Dundalk FC owner "can’t speak highly enough" of Jon Daly

New Dundalk FC owner John Temple has laid out his plans and addressed the pressing issues at Oriel Park, covering topics such as team management, the youth academy, and supporter engagement.

Temple spoke with high regard for manager Jon Daly and praised his commitment to the club and his rapport with the players. He said: "I have to say I’ve enjoyed a very good relationship with Jon Daly. I can’t speak highly enough of the man.

"He’s an absolute gentleman and he’s a very family-orientated individual. He gets on great with the players, he has their respect.

"I said it to the players, there’s some traumatic experiences they’ve gone through, from Stephen O’Donnell and Noel King and then the debacle that happened.

"Then the departure of Brian Gartland and then in comes Jon Daly. That was all the madness that was going on. People were scratching their heads. It’s just been everything into the washing machine for everyone.

"Then Brian Ainscough walking out the door and switching off the lights and saying good luck to the whole lot of you – that’s what the players had."

On the subject of possibly seeking a new manager, Temple clarified that no search had begun yet. "The hunt has not begun already, put it that way," he said, despite social media rumours connecting other names to Dundalk’s managerial role.

He continued: "I’ve been very transparent on that one. We haven’t actively gone out and there’s no discussions with anybody as of yet.

"I saw on social media that Ciaran Kilduff had resigned from Athlone Town. Straight away the rumour mill started, but we have no engagement with it right now. We’ve no engagement with anybody at this moment in time and I’ve been very open on that."

Temple didn’t shy away from addressing issues surrounding the club’s youth academy. He said: "Parents paid money for their children to come and play at the academy.

"The difficulty with the academy is that I came into the club on the premise that once I paid the players’ wages, that’s all I really had to do to get it from there to here to see if the club was viable.

"I ended up having to pay a lot more than what I expected. The academy staff were all voluntary. They don’t get paid a wage, but they do get expenses.

"I was shocked when I found out that the parents of the children who play for the academy paid so much money for their children to play in the academy.

"The rest comes from sponsorship, but there’s nothing left in that account. The reason there’s nothing in it is because that wasn’t going into a separate account, that was going into the main account of Dundalk FC, which is used to pay players and everyday bills and that’s wrong.

"Going forward, we’re opening up their separate bank account so they have control and they can budget themselves. That money shouldn’t be relied on by the club.

"Basically that money has been used for the club to fund itself, to feed itself. The club has been a beast. Anywhere it can get money, it’s just shovelled money in to get us from this Thursday to next Thursday.

"The academy, it would appear, was set up solely for the basis as a pyramid scheme to feed the higher ups and that’s wrong.

"From here on in, it must be that the academy is completely separate from the club in terms of its accounting system so that they themselves can control."

Temple described ongoing conversations with The 1903 Supporters Club and acknowledged some understandings about financial contributions.

"I was approached by representatives of The 1903 and my understanding and their understanding on our very first meeting was that they are fundraising on the basis that they had provided money for the busses and that they would continue.

"What happened was that when they came to meet with me again an hour or two before their last meeting, they actually asked me, what’s the story now?

"I said, well you said you were funding the buses. I said, I’ve just paid €6,000 for Dan Pike, I’ve paid €7,000 for the insurance and for the electricity, on top of the current wage bill which runs somewhere just shy of €30,000 every week.

"When you consider that, and for someone to try and say you’re going to pay another €4,000 or €5,000, I said no, it’s not what I budgeted for.

"The academy doesn’t cost you money to have in its place. The underage girls and boys teams have done fantastically in their own leagues and they’ve never been given enough exposure on our social media.

"They’ve never been given enough praise by the club for what they really have achieved and what the lads are achieving over there and that’s going to come to a halt.

"They’re going to get full exposure and so are their sponsors, but it has been run by itself, and by running by itself, it’s actually eligible for more grant assistance from central government funding. It doesn’t have to fall under the umbrella of what are they going to get out of Dundalk FC.”

Temple acknowledged the presence of multiple supporter trusts, each working to provide a safety net for Dundalk FC. He said: "I can’t speak on somebody else’s trust. I mean if they want to set up a trust, that’s fine.

"There is the official Dundalk Supporters Club, there’s The 1903, there’s the Shed Side Army and now there’s this new group to be set up.

"It shows nobody wants to see the club close down. They want to act as a safety net for the club. They’re trying to garnish enough support. If they want to be at one point a shareholder of the club, I don’t know what their aims and objectives are.

"I’d welcome for them to come along and to tell. Engagement is always good, no matter who you are, but rumours are not and untruthfulness is not helpful.

"We will on Wednesday be launching this new Supporters Club. It’s not a trust. We’re setting up this type of season ticket and we’ll be launching it probably on Wednesday.

"You’ll pay an amount for your season ticket on the model of what other clubs can offer. You buy your season ticket, you’re going to get a match programme, you’re going to get food before, not a sit-down meal, but you’re looking at maybe a curry chip with sausages or goujons, finger food, light refreshments before the game or at half-time.

"You’re going to get 20% off at the club in merchandise, 20% off at the gym, 20% off of the indoor pitches. We are doing children’s birthday parties, bouncy castles. You get 20% off of that.

"That’s what we are going to offer you, so you’ll be providing for the club. If anybody wants to join the other trusts, they’re more than welcome. That’s their business, it’s their money. I’m just very concerned with all these clubs and trusts set up.

"The difficulty is that we’re all drinking from the same well here. If you are going to join another trust and you’re going to put €1,000 into it or you’re going to put €500 into it, what are you getting back in return because only the official club can offer you the reduction in the tickets? They can offer you the reduction of merchandise.

"Nobody else can do that for licence arrangements. Nobody else can use the logo either. That’s shocking that not everybody has copped that on, but they can’t. What can these other trusts offer for you that Dundalk FC can’t?"