Feeling that the clouds of doom may be breaking at Dundalk FC

It has not been often in the past year that I would have been positive about Dundalk FC. But now, I have a clear hope and feeling that the clouds of doom may be breaking and that Dundalk will be able to get a licence from the FAI and play in the first Division next season without possibly having to go through SCARP and also not having to face a points deduction either.

New owner John Temple seems to be playing a blinder laying the foundation blocks for next season. On Wednesday the club announced that they had a new manager in Ciaran Kilduff.

This is the most significant move of all that John Temple has done so far. It's fabulous that the club has a new manager now. For the first time in years, Dundalk will be able to start signing players now rather than wait until January into February to see what is left of players available on the market and be forced to go to the UK and sign substandard players.

Many of Dundalk's signings from the UK have been substandard. The announcement that Ciaran Kilduff is the new manager has been greeted with great enthusiasm throughout the town.

The new boss has a two-year contract which will give him the time needed to launch a serious challenge to get promotion. He may not even need that long. I think that he may well be able to assemble a team that can go straight back up next season.

Ciaran of course is a former player. He will be forever remembered for scoring that goal in Europe against AZ Alkmaar in 2016 when Dundalk went on that great European run.

There are still many obstacles to overcome before Dundalk can be assured of not having to go into SCARP and also of getting a licence. Many people would have waited to see that these issues were sorted, before planning for next season.

The new Dundalk owner has shown great courage and tenacity to get his new manager now. It ensures Ciaran can talk to his in-contract players now and also sign his strongest team as possible within the financial constraints the club is facing.

But off the field, the winds of change at Oriel are also showing a great positivity. For the first time ever, I can see that the YDC building will be utilised both off-season and during the season.

It's ready to go. From next week the gym and five side pitches can be booked by the public. Part of the YDC building is being used by the public already. Now all the recreational facilities will be available. Even now the complex is being fully booked up until 10 pm during the day.

The club also intends to have an app available where the public will be able to book the facilities in the YDC. This building which has been totally under-utilised over the years, will at last be able to yield the club a possibly sizable return.

To raise money internally within the club is a fantastic way forward. Hopefully, the club will relaunch the lotto even though it is still ongoing. Golf Classics and club draws can also bring in good revenue.

It was the 100-pound draws of the 1980s and 1990s that gave the club much-needed finance. The draws were run weekly or monthly leading up to the grand prize which was mostly a brand new car. I will never forget in 1991 my name was drawn out of the hat first for the grand prize draw.

But as my dad was a club director, they could not give me the brand new car. Instead, I was given the last prize. It was a dining trolley or 200 punt. I took the money.

At one time since the YDC was built, there were plans to hold the general election count for Louth there. Would it not be great if the count for the upcoming general election could be held there now?

This could bring in more much-needed revenue for the club. There is no other club in the League of Ireland that has such a facility as the YDC.

John Temple told the media at last week's press conference that Rome was not built in a day. He said that if the club does not lay the foundations now, then it will not reap the rewards later on going forward. Well, vital foundations have already been put in place.

John told the media that the club has been going through a very difficult time recently.''We are now laying the foundations for the football club as it begins its preparations for next season. It's been such a difficult time for the players and the outgoing manager Jon Daly.

I want to thank John for all of his great work. He has been a great asset to this club since he came here in June. I want to wish Jon the best and to his family in the future. He has departed the club solely for family reasons. He has been away from them for four years.''

''We are now entering a new chapter. We must progress and move on. We are in the First Division this season. We have had a number of interested candidates in the vacant managerial post at Oriel. Following consultation with people involved with the club and external stakeholders.

This includes our 4 other shareholders in the club along with myself. We felt that we wanted to make an approach to Ciaran Kildiff and that he was the best person for the role. Ciaran has a vast amount of experience. This is not only as a player but as a manager as well.

He has done wonders as a manager with the senior women's team at Athlone Town. We are very happy that Ciaran agreed to become first team manager going forward.''

''I came into the club just six weeks ago. I have scaled the building. I have done an awful lot. I met with the CEO Peter Halpin and then manager Jon Daly. I met all the players individually when I came in and as a group. I learned very quickly that Dundalk FC is a fantastic club.

The supporters are fantastic. This is a football town. I have seen great viability in this club. Look at the YDC. It will become fully operational in the next week. The club has to become self-sustainable. Ciaran sought certain assurances.

He just did not get them from me. He spoke to others outside the club. Some were players who he played with here at Dundalk. Some were current senior players. I gave Ciaran free rein.

There was no holdback. He had to be allowed to make his own inquiries about the club. It had to happen so that he could decide whether he wanted to be at Oriel or not. We spoke several times on the phone and also met in person.''

''Yes, these are dark days at the club and we are not out of the woods yet. But we can certainly see the light, insofar as that the club has a reason to carry forward. I have to say that Peter Halpin has been great in his role. The staff have been fantastic in their roles.

