London Irish takeover

errlloyd

London Irish have been bought out by an Irish syndicate of businessmen, maybe these are the the irfu sugar daddies we've been missing.

LeinsterDub

errlloyd wrote: »

maybe these are the the irfu sugar daddies we've been missing.

Eh? As in people to inject money in the IRFU? These people have bought LI with making a profit in mind I would imagine not out of the goodness of their hearts .

who_me

errlloyd wrote: »

London Irish have been bought out by an Irish syndicate of businessmen, maybe these are the the irfu sugar daddies we've been missing.

Irish, or "Irish"

Runs away, and hides under a stone...

errlloyd

I think both of you immediately jumped to the worst case scenario there.

The main investor is from Cavan, he owns Powerday - that's pretty legit Irish and pretty legit business. He leads a team of investors who are taking over the club for profit - for sure. But the only way they will make profit is if the club is successful.

They also bring capital to invest in players to make it successful. Read the LI forums and press releases, Donnacha Ryan is one of the men now linked with the club.

If these type of investors are being put off by the IRFU structure that may hinder the development of rugby a little bit.

its_phil

errlloyd wrote: »

If these type of investors are being put off by the IRFU structure that may hinder the development of rugby a little bit.

Development of rugby? They are looking to make money not develop the rugby community of Reading. I've no problem with that either best of luck. That's how English rugby operates and that's what works best for them. But do I want private investors who want a share in our provinces.

After the debacle with the HC, never.

rje66

errlloyd wrote: »

The main investor is from Cavan, he owns Powerday - that's pretty legit Irish and pretty legit business. He leads a team of investors who are taking over the club for profit - for sure. But the only way they will make profit is if the club is successful.

.

Interesting move. its a well known fact that most AP clubs, except Leicester and N'hampton who own their own grounds, are running at a loss year in year out. Most are propped up by wealthy businessmen with waaaaay to much money. Its hard to see it being turned into profit any time soon. No hein cup next year. Rent a ground . average crowd appox 8,000.
hope it goes well for them , without pinching our players:mad::mad:

thebaz

I think the English club scene is deluded in thinking it can create the Premiership situ for rugby - it will never happen - rugby will never have the appeal of the well established and rooted football structure - rugby will work much better adopting the provincial setup similar to Ireland - trying to replicate the Premiership will just end in disaster , you need a provincial parish style structure, thats what makes rugby so special, rather than a get quick sugar daddy approach of Chelsea or Man city

LeinsterDub

thebaz wrote: »

I think the English club scene is deluded in thinking it can create the Premiership situ for rugby - it will never happen - rugby will never have the appeal of the well established and rooted football structure - rugby will work much better adopting the provincial setup similar to Ireland - trying to replicate the Premiership will just end in disaster , you need a provincial parish style structure, thats what makes rugby so special, rather than a get quick sugar daddy approach of Chelsea or Man city

You only have to look to Scotland and Wales to see how poorly the public react to invented regions. It worked in Ireland, NZ and South Africa as there is history behind the regions

Cookiemunster

LeinsterDub wrote: »

You only have to look to Scotland and Wales to see how poorly the public react to invented regions. It worked in Ireland, NZ and South Africa as there is history behind the regions

NZ and SA are closer to Wales than Ireland. The S15 franchises in both countries are amalgamations of provincial teams and in SA they've actually changed which provinces represent which franchises as they've added new teams.

irishbucsfan

Regions just doesn't work in England. The club system works for them and there would be no reason for them to move away from it. The regional system doesn't work in Wales either, but they've pretty much changed their regions into professional clubs now anyway to escape that fact. If the fans there could go back in time they never would have set up the regions.

The Irish setup is ideal for us, and it's been managed extremely well, but that doesn't mean it works for everyone.

.ak

It'd be interesting if LI gets that 'Irish Connection' bit back again. Ideally a team in the AP with strong connections back here could prove useful if we can send players over their from the excess here.

