Galway United

ben.schlomo

conaire1 wrote: »

So it's the League's fault Galway United played so poorly last season?

The team playing badly has nothing to do with GUST's decision to seek a licence for a new entity and the FAI's stance. Have you seen that insinuated above somewhere?

yeehaw

celty wrote: »

It seems that the fans voted unanimously not to go in with either Mervue or Salthill. They are taking a break from the LOI for a year and hoping to put a proposal for a new Galway United side to represent the city and county in the League in 2013.

It's a sad outcome to what has been a terrible few years for the club, effectively the end of a 'Galway' club after 34 or 35 years in the League with no guarantee that a new look club will get back in, considering their lack of ground, structures, etc, and the awful economic climate.

According to The Sentinel on Tuesday, people were being asked to back a 'SD Galway' or 'Mervue and Galway United' and I guess the supporters of GU felt they'd be losing their identity with such a change.

Ironic that the wonderful people in the FAI have lost the only Galway club with any decent level of support, while clubs from Salthill and Mervue (with tiny support bases across the city and county) will be in the League next year. That's Irish soccer for you, with a CEO on €400,000 a year and a League which can't even feature one 'proper' club from the country's third or fourth biggest city.

Pretty extraordinary arrogance there. Surely the constant gripe from Galway United was that not enough people attended their games? I seem to recall constant drives to get people to attend, so where has this large fanbase come from all of a sudden?

The 'proper' clubs in this town ARE Mervue and Salthill. It is quite some time since Galway United has been a 'proper' club.

While it is sad to see Galway United gone, I would think that quite a lot of those who attended will be going to one of the others now, especially if what I read about Salthill playing in Terryland and wearing maroon is true. Get over it, and get out and support your local team, whoever that might be.

ben.schlomo

yeehaw wrote: »

Pretty extraordinary arrogance there. Surely the constant gripe from Galway United was that not enough people attended their games? I seem to recall constant drives to get people to attend, so where has this large fanbase come from all of a sudden?

The 'proper' clubs in this town ARE Mervue and Salthill. It is quite some time since Galway United has been a 'proper' club.

While it is sad to see Galway United gone, I would think that quite a lot of those who attended will be going to one of the others now, especially if what I read about Salthill playing in Terryland and wearing maroon is true. Get over it, and get out and support your local team, whoever that might be.

They are both good well run clubs in their own right but they dont and never will be representative temas for Galway as a whole. They are parish teams.

As for fan numbers, we after a disastrous season, still got 1200 for the home leg of the playoff game, Mervue and Salthill average roughly 250 between them at home games, i went to the Mervue Salthill game in Fahys Field last season and there were about 250-300 there. Galway Utd has represented the city and county for well over 30 years and telling fans to move their allegiance to another team just shows your lack of understanding on supporting a team that you've grown up with.

yeehaw

ben.schlomo wrote: »

They are both good well run clubs in their own right but they dont and never will be representative temas for Galway as a whole. They are parish teams.

As for fan numbers, we after a disastrous season, still got 1200 for the home leg of the playoff game, Mervue and Salthill average roughly 250 between them at home games, i went to the Mervue Salthill game in Fahys Field last season and there were about 250-300 there. Galway Utd has represented the city and county for well over 30 years and telling fans to move their allegiance to another team just shows your lack of understanding on supporting a team that you've grown up with.

If Salthill Devon are playing in Maroon in Terryland, I think you will find that they will pretty quickly become representative of Galway, whatever your own mindset. It is also somewhat disingenuous of you to compare your biggest attendance of the season to Mervue/Salthill's average. In any event, quite a number of that 1200 would have been more casual supporters than yourself, and I'd imagine they will be happy enough watching any team in maroon in Terryland.

Good luck to Salthill and Mervue for the coming season.

celty

conaire1 wrote: »

So it's the League's fault Galway United played so poorly last season?

Of course it's not the League's fault that Galway United has been mis-managed for the last three or four years, with at least three mass clearouts of players.

It is the League's fault, however, that they invited both Salthill and Mervue into the League at a time when one Galway club was struggling to survive, not to mind three.

celty

yeehaw wrote: »

If Salthill Devon are playing in Maroon in Terryland, I think you will find that they will pretty quickly become representative of Galway, whatever your own mindset. It is also somewhat disingenuous of you to compare your biggest attendance of the season to Mervue/Salthill's average. In any event, quite a number of that 1200 would have been more casual supporters than yourself, and I'd imagine they will be happy enough watching any team in maroon in Terryland.

