It looks so bad for Dundalk now

While Dundalk's hopes for survival in the Premier Division next season look all but gone with results on the pitch, off the pitch deep concern for the future of the club off the pitch are much worse.

Dundalk went down to a 2-1 defeat on Friday night against Waterford who are right in the mix for the battle for a European place. Dundalk were very unlucky not to get at least a draw by the time the game was over.

But the outlook remains very bleak for the second most successful club in the League of Ireland. Anybody who may have thought the club will most certainly at least finish out the season can think again. I was very relieved on Thursday when I heard the wages from the previous week had been paid. And of course, it was a relief.

But my illusionist hopes that the club can somehow get things right off the pitch as the season draws to a close came to an end when it emerged that but for the supporters club neither a team bus would have taken the team to Waterford nor would they have got much needed food either.

Only for the GoFundMe page set up by the supporters club, it's likely that this game might not have gone ahead. Things off the pitch are really bad for Dundalk now. Player's Union Chief Stephen McGuinness has claimed the club could go out of business in the next couple of weeks.

He said he fears that money is just not there for this week's wages. He said things were so bad that supporters had to pay for the hiring of the bus to take Dundalk to Waterford.

The same supporters also had to pay for the players' food both to Waterford and back. Stephen McGuinness told Saturday's FAI AGM that he felt that the current situation at Dundalk should be discussed.

McGuinness said that the work of the League office had been greatly appreciated by the players at Dundalk over the past two weeks. Stephen McGuinness said that it was 12 years since the last League club went out of business. He added that it was seven years since there was a pay problem and that was at Bray Wanderers.

He said the League of Ireland had done well over the past number of years. “I think that we now face the serious fact that Dundalk could go out of business within two weeks. And it is a serious, serious problem.

“I look around and some people think Dundalk is going to be saved. I do not get that. At this moment there are no wages there for the players next week. I have written to the FAI board. I wrote to the FAI chairman Tony Keohanne last week and I acknowledge his response to come and meet.

“But with the horse bolted at this stage, some of the things we need to fix here and I have put this on record to the board that the ownership is not robust enough. We need a unit in the finance department to look at how the finances of our clubs are managed.

In the NIFL up the north, they have a separate company to look after this. At some stage, we need to get owners to put money into an escrow account. At least 50 per cent would be made up of players wages to ensure that what has happened at Dundalk. does not happen again.''

Stephen McGuinness is a former Dundalk centre half. He led the club to an FAI cup win in 2002 a week after the club were relegated in Monaghan.

Stephen Kenny was at the game at the RSC grounds on Saturday. I am sure he had a strong interest in watching his son Eoin. But his main priority was to watch a Waterford side that his Pat's team will play in Inchicore next Friday night.

Club captain John Mountney was deeply disappointed with the result on the pitch. “We were particularly disappointed with the way we were beaten. We were denied a stonewall penalty at a critical time in the game when we were behind. The results just have not been going our way.

We gave ourselves a mountain to climb by conceding two preventable goals in the first fifteen minutes of the game. Then to have been denied the penalty, it always looked as if it wasn't going to be our night.

“I hate criticising officials. But we have had two decisions by referees in the last two games that have cost us massively. We can not allow ourselves to feel sorry for ourselves. We just have to get on with things and try and get results in the last few games.

“But that decision by the referee in not giving the penalty denied us not only of not getting a goal back. Waterford would not only have been just a goal ahead. They would also have been down to 10 men for most of the game. We had chances in the second half.

“The keeper saved one of my efforts. I should have scored that and it would have been 2-2 after Jamie Gullen had got a goal back for us. There is no lack of fight in us. We just have to be more clinical in front of goals.

“The fact that wages were not paid last week is no excuse for performances on the pitch. Everybody knows the situation at the club. It's so sad, to be honest with you. It's such a worrying situation. I have been here since 2012 when things were last so bad. I really feel for the fans.

“But these same fans gave us such a massive pick up this week when they got together and made such a unified approach in their reaction to news of the crisis that has hit us. It showed all the young players how much the club means to the fans.

“The GoFundMe page set up by the supporters club has been such a fine example. We would not even be here tonight only the fans put the money together to pay for our bus.

“We would not have had the food before the game to fuel us, again were it not for that fact that the fans paid for all of this. We are also very grateful to the FAI and the PFAI for paying the wages we were owed. We are not making massive earnings. Everybody is living differently week to week.

“There are players from the UK who are living in houses who are wondering what will happen if the rent is not paid. Other players have mortgages and have kids. That's just the way of it. We have not heard from the owner as a group of players.

“Last week I called on the owner to address the situation. There was a statement during the week. But we as players have heard nothing. I am very disappointed that we have heard nothing from the owner to us directly as players. This is because I personally just love this club.

“It's not just me, it's the rest of the players, the staff, the supporters and people like yourself who just love this club. We will do everything we can on the pitch to do all we can. We will fight to the very last game.

“But the very positive is that I am not surprised by the fans getting together in the way they have to support us. I saw it happen in 2012. I know that it is a different times. But I am so proud to put the armband on as I go out on the pitch. The support of the fans is so appreciated by the players.