PlayerTrader13

.ak wrote: »

It'd be interesting if LI gets that 'Irish Connection' bit back again. Ideally a team in the AP with strong connections back here could prove useful if we can send players over their from the excess here.

some talk online that they are targeting Donnacha Ryan

.ak

I'd rather see someone like Nagle or Ryan (Dom) go over, i.e people who are struggling to get game time because of the amount of people ahead of them.

Larbre34

There is wonderful potential to turn London Irish back into the fifth province if the funds were there, guys like Steenson and Hart, Tom Sexton. Niall Morris is well settled at Leicester and Copeland wouldve been good too

SomeFool

PlayerTrader13 wrote: »

Donnacha Ryan

can pretty much pick where he wants to work if he continues his form from last year, if he won't be a Munster player I hope he goes to France. I do hope he sticks with Munster though!

Fireball07

I'd have always had Ryan down as a homebird tbh... I was surprised when I heard he went over to Perpignan for training.


But it could just be trying to get the best deal for himself, I'd be surprised if he doesn't sign for Munster tbh. Just a gut feeling...... I was really worried about losing Murray but Ryan just seems like a one-club man.

Morf

Larbre34 wrote: »

There is wonderful potential to turn London Irish back into the fifth province if the funds were there, guys like Steenson and Hart, Tom Sexton. Niall Morris is well settled at Leicester and Copeland wouldve been good too

Won't work in any way.

RFU wouldn't allow it. They subsidise every premiership club at some level and extra for Saxon/England appearances. They're not going to fund a club actively scouting for another union.

It's not good for Irish players in the slightest. Would LI be solely an Irish declared club? If not would Irish declared players be hamstrung by being banished their to gain experience while still in the eye of Irish management. They would be in a far worse bargaining position than local lads who could decide to play for either union and would have far more leverage negotiating contracts.

That's all pie in the sky. It's not going to happen for those and many, many other reasons.

CatFromHue

Fireball07 wrote: »

I'd have always had Ryan down as a homebird tbh... I was surprised when I heard he went over to Perpignan for training.


But it could just be trying to get the best deal for himself, I'd be surprised if he doesn't sign for Munster tbh. Just a gut feeling...... I was really worried about losing Murray but Ryan just seems like a one-club man.

Ryan is 30 now, this contract he signs will be his last big one. Considering how late it was before he made the break through from squad player to first team starter he wouldn't have that much cash saved up.

If Murray was only given a two year deal I'd imagine Ryan, like Heaslip, would far prefer a 3 or more year deal.

There's are two big factors for his life not just his rugby career.

[Jackass]

Donnacha Ryan is one of the few Lions quality players at Munster, obviously wasn't actually called up to Lions, but in my opinion the essential players are himself, Murray, O'Mahony, O'Connell and Zebo - any of those 5 go would be a devistating blow to Munster and should be protected at all costs from poaching.

I'm sure LI are sniffing around all the provinces though. They've desperately been trying to re-establish their Irish connection in recent years, signing Hagan, Court, Humphries, O'Leary, Sheridan etc.

Foxtrol

SomeFool wrote: »

can pretty much pick where he wants to work if he continues his form from last year, if he won't be a Munster player I hope he goes to France. I do hope he sticks with Munster though!

His form at the second half of last season and the few games he played this season wasn’t great at all. On top form he’s a definite Irish starter but given the fact he hasn’t been able to show that form in the lead up to his negotiations I don’t think he’s nailed on for Ireland at the minute so I doubt he can play any kind of hardball in negotiations.

Fireball07

[Jackass] wrote: »

Donnacha Ryan is one of the few Lions quality players at Munster, obviously wasn't actually called up to Lions, but in my opinion the essential players are himself, Murray, O'Mahony, O'Connell and Zebo - any of those 5 go would be a devistating blow to Munster and should be protected at all costs from poaching.

I'm sure LI are sniffing around all the provinces though. They've desperately been trying to re-establish their Irish connection in recent years, signing Hagan, Court, Humphries, O'Leary, Sheridan etc.

I wouldn't have Ryan in that very top bracket tbh.