Good luck to Salthill and Mervue for the coming season.

As a Galway United fan who has no connection with either area or club, I haven't a notion of supporting Salthill or Mervue.

If Everton went bust in the morning, would their fans all suddely head across the river to support Tranmere Rovers? Not a chance.

It is a FACT that United have a far bigger fan base than either of the other two clubs. Unfortunately, those people will be left with no club to suppport in 2012.

yeehaw

Where is the massive fan base? Where were they all season? If this fanbase was so big why has the club folded? How many games were you at last season?

I'd be happy to wager that the move to Terryland and wearing maroon will significantly increase attendance. It is a lot more appealing (to some!) sitting in a covered stand than being up in Drom completely exposed to the elements.

I will bet you €100 that SD Galway's attendance at Terryland for the coming season will be within 20% of what Galway United's was last year for regular season games, e.g. excluding playoff. What was Galway United's average? The loser to donate the €100 to a charity of the winner's choosing.

celty

yeehaw wrote: »

Where is the massive fan base? Where were they all season? If this fanbase was so big why has the club folded? How many games were you at last season?

I'd be happy to wager that the move to Terryland and wearing maroon will significantly increase attendance. It is a lot more appealing (to some!) sitting in a covered stand than being up in Drom completely exposed to the elements.

I will bet you €100 that SD Galway's attendance at Terryland for the coming season will be within 20% of what Galway United's was last year for regular season games, e.g. excluding playoff. What was Galway United's average? The loser to donate the €100 to a charity of the winner's choosing.

Of course United don't have a 'massive' fan base, but they still managed to get 600 to every game last season, compared to barely 100 out in Drom.

I bought a season ticket, but gave up going because they were losing week in, week out, although I went back for the play off (attendance 1,200) which now looks to have been Galway United's last competitive game.

Mervue only attracted miniscule crowds to Terryland before moving to Fahy's Field in 2012, so you are welcome to an empty Terryland next season.

I won't be supporting either Salthill or Mervue, thanks. The poor level of support both teams have was evident in how few turned up for their 'derbies' in 2011.

The core issue is that one LOI club in Galway is barely sustainable, but the idiots in the FAI decided we should have three.

United are gone. A lot of it is their own fault, but not all of it.

siltirocker

This reminds me a bit of Connacht. Everyone supports Connacht but underneath that there is a HUGE rivalry between Corinthians & 'Wegians in it's foundation.

So whilst everyone does support United, the Corrib divides the secondary preference.

Do you think someone from somewhere like Kingston is going to support Mervue / Galway United? Or folks from Glenina supporting Salthill Devon / Galway United? Never going to happen.( . . unless maybe we combine both Mervue & Devon forming some sort of a united Galway. A Galway United if you will. Lol.)

Swings & roundabouts.

celty

It's quite clear from recent posts on here that Terryland would be full every week if we had a team called Galway Divided FC

Foxx92

yeehaw wrote: »

I'd be happy to wager that the move to Terryland and wearing maroon will significantly increase attendance. It is a lot more appealing (to some!) sitting in a covered stand than being up in Drom completely exposed to the elements.

I will bet you €100 that SD Galway's attendance at Terryland for the coming season will be within 20% of what Galway United's was last year for regular season games, e.g. excluding playoff. What was Galway United's average? The loser to donate the €100 to a charity of the winner's choosing.

Galway United's average attendance last year was around 800 or 900, a figure which remained pretty constant despite what was happening on the pitch. That's a fairly ridiculous statement to say that Salthill Devon F.C. would come even close to that figure for next year. I've been to a number of games in Drom and the majority of the times the home fans were out-numbered!

As for playing in maroon and possibly incorporating Galway into the name, seems like a bit of a low shot to try to pick up any Galway United fans that mightn't be fully aware of the going ons of the last couple of months. In saying that i wish them luck for the season, but you won't see me, or many other Galway United fans in Terryland supporting Salthill Devon FC.

gordongekko

yeehaw wrote: »

Where is the massive fan base? Where were they all season? If this fanbase was so big why has the club folded? How many games were you at last season?

I'd be happy to wager that the move to Terryland and wearing maroon will significantly increase attendance. It is a lot more appealing (to some!) sitting in a covered stand than being up in Drom completely exposed to the elements.

I will bet you €100 that SD Galway's attendance at Terryland for the coming season will be within 20% of what Galway United's was last year for regular season games, e.g. excluding playoff. What was Galway United's average? The loser to donate the €100 to a charity of the winner's choosing.

