Official Takeover Thread 2023

[Towelie]

One thing's for certain, Hoban won't be leaving IF it does turn out to be his agency that takes over the club.

We'll see if he starts tomorrow night.

[Johnnybegood33]

Hopefully a good take over & a new ground . The club would get 5,000 to 6,000 crowds with a top team & proper facilities. It’s a no brainier , with big rewards in Europe . There is no doubt that if you have a winning formula, the rest will follow . The population in Co . Louth has exploded in the last 10 years , they will come to Oriel if the product & facilities are there . Time to come out of THE TIME WARP.

[Johnnybegood33]

Funding for Oriel raised in Oireachtas . 👍

[Chips]

I have only seen StatSports mentioned here. does AC or Fastfix not own 50% of the club?

Seems strange everyone are only mentioning one side of the ownership, am I missing info here?

NO HE ONLY OWNS 30% THEY OWN 70%

[betregal]

Here we go again, rumours abound around the town, mostly due to the owners not keeping channels open with the supporters. A couple of things I would like to comment on.

A) Owners now make a holding statement as they must be embarrassed (if possible) about their conduct to date. Having said that I do feel they are close to finalizing some sort of a take over, would have been no harm to let the supporters know.

B) Talk of the owners not talking to each other. From my understanding it appears that it's only one person who is going about criticising the other 2 owners. How do we know who is telling truths Mr Connolly or the Stat Sport lads. With all the rumours doing the rounds I have yet to hear of the Stat Sports lads putting out any innuendos. Very easy to make yourself the innocent party.

C) People saying Mr Connolly keeping the club afloat, from my perspective it's the dwindling number of supporters that are keeping the club afloat. By the way didn't Mr Connolly & Brown do handsomely when they sold the club to Peak 6.

D) Having spoken recently to someone who was involved in the club when the famous Save our club was operating and statements about the club going under, they stated the club was never going under, much like the present rumours at present it grew legs and became an urban legend. Some people made it an opportunity to become heroes. Where are they now. Please save us again.

D) Talking with fellow supporters I was left asking are we really a football town or a big club. When Kenny was winning us.leagues, cups runs ins Europe what was the attendances, maybe 4000. Now.the hard core support is what 17/1800. Big club I do not think so. Yes we do punch above our weight quite a bit.

E) The league has changed quite a bit in recent years, quite a few clubs getting investment, our crisis is we are being left behind both in money & board terms. We can't produce players, we can't maintain a ruins of a ground. Apart from not owning there.own grounds (don't like saying this) Rovers are putting us to shame. Academy that is selling young players on & getting great income and sell on clauses. Quite a few clubs selling players on, we have produced 1 player in recent years fit to play loi football never mind selling players overseas.

Alas, our problems run very deep & perhaps it's only when the present owners went in and realised the problems they didn't & still don't know how to deal with all the problems our club is encountering. Just a few thoughts to mull over, are people being fair to the present owners? I for one would not like to be involved in trying to run the club, especially with so many rumours, both old and new, experts in the stands and grounds. A dose of reality we are in a pitiful state of affairs.

[Scubs]

Here we go again, rumours abound around the town, mostly due to the owners not keeping channels open with the supporters. A couple of things I would like to comment on.

A) Owners now make a holding statement as they must be embarrassed (if possible) about their conduct to date. Having said that I do feel they are close to finalizing some sort of a take over, would have been no harm to let the supporters know.

B) Talk of the owners not talking to each other. From my understanding it appears that it's only one person who is going about criticising the other 2 owners. How do we know who is telling truths Mr Connolly or the Stat Sport lads. With all the rumours doing the rounds I have yet to hear of the Stat Sports lads putting out any innuendos. Very easy to make yourself the innocent party.

C) People saying Mr Connolly keeping the club afloat, from my perspective it's the dwindling number of supporters that are keeping the club afloat. By the way didn't Mr Connolly & Brown do handsomely when they sold the club to Peak 6.

D) Having spoken recently to someone who was involved in the club when the famous Save our club was operating and statements about the club going under, they stated the club was never going under, much like the present rumours at present it grew legs and became an urban legend. Some people made it an opportunity to become heroes. Where are they now. Please save us again.

D) Talking with fellow supporters I was left asking are we really a football town or a big club. When Kenny was winning us.leagues, cups runs ins Europe what was the attendances, maybe 4000. Now.the hard core support is what 17/1800. Big club I do not think so. Yes we do punch above our weight quite a bit.

E) The league has changed quite a bit in recent years, quite a few clubs getting investment, our crisis is we are being left behind both in money & board terms. We can't produce players, we can't maintain a ruins of a ground. Apart from not owning there.own grounds (don't like saying this) Rovers are putting us to shame. Academy that is selling young players on & getting great income and sell on clauses. Quite a few clubs selling players on, we have produced 1 player in recent years fit to play loi football never mind selling players overseas.

