It was less that 18 months ago that Stats Sports and Andy Connolly brought the club back into local hands from our previous ownership, Peak6. At that time the supporters all gave a sigh of relief, many celebrated in their own ways and things were meant to get back to some sort of normal.
Last season saw a patched up, thrown together collection of players set out with a goal of returning the club back onto the European stage and they did that against all the odds, they did that with a team running on fumes and many injuries. Its was heroic.
This season was meant to be different; it was meant to be a season whereby, after we steadied the ship, we were now going steer it on-course towards challenging the others for the league and cup.
We are in a good place, back under steady control and things are looking good on and off the pitch.
But this week we learned of talk of a potential “takeover” or controlling investment in our club by the owners of Hull City Football Club in the UK, the rumours began early on and were somewhat confirmed in an article by James Rogers stating that Hull City FC were looking for a potential controlling stake of 70% with the remaining 30% shared out between the current owners.
This news is surprising, somewhat concerning, especially with the statement from Sean O Connor last month stating that the club was not for sale, dont get me wrong, it is entirely up to the owners to speak with whomever they wish in relation to investors and getting interested parties onboard for the betterment of the club, I support this 100%, but to potentially hand over a 70% controlling stake of the club is concerning.
It wasn’t meant to be like this, the supporters wanted the club back into local ownership after the, pardon my language, “shit-show” that the previous owners left behind.
Why would the ownership of Hull City Football Club want to buy Dundalk FC?
In recent years the League of Ireland has seen interest from clubs in the UK wanting to partner up to give their non-first team or youth players an outlet to gain experience, it would allow these players to come over to the League of Ireland to experience first team football, potential European football and maybe even success by lifting the League Trophy or FAI Cup.
In other examples, we saw Fleetwood Town purchase Waterford United and use them as a feeder club in a similar manner with players going in both directions to gain experience to the betterment of both clubs. This arrangement seems to be working well.
So that is the plan for the owners of Hull City with regards to Dundalk FC, they would see us as a platform to send their players over to gain first team experience and show their talents and potentially for our younger players to go the other direction.
So where do we go from here?
The current state of play is that talks are supposedly on-going and local reports within Hull City stating that the deal is progressing quickly, there are other interested parties apparently with an American investment group showing their interest in the club.
From a supporter’s view, the general consensus is that we have been here before, a bit of Dejavu is setting in and we don’t want to get burned again.
Ideally, I think the club should arrange an open consultation with the supporters groups to outline their plans and try to address any concerns that we may have, like I said before, we have been here before, if this deal is successful it would be the fifth ownership in 11 years for Dundalk.
In the words of The Who,
“I’ll tip my hat to the new Constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I’ll get on my knees and pray
We don’t get fooled again”
End.