“It most certainly does not go unnoticed by us. We have seen the team not getting the results. They stay on the pitch and try to show the supporters for all the help they have given and will in the future.

“The club is in a very uncertain situation. It could be heading for examination. But that's above the players and the fans. They have got together to see what they can do. It's so magnificent to see. But it's just all the uncertainty.

“We have to try and block all of this when we get onto the pitch and see what we can do. We still have six massive games left to see if we can get out of trouble in the table. I want to stay on at Dundalk next season. I never want to leave here.

“I want to give everything for the club as long as I feel fit and whoever is in charge, I still believe the owner must come over here and explain what's happening. There are people's livelihoods at stake here. Players and staff deserve to know what's happening and especially the fans.

“Dundalk FC has always been a community club. I am just very disappointed that none of the stakeholders in the club have been properly addressed. If the club is moving towards an examiner ship or whatever we deserve to be told. We are all human beings.

“There should have been a lot more respect for this than there has been. But sure look, that is where we are at. It's all out of our hands. And look I am very grateful to the fans for all of their help and support.”

It's clear from the words of John Mountney that nobody knows what will happen to Dundalk. But the issue of examinership that he brought up will cast dark shadows over the future of the club in some senses. If this happens Dundalk will be automatically relegated.

Not only that how long will it take the examiner to get issues at the club resolved. He or she may not be able to resolve anything and the club will fold. Licences for the First Division will be issued at some stage after Christmas.

Should Dundalk still be in examination, I find it hard to see them getting a licence for next season. But I do not know the answer to this issue. But we could have a situation next season where Dundalk will be playing no League of Ireland football for a season or maybe ever again.

That could be the extreme situation. But it's a possibility. I would like to see the FAI appoint a forensic accountant to carry out a detailed examination of Dundalk FC and see how the club has got itself into the mess it is in. The examination could look at what has gone wrong at Oriel over the past number of years.

The revelation from the Dundalk captain that the club received financial help from the FAI and the PFAI shows how critical the situation at the club is. It's not known how much finance the club have been given. But it is hardly enough to keep the club going to the end of the season.

Dundalk will need additional help from fundraising by the supporters club and with a good crowd from their last two home games of the season against Shamrock Rovers and Derry City.

Manager Jon Daly was planning to relocate his family to Dundalk from Scotland. His children would have been able to attend local schools in the area.

Now with the club heading for examination or possibly even disappearing altogether, it's highly unlikely that Jon himself will be manager at the club beyond the end of the season. Players still in contract will I presume be also let go.

Thus even if Dundalk are in Division One next season, it's highly unlikely they will have a team fit to challenge for promotion. There is good news going forward.

A number of potential investors are interested in taking over the club. But they will not do so until the finances of the club are sorted. An American Jeffrey Saunders is a football investor who advised Dundalk to appoint former manager Filippo Giovangoli and is the leading voice in a group considering a takeover at Oriel.

The club's debt is the obstacle. Saunders has expanded on his football interests. He has established an investment group that intends to create a multi-club network in Europe.

Jon Daly was very disappointed with the result on Friday night. “We gave away two soft goals within the first 15 minutes. Daryl Horgan had a chance to get one back and should have scored.

We had a stonewall penalty turned away when the Waterford player should also have been sent off. In the second half, we did get a goal and were really pushing. John Mountney came close with two good efforts. We had other chances to level.

But we did not take those chances and that's why we find ourselves in the position that we are in. I spoke to the referee afterwards. Rob Hennessey accepted that he did get it wrong. But that is no good to us.

“Despite the financial crisis we prepared for the game. And the way we started for the first 20 minutes of the game was simply not acceptable. We are giving away easy goals then we are chasing the game for the remainder of the match.

“We are in a very difficult situation regarding our remaining games considering the financial crisis at the club. We will prepare for the Sligo game now. It's one we think that we can win.

“We are not looking at the financial difficulties that are hindering the possibility of our completion of the season. I am very focused on what is next. And that is Sligo. I am just trying to concentrate on what I can control. That is to prepare for the Sligo game. If other things happen then we will adapt around that.

“I did have my eye on the longer term such as signing players for next season and possibly bringing my family over. But I have to take my eye off all of that given the situation the club is now in. I can only concentrate on the short term at the moment. If other things happen that are out of our control we just have to learn to adapt to it.”

The news 24 hours later from the PFAI that the club could be out of football within 2 weeks brings home the reality that we could be nearing the end of one of the oldest clubs in the League of Ireland. I am in self denial that this could happen. But it looks so bad for the club now.

Waterford were ahead of Dundalk on Friday night when Sam Bellis put them in front within 5 minutes. Padraig Amond made it two for the Blues 10 minutes later. Dundalk should have had a penalty when Grant Horton clearly handled on the line.

Dundalk pulled a goal back late in the second half with a goal from Jamie Gullan. They did deserve a share of the spoils on the night. But in the end, they came away with nothing.

Former keeper Nathan Shepperd has signed for English Championship side QPR. News came through about the signing over the weekend. Dermot Keely's autobiography will be launched on Thursday night in the Lillywhite Lounge at 7.30. I featured this in an interview two weeks ago.

Have a safe week. Please look after each other. Remember to be careful out there.