The Commentary Box: New Dundalk FC owner has done unbelievable work

As Dundalk FC regroup and strengthen the personnel at executive level following the takeover of the club by the new majority shareholder, Chris Clinton.

It's become clear that the Ohio businessman has sensibly been looking to people on the ground locally who know the club to play key roles in its future. The owner has quickly moved to set up links with the Dundalk FC Trust.

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The Trust were set up a year ago with the aim of helping the club in as many ways as possible after it sailed close to liquidation in September 2024.

Despite drawing a large group of supporters together and collecting almost 100,000 euro in a matter of weeks, the group never featured in the plans of previous owner John Temple.

He had his own reasons for this. But Chris Clinton has quickly seen that the Trust can play a key role in his plans for the future of the club.

He held an initial meeting with members of the executive of the Trust last Wednesday, which was deemed a success by both sides.

Chris Clinton, whose official title at Dundalk is Executive Director, says that it is clear that the football club is at the heart of the community and that fan engagement in the club is vital.

He says that the Trust came together in a time of worry to raise funds with a view to assisting the club.

"I hope that it can play a significant role in the weeks and months to come, and it is unfortunate that this has not happened sooner.

"Fans have experienced a number of years of instability. I want them to feel part of a club that has the right structures underpinning it, to ensure it's sustainable into the future."

The Chair of the Trust says that it is their ultimate goal to work together as a fanbase and constructively with the club.

"We are delighted that the gates of Oriel Park are open to us again, and we look forward to the 2026 season.

"I wish to thank those who have been involved since we first met in the Town Hall just over a year ago, and to all of those who have joined since that night. We were established to help the club where we can, and we are intent on doing that."

Last Saturday morning, there was some great news for the club. The club issued a statement saying that they have accepted an offer from the Supporters Trust to provide the full deposit required to draw down the Sports Capital Grant for the new pitch in Oriel Park.

The club says that this will be an investment which will be of benefit for the next decade. Chris Clinton says that the Supporters Trust have brought a proposal to the table to provide the full deposit required for the new pitch.

"I am delighted to accept the offer. While plans for the pitch upgrade are already in motion, the money that would have been used towards the deposit is now freed to be spent elsewhere in the club.

"Having met with the board of the Trust earlier in the week, I walked away with the feeling that we were very much on the same page for success on and off the pitch.

"The Trust provides an additional funding stream in the club, and I hope it continues to grow. I firmly believe that working in partnership with fans to build solid foundations is the only way forward.

"The PRO of the Trust, Gerard Lennon, says that they were ultimately established to support the club with infrastructure projects, and we were aware that both the pitch and the lights were in need of upgrades ahead of the 2026 season.

"Given our growth in the last 12 months, we found ourselves in a position that we could offer the deposit on the new pitch, and we hope this is the first of many contributions.

"We would encourage anyone joining the Trust to visit the website dfcsupporterstrust.ie. At the end of the day, it is the club and the players who will benefit from our continued success."

The statement is very welcome and will allow the club to speed up the process of getting a new astro turf pitch laid. But there has been no update from the club in regards to the new floodlight system. It also has to be in by the start of the new season.

Outgoing owner John Temple told the Town End Podcast some weeks ago that there was a technical difficulty with the installation of the new lights.

Mr Temple was working hard at resolving this problem. Now, with Chris Clinton at the helm, one would expect him to realise the difficulties as well.

Whether the old pylons installed in the summer of 1967 can be designed to take the new lighting system has not been answered. But the owner must ensure tenders are signed within the week for the new lighting and the pitch.

I was a bit disappointed with the Club and Trust statement, that made no mention of the lights. The club should also be giving a clear outline as to when work on the pitch and lights will start.

That's not the Trust's responsibility. But I am sure that a date for the start of the works have been given to the FAI. Dundalk got 446,000 euro from the FAI as part of the installation of the double project.

I think new owner Chris Clinton has done unbelievable work at Oriel since coming in. He has, without doubt, steadied the ship and has things on course correctly for the start of the new season.

I think it would be a great idea if Chris Clinton would have a public meeting with supporters in early January. So that they can get to see the new owner in person.

They can see his plans for the club going forward. Now that the gates of Oriel are open to them, it's clear the Trust will be a key asset to Dundalk FC going forward.

To be fair, the Trust will update all members on the latest developments at their first AGM in January. I was encouraged by their statement when it said that Oriel requires serious infrastructural work. They said that the weekend development is only the beginning.

The Dundalk owner is understood to be looking at who to choose as his directors. Given that the owner will be in Ohio for a lot of the season, I am sure that the he will be bringing in a CEO.

