Just over a year ago in a conversation with the General Secretary of the Professional Footballers Association of Ireland [PFAI], Stephen McGuinness, at a social gathering I posed a question to him. It concerned a player being offered two hypothetical opportunities of which the first was a guaranteed contract of three hundred euro per week for ten years or an alternative one offering a grand a week, but for only two years?
Far from being a trick question it was based on the PFAI’s commitment to working on the long term player welfare and the reliability of a secure income of €144,000 - €1,200 per month for a decade - as against a contract that would offer 30% more - but might not last more than a season or two. The response surprised me as it was deemed in the best interest of the player to forgo security and take the increased offer.
Perhaps in the era of the boom players were right to maximise their earnings, given their limited sporting lifespan. However the risk of such an approach were obvious in a league that has for years been troubled by a lack of money as in my view the advice would have been the secure offer. The reality is that security of tenure, albeit on a reduced income, always proves to be the better option.
As the landscape unwinds in the domestic game over recent weeks the news that Sporting Fingal – one of the most progressive franchises in the history of the league – was unable to meet players wages it was a warning that even such a progressive club is not immune to the financial problems affecting Ireland generally. Given that few football clubs break even, or make a profit, the notion that the vicious circle of debt - that has always plagued Irish football - was to be broken in the good times has proven misplaced.
Only last week Chelsea FC plc announced their results for the financial year ending June 30, 2010 and shows the group had become cash positive for the first time since its acquisition by Roman Abramovich with a positive cash inflow of £3.8m in the year - compared to a net outflow of £16.9m in the previous year. On that basis Chelsea believed it was well positioned to meet UEFA's financial fair play rules. However they also noted that the group had a reduced operating loss of £68.6m on an improved group turnover of £205.8m. The operating loss was £3.6m better than the previous year.
But the total loss for the financial year was £70.9m with the Amortisation of player transfer fees constituting the largest component of the difference between the positive cash flow and the operating loss. Clearly if full time professional football is not a profitable business at Chelsea, on a simpler scale in Ireland, the rationale still bears the same conclusion in the Airtricity League.
The far reaching thinking that established UCD AFC as a League of Ireland Cub in 1979 was devised by the late Dr. Tony O’Neill who learned from his visits to US Universities of the value of offering talented athletes scholarships that enabled them to develop skills at the highest level whilst acquiring academic qualifications and life skills. As the club faces the challenges of the new season it is now as close to an amateur franchise as possible having cut back on player costs with that original vision proving the vital advantage for the past thirty years.
Given the dynamics that have affected Bohemians Football Club in the close season the truth is that winning the League in 2008 and 2009 only added costs as successful clubs attract the best players - seeking their chance of winning silverware – and also increasing earnings along the way as clubs sign added talent. With these increased costs there appears to have been a failure to match it with improved income and given the clubs have to meet their annual UEFA Licensing regulations the pressure to resolve all matters overhanging from the previous season became a central issue.
The era of development that featured during property boom of recent years meant that many football clubs located in dense urban areas suddenly saw their stadia increase in value and as a result had assets that appealed to development companies – becoming a means of securing much needed funding. In the case of Bohemians they reached such an agreement and at St .Patrick’s' Athletic investors saw value in the Inchicore area with Hunky Dory Park of such value that Drogheda United planned a move to a purpose built arena nestled in a residential development on the outskirts of the town. Indeed, clubs around the country contemplated similar projects.
The downturn however has highlighted that much of the income from those agreements went to meet increased short-term expenditure and now, with the developers facing their own challenges in the collapsed property market, the cubs are falling short on the incomes side of things. For Sporting Fingal the departure of developer Gerry Gannon seems a case in point.
With clubs back now trying to position the Airtricity League as a family entertainment alternative on a Friday night they find themselves pitching into a distracted market with many fans more worried about their own finances.
As a former Director of Waterford United, consultant to Shamrock Rovers and member of UCD AFC Strategic Plan Committee, the most fascinating lapse by most clubs during the boom appears to be basic marketing having become over reliant on their benefactors as the means of meeting any budgetary shortfall. Those day-to-day activities with fans, such as celebrity dinners, golf days and working more closely with sponsors, were all forgotten over the past few seasons it would seem. So reviving some of these events now, in these stringent times, is extremely challenging to say the least.
The reality is that the chances of increasing revenue to meet costs is unlikely and so days of full time football in Ireland are now history and gone are those managerial dreams of coaching players twice a day, five days a week. Although the benefits of the summer season have borne some fruit that assault on the Champions League knock out stages proper, or the advanced stages of the Europa League, have still eluded Irish football. It may be that the window of opportunity has now passed and the chance to emulate Norwegian club Rosenberg, with its almost annual Champions qualification, may have also gone.
Undoubtedly such a breakthrough would have guaranteed a hefty dividend for an Airtricity League club had it been achieved and as success breeds success, the equivalent of Rosenberg could have become a viable footballing operation in Ireland winning the league more times than not. To date at least one League of Ireland club has progressed to the next round of a European competition for the last 10 years, excluding the 2002–03 season.
Shelbourne and Bohemians signalled the start of the rapid upturn in 2000–01, with wins in the Champions League and UEFA Cup and in 2004 -05 Shelbourne progressed past KR Reykuavik and Hadjuk Split to reach the 3rd qualifying round of the competition. Cork City defeated Djurgården in 2005, having beaten Malmö 4–1 on aggregate in 2004, while Derry City beat former UEFA Cup winners, IFK Göteborg, 2–0 on aggregate in 2006.
In 2008–09, Drogheda concluded 3 successive seasons of victories in the 1st qualifying round of European competitions with a narrow defeat to Dynamo Kyiv. However, the costs associated with those campaigns have proven to be unsustainable for the clubs involved in most cases.
Sadly for those players who had chosen professional football as a fulltime career the domestic league is no longer sustainable with many now out of contract and so the PFAI have focused on finding opportunities in other European leagues.
Last January Liam Kelly named an 18-man squad for the FIFPro Winter Tournament 2011 in Oslo, Norway which was a showcase for Irish players to seek contracts in Scandinavia. The tournament also featured out of contract players from Norway, Sweden and Finland with four games of 25 minutes per half; two semi-finals, a final and a 3rd/4th place play-off. According to the PFAI at the time over 80 players, who were out of contract, expressed an interest in participating in the tournament with places for only a quarter of them.
Stephen McGuinness explained at the time "FIFPro have successfully organised tournaments during the summer for the past few years and we felt that for the countries who operate in a "summer season" we needed to provide our players with a vehicle to showcase their talents and earn a full time professional contract."
As the new season approaches I regret not making my point more forcefully with McGuinness that time at the SWAI dinner as it was always clear that sustainable income in the League of Ireland was going to be a problem given the lack of a proven business model. My advice would always be don’t underestimate the value of security against short term opportunism given the history of Irish domestic soccer
So now as the new season fast approaches for me there is a touch of deja-vu all over again
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