Down Club Hurling & Football

[outinfront]

Why would you assume that everyone is in the know about the financial f'up?
The lad just asked a question.
Wasn't like it happened last year or year before.

[outinfront]

Right.

I don't consider myself in the loop enough to know the ins and outs but basically it went something like this.
Down were offered a load for st Patrick's park. Were greedy holding out for more and it fell through.
Meanwhile bought a load of land which was basically useless. Market crashed. Had to sell it on. Lost a load of money. Down owe Croke who bailed us out. So we are supposed to fund academies etc while other money goes to paying the debt.

That's what I think happened. hope that answers your question.

[outinfront]

Any word on a confirmed calendar and fixtures yet?

[Smurfy123]

Why did it cost £600000 to get out of the deal?
Who made the deal in the first place?

[pointman2]

Some business heads - buying 'replacement' lands before they had secured completion of the sale of the land that they did own!

Interesting to know how many of those involved in those decisions are still part of or connected to or used by the County Board.

[pointman2]

A short version would suffice!!

[gaaman2016]

Some business heads - buying 'replacement' lands before they had secured completion of the sale of the land that they did own!

Interesting to know how many of those involved in those decisions are still part of or connected to or used by the County Board.

Definately still some involved (including executive). Why do the clubs nver vote to remove these people?

[whitegoodman]

For those of us not in the know where has the rest of th debt come from that has crippled us to the extend that county board are struggling to write a cheque?

Is it the new stand? If so why build it if they couldn't afford to?  I don't think its the cost of the senior team so I'm struggling to see where all this debt has come from.

[Sheedy]

i was surprised to read in the irish news on saturday that niall madine hadnt been asked to join the down panel. if you could keep him fit and committed and going by the article it seems that he wants to play for down then surely he would be an asset to the panel.

[whitegoodman]

Yes disappointed to read that, would be a strange one if they don't ask him back if he is prepared to commit to the season.

[gaaman2016]

Major problem Co Board have at the minute is that the loan from Croke Park is in € yet majority of their income is in £. I heard that they have to pay €10,000 a month to Croke Park and that the poor value of £ is crippling them at the minute. I think they have to pay this until 2028/29 which is concerning for the immediate future of the County sides if we are putting the current slump down to a lack of finances/ centre of excellence

[Leftmidfield]

Yes disappointed to read that, would be a strange one if they don't ask him back if he is prepared to commit to the season.

I hear Ryan Mallon has left the panel.

[delgany]

It's a pity Down Gaa weren't "in the know " with the RHI burners.  They could've cleared there account .......not in DUP however !!!

[oileain blues]

You will never be able to get rid of any one at the top table while the current system of voting exists as was Bourne out when Seamus oHanlon stood against Devaney, the latter was up 17 votes plus his clubs 3 votes before it went to the floor ,therefore in reply to one question as to why certain individuals who headed up the Burrenbridge debacle are still at the top table and are representing our county at Ulster and national level.
It wasn't some business heads who decided to turn down a phenomenal amount of money for St Patrick's park and drive our county into a further 660 k of debt, it was individuals who were way out of their depth , they were full of good intentions but failed miserably.
Much has been said on the subject but in order to achieve success in the future we must learn from our mistakes in the past and it seems we haven't learned from our mistakes if some of the people who made these mistakes still sit at the top table.
One more item, there is a very important meeting on Thursday to discuss and implement changes to the league calendar for 2017 , interesting only two club representatives allowed with one vote per club!!
After Thursday this forum should be lively.

[wobbller]

You will never be able to get rid of any one at the top table while the current system of voting exists as was Bourne out when Seamus oHanlon stood against Devaney, the latter was up 17 votes plus his clubs 3 votes before it went to the floor ,therefore in reply to one question as to why certain individuals who headed up the Burrenbridge debacle are still at the top table and are representing our county at Ulster and national level.
It wasn't some business heads who decided to turn down a phenomenal amount of money for St Patrick's park and drive our county into a further 660 k of debt, it was individuals who were way out of their depth , they were full of good intentions but failed miserably.
Much has been said on the subject but in order to achieve success in the future we must learn from our mistakes in the past and it seems we haven't learned from our mistakes if some of the people who made these mistakes still sit at the top table.
One more item, there is a very important meeting on Thursday to discuss and implement changes to the league calendar for 2017 , interesting only two club representatives allowed with one vote per club!!
After Thursday this forum should be lively.

To all the nodding dogs , the puppets and the supporters of the Burrenbridge brigade, this is my suggestion of the way forward with our finances because if we can sort this subject out we maybe able to pay our bills on time and every time and propress the notion of a centre of excellence.
Firstly to take a step forward we have to realise where we are and why we got here.
When the Burrenbridge brigade decided to go of on a solo without the backing of the full county board and the support of Croke Park (this is key),they acted as if they were property moguls which they certainly werent and their inexperience in dealing with this type of deal ultimately lead us to losing 550k, coupled with the fact that 2 possibly 3 of them had failed in business, therefore in all probability they were never going to succeed, they were well intentioned but clueless .
But where you are now asking did the other 1million of debt come from, ah for that answer you would need a forensic accountant to examine the finances of Pairc Esler , i for one like many others paid a monthly amount for 5 yrs, no big deal but there were many who questioned where this money and the money of the club down then went, im not suggesting any skull duggery but more of mis management of resources.
So the men in charge suddenly needed a few bob to finish the job, in steps Croke Park and hey presto we get the job done, oh and Newry Shamrocks own the fecking thing, side issue.
Now back to Burrenbridge where we handed over a non refundable deposit of 425k ,and then threw125k in fees at it,back to Croke Park who knew nothing of what was going on and were not a bit pleased, so much so that we now pay 10k a month for the next 20yrs to Croke Park, but according to Sean og i mmean the executive we have a good deal, eh no we dont by my maths we will be paying 2.4miliion back how the f  k is that a good deal, our association made 56million profit  last year,so the answer is quite simple we as members ask for the loan to be interest free , we extend the term to 100yrs , paying 15k back a year not 120k , we can then begin to invest in our youth,and our training facilities and breathe a little.Now to succeed in a debt restructuring like this we need hard nosed business people skilled in the art of restructuring debt.
I know there are people reading this saying 100yrs catch yourself on but if we went to Croke park and told them this is it take it or leave, they cant kick us out, its either give us the money or accept the request , so there you have it.

This is from the board in June and is as good a description of what went wrong.