Except this is wrong. A large chunk of what they're putting in is the insurance money they got for the Riverside Stadium flood. So they're also bringing their own money to the table. Regardless - you're ignoring the fundamental point here. Even a small club like Stute can see that they need to look after their own future. Why does Derry City seek to reduce itself to a level of infantility - where we can't survive within bargain basement rent from the Council and handouts from our Chairman? How can you defend this craziness?
Of course a new stadium is going to cost money. This shouldn't be considered a newsflash. We're very lucky to have an extremely wealthy and generous Chairman. And he;s also spendig £2m on a new stand in a stadium we don't own. We lease the Brandywell for a pittance ourselves btw. Works out at about £1,000 per match, when we're liftig over £30,000 on the gate. So Stute are not the only ones getting financial help. And fair play to them for comig up with a community-centred plan which qualifies them for nominal groud rent. We just expect to pay low revt because we're Derry City.
nothing is finacially bonkers if you're a multi-billionaire
Surely what is really bonkers is spending money on an asset we don't own and which we have very limited control over and access to? Can you outline how the Brandywell will be able to become a venue capable of hosting UEFA group stage football? On top of the 8,000 seats required there are also other regulations about extensive o-public parking, VIP areas, media facilities etc. Can the current Brandywell site genuiely accommodate all of those? Has anyoe seriously looked at this with a dispassiovate eye? I was in the changing rooms at the ground for the first time last week btw, and I would say they're an embarassment for a professional football club. They're small and basic and look like something you'd find in a school. Yet we hope to become Ireland's biggest club, atracting top players and regularly playing at an advanced stage in Europe? I've genuinely seen superior changing facilities at non-league clubs in England.If the Brandywel gets to an 8,000 capacity - which would be almost 4 times what it currently holds for a lot of games - then how are all those people going to get there for games? Where are they goig to park, as realistiically that's how most will seek to travel? It was ok having that many there in the late 1980s when there were less cars about & a lot more people walked to games. But the area around the ground is full as it is now with less tha 2,500 at games. So how is it going to handle four times as many going there?
The Academy should certainly be a key focus - but not the sole one. A club like Derry should be able to handle multiple development priorities all at the one time. We're still a very amateur outfit off the pitch btw - with very few staff and heavily reliant upon a small number of ageing volunteers.marcoloco wrote: ↑Wed Aug 21, 2024 3:05 pm All the efforts should be on the academy or training camp. That’s where the infrastructure is lacking and that’s where it’s needed and is most important. You play in a stadium once a fortnight and we have enough sway with the Council to add a third stand and the changes to the surface will come not before long.
From what I'm told, though, the Academy plan has not made much progress in terms of securing a site. The original proposal of sharing with Ulster Uni is dead now, as they need the Foyle College site for student accommodation. Things have been very quiet ever since about the Academy.
But there is a way to kill 2 birds with 1 stone. In an ideal world Deerry City would relocate to a more suitable location, and Brandywell would become the site for the Derry City Academy (as well as continue its current usage for other sports teams etc).
I've never said we should be gifted the Brandywell. I've beeV very clear personally for years that I think the Brandywell is the wrong location for our longer term future. It has so may limitations. Even the fact that the area ca't be policed properly isn't the cause for celebration we've tended to view it as fans. It's not a positive that our club is located in a area that is so dysfuctional that the police give it a wide-berth on matchights. Then there's the fact that so much of the area aroud the Brandywell is essentially a shrine to violent Republicanism. We've probably all become blind to it ourselves, but it was only when a friend from out of town went to a game and raised it that I started to notice it more. From the big 'IRA' cut out letters along the Lone Moor Road to the InLA memorial shrine next to the Southend Stand entrance. Derry fans like to think of the Irish League as beig a sectarian place, but there is nothing even vaguely comparable to any of that at IL grounds (there used to be a UVF murak outside Seaview until a few years ago, but it's been removed). Even Derry supporters who are into Republican politics can surely see that it is not a good look for us to claim that Derry City is for everyone whilst our stadium is surrounded with such symbolism. It can't help pur cause when trying to secure big sponsors either.
The Chairman has the means to do whatever the hell he wants. So far that has extended solely to "throwing around" literally millions of pounds for years now o often mediocre players - with nothing but an FAI Cup win to show for it. now he's also spending some of it on facilities - whcih is of course welcome, but it's money being sunk into a facility we don't own. Would you rent a flat and then expect to have to pay to replace the kitchen in it?
The bottom lie is this. If owning your own ground is such a bad idea for football clubs, then why do the vast majority of them do it? Why is the entire model of the GAA structured around ecouraging and enabling their clubs to secure and develop their own grounds? Are they all stupid and we're the wise guys ? Or is it really the other way around?
Rovers are out of the Cup and could well find themselves not in Europe at all next season. So much for it being a reliable source of money. Or they could bomb out in the first round against a de-facto pub team as we did. Dundalk are a shambles currently, and Peak 6 were always going to bail at some point - so they're a poster child for the folly of depending upon European money. The history of Irish football is littered with the corpses of clubs who have chased the dream, spent speculatively and paid the price (ourselves icluded). Yet you're advocatig that the finacial structure of Derry City be based largely on such a practise. Our own club has gone bust 2 or 3 times for the very same thing (I honestly can't remember whicn it is at this stage) . Is it really such a crazy idea to state that we should seek to become masters of our destiny? If small clubs like Stute can find a way to do it (without a multi-billionaire backer) - the why can't we ? Agai - with the vasy majority of football and GAA clubs busting their balls to secure their own futures via their own stadium - are they the fools and us the wise guys, or is it really the other way around?marcoloco wrote: ↑Wed Aug 21, 2024 3:05 pm Rovers are a well run club and have shown that European money is reliable. Dundalk lifted 5M in 1 season and the owners cashed in and sold up leaving them broke. So get the structure right and there is the potential to capitalise from Europe and player sales.
Currently we do neither and so the chairman’s generous handouts continue.
Our club is currently built on financial sand - whether that sand is European or not.