I'd have POM, POC and Murray as hugely hugely important.


Then the likes of Ryan, Zebo, Earls, DOC, TOD, Botha are all players that we need to have fit most of the time if we want to do well.

sydneybound

.ak wrote: »

It'd be interesting if LI gets that 'Irish Connection' bit back again. Ideally a team in the AP with strong connections back here could prove useful if we can send players over their from the excess here.

The consortium is lead by Mick Crossan. Mick is well known around London, where he was born to a father from Cavan and mother from Galway. He played a fair bit of Gaelic football in his day and is a very active Cavan supportor.

Over the years he's really help the Irish community in London. He sponsors Tir Connell Gaels and gave them quite a bit of money. He also put money into the academy at London Irish which he can't of made that much, if anything, from. He gave Bob Casey a job after he retired, while his company are LI's main sponsor.

Although he must be in it to make a profit, I do think he's wants to make London Irish a more Irish club if you get me. Expect some Irish internationals to be making the boat (or Ryanair) trip across the Irish sea. Don't blame someone like Ryan moving given that he's 30 and would potentially be offered a much bigger contract.

Didn't mean to put that face at the top of the post, can't get rid of it!

Foxtrol

I know people are slightly fearful of targeting Irish guys but I feel players that go will more than likely be the tier below top level at most as well as some younger lads who aren’t getting a chance. If they can move the LI away from their ‘Not, Not’s’ reputation through a few clever Irish signings, in a way that doesn’t overly antagonise the provinces t, and move the Club back closer to London then I think there’s a decent size market there for a club side that Irish rugby fans can row in behind.

sydneybound

Local press have stated they want more of an Irish identity.

http://www.getreading.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/rugby-news/new-owners-for-london-irish-6394180

irishbucsfan

sydneybound wrote: »

Local press have stated they want more of an Irish identity.

http://www.getreading.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/rugby-news/new-owners-for-london-irish-6394180

Well they won't be local press for long if the new owners get their way!

I know nothing about their plans, but if I was them I'd pursue a ground share with Brentford.

.ak

sydneybound wrote: »

The consortium is lead by Mick Crossan. Mick is well known around London, where he was born to a father from Cavan and mother from Galway. He played a fair bit of Gaelic football in his day and is a very active Cavan supportor.

Over the years he's really help the Irish community in London. He sponsors Tir Connell Gaels and gave them quite a bit of money. He also put money into the academy at London Irish which he can't of made that much, if anything, from. He gave Bob Casey a job after he retired, while his company are LI's main sponsor.

Although he must be in it to make a profit, I do think he's wants to make London Irish a more Irish club if you get me. Expect some Irish internationals to be making the boat (or Ryanair) trip across the Irish sea. Don't blame someone like Ryan moving given that he's 30 and would potentially be offered a much bigger contract.

Didn't mean to put that face at the top of the post, can't get rid of it!

Heard a good interview with him today. Defo seems quite passionate about bringing the 'Irish' part back into the brand.

sydneybound

To be honest I see this as a positive thing for Irish rugby. I think they'll pick up a lot of fringe Ulster, Lenister and Munster players, akin to a Shane Jennings Leicester Tigers signing, the players will stay there for a few seasons get game time and head home when the time is right.

As regards to Irish in London which there is many, this is a hugely positive thing and if the market is tapped correctly with a stadium move to London their regular attendances would exceed at least 10,000. All ifs and buts however there really is scope here to benfit Irish rugby.

errlloyd

They said somewhere they want a squad one third Irish, one third academy and one third international recruits.

That is an incredible commitment to make - it certainly makes me more likely to follow their matches or buy a Jersey or whatever.

If they foster a half decent relationship with the IRFU and their academy players and actual players get a reasonable shot and starting for Ireland I think we could be in a strong place in terms of creating a 5th source of players.

On a side note, the Irish influence is important for giving the likes of Copelands and Morris' of the future a place to go in England, but is more important for getting the likes of a future Shane Geraghty to be perhaps a little more likely to consider getting capped for Ireland instead of going for England.