The CEO would take overall charge of affairs at Oriel, and he/she will have to have good leadership skills. They must be able to communicate with the entire staff and players. This is vital as far as  I am concerned.

During the time of PEAK6, there were a number of  CEO's. One or two moved on to be very effective with some of the top-tier UK clubs.

I strongly believe that Chris Clinton must bring in personnel to such posts of responsibility that have no connections with the former regimes running Oriel. They were all good people.

But the feeling of a lot of supporters is that they just feel the club needs a completely fresh start. The CEO could come from Ireland or the UK. They must have full experience of what's involved in running a football club.

It must not be a person who has little or no experience in running a football club. It must also be someone who comes with no previous ties to the club. Dundalk FC needs a new beginning.

There are other reports that the new owner will also be appointing a board member who will have responsibility for Football and Social Responsibility. This will be a very interesting move.

This person will oversee the club's commitment to community engagement, social impact and ethical practices. They will act as a liaison person between the club and the community.

This will be a hugely important post. It's great to see the new regime is looking to set up strong links to the local community. It will be a win-win for Dundalk if this job goes the way that it seems to be intended.

Again, just as the CEO job, the club needs a new person for this job, not someone from the past. This job does not involve player recruitment.

Chris Clinton will also be looking for a Sporting Director. They oversee all football operations at a club. They act as a link between management, coaches and players to ensure strategic continuity.

Their responsibilities include defining the club's playing philosophy, managing player transfers and contracts. They are involved in developing the youth academy and setting long-term goals, all of which are intended to support both immediate and future success.

Dundalk can decide the job descriptions of all of the new posts. To me, again, this is a job that needs a brand, a new individual.

There is no point in returning to previous personnel. This is only because I strongly believe that the club needs a fresh start in a position like this.

Dane Massey has departed the club as first-team coach. He came in towards the end of the season after Liam Burns was let go by the club. I would really like to see Liam return as first team coach.

He is a very sincere and understanding person. He is an excellent coach. He also had great respect of all first team players. Liam has also been a great asset to the club.

But he may not have any interest in the post, and the club may decide to look elsewhere. One name that has been mentioned is Robbie Benson. Robbie has spent so much of his career at Dundalk and given so much to the club.

He has been doing his coaching badges while continuing his playing career at Derry City. He left Dundalk at the end of the 2024 season.

Robbie was not finished his playing career and moved to the Brandywell. He helped Derry City to gain a place in the Europa League for next season in the games he played.

But if Dundalk were to land  Benson as their first team coach, it would be a massive boost to Ciaran Kilduff. But I have to say that this is only speculation.

It would make sense for him to return to Oriel. Robbie is a highly intelligent young man. He is an actuary by trade. I am sure that he will be weighing his options. But for Dundalk to capture Robbie as a first-team coach would be massive.

Mayowa will play for Dundalk next season. The 23-year-old centre half had been listed as a player who was no longer with Dundalk. However, within a few days, it became clear that Mayowa wanted to stay at Oriel.

And the good news is that he will be.. I would imagine that Dundalk are on the lookout for a first-team keeper. I say this as it was 42-year-old Peter Cherrie who finished as first team keeper ahead of Enda Minogue.

Peter, I hope will be staying on as goalkeeping coach. I see that Jimmy Corcoran is a free agent. He was with Bray last season. He is a top-class keeper. If I was Ciaran Kilduff, I would be making a swift move for Jimmy.

He is also a former Dundalk reserve keeper. But Enda Minogue has not been released by Dundalk. He may yet end up as the Dundalk first-team keeper next season. Time will tell.

It's been a fantastic two weeks for two young Dundalk players playing for the Republic of Ireland underage team. Vinnie Leonard has starred with the Republic of Ireland U17 team.

They played Switzerland in the last 16 of the U17 World Cup yesterda. Vinnie has been named as man of the match in one of their four games so far. The Dundalk centre-half has been a revelation this season.

Ireland topped their group, having won two and drawn one. Friday's game against  Canada was in the knockout stages of the competition. Ireland led one-nil going into the dying minutes of the game.

But Canada struck late with a stinging equaliser to send the game to penalties. Ireland won 9-8 on penalties. The Irish keeper saved two; Ireland only missed one penalty.

Vinnie was one of the players who took a penalty. The Canadian keeper continually taunted Irish players as they took their penalties. He should have been sent off. He got a yellow card.

The young Canadian taunted Vinny the same way he had all the other Irish players. Vinny had one thing on his mind. He knew he had to score. His spot kick was perfect.

