IF it seems like it was only recently that Cobh Ramblers chairman Bill O’Leary was heralding new owners for the club, well, that is because he was.
And if Mick McDermott’s side succeed in winning promotion, there will be an obvious temptation to turn a blind eye to what went on off the pitch.
But we are now in an era in which long-standing community institutions are being bought and sold with increasing ease and regularity.
And, however much the credentials of previously-unknown investors are stressed, it is hard to get away from the nagging fear that, sooner or later, there will be a casualty.
It has not been a good few weeks for the multi-club model with Drogheda United excluded and Crystal Palace demoted from European competition because of their ownership structure.
John Textor — the American who held a 77 per cent stake in Lyon as well as a 43 per cent share in Palace — was on TalkSPORT last week venting about French football authorities.
They had relegated Lyon from the top flight — with an accompanying agreement not to enter the Europa League — because of concerns over the club’s sustainability. But an appeal was successful.
Textor accused the DNGC of refusing to take into account the annual average of sales worth €100million of players who had come through the club’s underage structure.
But that number was not the one which would have grabbed most people’s attention as Textor spoke of the ‘cashpooling’ which went on between Lyon and Brazilian club Botafogo, where he has a 90 per cent stake.
He said the French club benefitted to the tune of €125m over a 12-month period with €65m going the other way with the flows occurring to deal with ‘counter-seasonality’.
And, if the way he portrayed it suggested Lyon had benefitted from this arrangement, a report from L’Equipe suggested differently.
It claimed Lyon paid the salaries of 54 players when they had only 30 players in their squad, because it was also covering wages for Botafogo with a further €91m used to sign three players for the Rio outfit.
There has, thankfully, been nothing of this scale seen in Ireland but the slew of anecdotes from Peak6’s stewardship of Dundalk will never cease to amuse.
What has happened at Oriel Park since is a reminder that having local owners guarantees neither stability nor success.
But there’s an element of reassurance that comes with a proprietor that has a connection to the area. Each outside investor or owner deserves to be assessed on their own merits.
But there have been enough issues elsewhere for there to be grounds for concern about the multi-club model and its increasing prevalence here.
When O’Leary welcomed FC32 in October, he referred to it being ‘a potentially transformative deal.
It recognizes our history, our relatively strong operating and financial models and positions us for growth in so many areas into the future’.
Presumably, he envisaged that future as lasting more than six months but, by the start of April, the club was distancing itself from the group.
FC32 had already pulled the plug on its funding of Austrian outfit SKN St Polten after their purchase of Spezia in Italy.
RAMBLERS TAKEOVER
So, no wonder Ramblers were pleased with the arrival of Digital Athlete Ventures who helped pay the bills ahead of acquiring a 90 per cent stake, announced at 3am yesterday.
Its website says its ‘company-building mentality drives strategic, operational, and financial services that transform clubs into championship organizations’.
Ramblers have yet to be added to the ‘partners’ section which, as of now, contains just one entry with DAV saying it is the proud sponsor of Marc Anthony’s E1 Team Miami which represents the city in the world’s first all-electric powerboat racing championship.
The club statement thanked Eric Perez who ‘represented and supported the club throughout the transaction’.
You might recognise the Canadian’s name as the owner of Truro City. Last week, he and Nick Giannotti acquired a 50 per cent stake in Irish League outfit Larne.
Five days before that announcement, in a post on Athlone Town’s website, Giannotti wrote that it was his privilege to ‘take on the responsibility of leading this historic club into its next chapter’.
There were no details provided on whether this was a takeover or investment and who else was involved. The new Athlone chairman is also a Plymouth Argyle director.
Will this web have implications for day-to-day business? Experiences elsewhere suggest that is possible.
‘PARTY LINE’
Last month, Keith Long spoke on Off The Ball about his experience of working for Waterford, also owned by Fleetwood Town.
Long said: “When you’re part of a multi-club model, recruitment decisions are sometimes made for you.
“Fleetwood have a great network but I’ve great experience in terms of the League of Ireland and knowing what it takes to win games.
“You’re part of a multi-club group and when an owner decides X, Y or Z happens, you’ve got to toe the party line.”
Long did not describe it in purely negative terms and the Blues have benefitted from the association.
In January 2024, they had two bids for Tommy Lonergan turned down by St Pat’s. Fleetwood then met his get-out clause of €60,000 and the only surprise about him being loaned to Waterford was that it did not happen until 12 months later.
Similarly, being owned by the Trivela Group, who also own Walsall and Silkeborg, has been good for Drogheda.
Douglas James-Taylor’s 12-month loan saw him play a key role in their FAI Cup win and them retaining their top-flight status.
The striker alluded to the slightly unusual feel to negotiations about a new deal, as his contract with Walsall was coming to an end.
He said: “It’s a tricky one because it’s the same conversation with the same people but two different clubs.”
Although he may have been surplus to requirements at Walsall, Kevin Doherty wanted to keep him.
EXTRA CONSIDERATION
The owners’ mistaken belief that significant compensation would result if another League of Ireland club signed him led to them being caught out with Bohemians landing him on a free.
This was despite Drogheda receiving nothing in a similar situation when James Brown left them to join Blackburn Rovers in 2022.
Coming hot on the heels of Drogheda losing out on European football as a result of Silkeborg qualifying because they missed a deadline to place one of the clubs into a blind trust to satisfy Uefa’s rules on ownership, it was another costly mistake.
Running a sustainable Irish football club is extremely difficult.
Running one as part of a group where competing interests have to be taken into account does not make it any easier.
And there is an ever-present fear that, if multi-club owners decide they have to ditch one of their interests, there is a good chance that it will be the Irish one — which is never the senior partner in any of these arrangements — that may bear the brunt of it.
While Ramblers have managed it this time, finding someone to pick up the pieces may not always prove so easy.