PlayerTrader13

errlloyd wrote: »

They said somewhere they want a squad one third Irish, one third academy and one third international recruits.

That is an incredible commitment to make - it certainly makes me more likely to follow their matches or buy a Jersey or whatever.

If they foster a half decent relationship with the IRFU and their academy players and actual players get a reasonable shot and starting for Ireland I think we could be in a strong place in terms of creating a 5th source of players.

On a side note, the Irish influence is important for giving the likes of Copelands and Morris' of the future a place to go in England, but is more important for getting the likes of a future Shane Geraghty to be perhaps a little more likely to consider getting capped for Ireland instead of going for England.

i'd be more worried about the next Rob Henderson than Geraghty..

should try and link up with the exile system in place at the moment in regards to getting Irish qualified players into their academy..

there would be a lot of opportunities to link and take advantage of... interesting to follow..

If they can move closer to London (Reading is awkward and too big!) and tap into the massive, massive amount of Irish in London, they could breathe serious new life into the club.

who the fug

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Well they won't be local press for long if the new owners get their way!

I know nothing about their plans, but if I was them I'd pursue a ground share with Brentford.

We are not moving, have a contract till 2024 at the Madstead and have built a fan base in Reading

Brentford is not possible because the planning permission is football only.

Whilst more Irish stars would be nice, the main thing is to get our academy up and running again and have a consistent top six finish which will stop the kids from being told to move club if the want to play for England.

Anyway all of this is dependent on staying up this season, otherwise I can't see it surviving even with new money out of the Premiership

launish116

actually quite excited by this prospect, it would be nice to a bit of more irish theme! and like people say there could be opportunities for fringe players to get more experience and move up, before a potential return!

that a side if the English won't join the heineken would be funny seeing a more irish focussed team beating them in the own homeland.

melekalikimaka

Deleted User wrote: »

If they can move closer to London (Reading is awkward and too big!) and tap into the massive, massive amount of Irish in London, they could breathe serious new life into the club.

Ah reading is a short train hop, if it does become a truely ex pat club, with a few Irish players it would get a serious following over there I think and even over here.

melekalikimaka

melekalikimaka wrote: »

Ah reading is a short train hop, if it does become a truely ex pat club, with a few Irish players it would get a serious following over there I think and even over here.

It is a short enough hop, but they're not pulling the huge group of 20something Irish people in London to games.

CJ Van Der Linde signed last night, Leinster hero!

(refuge in here from HEC crisis, but if a Euro implosion, we could see an Ireland A vs London Irish game at some stage!)

irishbucsfan

melekalikimaka wrote: »

Ah reading is a short train hop, if it does become a truely ex pat club, with a few Irish players it would get a serious following over there I think and even over here.

As far as londoners are concerned there is no such thing as a short train hop. If you can't get there on the oyster card it doesn't exist.

Personally I live near marlow and enjoy having teams around me, but I would say if they're trying to increase the fan base they need to move, that's what RTE were saying was Crossan's plan as well.

melekalikimaka

irishbucsfan wrote: »

As far as londoners are concerned there is no such thing as a short train hop. If you can't get there on the oyster card it doesn't exist.

Personally I live near marlow and enjoy having teams around me, but I would say if they're trying to increase the fan base they need to move, that's what RTE were saying was Crossan's plan as well.

havent they just bought new grounds and currently redeveloping?

who the fug

melekalikimaka wrote: »

havent they just bought new grounds and currently redeveloping?

They are building a new training facility up the road, on a golf course this will also have pitches for the amature team.

