What's Going on in Parnells?

[Dont Matter]

Heard from a Dub today that Cluxton is not lining out for the seniors because of the mercenarys being brought in.
If they did win the championship, where is the glory in it?

The Dubl$n inter county team win championships under very dodgy circumstances and their supporters don't seem to have much of a problem with it.

[Bingo]

What's the story with Parnells now? I see that they took a right beating in championship, albeit from ballymun. Begley was only player I noted playing of the imports, no sign of Mort and Cluxton was playing wingback.

Have they changed policy?

[Catch and Kick]

I wouldn't think Laois will be happy with Begley playing...

[Gael85]

What's the story with Parnells now? I see that they took a right beating in championship, albeit from ballymun. Begley was only player I noted playing of the imports, no sign of Mort and Cluxton was playing wingback.

Have they changed policy?

no they ran out of money 

[Heshs Umpire]

Darren Rooney's left Parnells anyway. His transfer back to his home club Clonaslee St Manmans went through recently. He'd be around 35 or 36 now.

[Truth hurts]

Can anyone give  recap on what the feck happened Parnells GAA club. Has someone fleeced them?

[armaghniac]

Can anyone give  recap on what the feck happened Parnells GAA club. Has someone fleeced them?

https://www.rte.ie/sport/football/2024/1127/1483385-dublin-gaa-club-surrenders-clubhouse-and-pitches/

[LC]

I see in the article they had previously sold their pitches for €22m and now they are broke........

[armaghniac]

I see in the article they had previously sold their pitches for €22m and now they are broke........

Which should put them into history.

[gallsman]

How much did Shane Rice rinse them for?

[Substandard]

It seems a bit mad how they could be down so much after such a windfall.  Looks like a clever move, if I understand it (and that's far from guaranteed), but it keeps the grounds safe from development by handing it over as they seem to have done?

[gallsman]

https://m.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/i-cant-believe-parnells-paid-around-11m-for-a-leasehold-how-doomed-dublin-gaa-club-squandered-225m-since-2008/a1214938940.html

Haven't been able to get past the paywall on this. Clubhouse looks like a spaceship.

[JoG2]

'I can't believe Parnells paid around €11m for a leasehold' – How doomed Dublin GAA club squandered €22.5m since 2008
The financial crisis that has put the future of Coolock side in doubt could have been avoided
The lavish Parnells clubhouse. Photo: Arthur Carron
The lavish Parnells clubhouse. Photo: Arthur Carron
Dermot Crowe
Today at 09:27