A lot of work has gone in already in our application for the licence. The club also has many volunteers. They are the soul and the backbone of this club. They have just been continuing at their work regardless. They have and know their roles.

It's heartwarming to come into Oriel and just visit them. There are lots of local businesses who support the club as well. We have ideas going forward for sponsors. The FAI have really been fantastic. They have been very supportive. Mark Scanlon in particular has been exceptional.

He has been keeping a close eye on the club along with the League of Ireland. The FAI can see what I see. That is that the club can survive. This is a football town. Dundalk need to be in the League of Ireland. The League also needs Dundalk.''

The budget we have at the moment is a proposal. We will not know until we discuss matters further. Sponsors for the shirts for the team wanted to look at what their budgets for the team will be next season.

Obviously, when you are in the Premier Division, sponsors are trying to outbid each other, When you are in the first Division, sponsors must sit down and work out to see where they fit in for Dundalk's budget. There are restrictions as to who and what can be advertised also.

The budget has more or less been put forward for SCRAP. It's inevitable we had to prepare for SCARP. I am hoping that we are not now going to have to go into SCARP. We are still in talks and negotiations with our creditors.

It does come down to whether any of the creditors are going to pull the plug on us. I do not think that this will happen. I will be having another press conference very soon to update you.

It will not just be about SCARP. It will be about other things that are happening around the club. I can't speak about them at the moment as certain things have yet to be fully tied down''.

''We are still going through the licensing process which is huge. The amount of documents needed is massive. The FAI have never signalled to me that the club will not be getting a licence. There are still a huge trump of documents to be prepared yet. There is no indication that we will not be getting the licence.'

''There are a lot of clubs using the pitches in the YDC. We are getting bookings up until 10 pm at night. The feedback has been unreal. With the gym opening now I imagine we will have more daytime football.

The one question that everybody has been asking is why has the facility been lying idle for so long. People are also renting the main football pitch. Dundalk FC has fantastic facilities.

Hopefully, when pen is put to paper next week, I will have news of the use of more facilities around the club. The main pitch is being used every weekend.

We have even had to hire people to look after things for the club dealing with people using the pitch. It's been used now regularly. Six weeks ago it was just gathering dust.''

We will have an App soon where people will be able to book our facilities. I am trying to see if we can extend the app so that we can have the club shop online as well. New jerseys and other new merchandise will hopefully be available to purchase on the app as well.

Hopefully, season tickets will be available to purchase on the app as well. I estimate it will take around half a million to run the club next season. That will cover everything. It will obviously include insurance can cost a lot.

It's a hidden cost. And there are others. There are other costs which we have to look at. As we are in the First Division we will have a lot more travelling to do. The travelling costs still have to be worked out.'

Ciaran Kilduff says he is delighted to be back at Oriel.''I see the Dundalk job as a great footballing job and also for myself as a career. It really was a proud moment for me driving into Oriel today. I had such a great time here in the past.

I really am looking forward to get to talk to the players. I really want to get football back on the right path in Oriel. The opportunity for the Dundalk job came up a couple of weeks ago. I was managing another team at the time. I was with the Athlone ladies team.

The season had just finished. Peter Halpin was trying to get in contact with me. The season had just ended. I obviously had to do my own homework. As soon as we met the conversations between the both of us became more and more positive.

I was contacting people, doing my own work on Dundalk and getting my own due diligence on the club. The talks got stronger and stronger. Last week I met John Temple. I know there is a lot of uncertainty at the club.

There is a lot of stuff going on in the background which I can not control. From a football ambition and vision and bringing football back to Dundalk, these are the things that I will be concentrating on. It's what's happening on the pitch that brings supporters through the turnstiles.''

''I need to get things right on the pitch. The last two weeks have been like a whirlwind. There have been a lot of phone calls and a lot of meetings. We got the deal to bring me here over the line. Now I am just after being introduced to the media. I am very proud to be here.

It's been a difficult and traumatic year for the club this season. The fans, the players, the people around Oriel, it all must have been awful. The club got relegated and just escaped a 5 pm liquidation deadline on a Monday. Nobody would have wanted that.

At that time I just never saw myself ending up as manager of Dundalk. I had quite a few friends in the Dundalk dressing room. I just wanted everything to be okay for them. You get to the end of the season.

You go down and get relegated, It's just awful. Now it's my job to try and put it all together. I must start a rebuild. I want to establish a good faith with the players. I need players who will want to be here.

They will have to accept what happened last season. There may be a lot of issues from the past ongoing here. But that does not concern me. There are a lot of things I can not control. I am going to build a team of players who will give their all and who want to be here''.

''My two years as a player here were the best of my career. Winning the league in 2015 and 2016. My own goals in the Europa League Group stages will never be forgotten. We were a real connected group. The whole club was pulling in the right direction.

