For those of you who remember the great Monty Python film, “The Life of Brian”, one of the funniest scenes in the film is the “What have the Romans ever done for us?” scene.
In comparison to this, the 1903 Dundalk FC Supporters Club are the Peoples Front of Judea, and Peak6 are the Romans, so lets ask, What have the Americans ever done for us?
In the early days of the Peak6 ownership we won our first league title in 2018, followed up that year by the FAI Cup and the following season we were one kick away from a historic treble, alas, it wasnt to be. All seemed to be going well, the drama off-field was non-existent and we had a settled on-field squad until December 2019.
Mark Devlin departed, Mike Treacy departed, enter stage right, Bill Hulsizer.
This was the start to the chaos and turmoil in the club that continues to this day.
It is clear now to all supporters that our current Chairman is not pulling the strings at Dundalk Football Club, he is merely a puppet for which his strings are being pulled by other forces within the organisation.
Earlier this year the Dundalk fan base started to mobilize itself and this culminated in the formation of The 1903 Dundalk FC Supporters Club.
As many of you are aware the first face to face meeting of the 1903 Supporters Club took place on Monday 20th September 2021 in Oriel Park, with an impressive attendance of approx. 70+ supporters, the meeting was interesting and threw a light on the work carried out to date by the committee led by Chairman Brendan Ogle.
Brendan spoke to the supporters very eloquently and direct, laying out the work done to date and the interaction he had with the club from meetings with Bill Hulsizer, Jim Magilton and Paddy Casey.
Brendan outlined that all the meetings between each party were cordial and constructive, but he felt that he faced issues when asking for commitment from the board members to address the fanbase directly.
The meeting with Bill Hulsizer had laid out in detail that a letter would be issued to the supporters to outline responses to key issues such as, for example:
- The Business Model used to operate Dundalk FC as a business.
- Contract and Recruitment Strategy
- Poor Performances.
The letter was drafted by both parties and was meant to be issued this week to supporters via the supporter’s club, but unfortunately it was pulled at the eleventh hour by the Peak6 lawyers in the US.
But why? Why would the lawyers of a large investment company in Chicago advise against issuing a letter to supporters of Dundalk FC aimed to address key issues that apparently had no legal basis.
The only thing I can put this down to is potential negotiations with interested parties who are interested in taking over the Football Club, thats pure speculation but it would make sense.
This wasn’t the first red flag to be raised on the evening, the first was raised when the committee confirmed that Dundalk FC decided against having any representation at the meeting. A massive own goal by the club that could have been handled better.
In some way I understand this decision but in other ways it was deplorable in the manner the move was communicated, it wasn’t until 4.30pm on Monday that this was communicated to the committee of the 1903.
As I said, I understand why the club decided against providing representation, for example,
- Who would you send as a club representative?
- What position would they have been in to answer questions from the supporters?
- It wouldn’t have been fair to put someone, a non-board member, in that position who clearly hasn’t got the authority to address the supporters.
- Maybe a member of staff such as Media Officers or Director of Football could have attended to take notes to send on to the board of directors but im not too sure how this would have went down with the supporters.
Another red flag was that Bill, in typical Bill fashion, asked Paddy Casey to attend the meeting on behalf of the club. Now, I don’t know Paddy Casey personally, but I do know he doesn’t work directly for the club and he is a local businessman who is working with the club to promote their marketing opportunities, this decision to ask Paddy Casey to attend shows the incompetence that is currently operating at board level within the club.
How are these guys running an international investment fund? Really?
This is why the only people who were in a position to address the supporters were the owners of Peak6 directly, but that was never going to happen.
There were also discussions with Bill Hulsizer to address the supporters group via a Zoom call from the US, but this would only have stoked the fire and caused more frustration amoung the supporters given the baffling interview he had with James Rogers a couple of days beforehand.
If you have not read it yet I urge you to read it.
Brendan had mentioned that this interview had concerned him and when he quizzed Bill on the answers he gave to James Rogers, Bill confirmed that he was not taken out of context and the answers he gave were reported as he intended. Let’s call this Red Flag number 3.
I was very impressed with the work that the committee of The 1903 Supporters Club had carried out to this point and I am without doubt they will continue to carry out these duties to the same high standards going into the future, they are a credit to the supporters and I would like to acknowledge this.
Congratulations to everyone involved.
My takeaway from the meeting was the following, Bill Hulsizer is not in control at Dundalk Football Club, he seems to be a figure head and that is as far as his role goes. The main decisions are being made in Chicago and made by people who have no knowledge of how to run a football club, that is very evident.
I will end this by saying this cannot go on much longer, Peak6 must sell up as soon as possible because they are leaving a legacy behind them that will not just be a stain on the history of Dundalk Football Club, but it is a legacy that will follow them around from investment to investment like a bad smell.
Those of you amoung us who are Simpsons fans know all about Monorails.
“I’ll show you my idea. I give you the Springfield Monorail! I’ve sold monorails to Brockway, Ogdenville, and North Haverbrook, and, by gum, it put them on the map! Well, sir, there’s nothin’ on Earth like a genuine bona-fide electrified six-car monorail!”
Lyle Langley, Monorail Salesman, The Simpsons.
Peak6 have sold us the idea of a “monorail” but they have no intention of building us one and while there are rumours going around of interested parties looking to take over the football club, and I really hope they are true and they come to some kind of fruition, the main point to say is Peak6 are not the businessmen they make themselves out to be, instead they are like ‘Lyle Langley’, we have been sold the idea of a Monorail and Peak6 are just pocketing the cash and heading for the hills!
MonoRail! MonoRail!