He drove the ball to the corner of the net, leaving the taunting keeper wanting the ground to swallow him up.

This time, it was Vinnie's turn to have words with the Canadian, just letting him know there was no way he was going to let the keeper put him off.

Vinnie is perhaps the most talented player seen on a Dundalk team in a long time, if ever. He has caught the attention of a lot of the big clubs at the competition.

Manchester United now have him on their radar. Celtic were the favourites to sign him. In my mind, they still are. He will probably leave Dundalk in the window in July.

He will start the season with Dundalk at Oriel. In July, let us wait and see what happens. I remember being told by a member of the Dundalk first team at the start of the season that Vinny was the most talented player in the Dundalk squad. I will leave that up to Dundalk to decide.

I have spoken about Luke Mulligan many times. He has played for the Dundalk first team for large parts of the season gone by. Luke has also played for the Republic of Ireland U17 team in the past.

Luke has played in two of three Euro Qualifiers for the Republic of Ireland U19 team in the past week. In his latest game, he had a top-class performance against Cyprus.

He played for 70 minutes of the game. Ireland came away with a 1-0 win. Luke is also been tracked by top European and British Clubs.

He was just 18 last week. Luke is a sixth-year student at Ballybay Community College. Luke will feature very much in Ciaran Kilduff's side.

Eoin Kenny has also featured for the Northern Ireland U21 side in the past week. Eoin is an excellent talent at football. Dundalk will be looking for him to bang the goals in for them next season.

He was a player whose career really blossomed under the guidance of Ciaran Kilduff last season. It would not surprise me if he is not picking up interest from cross-channel clubs as well. Eoin is only 19.

When you see the three underage international players from Dundalk in action last week and this week, do not forget that if this was last season, and it was in progress, Dundalk's games were not postponed during the so-called international week.

That's because there was no international break for First Division teams. They have to put up with their players being taken off them and yet their season continues.

It will not happen to Dundalk this year. That's because Premier Division teams in the League of Ireland have all games postponed during the break.

This does not matter if they have any players from their squads involved or not. This rule must be changed immediately. Let us hope the Dublin media take this up in their media circles this season.

It's been a fantastic few days for the Republic of Ireland senior team, coming from nowhere to qualify for a place in the playoffs last Thursday, they beat Portugal 2-0 in a totally unexpected result. Troy Parrott got both goals.

On Sunday, they beat Hungary in a game that will live long in the memory. Ireland were 2-1 down with only minutes remaining in the Budapest cauldron to win 3-2. The Irish needed a win.

With the game level five and a half minutes into injury time, a ball lobbed high into the Hungarian box was knocked to the net by Troy Parrott for his hat-trick, it also put Ireland into the play-offs.

Thus, it's been a great week for Irish soccer. Let's hope that Vinnie Leonard and his U17 team can beat Switzerland today and propel Ireland into the last eight of the U17 World Cup, and do not forget that Sean Spaight plays for this team as well.

It's hoped that Declan McDaid will be staying at Oriel next season. The manager had talks with Declan last week. The player himself wants to stay at Oriel.

He was an excellent signing during the window. I am not getting into a long list of who may or may not be signing. Reporters at this time are linking players to clubs at a guess in many cases. This just causes confusion among clubs, players and supporters.

Ciaran Kilduff confirmed that his assistant manager Ken Kiernan, and Strength and Conditioning coach Ronan Murray will continue in their posts next season.

It's massive news for the club. There were concerns the two might not have been able to stay, given the club is returning to full-time soccer next season.

Sligo Rovers hope to have a fully redeveloped brand-new stadium in place by 2028. It will be a UEFA category three,6000 seater stadium. It will include new modern stand facilities, new fan zones, and other upgraded facilities.

The way Sligo is run is what should have been happening at Oriel within the past 20 years. It involves a mixture of private and public involvement.

But Sligo raise much of their money from the community, particularly for infrastructure. When their new stadium is completed, it will be like the jewel of the north-west.

Former Dundalk boss Jon Daly has become the manager of Waterford United. Jon managed Dundalk in 2024 from July to the end of the season. He failed to win a single game with Dundalk.

It was not his fault as the club was in tatters at that time. They had been crashing towards the first Division from the start of the season.

Jon came to Galway towards the latter end of last season as assistant manager after the death of Ollie Horgan. He helped manager John Caulfield guide Galway away from the play-off zone.

There will not be 20 clubs in next season's Division Three. The new league will still be played in two zones in the country.

The winners of each group will then play off to see who they will play in the relegation promotion play-off with a club in Division One. Have a great week. Look after each other, and please be careful out there.