The End Of Kildare County FC

Ferris_Bueller

Havn't spotted a thread on this topic yet, apologies if this is elsewhere.

But as of last night, it looks as if Kildare County FC are no more, due to on going financial difficulties.
Although I couldn't make the game myself last night, I believe that our manager Joey Somerville never showed up, nor did any of our coaching staff, Philly Hughes managed the side for the night. We hadn't got a kit and were forced to wear Newbridge Town Youths jerseys. The PFAI wanted the players not to take part in this match, resulting in them not having a warm up. The supporters club was left to run the match and if it was not for them there wouldn't even have been a game last night, then as you all know, we recieved a hammering from Shelbourne. 5-1.

Now I know we aren't exactly a big club nor a club with many fans, most of youse will probably not even read this thread or care that we're gone, a club with a measly 7 year history, never won anything, spent the majority of their time at the foot of the 1st division. It was really only a matter of time till we folded, but still for me and the other supporters of the club it has come as terribly sad news.

I would just like to say thanks to all the fans, board members, past managers and players, everyone who has been involved with the club since it began, for giving us LoI football in Kildare. There were some tremendous efforts made by certain individuals to keep the club afloat for as long as they did and without these people we would have been long gone by now. I still remember my first game like it was yesterday, going down to Station Road the night Euro 2004 began, we lost 2-1 to Monaghan but I knew from then on I was hooked, love at first sight really. Really had some terrific moments supporting the club which I'll never forget, but as for now, it looks like goodbye.

Hopefully the club will continue and go ahead with the playoff so as we can have one final time to go down to station road, but it looks unlikely now. And hopefully in the future Kildare will have another representitive in the LoI.

Thanks for everything Kildare County FC.

(btw would appreciate if there were no nasty comments left as a reply, thanks)

Töpher

Tremendous effort from all (who were still) involved with the club to ensure last nights fixture was fulfilled, in extremely difficult circumstances. I wouldn't worry about the result, the fact that it took place at all is amazing, and credit to the players (playing knowing they weren't getting paid, again) and involved fans where it's due.

You've got to feel sorry for the geunine fans of the club, those who lost out in yet another example of how ridiculous, shambolic, and unstable LOI football is.

Redzer7

Really sad to see the league this way , Makes me wonder what LOI team will be next .

Pure Cork

RIP. Feel very sorry for the fans.

Redzer7 wrote: »

Really sad to see the league this way , Makes me wonder what LOI team will be next .

Hopefully City.

Lamper.sffc

Really sorry to here this.:( Hope a team of some sort will represent the county in the future.

All the best to what must be some very disappointed Kildare fans.

Pineapple stu

I feel your pain Kildare as ive been there when Dublin City folded. I liked Kildare county fc and they had huge potential if the county had got behind them.

SantryRed

Redzer7 wrote: »

Really sad to see the league this way , Makes me wonder what LOI team will be next .

Who do you support??


Fair play to the supporters club for getting the game to go ahead.

LuckyLloyd

Very good OP. Hopefully some club will materialize in your area for you to row in behind in the future.

dfx-

It was a sorry sight to see Kildare earlier in the season in Tallaght, so I was glad to see some positive results later on. Pity.

GLaDOS

Huge pity

Het-Field

Kildare FC, Dublin City FC, does any respectable league have the same amount of clubs folding. Equally, the big gus of Shels, Bohs, Pats, Cork and Derry have all gone very close to it, and some are disgracefully being bailed out, while the likes of Shels are left to rot.

Shamrock Rovers were homeless for years, and the rest are also rans who have either had short stinits in the PL, or have not been there in years.

Almost 10 years ago the league was properly developed, and this culminated in the 2004 peak, the sale of the likes of Doyle, Hunt, Foran, Kelly, Houlihan, Long etc for very large sums, four international caps were garnered between the leagues two most prolific strikers, and some truly memorable european nights were had, as teams like Hajiuk Split, Lille, Deportivo, Steua Bucharest etc all came away from Dublin with nothing. For the first five years of the noughties, the LOI really looked as though it was going places, and it became a league which could create support, and generate revenue.

Between FAI, LOI, and LOI Member incompetency, the league is at its lowest ebb. Players wont want to come here, as they dont get waged. The chances of extended jaunts in Europe are only available for LOI Clubs "on Joe Walsh's Tours". Finally, the financial plight of all the leagues massive club ensure that the ability to use them as a platform is gone.

Its a sham, and poor fans like the OP are the ones who suffer. I spent thousnds of euros on Shelbourne FC between 1994-2003, and look at how we were repaid. We were given a Bertie Ahern style fiscal model, with the club almost spending itslef into oblivion, and for what ?? When the big money was spent on lads like O Neill, Crowe, Hawkins, Ryan and Riche Baker, it only provided for a defeat of Glentoran, and a draw with Steua. The LOI galacticos won nothing that season, and when they did retain the title, the money was gone, and the club was forced to drop down a division, forfeit it's title, and leave the Champions League.

