Podcasts

[TrevDaRev2]

This piece https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soccer ... dark-ages/ i thought it was excellent and he hit the nail on the head

I dunno why people have such a chip on their shoulder, it's hardly harsh to say facilities in Oriel are below par its one of the worst in the league and hasn't changed in 50 years with the exception of the removal of a big puddle and the building of the YDC. Completely fair comment and if you think otherwise you're wearing blinkers. I dont think theres an agenda to it either journalists are just calling it as they and the vast majority of people see it. Oriel Park is unfit for purpose

You have obviously read my other posts as you replied to them, so you know my views on the need to upgrade/replace Oriel Park. It is, however, difficult to give credence to your arguments, given your proposal that the owners spend millions on a Cat 3 stadium in order to host just one more qualifying round over and above the current position. It appears you are in favour of

(a) investing for little return.
(b) playing home games Tallaght.

With respect, I think I'll back Andy and the guys from Statsports.

Your own view follows the same logic, spend millions on top of those millions to develop a stadium that will only be full once every 4 years. Minimum capacity of 8,500 with crowds averaging 2.5-3k a week is quite the white elephant if you ask me. Would much prefer a 5-6k stadium that leaves you with room for growth but doesn't leave the stadium feeling like you're attending a wake every home match. As for your last comment, I dont know of anyone not backing the current owners.

[TrevDaRev2]

This piece https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soccer ... dark-ages/ i thought it was excellent and he hit the nail on the head

I dunno why people have such a chip on their shoulder, it's hardly harsh to say facilities in Oriel are below par its one of the worst in the league and hasn't changed in 50 years with the exception of the removal of a big puddle and the building of the YDC. Completely fair comment and if you think otherwise you're wearing blinkers. I dont think theres an agenda to it either journalists are just calling it as they and the vast majority of people see it. Oriel Park is unfit for purpose

Drogheda is a kip. The "new" stand in tolka is condemned. You have no shelter from elements in the away end and you are wading in rivers of piss in the toilets. Dalymount half the ground is currently condemned and the away section should be. Finn harps and Sligo are hardly state of the art. Get the government involved. The gaa get multi multi millions of government funding yearly. As do the IRFU.

Yes other grounds are kips but pointing at them doesn't make Oriel any less of a kip either. Fine for us die hard fans who attend regardless but it's just not gonna attract any new fans if left the way it is. I don't see why people get their backs up about a statement thats true to anyone with eyes

[niall_hearty2000]

This piece https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soccer ... dark-ages/ i thought it was excellent and he hit the nail on the head

I dunno why people have such a chip on their shoulder, it's hardly harsh to say facilities in Oriel are below par its one of the worst in the league and hasn't changed in 50 years with the exception of the removal of a big puddle and the building of the YDC. Completely fair comment and if you think otherwise you're wearing blinkers. I dont think theres an agenda to it either journalists are just calling it as they and the vast majority of people see it. Oriel Park is unfit for purpose

Drogheda is a kip. The "new" stand in tolka is condemned. You have no shelter from elements in the away end and you are wading in rivers of piss in the toilets. Dalymount half the ground is currently condemned and the away section should be. Finn harps and Sligo are hardly state of the art. Get the government involved. The gaa get multi multi millions of government funding yearly. As do the IRFU.

Yes other grounds are kips but pointing at them doesn't make Oriel any less of a kip either. Fine for us die hard fans who attend regardless but it's just not gonna attract any new fans if left the way it is. I don't see why people get their backs up about a statement thats true to anyone with eyes

Look I am the first to say oriel is a dump. It hasn't improved much since I was a child. Probably and realistically it never will. Was at the football camp last week and went up the away terrace. The view isn't as bad as you would assume. No worse than Sligo or Drogheda. Roof and clean up kill weeds pick up rubbish and improved seats would do wonders. Still not good enough in 2022 I might add. But my disdain with Dan McDonnell is he wants oriel boycotted, but had he mentioned the other derelict grounds?

[Pepsi]

Lads can we all agree on the following:

• 95% of LOI grounds are kips

• Oriel is by far not the best, but also not the worst.

Our ground made us an easy target, as we were earning money in Europe and eventually had American money men running us. As I am sure many in here know, Paul and Andy looked at a greenfield and Oriel renovation, before the sold up and walked away saying they couldn't commit to it or take it any further without effecting their own business (something along those lines).
It fitted an agenda at a number of levels for press nationally and locally to attack Oriel and at the same time deflected from problems elsewhere. This does not take away from the general fact that there has been a serious lack of investment in top flight football within the LOI. JD and his band of merry wankers (some still in position) in the FAI drained resources for years, travelled around the country handing out €5k donations to Mickey Mouse projects to ensure they were voted back in. Getting back in ensured the did not fall of the monkeys back and the money kept flowing.
As I have said many times, Rovers top brass played JDs flute. He needed a ground for underage, u21 and ladies internationals, Rovers needed a ground and together they lobbied to get Tallaght, fair play to them. What would be interesting however would be if an investigation was to be held into JDs involvement as public money was involved, I have no proof however I am sure their is dirt there, would be odd if his name appeared and no dirt stuck to it.