There will no stand but if you look at the plans they have a space between the office block and pitch

Main thing about selling The Avenue was to enable our backers to recover the money they have lent the club since 1999 to keep it going

while i think its important to be a bit skeptical to begin as this could end up being a smokescreen to get some irish players over there and i dont think this would be good for them from an academy point of view (as i think if the rfu see them encouraging players to play for ireland they mite encourage the top li academy players to move elsewhere).

but it could be a win win situation for li and the irfu if done rite.

li would benefit from attracting the fringe young irish players who sometimes don't get a chance here till late enough in there careers and if they can develop that bond with the irfu, players may be more tempted to stay with the club that helped them break through than have to come home because they wont get picked while playing for leicester for example.

also for li there is the potential to tap into a huge fan base in london and a secondary fan base in ireland (although i for example will always be a munster fan first i would consider buying a li jersey and would pay more attention to there games if they had the irish connection) just look at what happened with sunderland a few years ago.

and obviously from the irfu point of view it gives us a larger group of senior players to choose from.

sydneybound

melekalikimaka wrote: »

Ah reading is a short train hop, if it does become a truely ex pat club, with a few Irish players it would get a serious following over there I think and even over here.

Reading is a bitch to get to from North or South London where a lot of Irish live. The quick Reading train goes from Paddington and that can be an awkward spot depending where you are coming from then you have a national rail train to get to Reading which can be expensive enough. Someone else rightly pointed out its not on the oyster so out of Greater London.

Sarries moved to a nice little (20,000 seater) stadium in Hendon/mill hill east on the Northern Line and handy enough to get too all things considered. A move similar to that would be ideal if you ask me.

I'm a Leinster fan first and foremost however as I spent a great deal of time in London I would certainly buy a jersey and go to games if more high profile irish players move over. There is a serious Irish market over here, I think the numbers of Irish moving to London slips the net a bit but if you look at Patricks day attendances which are traditional high.

irishbucsfan

There's a great opportunity to attract the Irish in London if the ground was based in London. Brentford had a deal going with London Welsh for ground sharing so I don't see why Irish couldn't get the same deal going. Brentford play right beside the Piccadilly line and there are quite a lot of Irish people spread out across West London. If I was one of those directors that would be a plan I would be investigating. There's a ceiling on how successful they can be in Reading.

sydneybound

irishbucsfan wrote: »

There's a ceiling on how successful they can be in Reading.

That line sums up everything quite nicely.

[Jackass]

Deleted User wrote: »

If they can move closer to London (Reading is awkward and too big!) and tap into the massive, massive amount of Irish in London, they could breathe serious new life into the club.

This definitely isn't the time for it, but I always hoped that some day in the future if the Pro12 was ever extended (and we had the finance and player base to support it) we could bring The Exiles back as a 5th province.

A London based Irish province (not to be confused with London Irish), who used to compete in the Inter-provincial championship.

Potentially a massive market over there for the IRFU, and the Welsh have maintained the ambition for a 5th region and Scotland still hold an ambition for 4 regional teams (Aberdeen and Dundee likely to be locations), could be great for the league.

But as I said, now is probably the worst time to be bringing up those ideas!

who the fug

[Jackass] wrote: »

This definitely isn't the time for it, but I always hoped that some day in the future if the Pro12 was ever extended (and we had the finance and player base to support it) we could bring The Exiles back as a 5th province.

A London based Irish province (not to be confused with London Irish), who used to compete in the Inter-provincial championship.

Potentially a massive market over there for the IRFU, and the Welsh have maintained the ambition for a 5th region and Scotland still hold an ambition for 4 regional teams (Aberdeen and Dundee likely to be locations), could be great for the league.

But as I said, now is probably the worst time to be bringing up those ideas!

twaddle

Scotland has two regions ,if they can not get a team going in the borders pointless trying up north, London Welsh looked at joining up with Wales and got told to bugger off

London Irish got told to bugger off in 1998 which we did, so the club will not tolerate another Irish club/franchise in England

Our future as a club is in Reading , providing players for the 57 old farts, Dublin has jack to do with the club.

If you come over, come out and see us, you may be surprised

irishbucsfan

There is no future for a 5th province, we need to sort out our own 4th province first.

There's no desire for a 5th region in Wales. They barely have their desire for the first 4 regions!

But aside from that there is a huge potential market in London, and I think there are a few Wray/Crossan types who will try their hands at exploiting that in the coming few years.

who the fug

the offer document

who the fug

more BS from the irish post, no wonder it went bust