I will take that bet.

852 was gufc 2011 average attendance. You need Salthill to average around 680.

ben.schlomo

yeehaw wrote: »

Where is the massive fan base? Where were they all season? If this fanbase was so big why has the club folded? How many games were you at last season?

I'd be happy to wager that the move to Terryland and wearing maroon will significantly increase attendance. It is a lot more appealing (to some!) sitting in a covered stand than being up in Drom completely exposed to the elements.

I will bet you €100 that SD Galway's attendance at Terryland for the coming season will be within 20% of what Galway United's was last year for regular season games, e.g. excluding playoff. What was Galway United's average? The loser to donate the €100 to a charity of the winner's choosing.

You are the only one mentioning a massive fan base so you might need to ask yourself where that came from as nobody else said it.

Wompa1

gordongekko wrote: »

I will take that bet.

852 was gufc 2011 average attendance. You need Salthill to average around 680.

Nice! Each of you take pictures of you facing to the side and we'll photoshop yee into a boxing type promo poster. We can all monitor it through the season.

Paddyfield

I'm from Salthill and I won't be supporting SDG.

howyanow

i think some people are under the assumption that Salthill Devon were being sneaky in the formation of the new team.people must realise that it was the Fai that wanted a team based in terryland with a Galway name and to play in maroon.the fai encouraged both Mervue and Salthill to link up with Gust as it became clear that Gust would not get a licence themselves.afaik Gust were been unreasonable in what they expected there involvement to be with Salthill or Mervue.
If i was on the board of Salthill/Mervue i would not like other people coming in to try and dictate the direction the club would go in.Both Salthill and Mervue have done incredible things in both infrastructure and on-pitch achievements themselves and i feel they are well within they're rights to not link up with Gust if it didnt suit them.
people need to rember that Galway United originated from Galway Rovers,who knows,if SDGalway fc were given a chance they could grow to be something we could all be proud of.

CiaranC

yeehaw wrote: »

I will bet you €100 that SD Galway's attendance at Terryland for the coming season will be within 20% of what Galway United's was last year for regular season games, e.g. excluding playoff. What was Galway United's average? The loser to donate the €100 to a charity of the winner's choosing.

Ill take 100 euro at even money too, cheers.

civis_liberalis

yeehaw wrote: »

It is also somewhat disingenuous of you to compare your biggest attendance of the season to Mervue/Salthill's average.

The largest attendance of the season was 1,836. There were a number of other matches that were either higher or in and around the figure he quoted.

Had it not been for the careless attitude and ineptitude of Sean Connor, the crowds would never have fallen the way they did. The average figure for the season is still astounding, considering how truly awful it was.

ben.schlomo

CiaranC wrote: »

Ill take 100 euro at even money too, cheers.

Hes gone very quiet now so ye wanna get C.A.B after him for the money.;)

Malice

civis_liberalis wrote: »

Had it not been for the careless attitude and ineptitude of Sean Connor

I raised this previously but it never got answered (unless I missed it) but what did he do that was so bad?

civis_liberalis

Malice wrote: »

I raised this previously but it never got answered (unless I missed it) but what did he do that was so bad?

He's nothing but a chancer. People at every club he's been at would probably tell you that. He's gone to Zimbabwe now. He should fit right in and might even teach them a thing or two.

Was allegedly allowed write his own contract before the 2011 season by Nick Leeson before resigning as CEO, allegedly giving himself a nice raise and a longer contract, making getting rid of him at any point very expensive.

This was at a time when GUST were gearing up to take over the daily running of the club, and were trying to cut out any unnecessary cost.

He was largely absent from training sessions. Allowed players to be visibly unfit. A number of players had visible bellies. His man management left a lot to be desired. He hugely criticised his squad publicly in April or May and I don't think the team ever forgave him.

He allegedly tried to get out of attending a home match to go to a dinner function.

He scheduled nearly all the pre-season games in Belfast or nearby, where he lives, despite being paid to be based in Galway, costing GUST money that could have been spent on other essential things and not have them have to put in so much of their own money.

Due to the fact that GUST were running the club on a day to day basis but didn't have the final say in anything and the board would not sack Connor, he allegedly did what he liked.

A visit by the players and manager to a nursing home was set up by some supporters. They put a lot of organising into it. An event was made of it... I think some families of the residents actually travelled some distance to be there. Giving about an hours notice, the man himself said he wouldn't be there and wouldn't allow permission for the players to go either.

