Good article in todays Sunday Independent. INM don't give much coverage to the LOI unless its bad news but journalist Sean Ryan is a big LOI fan and has written some pretty good books on soccer in Ireland.
The article below hits the nail on the head as to why CCFC finds itself in the financial predictament its in....
Last October, Tom Coughlan rode into Cork City's history as a white knight, a saviour, a messiah, rescuing the club from oblivion on the eve of its silver jubilee. Almost a year on, and Coughlan was seen as a chancer and incompetent, as he built up a trail of debt and destruction and the club spiralled towards extinction again.
On Friday last, after a stay of execution had been granted to the club by the High Court until Wednesday afternoon, a chink of light appeared and Coughlan's redemption beckoned.
It wasn't that he had saved Cork City again - Friday's stay may be only a temporary reprieve - rather it was the mea culpa which he uttered to the waiting media that hints at a turning point in Coughlan's style of management.
"I made a balls of it in the first six months here," he admitted. "We've got to learn from that and get a truly sustainable model."
They say it takes a big man to admit he made a mistake, but Coughlan made plenty of them before Friday - and never held up his hand. Maybe his mea culpa on Friday is only a temporary reprieve in that regard also?
There is certainly plenty of evidence to indicate how much of a "balls" he made of directing Cork City's fortunes up to now. The failure to pay tax liabilities is only the tip of an iceberg that threatens to put a damper on what should have been the silver jubilee celebrations of possibly the most successful League of Ireland club in the past 25 years.
Bent on putting his own mark on the club, Coughlan's regime was marked by a hire-and-fire syndrome, which lacked common sense and also displayed his lack of football nous.
As a result, the club has to find €36,000 to compensate Gareth Farrelly for unfair dismissal, and faces legal action and the possibility of a six-figure sum for the summary dismissal of former manager Alan Mathews.
Further down the chain there are disputes to be settled with former club worker Noelle Feeney, and the owners of the lease of the club shop on Grand Parade, which Coughlan moved to other premises. His actions give every indication of someone who is used to riding roughshod over people and they were compounded by his own admission that football wasn't his number one sport and his unwillingness or inability to take advice from football people.
For instance, had Coughlan consulted the Professional Footballers Association of Ireland (PFAI), he could have saved himself a lot of money. The players' willingness to play without pay to save the club is more akin to the action of a GAA team than a team of professionals, yet Coughlan never tapped into that reservoir of goodwill.
The Cork City he inherited had just come out of examinership, with the Revenue having to settle for less than 10 cent from every euro it was owed. Keeping them onside should have been a priority for the new regime, but they were treated with contempt, in one case being offered cheques that bounced. In addition, Cork City players who had retired were now claiming sporting tax back - on tax, which had not found its way to the Revenue. No wonder Revenue's attitude to the club's owner hardened.
With the biggest support base in the League, Coughlan could have steadied the ship, but instead his ambition got in the way of common sense, and he decided to go for broke and challenge for the title.
The comparison with Drogheda United is telling. The Louth club, given a similar deal by the Revenue when they got into difficulty last year, cut their cloth accordingly and operate with a weekly wage bill of €6,500. Cork's is still €30,000, second only to League champions Bohemians.
Cork's position vis-a-vis Sligo Rovers is also interesting. Because the FAI had issues with the budget which the Westerners presented to the licensing department in February, a transfer embargo was imposed. It left Sligo so short of players that, at times, they only had two substitutes on the bench. However, having stabilised their finances, they were able to make a number of signings during the recent transfer window. Cork's budget presentation was considered in order last February, and the club were able to make seven new signings. Subsequently they went over budget, but the only sanction the FAI could impose was a transfer embargo, which didn't come into force until July.
An FAI source explained that, as the Gareth Farrelly and Alan Mathews cases were legal issues at the time, they were precluded from being considered in relation to the issuing of the licence. Perhaps the Cork City saga will force a re-think in this area by the Association.
Another requirement on licence applicants is a tax clearance certificate or an agreement with the Revenue. In Cork's case, whatever agreement was in place was broken soon after the licence was granted.
The FAI licensing department have been working with Cork and the Revenue since May, when a petition was filed in the High Court to wind up Cork City Investment FC Ltd, the club's holding company.
Having gone out on a limb to retain a club, whose loss to the League would be catastrophic, the FAI will now take more control, starting with the running of the Celtic friendly at Turner's Cross.
If they pay the outstanding debt to the Revenue on Wednesday, the club then have to make regular payments. If, at the end of the season, the deal has come apart, then the FAI can revoke the licence.
In the meantime, there are a lot of issues for a chastened Coughlan to face: players' wages, Gareth Farrelly, etc. It shouldn't take long to find out if his mea culpa has substance - or was just another good soundbite.
http://www.independent.ie/sport/oth...citys-saviour-is-truly-chastened-1849371.html