Alas, our problems run very deep & perhaps it's only when the present owners went in and realised the problems they didn't & still don't know how to deal with all the problems our club is encountering. Just a few thoughts to mull over, are people being fair to the present owners? I for one would not like to be involved in trying to run the club, especially with so many rumours, both old and new, experts in the stands and grounds. A dose of reality we are in a pitiful state of affairs.

I’m going to correct you on point D, I was one of the founding members of Save Our Club and let me tell you it was very close to going under I can assure you of that but I do agree this time round the situation is a bit different and to be fair I haven’t seen many Dundalk fans saying we are going under to be honest, it’s only non Dundalk fans saying that and giving it legs. Thankfully we are no where near to situation of 2012.

Edit: Also I find your comment about Save Our Club quite disrespectful towards myself, other members of SOC and every fan who player their part.

At no point was anyone trying to be “heroes” as you claim, if you had of seen just half of the work that went on behind the scenes you would have a different opinion. Just a group of passionate fans not wanting to see the club go under and yes it was very close to it. While you’re very entitled to your opinion about SOC, but thankfully not too many Dundalk fans have a such a negative view of it.

[TheWeeOriel]

Here we go again, rumours abound around the town, mostly due to the owners not keeping channels open with the supporters. A couple of things I would like to comment on.

A) Owners now make a holding statement as they must be embarrassed (if possible) about their conduct to date. Having said that I do feel they are close to finalizing some sort of a take over, would have been no harm to let the supporters know.

B) Talk of the owners not talking to each other. From my understanding it appears that it's only one person who is going about criticising the other 2 owners. How do we know who is telling truths Mr Connolly or the Stat Sport lads. With all the rumours doing the rounds I have yet to hear of the Stat Sports lads putting out any innuendos. Very easy to make yourself the innocent party.

C) People saying Mr Connolly keeping the club afloat, from my perspective it's the dwindling number of supporters that are keeping the club afloat. By the way didn't Mr Connolly & Brown do handsomely when they sold the club to Peak 6.

D) Having spoken recently to someone who was involved in the club when the famous Save our club was operating and statements about the club going under, they stated the club was never going under, much like the present rumours at present it grew legs and became an urban legend. Some people made it an opportunity to become heroes. Where are they now. Please save us again.

D) Talking with fellow supporters I was left asking are we really a football town or a big club. When Kenny was winning us.leagues, cups runs ins Europe what was the attendances, maybe 4000. Now.the hard core support is what 17/1800. Big club I do not think so. Yes we do punch above our weight quite a bit.

E) The league has changed quite a bit in recent years, quite a few clubs getting investment, our crisis is we are being left behind both in money & board terms. We can't produce players, we can't maintain a ruins of a ground. Apart from not owning there.own grounds (don't like saying this) Rovers are putting us to shame. Academy that is selling young players on & getting great income and sell on clauses. Quite a few clubs selling players on, we have produced 1 player in recent years fit to play loi football never mind selling players overseas.

Alas, our problems run very deep & perhaps it's only when the present owners went in and realised the problems they didn't & still don't know how to deal with all the problems our club is encountering. Just a few thoughts to mull over, are people being fair to the present owners? I for one would not like to be involved in trying to run the club, especially with so many rumours, both old and new, experts in the stands and grounds. A dose of reality we are in a pitiful state of affairs.

Very good points, the reality is that for all the good done by certain parties of the ownership these leaks of info to friends around the town are extremely unhelpful.

[Johnnybegood33]

Well , fair play to Stephen O ‘ Donnell to lash the media & a lot of the Prima Donnas on the Oriel Web site . Know alls , when actually they know F All. I have said it from day one , the amount of negative
stuff that comes out about Dundalk . I often tried to put my finger on it & all I could come up with was , that it was in the DNA . They beat Bohs last night , the man that’s supposed to be leaving made the two goals . They played their hearts out , they did the same away to Sligo Rovers , they are trying so hard to qualify for Europe . They knocked the League Champions out of the Cup . The negativity ( abuse ) that Peak 6 got & Mike & Bill got was disgraceful , from the armchair cowards . They . didn’t want Hull City , to pump millions in to the club , when we haven’t a pot to piss in . When I saw the happy faces on Stephen & Garts last night after the Bohs game , it looked like old times again . Now what I say to the negative ass holes , f right off in to oblivion , if you can’t support the club in good times & not so good , & can’t say something positive , keep your mouths shut . Our club , my bolix . I don’t see any of you putting your hands in your pockets .
Massive credit to Stephen O Donnell , Garts etc . for doing an incredible professional job , in the face of adversity . Cmon The Town .

[mike]

Here we go again, rumours abound around the town, mostly due to the owners not keeping channels open with the supporters. A couple of things I would like to comment on.



D) Talking with fellow supporters I was left asking are we really a football town or a big club. When Kenny was winning us.leagues, cups runs ins Europe what was the attendances, maybe 4000. Now.the hard core support is what 17/1800. Big club I do not think so. Yes we do punch above our weight quite a bit.

