...and it's off again

Gavin "shels"

Galway United first team to hit some money bother this season;

The news emerging today that Airtricity Premier Division side Galway United are in financial difficulty and have had to defer players' wage payments for a week has come as little surprise to those who have been following the club's fortunes in recent times.

Gate receipts have plummeted again this year, with an average attendance in the region of 850 people coming through the Terryland Park turnstiles for the club's first nine home fixtures. Only one clash, the visit of Shamrock Rovers (who brought in the region of 250 away fans with them), has broken the 1,000 mark.

Compare this to just last season, when five of the first nine games (v Dundalk, Sligo, Shamrock Rovers, St. Pat's, and Cork City) all surpassed the four-figure mark. While a recession can be touted as a factor in this decline, the club must ask itself has it done enough to keep those customers, which unfortunately in this day and age is what fans have become, happy and ensure their return on a regular basis.

For the second successive season since the doomed attempt to bring in a full-time set-up in 2008, the playing budget has been drastically reduced, yet still the books are becoming harder and harder to balance.

The effect of Mervue United and Salthill Devon entering the league's ranks has been negligible in relation to crowds, yet opinions vary as to why the club's fortunes have not improved as it continued to put down roots in the Premier Division. The most common trend emerging is a general feeling of apathy from the greater sporting public in a city of over 70,000 people towards the club.

This feeling is not just reserved for the soccer club, however, and it is generally acknowledged in the West that the majority of sporting enthusiasts here are a fickle bunch who will fall over themselves to get to a big event such a Cup semi-final or final, but shun the more humdrum fare on offer at regular league encounters.

Examples of this include Connacht Rugby, who packed the Sportsground for the visit of Toulon in the Amlin Challenge Cup but average around 1,500 for Magners League games, while in both GAA codes the Allianz League crowds at Pearse Stadium are miniscule in comparison to the scramble for tickets when a big day at Croke Park beckons. Has Galway become the "Event Junkie" capital of the country or are they just a discerning customer who expect, nay demand, value for money?

Club CEO Nick Leeson has admitted numerous mistakes were made, none more so than the farcical attempt to charge an extra admission fee of €5 into the newly-built Corribside Stand in 2008. The vista may be one of the best in the country, but for €25 you expect to see a team not only winning regularly but stylishly, not languishing in the lower half of the table as Tony Cousins' side then were.

Leeson is now trying to re-establish broken links with the local game at both junior and juvenile level. Club legend Paul McGee has been brought on board to oversee the U20 side and has a decent squad assembled, but despite constant pleas for increased support in the local media over the opening half of the season, they appear to have fallen on deaf ears and the end of Premier Division football in Connacht's capital, one way or another, could well be nigh.

As it stands, manager Sean Connor will now probably see his first team torn to shreds as the undoubted talent that lies within it is plucked from his grasp by those with an eye for a bargain. Karl Sheppard, Anto Flood, Stephen O'Donnell, and Seamus Conneely are some of those who could be on the way out the door once the window opens.

On a separate issue, questions too must be asked of the administrators who organise the fixture lists at the beginning of the season. With only two clubs competing from outside the Leinster area, surely it would have taken not a lot of common sense to realise that, after a mid-season break where a club which is known to have financial difficulties and has had no home fixture (or income) for four weeks, a more attractive proposition than Bray Wanderers (no disrespect intended but they are no crowd pullers on a Monday night) could have been scheduled.

Knowing the likelihood of a meagre turnout, Galway United have announced that they are halving the admission fee to only €10 for this game in the hope of an increased turnout. For the loyal band of supporters and volunteers who have diligently been fundraising for many years to try and keep the club afloat, hopefully this move will not be seen as "too little too late" in years to come.

http://www.extratime.ie/newsdesk/articles/3789/

Now in comparsion, a club who pulls roughly the same crowds and has a weekly budget probably about double that of Galways, Gannons NAMA Army are planning a lovely week in the sun while over playing in Europe;

THE DIRE economic climate may be hitting the pockets of most Airtricity League clubs hard, but Sporting Fingal have revealed they won't be letting the recession affect their training sessions as they prepare for their first European venture, WRITES NEIL AHERN.

