LOI rumours etc

overshoot wrote: »

Harps & Cork played out a 3-3 draw in galway today. Cork coming back from 3-1 down. we also lost 2 of our defenders after a bad clash of heads early on, cowan needed stitches, mcnulty was concussed
Harps team;
Winn (trial ex dunalk, shams, galway)
McNulty,P Mailey, Cowan, Coll,
McCann,Funston,Tiofack (trial, ex limerick), Ruari Keating (on trial sligo lad)
McCarron, McHugh

Also meant to be on trial is a young Canadian called Graham Fisher (ex Schalke) and Longford lad Daryl Carrigy (ex derby)... although longford are in for him now too

Hearing he signed for Harps this afternoon

Damien Duff saying again today he wants to play football in Ireland.

Any clubs of interest?

Mint Sauce wrote: »

Damien Duff saying again today he wants to play football in Ireland.

Any clubs of interest?

Most likely Dundalk. Would be a special moment for him to play alongside his bastard lovechild.

Mint Sauce wrote: »

I'm sure the West will open him with open arms.

Always knew you westerners were the violent kind :pac:

anncoates wrote: »

Would have said Bray when Devlin was there as Duff supposedly has some link to him. Otherwise who knows. Presumably whoever are champions at the time. Presumably money wouldn't be a factor.

Devlin was his agent/advisor before being banned by FIFA.

ScienceNerd wrote: »

Sporting St Shelhemian Rovers College Dublin

or SStSRCD

Rolls off the tongue.

Let's just call the new club 'Schdutens' :pac:

kksaints wrote: »

Red Bull Dublin is the rumour I heard.

That's our B squad actually, who will play their home games in Inchicore

eire4 wrote: »

I certainly hope that is not true. Would be a real shame to see 2 clubs with genuine history and past success in the league ending up in a merger.

Look at the date.

Lars1916 wrote: »

So that groundshare is more than a rumour now? :eek:

It's always going to happen. It was mentioned at the Fans' Forum pre-season. Dublin City Council are looking at a site next to Ikea for the two teams. They also seem interested in possibly upgrading Tolka.

Gavin shels wrote: »

It's always going to happen. It was mentioned at the Fans' Forum pre-season. Dublin City Council are looking at a site next to Ikea for the two teams. They also seem interested in possibly upgrading Tolka.

Didn't attend the forum, but I remember hearing the story about the Ballymun site alright.

Personally, I would prefer Tolka as well :cool:

geeky wrote: »

It would be great to see those clubs with decent facilities and a solid financial footing alright. Does the model work for local authorities though? Would be fascinated to see whether South Dublin County Council is making any money out of Tallaght Stadium. Even if they're making a small loss, I'd argue that it's a fair cultural investment.

I'd imagine it's a tidy earner for them, decent flat rate fee from Rovers, plus all the junior rugby matches they've hosted recently, the American football, the Real Madrid match they got a nice sum for too iirc.

frimpong wrote: »

Bohs and Shels have absolutely no need for a 8-10000 capacity stadium. 4-6000 is more than enough for them.

And Rovers need a 6,000 seater why? Generally it's better to have something to supply future demand (European matches, possible Cup finals, etc...) rather than stick to the bear minimum. But sure that's logic...........

Gavin shels wrote: »

And Rovers need a 6,000 seater why? Generally it's better to have something to supply future demand (European matches, possible Cup finals, etc...) rather than stick to the bear minimum. But sure that's logic...........

There's a problem with making it too big, though. Some grounds in this country are too big for the teams involved. Eg, the Cross holds just under 7,500 (reduced to 6,900 recently due to broken seats, but could easily be brought back up). For most of the matches we play, the capacity is way in excess for our needs. We've only gotten one full house of 7,000+ in the past eight years (and the money all went to the MFA, anyway). We've generally been averaging about 2,000-3,000, and in the First Division, some of the crowds were barely breaking a thousand. It looks terrible to have 6/7ths of the stadium as empty seats. If it were a bit smaller - 5,000, for example - we'd be better off, I think. Yes, we would have been capped for the Rovers and Pats crowds recently, but overall, we'd benefit. The place would look fuller - even an average crowd of 3,000 would fill most of the stadium. This would look better, the atmosphere would be better for matches and it would be more attractive to new fans. It would make us look better if we could say more often that we're getting (near) full-houses.

I'd agree with Dan, with a modest-sized stadium with scope to increase it if the demand was there. Imo, something like a 2,000 stand along one touchline and two 1,000 capacity stands behind either goal would be good; maybe even a bit smaller. Then have the other side open for development of another 2,000ish stand, if it were consistently being filled. A temporary stand could be installed, too, to cater for once-off matches like Europe, "glamour friendlies" etc. The more boisterous fans of Bohs/Shels could also take either goal-end, and keep it as the away section when they're "away" to each other.

UEFA Category 3 is the absolute minimum standard that any new stadia should meet, but I would agree that building anything less than about 5 - 6,000 seats seams a bit pointless. Yes, it's going to be relatively empty for most league games, but as said above, we really don't want a situation where any kind of big attendance means people get turned away.

The only solution would be for clubs to access to more than one ground to meet different attendance requirements, but that's not terribly realistic. Well, not outside Dublin anyway. Of course if the FAI and the GAA could start co-operating in a meaningful way, that would help matters no end and we could have proper multi-purpose municipal stadia throughout the country of various sizes.

NiallSparky wrote: »

While I agree with the general gist of your post, a 4000 capacity stadium is way too small. Bohs had a bigger crowd than that in Dalymount 2 weeks ago. The last thing any club needs to be doing is turning away fans because they lack capacity.

6000 seats or so would probably be a good number to aim at. Tallaght is a pretty good size, even if Rovers only fill it on the odd occasion.

The recent derbies at Dalymount have mostly been under 3,000, with one just over and the one last week with estimates ranging from about 3,500 to a touch over 4,000. Even the one's in Tallaght have been about 4,500 in the last few years.

I get where your coming from, wanting to make hay while the sun shines, but we have to be mindful of our limitations across the league. A 6,000 capacity stadium would more than double the combined average attendances of its tenants. Bohs matches would be 75% empty based on what they're getting now and Shels even more empty. I think having a bigger % of a smaller stadium filled and selling it out more often has more benefits. We want as many fans in, but if it's sold out, that won't turn people away long term. It makes the club very appealing. People who missed out will more likely buy there ticket early next time and maybe come to a smaller match where they're better likely to secure a ticket. People who go more often will more likely buy a season ticket, to ensure they'll get into the big matches. Overall, I think it'll help to bring a larger, steadier average and when crowds of close to 4,000 are coming on a regular basis, that would be the time to expand.

I think it's better to work towards a large, steady average rather than living off the windfalls of rare bumper crowds. From City's first three matches, our average attendance is just over 4,500. But one of those attendances was 2,600, against Bray. While the 5,500ish at Pats and Rovers shows there's a big potential, the relatively small Bray crowd shows the other side of it. I'd have preferred if all three matches had been 4,500. A more level average, rather than crazy highs and lows, gives a more steady income stream and more predictability. Something, which a club can then build on and slowly increase crowds across the board, not just for big matches.