As for our own position, do we deserve better than what Oriel offers?
Most certainly, however where is the money going to come from? Do any of you believe our current owners have €30+ million to build us a ground?
What can fans do?
As fans we should be asking questions at all political levels. There should not be a day that passes where local councillors, TDs., MEPs or Senators are not faced with the question of why the club is not getting support. We should be asking former politicians who claim to be fans to explain why they have done nothing, asking the local politicians who were pivotal in JD downfall why they do not support the idea of a stadium in Dundalk. At the same time, there should be enough skilled people within our fan base to realistically come up with a plan / costing for a retrofit or a greenfield plan.
The general problem that I see is, everyone wants a new ground but very few are willing to do anything to force one. It is a classical case of, sure it will happen when it happens, someone else will look after it and until then we can complain.

[TrevDaRev2]

As for our own position, do we deserve better than what Oriel offers?
Most certainly, however where is the money going to come from? Do any of you believe our current owners have €30+ million to build us a ground?
What can fans do?
As fans we should be asking questions at all political levels. There should not be a day that passes where local councillors, TDs., MEPs or Senators are not faced with the question of why the club is not getting support. We should be asking former politicians who claim to be fans to explain why they have done nothing, asking the local politicians who were pivotal in JD downfall why they do not support the idea of a stadium in Dundalk. At the same time, there should be enough skilled people within our fan base to realistically come up with a plan / costing for a retrofit or a greenfield plan.
The general problem that I see is, everyone wants a new ground but very few are willing to do anything to force one. It is a classical case of, sure it will happen when it happens, someone else will look after it and until then we can complain.

Well said. Will be interested to hear what Dermot Ahern has to say tomorrow night given his unique perspective of ex-Minister turned chair of the National Leagues Committee. Agree that any real investment needs to come in capital investment by Government which was the point of Gavin Cummiskeys piece that was dismissed above. Problem for Government is they'll face accusations of favouring one sport over numerous other that are in dire need of capital funding, and it's a hard one to square politically knowing the GAA PR spin will be in outrage overdrive if it was ever suggested never mind acted on

[Richie87]

This piece https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soccer ... dark-ages/ i thought it was excellent and he hit the nail on the head

I dunno why people have such a chip on their shoulder, it's hardly harsh to say facilities in Oriel are below par its one of the worst in the league and hasn't changed in 50 years with the exception of the removal of a big puddle and the building of the YDC. Completely fair comment and if you think otherwise you're wearing blinkers. I dont think theres an agenda to it either journalists are just calling it as they and the vast majority of people see it. Oriel Park is unfit for purpose

Drogheda is a kip. The "new" stand in tolka is condemned. You have no shelter from elements in the away end and you are wading in rivers of piss in the toilets. Dalymount half the ground is currently condemned and the away section should be. Finn harps and Sligo are hardly state of the art. Get the government involved. The gaa get multi multi millions of government funding yearly. As do the IRFU.

The government have helped Clubs if they have good plan in place.. Not something half arsed, Finn Harps got 4 million allocated last year for their new stadium which is due to be complete in 2024 https://www.donegaldaily.com/2022/05/18 ... 24-season/

Sligo have plans to redevelop the showgrounds
https://www.the42.ie/sligo-rovers-maste ... 6-May2021/

Dalymount have plans

[Pepsi]

As for our own position, do we deserve better than what Oriel offers?
Most certainly, however where is the money going to come from? Do any of you believe our current owners have €30+ million to build us a ground?
What can fans do?
As fans we should be asking questions at all political levels. There should not be a day that passes where local councillors, TDs., MEPs or Senators are not faced with the question of why the club is not getting support. We should be asking former politicians who claim to be fans to explain why they have done nothing, asking the local politicians who were pivotal in JD downfall why they do not support the idea of a stadium in Dundalk. At the same time, there should be enough skilled people within our fan base to realistically come up with a plan / costing for a retrofit or a greenfield plan.
The general problem that I see is, everyone wants a new ground but very few are willing to do anything to force one. It is a classical case of, sure it will happen when it happens, someone else will look after it and until then we can complain.