The Dublin side, in its third year in existence, will play their first ever European game this day fortnight as they face Portuguese Premier League side CS Maritimo.

And, while most Irish sides opt to make their European away legs a flying visit, Fingal have decided to travel to the Portuguese island of Madeira -- the scene of their Europa League second-round first leg -- for a full seven days.

"I was doing my pro licence last week and a fella on it, Giles Worthington, was talking about hydration and preparation, travel fatigue, being watered and fed," said manager Liam Buckley, speaking at the launch of the club's 'Stay Onside -- Say No to Drugs' collectors cards scheme

"Put it all together and it's an important part of giving the lads a chance.

"With some of the flights, you're travelling a lot and maybe in the airport early in the morning.

"And it's the same coming home, if we're up early on the Friday after a late match, its not good preparation for our Monday game.

"We just felt it wasn't right, bearing in mind the stuff I was told the previous week, so I said let's try stretch that out."

http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/week-in-madeira-for-fingal-2241267.html

stovelid

I think their gates have really slumped this season and they've been caught short.

I feel sorry for them in a way: decent club who (did?) play nice football, the supporters always seem like decent skins; nice little ground and in a good catchment area that you would assume would be like Cork in terms of support.

Depressing really.

Clemon

The club got greedy with ticket prices after they got promoted, now look what happened them. Greedy Leeson

Pinturicchio

Clemon wrote: »

The club got greedy with ticket prices after they got promoted, now look what happened them. Greedy Leeson

:rolleyes:

If it wasn't for the funds that Nick Leeson has personally put into the club, there would be no Galway United.

Seaneh

Pinturicchio wrote: »

:rolleyes:

If it wasn't for the funds that Nick Leeson has personally put into the club, there would be no Galway United.

How can he put money into the club?

Doesn't he have to pay the majority of everything he makes for the rest of his life to barings?

ViperGTS

Direct flights to Madeira only fly sunday-sunday, other days need 4 flights. Its cheaper to stay and fly over 5 days than 3. The ground they're playin in is over 2000ft above sea level. Stop worrying aboy Fingal's money spending and concentrate on your own "historical team"

civis_liberalis

Clemon wrote: »

The club got greedy with ticket prices after they got promoted, now look what happened them. Greedy Leeson

Raising the prices was a bad decision. There is no about that. By halfway through the season they had more or less backtracked on it.

However, it is not the reason for our current problems.

Leeson may have made some bad choices, but he is one of the reasons the club is even afloat right now. He has a huge financial interest in Galway United. He knows it's unlikely that he'll ever see that money again, but he does want what's best for Galway United.

civis_liberalis

Seaneh wrote: »

How can he put money into the club?

Doesn't he have to pay the majority of everything he makes for the rest of his life to barings?

I doubt very much that it's a majority of what he earns.

He makes a steady income from the speaking circuit. He mentioned in an interview today that he hasn't paid himself since April.

"Ah sure, it's Nick Leeson" is... and never was a valid argument.

applehunter

Remember him giving a talk in UCC.

Think he mentioned that he must give 1/2 of all his money earned to the Crown.

Pinturicchio

Nick Leeson interview:

http://www.thegkshow.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/300610-Nick-Leeson.mp3

civis_liberalis

applehunter wrote: »

Remember him giving a talk in UCC.

Think he mentioned that he must give 1/2 of all his money earned to the Crown.

Yep and according to my maths skills (which admittedly are only leaving cert standard)... that is not a majority.

Mars Bar

Leeson hasn't taken any pay in the past 10 weeks. That's tough going...

Pineapple stu

Hey gladys, any chance you can post normal for a change without having digs at Fingal ? Gav ,you need to let it go dude. You start a thread about Galway's finacial issues and you had to involve Fingal in your post when it has nothing to do with Galway and the article. Why? And you had the cheek to call me bitter when you have been bitter for the past 3 years.

The reason Fingal are going over for a week is that we will be starting a new club in Madeira called Sporting Funchal

ViperGTS

And of course they'll be payin them all top dollar with all the millions they have

Pinturicchio

Can you take your Fingal nonsense elsewhere please? Thanks.