Harps cut back for new season

FINN Harps Football Club is not in danger of being rejected for a Licence to play in the League of Ireland this season - but their spending could be dramatically reduced and the club forced to play as a largely amateur outfit should their bid to raise €150,000 by the end of the month fall short of the intended target.

Even if the club do manage to raise their targeted figure, the weekly budget available to manager Paul Hegarty for the new term could be only one sixth of the €13,000 he had at his disposal last season, with the figure agreed with the boss before Christmas now expected to be slashed to the region of €3,000, club officials confirmed.

The cash-strapped club held a meeting for the club's shareholders on Monday night in Jackson's Hotel, which was followed by a public meeting later in the evening. And while both meetings were well attended in comparison with previous gatherings, there were little in the way of real concrete ideas that could help steer the club on route to its magical total of €150,000.

The evening was a surprisingly low-key affair in general. While there were some heated exchanges at the shareholders meeting, the public sitting concluded in less than an hour and with no real debate having taken place, despite the good turn out of around 100 fans.

It was revealed to Shareholders that only four Board members voted for the budget approved for the 2009 season at a committee meeting before Christmas, but the absence of several of Directors meant that number was enough to carry through the budget of around €5,000 a week, it was confirmed at Monday night last's meeting of the club shareholders.

Irate shareholders - and indeed some members of the Board - vented their frustrations at the stay-away Directors, while others used the forum to outline their unease at the first team players and manager.

A big push is to be made on the €100-a-ticket apartment draw (which now has an alternative top prize of €40,000 in cash) in the next three weeks with the club set to target the help of local junior and intermediate teams, while fans can sell tickets on a commission basis.

At the public meeting, Charlie McHugh of the Lotto Committee confirmed that their endeavours would see them guarantee the club a €10,000 sum straight away. A new initiative sees fans donate a figure to the club with the option of recouping their money through Lotto sales.

The club is also asking its shareholders for a one-off donation of €200, for which they will receive two tickets for the apartment draw, while other mentioned money spinners included the Friends of Finn Harps scheme, Shirt draw for local businesses, 500 Club and a share purchase. At the Shareholders meeting, one member suggested the possibility of a 'Compromise Rules' type game against the County Gaelic Football team, while another mooted the possibility of the Board making contact with a big cross channel club to tease out an arrangement for a high-profile friendly.

Club Secretary Alex Harkin told Monday night's meetings that there was no danger of the club not being awarded a licence. The €150,000 target is to ensure that the club is able to meet their intended budget for the coming season with that figure set to be cut drastically were they to be unable to meet the targeted figure.

The club has one player on a full-time contract for 2009. The player in question has not yet received all of his wages, but will have to be paid up by the end of January in order for Harps to sign off and get a licence.

"The whole thing has been tightened up on what they class as acceptable as a business," Mr Harkin told the attendance. "I know there are a lot of League of Ireland clubs in trouble at the minute, but there's nothing we can do about that. We have produced a budget for the new season - as we did last season - but if we cannot fulfill the conditions of it the end product is that we carry forward a debt of €290,000, but we are allowed to carry forward around €130,000 and we would have to clear that over a year.

"If we don't raise the €50,000, we will be taking a debt of €7,000 a week through an amateur season. If we do raise it, I imagine our budget could be in the region of €2,500 to €3,000." The club's newly-elected Treasurer, Louis McNern explained that the club was now €290,000 in the red. Last year, Harps took in €830,000, but with the expenditure figure topping one million euro, the shortfall has left Harps counting the cost of their highest ever budget. Loans to the club from Directors are not included in the figure of €290,000.

"Some things didn't reach their target and gate receipts were very disappointing," McNern said. "The Friends of Finn Harps thing was a good idea in principal, but it was well off its intended target. As well as that, the Apartment Draw has been a disappointment, but that's not to say that it cannot be a success going forward."

Approximately €30,000 has been taken in so far from the draw, but the club have aimed to sell an additional 1,000 tickets by the end of January when the draw will take place.

Ian Curristan confirmed that the club has overheads totalling €8,000 a week and said that while they could be trimmed back somewhat where the club to revert to an amateur approach, there were a lot of fixed costs included in the figure.

At the public meeting club officials again gave a breakdown of the club's financial situation and urged fans to come forward with offers of help and assistance.

Derek Wilkinson, the club Chairman said that the failure to raise €150,000 by January's end would mean the budget for the coming campaign 'would be dramatically curtailed' while he allayed the fears of some fans who expressed worries about the club going into Examinership and said that there were a number of ex players who had rowed in behind the fundraising drive. The Chairman said that the club was preparing for life in the First Division and was 'not looking anywhere else' despite reports of Drogheda United's troubles surfacing at this time.

John Campbell, Club Promotions Officer, said the club would embark on a campaign to begin a scheme along the lines of Club Donegal within the next week, while the Club Lotto, 500 Club and Share scheme were put forward again as valuable income sources.

The Club is to hold another public meeting on Monday week, January 19th, when fans will be appraised of how the fundraising campaign is progressing.