Well said. Will be interested to hear what Dermot Ahern has to say tomorrow night given his unique perspective of ex-Minister turned chair of the National Leagues Committee. Agree that any real investment needs to come in capital investment by Government which was the point of Gavin Cummiskeys piece that was dismissed above. Problem for Government is they'll face accusations of favouring one sport over numerous other that are in dire need of capital funding, and it's a hard one to square politically knowing the GAA PR spin will be in outrage overdrive if it was ever suggested never mind acted on

Don´t get me wrong, a very nice man who I have a lot of time for when it comes to windsurfing etc., however Dermot will answer questions and at the end no one will be any the wiser. He did very little if anything for DFC to my knowledge infrastructure wise when he was actively part of the government so why should that change now that he has a nice hobby in the "new" FAI. Have the "new" FAI come out with a plan for anything LOI related, or have they announced anything?
As for GAA spin ... best paid sport in the country. Amateur my back side, if HQ split the money between the counties and clubs within, they wouldn't need the millions of government funding every year. You must give it to them, they certainly know how to lobby and put on the poor face.

[Louth4sam]

The club need to drive this. Come out and say these are our plans and it will cost €X million. Until then we can't really blame Louth county council, the FAI, the government etc. We were sitting with over three million in the bank after 2016 group stages. The time was ideal then to build something behind the town end and we didn't. We only have ourselves to blame

[Richie87]

Thats it. Help will only come if you show some initiative. Finn Harps, Sligo, Bohemians all have plans for their stadiums.

The Minister for Sport Jack Chambers is keen to have good facilities in the league ,but clubs have to do their part too

[Fwats]

Lots of good comments on here. I get all the perspectives to be fair. In my mind the club should come up with a detailed plan and then serious pressure should be applied on every front. Politicians care about votes and if 'soccer' fans and the general community don't lobby hard enough + for long enough it won't go anywhere. Things lined up nicely for rovers. It was in SDCC's interest to get something happening in tallaght too. Reminds me of cities building stadia for NFL franchises to get them to locate there. Not the same level but same idea. Still need to read the IT article, thanks for posting. Standards need to improve across the board in terms of facilities and match night experience but I have no issue with journalists pointing the finger at us. We were at the pinnacle of Irish football for a few years and playing in a dump or tallaght which exemplifies how little money is being invested in the sport.

[Martin Lawlor80]

Anybody on here go to the Pressbox live show in the spirit store? Did Martin Connolly say anything about upgrades to OP?

[TrevDaRev2]

Anybody on here go to the Pressbox live show in the spirit store? Did Martin Connolly say anything about upgrades to OP?

Ye was brilliant. Filippo spoke about Bill being mad to deal with, Jim basicly doing nothing to help with recruitment and planning, and an agent that had a massive say around all players coming into the club. Was pissin against the wind from the start by the sound of it, but thats something a lot already knew

Martin spoke about talks going on in the club but no approach has been made to louth county council, but then i dont think anyone would've expected that in 8/9 months. They'll need to be coming with a concrete plan that's fully costed when they do. Martin also said about some fan survey before the end of the year to try and get fans views on all things dundalk fc so that sounds like its positive, but long and short of it is that were years away from anything but process is a long one he mentioned bohs working on theirs ten years and a sod still hasn't been turned. Anyone know if anythin ever same of that Stadium Development group?

Dermot Ahern said FAI are doing a survey of club facilities at the minute with a focus on academys and state of grounds more generally but wasnt anything of any note really and their budgets are gonna dictate in reality.

Great night fair play to James and Craig

[mike]

I went too, was a great night, very well organised and full credit to James and Craig.

He was very honest and gave a refreshing account of his role, and how things quickly turned sour, but kept mentioning how he so missed having fans at the games,.

Has a quiet few words with him after and I told him too he was probably the only LOI manager ever to have won a cup and played group stages in same season, he was thrilled! It was good to meet and thank him in person, I did for the cup final !

[niall_hearty2000]

I went too, was a great night, very well organised and full credit to James and Craig.

He was very honest and gave a refreshing account of his role, and how things quickly turned sour, but kept mentioning how he so missed having fans at the games,.

Has a quiet few words with him after and I told him too he was probably the only LOI manager ever to have won a cup and played group stages in same season, he was thrilled! It was good to meet and thank him in person, I did for the cup final !

Personally wouldn't hold Filippo accountable for any of the shit show couldn't blame him for taking a chance and accepting the role.. magilton the board big bill and agents are all 100% accountable for how badly it fell apart so quickly.

[TrevDaRev2]

I went too, was a great night, very well organised and full credit to James and Craig.

He was very honest and gave a refreshing account of his role, and how things quickly turned sour, but kept mentioning how he so missed having fans at the games,.

Has a quiet few words with him after and I told him too he was probably the only LOI manager ever to have won a cup and played group stages in same season, he was thrilled! It was good to meet and thank him in person, I did for the cup final !

Personally wouldn't hold Filippo accountable for any of the shit show couldn't blame him for taking a chance and accepting the role.. magilton the board big bill and agents are all 100% accountable for how badly it fell apart so quickly.

That’s it. Was playing a game that he was never gonna win and was sold a pup