The FAI and The National League should be ashamed of itself. Its an unprofessional embarressment, which doesnt reflect the players and the fans who put so much effort into their interaction with LOI Football.

LuckyLloyd

Het-Field wrote: »

Kildare FC, Dublin City FC, does any respectable league have the same amount of clubs folding. Equally, the big gus of Shels, Bohs, Pats, Cork and Derry have all gone very close to it, and some are disgracefully being bailed out, while the likes of Shels are left to rot.

Shamrock Rovers were homeless for years, and the rest are also rans who have either had short stinits in the PL, or have not been there in years.

Almost 10 years ago the league was properly developed, and this culminated in the 2004 peak, the sale of the likes of Doyle, Hunt, Foran, Kelly, Houlihan, Long etc for very large sums, four international caps were garnered between the leagues two most prolific strikers, and some truly memorable european nights were had, as teams like Hajiuk Split, Lille, Deportivo, Steua Bucharest etc all came away from Dublin with nothing. For the first five years of the noughties, the LOI really looked as though it was going places, and it became a league which could create support, and generate revenue.

Between FAI, LOI, and LOI Member incompetency, the league is at its lowest ebb. Players wont want to come here, as they dont get waged. The chances of extended jaunts in Europe are only available for LOI Clubs "on Joe Walsh's Tours". Finally, the financial plight of all the leagues massive club ensure that the ability to use them as a platform is gone.

Its a sham, and poor fans like the OP are the ones who suffer. I spent thousnds of euros on Shelbourne FC between 1994-2003, and look at how we were repaid. We were given a Bertie Ahern style fiscal model, with the club almost spending itslef into oblivion, and for what ?? When the big money was spent on lads like O Neill, Crowe, Hawkins, Ryan and Riche Baker, it only provided for a defeat of Glentoran, and a draw with Steua. The LOI galacticos won nothing that season, and when they did retain the title, the money was gone, and the club was forced to drop down a division, forfeit it's title, and leave the Champions League.

The FAI and The National League should be ashamed of itself. Its an unprofessional embarressment, which doesnt reflect the players and the fans who put so much effort into their interaction with LOI Football.

A good post. However, I do think a lot of fans are all too willing to decry overspending after it catches up with a club and competitiveness goes beyond them. I am open to correction on this, but when Shels were beating Hajduk Split (a whopper night) I don't think too many of their fans would have been asking where the money was going to come from to pay for that side. In my opinion, fans bear some responsibility for the financial plight of their clubs. I think fans need to ask more questions about what is possible financially, and occasionally turn up and show displeasure when a new signing is revealed that is obviously beyond the financial resources of the club in question.

3hn2givr7mx1sc

I hate to see Irish clubs going bankrupt.
Hope that there is a new club for all the Kildare County supporters to get behind.

_blank_

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

A good post. However, I do think a lot of fans are all too willing to decry overspending after it catches up with a club and competitiveness goes beyond them. I am open to correction on this, but when Shels were beating Hajduk Split (a whopper night) I don't think too many of their fans would have been asking where the money was going to come from to pay for that side. In my opinion, fans bear some responsibility for the financial plight of their clubs. I think fans need to ask more questions about what is possible financially, and occasionally turn up and show displeasure when a new signing is revealed that is obviously beyond the financial resources of the club in question.

I agree with you, absolutely.

But.

Any Shels fans who did ask the questions at the time, and believe me, there were some, not me, others, were told everything was rosey, by the club owners/directors/board/whoever. What could the fans do at the time? Ollie was in charge, and wasn't letting go. The fans had no option open to them, how can you blame them? What should they have done? There was absolutely no talking to Ollie.

Now, I'm not demonising Ollie, the league is a poorer place without him. He was the only man in a position of power who would openly and staunchly question the powers-that-be, the state of the league since his passing is testament to that. But at the same time, he was the owner of Shels, did things his way and anyone who questioned him could go to hell. Even if the fans had come together and raised enough money to buy the club (something that, as yet, still hasn't been achieved btw), there was no compunction on Ollie to sell up. I doubt he would have either.

So tell me, what should Shels fans have done at the time? What more could they have done. We don't have a big enough fan base to raise the kind of money to buy the club outright, we didn't at the height of the boom years of the economy, and we don't now. Personally, I stopped contributing to the SSDG when I was made redundant last summer, and I've been made redundant again last week, so am not in a position to go back and start contributing again in the foreseeable future. I know other Shels fans in the same boat.

Same goes for other clubs. At the moment, Cork City fans, and FORAS in particular ARE questioning Tom Caughlan, and have been since he took over and started with his lies. What does he do? Ignores them, or worse, goes on the radio and accuses them of having an Anti-TC agenda.

What more can they do? If they offer help it's refused, and he won't sell to them.

What more do you suggest fans do? Ask questions? Yeah, big help there.