It's sad that those days are now a distant memory from where we are now. It does not mean in years to come that we can not go back there. I am a young hungry ambitious manager. I am not coming here to just coast along.

We have to be aiming high as quickly as possible and as sharply as we can. It's going to take time. We also need the right people. That's my job. I must get the right players and the right coaching staff.

The fact that I am beginning from the start is a good help. It's not all going to be plain sailing. There will be mistakes made. But it's a fresh start. I have the chance to put my management stamp on the new team.''

''This chance to put my own stamp on the team is a real driving force for me. There is a great positive in that from a management point of view. To have a blank canvas coming in and to have the chance to build my own team from the start upwards is a fantastic feeling for me''.

''I know the way I  want my side to play. I have my own style in relation to the way I want to manage and the way I want to coach. I will need a good buy-into that both from my players and the coaching staff. All following this. It's not going to be an easy job. #

You get the chance of handpicking your own staff and players. It's really great for a young manager like myself to be able to do this. I got a great reception from the fans here when I was up in Oriel working with League Of Ireland TV.

This plays on your emotions when you are making up your mind whether you would take the job or not. It was my decision. My relations with the fans is going to be significant. It's important that I get their understanding.''

''I am hopeful things can alleviate themselves off the pitch as well. We need everybody to put their shoulders to the wheel. This includes me, the players, the club management and of course the fans. We all have to do this together to get back to the Premier Division.

It was confirmed at the press conference that Daryl Horgan will be playing for the club next season. He remains under contract. The manager has spoken to skipper John Mountney about staying.

John says as the season is just over and that after what has happened John will need a bit of time to think about his future. The new manager was and is expected to talk to Andy Boyle about staying on as well as Robbie Benson. .

The new manager had this appeal for supporters.''Give us everything, because we are going to try and give it all back. We need people coming in here with the stomach for the fight, on the pitch and in the stands''.

Aodh Dervan has put pen to paper and has signed for the year ahead. The midfielder joined Dundalk in July and was an ever-present on Jon Daly's team.

Felix Goddard has returned to Blackburn Rovers. Bobby Faulkner has returned to Doncaster Rovers while Josh O'Connor has returned to Hibernian FC.Sam Durrant has been released by the club.

The death occurred last week of former Dundalk player-manager John Dempsey. He made 16 appearances during the season he was here in 1983-84. He was also a Republic of Ireland international.

He arrived from non-league Maidenhead and replaced Jim McLaughlin in June 1983. Dundalk lost just two out of the first 9 games. It was regarded as a reasonable start. But sadly for John, Dundalk then went six games without a win. Dundalk were third in late November.

They were in the bottom eight by the end of January there were 16 teams in the League. Dempsey was suspended by the club in late January. John had many altercations with referees and was suspended by the FAI a number of times.

Youth manager at the time, the late Tommy Connolly took over. The Dundalk board rescinded the suspension decision of Dempsey in early February. John took the reins of power again. The peace between manager and board only lasted a month.

John left the club by mutual consent with the board. He got a massive 10,000 punt compensation package to go. I remember John as a manager. He just was not the right man to take Dundalk forward post the Jim McLaughlin era.

The sacking was rounded upon by the Dublin media. Eamonn Dunphy had a weekly column in the Sunday World newspaper. He rounded on the Dundalk board for weeks after Dempsey's departure.

Dunphy was wrong. The Dundalk board were right. The club was going nowhere with John. A year later the club saw its third most successful manager, Turlough O'Connor walk through Oriel gates. The rest as they say is history.

John Dempsey played on the thrilling Chelsea team that beat the then-great Leeds United team in the FA Cup final of 1970. Chelsea won the European Cup Winner's Cup the following season.

John was a key figure in that team also. He died at the age of 78 last Wednesday. John received 19 caps for playing for the Republic Of Ireland. He was the first ever Irish international player to be sent off in a World Cup qualification game. That was against Hungary in Budapest.

The Dundalk FC women's Under 17 team were knocked out of the cup last Saturday at Oriel Park by Pats. It was the quarter-finals. Pats got a late goal.

Dundalk keeper Grace McCabe took off a fine save before the Pats winner. Dundalk's Sean Speight has been nominated for the Under 15 International Player of the Year. We wish him the very best.

Dundalk FC have announced that Padraig McGowan has returned as club secretary. Padraig takes over from Colm Murphy who had the role for a considerable time.

Dundalk FC have secured major investment in the club going forward. Details of the deal will be announced by mid-week. It’s a huge change from just over a month ago when the club came within hours of liquidation.

The investment will bring much needed stability and can only stabilise  Dundalk FC both on and off the pitch. It will bring much hope that Dundalk will be able to return to the premier Division at the first time of asking.

Have a great week. Please remember to look after each other and be careful out there.