A Dreamer's Punishment

“A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world. ” – Oscar Wilde

Ronan Seery had a dream. He had lofty ambitions for his club, Dublin City FC, but before long the problems started to arrive. The summer of 2006 saw the club cease trading, with their finances in a parlous state, much like Sporting Fingal this winter.

'Due to ongoing difficulties, our continued existence within the eircom League simply became untenable and while extremely difficult to make, it is the most prudent and honourable decision and course of action to take,' a statement from Seery read after the club departed the top flight with immediate effect 17 games into the 2006 season.

Seery pumped in excess of €500,000 into his dream but the lack of a home base in the incredibly saturated market of the capital city was reflected by a shortage of supporters trudging through the ‘stiles on a Friday night. Ultimately this meant that his dream of seeing Dublin City prosper would never fruitfully materialise.

On occasion, fewer than 100 people would pay-in at the various venues around Dublin that the club used and that fact alone is enough to tell you where it all went wrong despite bringing in some big name players in order to survive in the top tier.

When it emerged last week that Seery was declared bankrupt by the High Court, with €1.25m of debt, it was yet another example of a Celtic Tiger businessman going bust. Seery owed money to a range of creditors, from Suttonians RFC (a sum of just €87) to Stepstone Mortgages (€520,000), with the bulk of the remaining debt coming from past ventures in his now defunct company World Sports Promotions. Amongst other liabilities, almost €3,000 is owed to the FAI, according to yesterday’s The Sunday Times.

But as we all know, while individuals go bankrupt, there is more collective hurt when football clubs go to the wall. Players and backroom staff lose their jobs, and that magical sense of community created by a club is evaporated from the often thin air supporters breathe every day.

Seery is, sadly, not the only ‘football entrepreneur’ to have seen his dreams dissolve. There is no need to go into details about others, unnecessarily bringing up individuals who still deserve ire spewed at their wastefulness, but at a time when pragmatism in football is in vogue, there appears to be one or two lessons that are finally being driven home to a couple of clubs.

Look at Shamrock Rovers, who look like they could have the league won by mid-April at this rate. They were forced to learn the hard way, but last season’s success and the platform for further victories in the near future will taste all the sweeter for those that have built the Hoops back from its foundations and turned them into one of the big hitters yet again.

Just a few shy of 6,000 people were in Tallaght on Friday night to witness their third league win on the bounce, a figure that eclipsed the majority of GAA attendances this weekend, showing that, if run in the right way, clubs can be a success.

Cork City are now where the Hoops were in 2006, in the graveyard of the First Division, hoping for a return into the big time before they become further disillusioned by soul destroying trips to empty stadiums every second week. It can’t be easy for players; playing in front of 2000 people one week and running out in front of 200 seven days later. Still, other clubs want to get out of the First Division too, and the size of a club’s fanbase isn’t enough to earn promotion.

Rovers, while despised by supporters of several other teams, are a model club at the moment and a lesson for those that have failed in previous times. If all clubs were owned by fans, would we see less clubs going to the wall? I don’t think that question needs to be answered.