireland. Sure, the Galway United Supporters Trust could satisfy the licensing requirements, but with 2 other teams in Galway it's hard to say what would happen.

gaillimhabu

Added more info. Great deal for the price

Galway United FC Jacket 75% off original price of €60 which is €15

I bought mine in the shop for €15 even though the labels said €19.99. Better than online as it will cost you delivery. It was mostly medium's left but there was loads

stovelid

Best of luck with getting through this. Would hate to see GUFC go under.

mike65

Seems to me the owners of the club could make back some money back betting against their own team.

Just a thought. Get enough people together and make Boyles, Laddies, PP, Betfair traders etc pay for some players

civis_liberalis

mike65 wrote: »

Seems to me the owners of the club could make back some money back betting against their own team.

Just a thought. Get enough people together and make Boyles, Laddies, PP, Betfair traders etc pay for some players

Have you seen how short the odds are for the opposing teams every week? You need to have money in the first place to be able to bet with it.

sword of light

I'm not in Ireland at the moment,but looking at it from a distance, it seems inevitable that Mervue will eventually buyout Galway United and combine the two clubs. It makes perfect sense. Mervue have exactly what United are missing, a decent feeder youth system.This is what's been crucially missing from the Galway United set up. For years they've been the place where anyone half way decent went from all the smaller clubs around Galway. But now,with the progression that Salthill and Mervue have made, players are probably favouring playing for their own club seeming there's no longer the prestige(and maybe money) involved in playing from United. Galway is just demographically too small to support three clubs. The sooner everyone wakes up to that the better.

civis_liberalis

sword of light wrote: »

I'm not in Ireland at the moment,but looking at it from a distance, it seems inevitable that Mervue will eventually buyout Galway United and combine the two clubs.It makes perfect sense.

Absolutely not. For starters, Galway United are a club with debts approaching a million euro.

Clubs buying each other out is not something that happens in football in this part of the world.

sword of light wrote: »

Mervue have exactly what United are missing, a decent feeder youth system.This is what's been crucially missing from the Galway United set up.

I can't see how it benefits Mervue to do this.

sword of light wrote: »

For years they've been the place where anyone half way decent went from all the smaller clubs around Galway. But now,with the progression that Salthill and Mervue have made, players are probably favouring playing for their own club seeming there's no longer the prestige(and maybe money) involved in playing from United.

True, although one plus to the current situation is that there are so many local players getting LOI experience. Mervue and Devon are all local or locally based players. Galway United will be as well in a week or too.

sword of light wrote: »

Galway is just demographically too small to support three clubs. The sooner everyone wakes up to that the better.

This is acknowledged by most people. Mervue and Devon got promoted out of the A Championship fair and square. With only a few teams to finish ahead of it wasn't that difficult to be fair.

The only reason they were in the A Champ in the first place was because the FAI begged them to make up the numbers when they found themselves short.

sword of light

Perhaps "buyout" is the wrong word. It would be more along the lines of a merger.(Albeit undoubtedly a bitter one!) a la Inverness Caledonian Thistle, Rushdens & Diamonds or even the mighty Sampdoria. The million euro debt is a problem but it's more a business problem than a footballing one. Do united own Terryland Park? Surely it's an attractive asset to be brokering with.
Having a proper youth system is an absolute must for any football club. Players are currency, and when you think of the sell on percentage clause that are in most contracts these days, the income generated by the finder club is potentially massive.Again though, I'm only speculating from a distance so I'm sure ye are a lot more clued up into the situation over there.

InchicoreDude

Do united own Terryland Park?

No.

sword of light

So they must lease it off someone? The Galway FA ,I presume. Would be interesting to see attendances wise what happens if United go down and either Mervue or Salthill come up and start using Terryland.

civis_liberalis

sword of light wrote: »

Perhaps "buyout" is the wrong word. It would be more along the lines of a merger.(Albeit undoubtedly a bitter one!) a la Inverness Caledonian Thistle, Rushdens & Diamonds or even the mighty Sampdoria.

Just to point out a few things, generally people involved with the League of Ireland in Galway roll their eyes when people removed from the situation proposed a merger. None of the Galway clubs have any desire to ever amalgamate with one of the other two.

sword of light wrote: »

The million euro debt is a problem but it's more a business problem than a footballing one. Do united own Terryland Park? Surely it's an attractive asset to be brokering with.

It was pointed out that Terryland is owned by the Galway FA so that answers that point.

sword of light wrote: »

Having a proper youth system is an absolute must for any football club. Players are currency, and when you think of the sell on percentage clause that are in most contracts these days, the income generated by the finder club is potentially massive.

Irish clubs don't tend to get very much for players when they move on, especially when almost all are on 1 year contracts and can be picked up for virtually nothing most of the time.

Transfer fees or not, youth structures are an absolute must. There was an excellent structure in place at Galway United around the year 2000 when Don O'Riordan was managing the club, he was pushing the club forward from the bottom up. We didn't have teams from the very youngest age groups but the teams we did have were very successful at local and national level.

sword of light wrote: »

Again though, I'm only speculating from a distance so I'm sure ye are a lot more clued up into the situation over there.

The football landscape in Galway is complicated enough at times so it's not surprising that people think that a lot of what goes on doesn't make sense on the face of it.

civis_liberalis

sword of light wrote: »

Would be interesting to see attendances wise what happens if United go down and either Mervue or Salthill come up and start using Terryland.

Neither team have any desire to use Terryland.

Mervue did use Terryland while they were building a fence around their field to bring it up to the standard required for a First Division licence.

Neither club have any need to use Terryland as they have very low attendances. I hear Devon struggle to break 100. Glass houses and all that, but I'm just trying to explain the situation.

T2daK

galway united wont get a prem license next year so they're heading down no matter what

Pinturicchio

T2daK wrote: »

galway united wont get a prem license next year so they're heading down no matter what

You know that for a fact, do you?

galwayrush

T2daK wrote: »

galway united wont get a prem license next year so they're heading down no matter what

Fact? I didn't realise such decisions were made this early in the season.

El Mullo

Thanks to everyone who helped out with yesterdays Flag Day in the city centre, and all who made contributions.

Galway United hold trials for the upcoming Airtricity U19 League at the Regional Sports Centre in Dangan on Tuesday evening, June 28th, at 6.30pm.

All footballers born on or after January 1st 1993 welcome.

Pinturicchio

galwayrush wrote: »

I didn't realise such decisions were made this early in the season.

They're not.

civis_liberalis

T2daK wrote: »

galway united wont get a prem license next year so they're heading down no matter what

Complete bs.

What the club are doing now, releasing players, further reducing costs, is putting the club in a good position to satisfy the licence criteria, just as they did for this year also.

The problem the club had in securing the licence first time around this year was the doing of the idiots in the FAI.

Edit: big typo

celty

Is it not stating the obvious to say that the team won't be in the Premier Divison next season? The team has been on its worst run in history (?), morale is at an all-time low, and reality just seems to be hitting the well-meaning fans who took over the club during the off-season.

The LOI is a shambles, and a city which can't sustain one club ends up having three in the League. It was sad to see people collecting for United in town yesterday, as though it was some form of charity.

I really hope the club survives, but right now it's looking bleak. Who could blame the players for losing concentration or heart when they are all offered for sale half-way through the season? There could be three Galway teams in the First Divison next season IF United (a club without a home or decent underage structure) even manages to survive.