Just on the point on crowds, very rarely maybe 2, 3 max times a season under SK and even in peak during 16-17 did we get 4k, one thing that seems clear is our crowds are actually quite consistently modest. While other clubs have seen huge spikes, our figures have mostly settled and in fact are incredibly similar most of the past 8 years, below table does not count 2020 or 21 due to Covid.

Bohs - 4,263 (3,209 {2022};2,878{19}; 2,148; 2,006; 1,627; 1,724; 1,395; 1,597; 1,496; 1,488)
Cork - 3,829 (3,517 FD; 2,505; 4,245; 4,559; 2,533; 3,263; 3,777; 1,965; 2,786; 2,128 FD)
Derry - 3,340 (3,184; 2,049; 2,297; 1,517; 1,563; 1,124; 1,106; 1,446; 1,460; 2,135)
Drogheda - 1,900 (1,941; 721 FD; ; 377 FD; 850; 583 FD; 813; 1,064; 817; 977; 811)
Dundalk - 2,627 (2,689; 2,775; 2,738; 2,674; 2,738; 3,158; 2,534; 1,997; 949; 1,355)
Pat's - 4,252 (3,489; 1,919; 1,621; 1,504; 1,088; 1,321; 1,386; 1,687; 1,474; 1,346)
Rovers - 6,079 (5,379; 3,384; 2,749; 2,809; 2,041; 2,890; 2,269; 2,763; 3,127; 3,779)
Shels - 3,355 (2,913; 1,071 FD; 654 FD; 496 FD; 554 FD; 596 FD; 713 FD; 1,114; 1,187; 781 FD)
Sligo - 2,637 (2,166; 1,995; 1,853; 1,717; 1,750; 1,750; 1,959; 2,342; 3,007; 2,103)
UCD - 874 (953; 739; 365 FD; 236 FD; 297 FD; 216 FD; 397; 487; 506; 558; 610)

[niall_hearty2000]

Well , fair play to Stephen O ‘ Donnell to lash the media & a lot of the Prima Donnas on the Oriel Web site . Know alls , when actually they know F All. I have said it from day one , the amount of negative
stuff that comes out about Dundalk . I often tried to put my finger on it & all I could come up with was , that it was in the DNA . They beat Bohs last night , the man that’s supposed to be leaving made the two goals . They played their hearts out , they did the same away to Sligo Rovers , they are trying so hard to qualify for Europe . They knocked the League Champions out of the Cup . The negativity ( abuse ) that Peak 6 got & Mike & Bill got was disgraceful , from the armchair cowards . They . didn’t want Hull City , to pump millions in to the club , when we haven’t a pot to piss in . When I saw the happy faces on Stephen & Garts last night after the Bohs game , it looked like old times again . Now what I say to the negative ass holes , f right off in to oblivion , if you can’t support the club in good times & not so good , & can’t say something positive , keep your mouths shut . Our club , my bolix . I don’t see any of you putting your hands in your pockets .
Massive credit to Stephen O Donnell , Garts etc . for doing an incredible professional job , in the face of adversity . Cmon The Town .

Ok happy clappy. Are you putting Ur hand in Ur pockets more than any other fan on this forum that U have such disdain for? Fans might not be investing as owners but still leave thousands of euro every season with the club between season tickets merch, food, drink, programmes How do you know there isn't some truth in anything being leaked in the public domain? Equally I agree there are far too many rumours floating about for any or all of them to be true. Bottom line I personally have no insight knowledge but if the owners are reportedly rumoured to be not talking to each other then how is that a healthy environment for OUR club to be run? Would it not be more prudent for the owners to engage with each other firstly and then the fans to quell the rumours instead of the smokescreen they put out on Thursday which only fuels the Chinese whispers? In two yrs they have engaged twice with fans once to knock the Hull City takeover and now on Thursday.
And yes Stephen O'Donnell deserves great credit as he clearly got sold a pup.

[niall_hearty2000]

https://m.independent.ie/regionals/lout ... Cm8rwKzM3k

A very fair and honest piece from Stephen. He hits the nail on the head to be honest

[Johnnybegood33]

Where would thousands of euro get you , it’s millions the club needed to build a proper stadium . Think of the millions lost going to Tallaght for Euro matches . We need a blueprint of Rovers .

[niall_hearty2000]

Where would thousands of euro get you , it’s millions the club needed to build a proper stadium . Think of the millions lost going to Tallaght for Euro matches . We need a blueprint of Rovers .

And who had pumped millions in? Nobody. Unless we get FAI, government and town and country council support then we simply won't have a new or proper stadium. You're looking at 20-30m for a modest newly built stadium that probably wouldn't meet European criteria, and a minimum of €1m per season to be reasonably competitive. So we would need the group stages of Europe regularly for that to ever happen.

[Johnnybegood33]

Reading what you write Niall , it’s like watching paint dry . You would be one of the ones caught in a Time Warp for me . Have some ambition .

[niall_hearty2000]

Reading what you write Niall , it’s like watching paint dry . You would be one of the ones caught in a Time Warp for me . Have some ambition .

Difference in being realistic and a dreamer.