The residents and families who were looking forward to the day for some time were left confused, disappointed and many were understandably angry. He turned what should have been an incredibly positive experience for all involved into a giant turd. I'd say some of the people will never forgive the club for upsetting their family like that. They wouldn't agree to a re-scheduling and I cannot blame them.

This is the sort of arrogance we are talking about.

There are a lot of other things, but it wouldn't be wise to share them here. I think I might have said too much as it is.

gordongekko

civis_liberalis wrote: »

He's nothing but a chancer. People at every club he's been at would probably tell you that. He's gone to Zimbabwe now. He should fit right in and might even teach them a thing or two.

Was allegedly allowed write his own contract before the 2011 season by Nick Leeson before resigning as CEO, allegedly giving himself a nice raise and a longer contract, making getting rid of him at any point very expensive.

This was at a time when GUST were gearing up to take over the daily running of the club, and were trying to cut out any unnecessary cost.

He was largely absent from training sessions. Allowed players to be visibly unfit. A number of players had visible bellies. His man management left a lot to be desired. He hugely criticised his squad publicly in April or May and I don't think the team ever forgave him.

He allegedly tried to get out of attending a home match to go to a dinner function.

He scheduled nearly all the pre-season games in Belfast or nearby, where he lives, despite being paid to be based in Galway, costing GUST money that could have been spent on other essential things and not have them have to put in so much of their own money.

Due to the fact that GUST were running the club on a day to day basis but didn't have the final say in anything and the board would not sack Connor, he allegedly did what he liked.

A visit by the players and manager to a nursing home was set up by some supporters. They put a lot of organising into it. An event was made of it... I think some families of the residents actually travelled some distance to be there. Giving about an hours notice, the man himself said he wouldn't be there and wouldn't allow permission for the players to go either.

The residents and families who were looking forward to the day for some time were left confused, disappointed and many were understandably angry. He turned what should have been an incredibly positive experience for all involved into a giant turd. I'd say some of the people will never forgive the club for upsetting their family like that. They wouldn't agree to a re-scheduling and I cannot blame them.

This is the sort of arrogance we are talking about.

There are a lot of other things, but it wouldn't be wise to share them here. I think I might have said too much as it is.

My main problem was he lost 22 games on the trot

Malice

Thanks civis, I'd heard some of those allegations before but taken all together they don't paint a pleasant picture at all.

civis_liberalis

Malice wrote: »

Thanks civis, I'd heard some of those allegations before but taken all together they don't paint a pleasant picture at all.

There are some other things that are far more serious, that I would never be stupid enough to post here.

civis_liberalis

GUST will now look forward instead of back, continuing to work with local clubs, running the under-19 team that was abandoned by the club, paying debts that GUST are responsible for themselves and work towards a 2013 licence.

The words below are taken from the GUST Forum

Great night (Corrib Rangers awards night), to see hundreds of parents, junior players, girls and boys all enjoying themselves in a very relaxed atmosphere with the president of the Galway District League. Then the highlight of the night was to hear the Corrib Rangers Chairman offer support to GUST, to widespread cheering and applause in the room, was truly humbling and uplifting on a very tough week. It made me proud to be associated with Galway United Supporters Trust. To see editors, photographers of the biggest local papers, correspondents of the national TV media and the President of the District League come over to Ronan (Coleman) and offer handshakes and words of support to continue the simple message of One City, One County, One Club was fantastic. Thanks Corrib Rangers, your future and GUST's is very bright from what I witnessed this evening

gammygils

Galway City people just won't support sport full stop. That's why Pearse Stadium is a disaster. Football should be played in Tuam... End Of!!

civis_liberalis

Support wasn't the problem of Galway United. The people running it and the ones who were meant to be supervising were.

gordongekko

civis_liberalis wrote: »

Support wasn't the problem of Galway United.

rubbish

civis_liberalis

Of course support wasn't the problem. If the club had been run properly, the gates that were being got would have been sufficient to sustain the club. You cut your cloth accordingly. The muppets running the show ran out of cloth years ago and borrowed loads with no means to pay it back.

gordongekko

civis_liberalis wrote: »

Of course support wasn't the problem. If the club had been run properly, the gates that were being got would have been sufficient to sustain the club. You cut your cloth accordingly. The muppets running the show ran out of cloth years ago and borrowed loads with no means to pay it back.

So the club was not run properly last year.