One of the men who raised the alarm about the levels of spending by Parnells GAA club has described the loss of its grounds and facilities as a "tragedy and a travesty".
Former chairman John Byrne brought the club's spiralling expenditure levels to the GAA's attention in 2011, writing to then president Christy Cooney about the threat of insolvency unless spending was curtailed.
Yet the club, a limited company, continued operating and making annual losses until Covid brought commercial activities to a halt, closing its restaurant and bar, one of its key revenue streams.
"It is a travesty and a tragedy," said Byrne after Parnells' recent decision to hand back its grounds and facilities to the Marist Fathers, with the club burdened by a long list of creditors and facing liquidation.
�"The club is destroyed," he said. "It doesn't have any structure. It has now no structure and no pitches. The people there are doing their best but from where it was once to where it is now, both on the pitch and financially, is a scandal. It just galls me, and I get very emotional about it."
Parnells received €22.5m from a land sale at Collinstown Lane near Dublin Airport in 2008 and used that money to purchase grounds in the club's traditional heartland of Coolock, entering a long lease arrangement with the Marists who have had a presence as trustees of Chanel College secondary school.
The sale of the Parnells pitches at Collinstown Lane was perfectly timed, coming before the economic crash when land prices were at their peak, and left the club incredibly well off.
But within a few years of that windfall, Parnells was plunged into serious financial jeopardy with spiralling costs and lavish spending leaving it with mounting debts and unable to meet commitments under the leasehold arrangement, including plans to build a €1m sports hall for the Marists under the terms of the contract.
People like Byrne could be excused for telling those who rowed in behind the club's ventures that his warnings and those of others have now come home to roost.
It is easy to be wise after the event of course. The problem with Parnells is that there was a gross failing in not being more alert during the event because the warning signs were all there, flashing in bright red. Insufficient heed was paid to those who made their concerns known. The GAA was aware of it, and the county board was a joint signatory on the lease. But nothing was done to stop the fiasco from bringing the club to its darkest hour.
Ultimately a story that appeared to have been a triumph of the Celtic Tiger — through the fortunate timing of the money-spinning land sale — became another victim of the beast where people lost the run of themselves and financial caution was thrown to the wind.
Parnells became a vanity project, a commercial monster that engulfed the whole operation and brought it to its knees, leaving debts and division and a club now desperately trying to find some degree of stability and to work out some kind of future.
And eventually, inevitably, the axe fell. This was confirmed in a recent members' notice posted by the Parnells executive on social media.
"The executive committee of Parnells GAA club wishes to confirm to the membership that, pursuant to the decision made at the general meeting of the club in December 2023, the club has completed the surrender and return of the clubhouse premises and adjoining pitches to the Marist Order," the statement began.
"These facilities are now under the control and ownership of the Marist Order, to be used for educational and community activities in line with and in conjunction with their existing operations at Chanel College. Having completed this surrender, the executive committee will now work with the membership and other stakeholders to determine the best path forward for the promotion of Gaelic games in the Coolock and Artane community. Members will be updated further on plans and next steps for 2025."
�The Marist Fathers Trustees released a separate statement. "Since the club acquired the leasehold interest in the Coolock lands, Parnells GAA club has maintained a very satisfactory relationship with the Marist Fathers and its school administration at Chanel College Coolock. The Trustees and the school deeply respect the club's significant contribution to Gaelic games and to the members of the surrounding community over very many years.
"The Marist Fathers are committed to ensuring that the local community and the school continue to benefit from the amenity of the existing pitches at the Coolock lands. The Marist Fathers are working closely with the GAA in this matter and are intent on securing the survival of the pitches for future generations."
Essentially, the club has lost everything. Around 2020 a new finance committee was formed to try to find ways of restructuring the club and find some solutions to their financial problems. They examined available records including bank statements and discovered a pattern of credit card use which one source described as "John Delaney-esque".
They held multiple meetings with Croke Park and the Marist Fathers. "We tried to save Parnells and we got a bit of momentum to get it back on its feet, but then I suppose the key thing that stalled us was that lawyers got involved because contracts had been breached and leases and commitments," a source told the Sunday Independent.
"We couldn't deliver on things because of the way the leases had gone. Because of insurance we couldn't get back into the club. The electricity was cut off because bills weren't paid. The Sheriff was coming in and everyone was looking for money when Covid [restrictions] was lifted. It got really dirty, really nasty but we stuck with it. But there were too many hurdles."
They were also hamstrung by the original joint deal Parnells entered into with the Marist Fathers, because they never fully owned the land despite forking out around €11m.
"Like, I can't believe Parnells paid around €11m for a leasehold," another source said. "Where on earth would you get that where you hand over €11m and you get a leasehold?"
Did it have to come to this? The money from the land sale after interest accrued is believed to have been as high as €25m after the first three years.
But by then half of that had been committed to the site in the club's heartland, with most of the rest set aside to build the facilities, including a magnificent clubhouse and a plush restaurant and bar with a reception area that looked more like a four-star hotel.
There were also all-weather playing areas and a full-size grass pitch, a modern gym and floodlights.
In a report in this newspaper in January 2013, details of the extravagant spending were revealed. In 2007 the club cost €340,000 to run, leaving it with losses of around €85,000. In 2008, expenses had climbed to €945,000. Our report in January 2013 showed that there were €3m in accumulated losses over the previous four years.
The club's level of spending had some members worried about future financial stability, but Parnells was still getting support for its financial strategies from within, assured that the future was secure.
Turnover for 2010 was €680,000, with a gross profit of €378,000. But with an administrative bill of almost €1.2m, the loss for the club over the year was €820,000. A sum of €68,000 was paid to directors, with staff wages accounting for €251,000. Some concerned members attempted to raise these issues but they were in the minority and the policy of heavy spending continued.
�Frustrated that his concerns were not being addressed, John Byrne wrote to Christy Cooney in April 2011 for "guidance and support on a very serious issue". He added that the club had been "overly ambitious in their building of the new clubhouse to the extent that the very future of the club is now at stake."
The ambition shown to have the best facilities was matched by a drive towards excellence on the pitch as well without having to wait too long for it.

