Setting up a Semi-Pro football club

Yurt

Before i start this thread this is only a pipe dream that will probably never happen but i always thought it was a real shame that Clare never had any team competing in the LOI and i always thought that there was a real opportunity to set one up.

How much funding would be required and would there be any assistance with from the FAI ?

How big a stadium would be required for a small team that plans on growing in the long run.

How would the team go about recruiting players would it be illegal to recruit the best players from the local leagues.

Samich

Also thought about this as a dream too :pac: Same kinda dream as imagining burglars breaking in and opening a can of whoop ass on them, when in all probability I'd get trounced.

Thought of scouting the best young players from clubs.

Jesus Wept

You should go for it. Make sure you come up with a snazzy name.

Captain Havoc

Andy Carroll wrote: »

You should go for it. Make sure you come up with a snazzy name.

Ennis Hoppers.

Jimmy Iovine

Andy Carroll wrote: »

You should go for it. Make sure you come up with a snazzy name.

Clare United

Pinturicchio

http://www.fai.ie/fai/licensing/licensing-manual-2012.html

Kerrydude1981

My nearest LOI club Tralee Dynamos tried to get a Licence to play in Division one this season,but got turned down due to facilities not been up to standard,they are good enough for the A championship but not for Division One,

Kerry had a very good U21 team years ago,Billy Dennehy of Shamrock Rovers was on this team,Sean Kelly who played with Galway Utd was also on it,a few others have gone on to play with Limerick in the LOI,I really thought they should have bitten the bullet that time and tried to enter the LOI proper with this team,it was during the Celtic Tiger era and im sure if they tried they would have got the backing.

Fight_Night

Doubt it would be illegal to recruit the players, but the chances of them leaving their own ones for an unknown club is probably the greatest challenge you'd face regarding recruitment.

bohsman

If you have a couple of hundred thousand to spend surely it would make more sense to get involved with an existing junior club in Clare.

Yurt

Fight_Night wrote: »

Doubt it would be illegal to recruit the players, but the chances of them leaving their own ones for an unknown club is probably the greatest challenge you'd face regarding recruitment.

Not if they knew they would be playing at a higher level such as the "A" championship or even the first division.The potential is certainly there.

Bob the Seducer

bohsman wrote: »

If you have a couple of hundred thousand to spend surely it would make more sense to get involved with an existing junior club in Clare.

The existing clubs tend to represent very specific parts of Ennis or Co. Clare and some were formed by breaking away from other established clubs. To avoid being overly divisive I'd say you'd need to start a new club with the support of the local sides. Lifford had a go in the National u21 League a few years back but it didn't last.

I'd say the way to do it would be to establish 'Clare County' as a new entity and draw players from the local sides like Lifford, Tulla, Avenue, Newmarket etc... After that, add a couple of older LoI players - Barry Ryan is the only local one I can think of at the moment but you could probably get a few lads from Limerick, Galway and Tipp to commute.

You'd also have to ensure whoever was involved in selecting local players for this new side didn't have any baggage with the existing clubs in the county. The last thing you'd need is infighting because one side doesn't believe their players are getting a fair shout.

I've given this a fair amount of thought over the years and there are at least three major obstacles before you could even start getting something like this off the ground; 1) Guaranteed Funding/Sponsorship to bankroll the endeavour. 2) Support of the local sides (providing a suitable home ground, willingness to lose the best players in the Clare League, assisting with promotion of the team etc...) 3) Support of the FAI (because if they don't want it to happen, it won't)

bohsman

Bob the Seducer wrote: »

The existing clubs tend to represent very specific parts of Ennis or Co. Clare and some were formed by breaking away from other established clubs. To avoid being overly divisive I'd say you'd need to start a new club with the support of the local sides. Lifford had a go in the National u21 League a few years back but it didn't last.

I'd say the way to do it would be to establish 'Clare County' as a new entity and draw players from the local sides like Lifford, Tulla, Avenue, Newmarket etc... After that, add a couple of older LoI players - Barry Ryan is the only local one I can think of at the moment but you could probably get a few lads from Limerick, Galway and Tipp to commute.

You'd also have to ensure whoever was involved in selecting local players for this new side didn't have any baggage with the existing clubs in the county. The last thing you'd need is infighting because one side doesn't believe their players are getting a fair shout.

I've given this a fair amount of thought over the years and there are at least three major obstacles before you could even start getting something like this off the ground; 1) Guaranteed Funding/Sponsorship to bankroll the endeavour. 2) Support of the local sides (providing a suitable home ground, willingness to lose the best players in the Clare League, assisting with promotion of the team etc...) 3) Support of the FAI (because if they don't want it to happen, it won't)

If anyone was really serious about this Wexford Youths are the people to talk to and copy.

Neil3030

bohsman wrote: »

If anyone was really serious about this Wexford Youths are the people to talk to and copy.

Yup. So you just need to find a property developer with a sizeable fortune not yet seized by Revenue and you'll be away in a hack :pac:

bohsman

Neil3030 wrote: »

Yup. So you just need to find a property developer with a sizeable fortune not yet seized by Revenue and you'll be away in a hack :pac:

In fairness he seems to have done things right down there, all players are only paid expenses and facilities are good by all accounts. AFAIK they are self sufficient or close to it. Obviously anyone doing this needs some decent start up funds for facilities etc.

Yurt

bohsman wrote: »

In fairness he seems to have done things right down there, all players are only paid expenses and facilities are good by all accounts. AFAIK they are self sufficient or close to it. Obviously anyone doing this needs some decent start up funds for facilities etc.

What kind of grant would the FAI provide ?

Pinturicchio

Yurt wrote: »

What kind of grant would the FAI provide ?

lol

Zebra3

Yurt wrote: »

What kind of grant would the FAI provide ?

JD will sort you out with a few pints.

Yurt

Would there really be nothing for setting up a new club ?

Pinturicchio

Yurt wrote: »

Would there really be nothing for setting up a new club ?

Of course not.

Darkglasses

Nothing. They won't even get Tralee Dynamos over the line, who have definitely potential to be a decent LOI club.

It's definitely worth a try OP, and for all of Wexford Youths' flaws, at least we've shown that you don't have spend much on wages to get a club going. On the other hand, you still need to get together a LOT of money, which you won't see again. But it's worth it! Maybe you could even just start by seeing what kind of interest there is in the prospective area? Any local businesses who might be inclined to contribute, etc.