Chris Clinton breaks silence as Dundalk FC charts new strategy

Chris Clinton has broken his silence, speaking publicly for the first time since his appointment as executive director of Dundalk FC last November, and indicating that deliberations on the club’s future direction remain ongoing.

The 68-year-old US-based businessman was introduced to the club as a minority shareholder by Brian Ainscough in February 2024, before Dundalk found itself on the brink of liquidation just seven months later, a crisis that prompted the intervention of local barrister John Temple, who recently signalled legal action against Mr Clinton amid a dispute over the nature of the club’s latest change in ownership structure.

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Mr Clinton, who spoke publicly for the first time via video link at the club’s season launch at Oriel Park on Thursday night, outlined his reasons for wanting more involvement, citing concerns around the club’s ability to get a licence to compete in this season’s SSE Airtricity League Premier Division.

“We were going through a turbulent time,” he recalled. “Brian Ainscough had exited and then John had come in. Peter Halpin and I had talked to John in September of ’24, and we thought that was a good fit to make that happen.

“He kind of got things turned around during the year, and then there were certain things happening behind the scenes that were… John was doing great work in many areas, but we needed a little bit of a change, and my motivations really were to make sure that we got the licence.”

Indeed, Dundalk were granted the requisite licence last November, with League of Ireland director Mark Scanlon later indicating that there had never been any concerns from the FAI regarding The Lilywhites’ eligibility to secure it.

“I know Mark Scanlon said that the licence was never in doubt,” Mr Clinton said, before contesting the point.

“There were other issues besides just infrastructure. I’m trying to be honest with everybody here; that’s my style, and in order to get that done, we changed. I was really worried that we weren’t going to get it, and that was my main motivation.”

Significant progress has been made at Oriel over the past few months, highlighted by the installation of a brand-new artificial surface that received FIFA accreditation on Thursday morning, with upgrades to the floodlighting system also nearing completion ahead of the team’s first home game of the season against Drogheda United on February 20th.

The total cost of the project is estimated at approximately €500,000, most of which was covered by the Sports Capital Grant awarded in September 2024, with the remaining balance, believed to be around €70,000, contributed by the Dundalk FC Supporters Trust, who will host their AGM this Tuesday evening at 7:30pm in the Lisdoo Arms.

“It’s been fantastic,” Mr Clinton said of the infrastructural developments at Oriel. “You just look at the pictures of the pitch. I was talking to Ciaran (Kilduff), and he said that the actual pitch is fantastic.

“There’s been, over the years, real negativity around artificial surfaces. I know I’ve coached probably several hundred games here in the States on artificial pitches of high quality, training on them as well.

“Anybody that comes to you nowadays with the level of quality of the pitch we put in and says that it’s not up to snuff doesn’t know what they’re talking about, quite honestly.

“You’re going to see in the next couple of weeks, when the league starts, there’s going to be some horrible grass pitches around the place, so I think, end-to-end season, from February through October, we have, along with probably Bray, because Bray has the same pitch as us, the best playing facility in the league, top to bottom.

“I’m delighted with the way the Trust came in and helped. I always knew that, within the constitution, they had an idea about how to fund infrastructure, so it was the perfect fit to unlock the grant from the sports authority.”

Plans for the club’s future development are taking shape, with the newly formed management committee convening on Saturday morning to discuss and refine ideas for Dundalk’s long-term direction.

“We have a local management committee made up of all local people, which is important. That management committee is going to meet in a strategy session on Saturday, and we are going to map out what we’re going to be doing, not just, hopefully, this season, which is not really the focus of the meeting.

“The focus of the meeting is what we’re doing three to four or five years down the road: Oriel Park, pitch, sponsorship, what we’re doing for the fans. People want us to do something with the away section. I’m not too worried about people in the away section. I’m more worried about us and our people.

“The goal of the strategy session that we’re doing Saturday is to develop a strategic plan for the next three or four years. I feel like maybe avoiding the answer there a little bit, because I actually don’t know what the real answers are, but that’s the motivation of having our strategy meeting on Saturday.”