Colm Begley (centre) with then Parnells manager Declan North and club captain Mark Fitzpatrick (right) when he joined in 2010. Photo: Brian Lawless/Sportsfile
Already a stream of players from outside the club and county were signing up to play for Parnells with the list including — and to include — Mayo's Conor Mortimer, Laois players Colm Parkinson, Darren Rooney, MJ Tierney and Colm Begley, Andrew Shore and Aindreas Doyle from Wexford and Armagh's Ciarán McKeever, Andy Mallon and John Murtagh.
When they played Ballymun Kickhams in the 2012 championship, two-thirds of the team was made up of players from outside, and two years later something extraordinary happened. Stephen Cluxton put in a regrading request, evidently preferring to play with the second adult team. This was interpreted as a rejection of the first team's direction and its values.
�The club executive talked of a mission to become a powerhouse in Gaelic football, with an All-Ireland club title declared as an ultimate goal. Parnells won the last of its Dublin senior football championships in 1988, and went on to add a provincial title the same year. But they failed to make a serious impact during the more recent period and those outside players left one by one.
Parnells argued that it had outside players in the past and other Dublin clubs were also active in fielding outside signings. But the influx around the time of the cash windfall was well above average and raised concerns, given the spending on team expenses.
In 2010, the spending on their juvenile teams was €79,807. A sum of €87,000 went on medical fees. Travel and subsistence cost €90,000, with motor expenses an additional €40,000. Coaching cost €79,000 and 'fees/training teams' reached €51,650. The bill for football and hurling equipment came to €152,848. Printing and postage cost €38,641.
Whatever about its ethics, the spending was unsustainable.
Those worried about the direction the club was headed pointed to the failure to build the sports hall even though it was part of the costings and an obligation under the terms of the contract. They argued that this could leave the club open to being sued for breach of contract, a concern raised at agms at the time.
The clubhouse bar and restaurant, which was opened in 2012, became available for functions including weddings and corporate events, with the facility marketed as 'The Chanel Leisure & Hospitality Venue', and Parnells GAA club a little reduced in the brochure's small print which troubled members about the balance of priorities.
The restaurant and bar closed in 2020 due to Covid and has remained shut. Some say it was a blessing because the can was being continually kicked down the road and it was only a matter of time before the final collapse.
Parnells had to make a settlement to Revenue in 2013 of €101,000 and in recent years the generator keeping the floodlights powered was confiscated by the Sheriff as the club continued to be under scrutiny.
The club also ran up a list of creditors and was obliged to agree to an €800,000 bank loan in 2015 to help meet spiralling costs and debts. The sports hall was never built.
When we put these concerns to the Parnells executive 12 years ago, they released a statement in response. "As a fully registered GAA club with over 3,500 members, Parnells operates under a range of regulations and guidelines which ensures transparency and probity in all its activities.

Stephen Cluxton is Parnells' most famous player. Former Taoiseach Charlie Haughey won a Dublin SFC medal for the club in 1945. Photo: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
"All club officials and committees are democratically elected by the members and we believe the appropriate forum for dealing with specific issues is for members to contact the relevant official or at the agm.
�"Notwithstanding that, the club would make some general points; over the last four years Parnells has gone from being a club with extremely limited facilities, to being one of the very best equipped in the country.
"This was achieved through the extremely prudent management of the club's resources and the investment of €21m in a state-of-the-art sports complex and clubhouse in Coolock village.
"The club achieved this new development without any Government or local authority funding."
It added that as part of its strategic plan and the growth in members the club was obliged "to greatly expand its coaching staff" and that "expenses have naturally risen in line with this expansion but at affordable and sustainable levels."
It said that its "enhanced catering-function facilities" was providing "a much improved service" to the community.
"The model we have developed ensures that all profit generated from this activity is ploughed back into supporting coaching and the club's teams."
Companies Office records show a number of judgments made in favour of creditors in recent years — including one for €39,844 to the Irish Music Rights Organisation Company in January — and it is believed there are numerous others outstanding.
Before Covid a series of deposits were paid for functions in the bar and restaurant which were never returned after the events failed to materialise once the facility shut down during the pandemic.
The club has also faced multiple employment rights claims by former clubhouse staff following the pandemic lay-offs. Eleven former staff took cases to the Workplace Relations Commission after being left out of work when the first Covid 19 lockdown was imposed in March 2020. The affected workers included bar and restaurant staff, security workers, a payroll administrator and a receptionist.

[Cortoon]

I'm sure Woolberto Parkinson will be condemning the stupidity of Parnells.

[Cyril Farrell fan]

They think it's all over...

https://m.independent.ie/business/high-profile-dublin-gaa-club-placed-in-liquidation/a1337142844.html