PCPhoto

as a Cork City fan and Eircom League/LOI supporter for a number of years I just want to throw out my opinions on this -..... mismanagement !!

I dont blame Kildare Co - they did a decent job of surviving over the past number of years....

my opinion would be the change to a professional setup - has improved our leagues but has also destroyed it, clubs cut corners and couldnt afford to be professional... which is the "standard" that the FAI insist on achieving.

While its all well and good trying to improve the status of the league on an international scale - we will ALWAYS be robbed by clubs in other countries until we can compete at a similar level.

I dont understand why someone with sufficient amounts of money didnt invest in an Eircom League club (at the time it was called Eircom League) .... Champions league qualification has been so close (understandably we wouldnt survive but financial gain from champions league nights would have made people interested in the league)

EDIT: totally agree with Des's comments above .... especially the Tom Coughlan part - it wouldnt surprise me if Cork City follow Derry in the coming weeks - backroom staff have still not been paid.

whatawaster

i think (and i can't find the link now) i read a report a couple of weeks ago on the wage bills of Eircom League clubs.
The total bill for the season for all clubs was nearly 20m afaik.

They gave the example of a few clubs - drogheda and cork were two. Their wage bills were somewhere between 1.5 and 2 million for that season.

Absolutely crazy. Either of those clubs could have employed 20 professional players at 50K a year (way over the odds basically) and cut their bills by between 30 and 50 percent.

It was absolute madness what was going on.

LuckyLloyd

Des wrote: »

I agree with you, absolutely.

But.

Any Shels fans who did ask the questions at the time, and believe me, there were some, not me, others, were told everything was rosey, by the club owners/directors/board/whoever. What could the fans do at the time? Ollie was in charge, and wasn't letting go. The fans had no option open to them, how can you blame them? What should they have done? There was absolutely no talking to Ollie.

Now, I'm not demonising Ollie, the league is a poorer place without him. He was the only man in a position of power who would openly and staunchly question the powers-that-be, the state of the league since his passing is testament to that. But at the same time, he was the owner of Shels, did things his way and anyone who questioned him could go to hell. Even if the fans had come together and raised enough money to buy the club (something that, as yet, still hasn't been achieved btw), there was no compunction on Ollie to sell up. I doubt he would have either.

So tell me, what should Shels fans have done at the time? What more could they have done. We don't have a big enough fan base to raise the kind of money to buy the club outright, we didn't at the height of the boom years of the economy, and we don't now. Personally, I stopped contributing to the SSDG when I was made redundant last summer, and I've been made redundant again last week, so am not in a position to go back and start contributing again in the foreseeable future. I know other Shels fans in the same boat.

Same goes for other clubs. At the moment, Cork City fans, and FORAS in particular ARE questioning Tom Caughlan, and have been since he took over and started with his lies. What does he do? Ignores them, or worse, goes on the radio and accuses them of having an Anti-TC agenda.

What more can they do? If they offer help it's refused, and he won't sell to them.

What more do you suggest fans do? Ask questions? Yeah, big help there.

I guess there isn't much to be done when the man in charge is intent on being an idiot.

Villain

Thats a real pity, I hope FC Carlow don't end up the same

jamsieboy86

This is terrible news.

Have lots of great memories following County. My favourite one is the night in Tolka Park, Shels first match in Division 1. We drew 1-1 but it was an amazing performance, the atmosphere was electric, Padraig Amond announced himself to the eircom league with his display for us.

I'm genuinely gutted about this.

Zebra3

jamsieboy86 wrote: »

This is terrible news.

Have lots of great memories following County. My favourite one is the night in Tolka Park, Shels first match in Division 1. We drew 1-1 but it was an amazing performance, the atmosphere was electric, Padraig Amond announced himself to the eircom league with his display for us.

I'm genuinely gutted about this.

It was actually 2-2, and it wasn't our first match in the FD.

That was back in 1987.

Fair play to all those who helped in getting last night's fixture completed.

D2D

First Derry City and now Kildare County, all in 1 weekend:(:(

This is going to be 1 long winter if this continues

RustySpoon

RIP - Had a few good nights in Station road but only started going in the last 2 years. Not many wins to cheer about though!

fh041205

How is this going to work? Do the club have outstanding debts or commitments for next year? Will they simply not apply for a licence next year?

Davidth88

Had a few good nights at Stn Road myself.

Remember one game where I missed both goals ( 1-1 , can't remember who ) ....
I went to the loo , 0-1 .... we finished our pint at half time came out 1 min litrally after KO and it was 1-1.


Also followed the team to Dundalk , Athlone and Cobh..... had great fun


really sorry about this , but I am afraid not surprised .

Dodgykeeper

Highlight of their existance had to be the 1-0 victory over Bohs in the Cup just after Stephen Kenny got sacked, If I am not mistaken it was Shay Zellor (who played for Kenny at Longford and Tallaght Town) who got the winner!