Drogheda can learn from Sunderland's return from the brink

LEAGUE OF IRELAND PREMIER DIVISION: Emmet Malonewas there as Niall Quinn gave an insight into the kind of local initiatives that could make the Claret and Blue club a going concern

HIS CLUB may operate on a rather higher level, but Sunderland chairman Niall Quinn insisted last night the Premier League outfit’s recovery from the brink of bankruptcy three and a half years ago contains important lessons for Drogheda United.

Speaking at a meeting of supporters and local business people where the club launched its Legacy scheme – a fundraising drive intended to help facilitate the handing over of United debt free to their fans – Quinn said there were “important similarities between what you are trying to trying to achieve and what we have tried to do, although I can assure you, Sunderland was in a far worse state three and a half years ago than Drogheda ever was.”

The locals, who had gathered at a large bar restaurant in the centre of the town to hear the former international striker speak almost a year to the day after the landmark meeting in a local college where more than 400 supporters resolved to raise the funds required to steer United out of examinership, might have given him an argument on the respective scale of the clubs’ problems but they reacted positively to his core message that: “you’ve got to make local people love their football club for more than playing football”.

Quinn spoke of the dramatic expansion of Sunderland FC’s foundation, with more than 100 people now employed in a wide range of social and education initiatives, many operating out of the club’s ground on non-match days.

“You have a huge head start because young people look up to footballers and there is an opportunity to make the club a beacon for the town and its people,” he said. “You have to make sure, though, the money you raise through initiatives like this isn’t simply taken in and then passed on to players who do nothing more than come in, play and leave again. The club has to do a great deal more than that but the opportunities are certainly there.”

The enthusiasm required would appear to be there too. More than €300,000 was raised in the seven weeks that followed last year’s public meeting and since the establishment of the Claret and Blue club, around 250 fans have committed themselves to contributing, at the rate of €5 a week each, some €65,000 per annum, although those behind the scheme reckon they’ll need twice that coming in each year if they are to be in a position to take up the current board’s offer to cede control.

The original rescue of United was completed after a remarkable display of unity by the townspeople. “It was really amazing,” says Róisín Hoey, daughter of long-time club chairman Vincent, who, along with Aengus McHugh and Jim Agnew, established the Claret and Blue initiative when it became clear the club had been saved but now needed to figure out how it might sustain itself.

“With the Claret and Blue club,” says McHugh, “we’re trying to learn from the mistakes of the past. The days of wealthy individuals bankrolling clubs is over, there’s been plenty more evidence of that this year, and what this is about is supporters and communities taking some sort of control over their clubs.

“It began because we were going to restart the monthly prize draw but realised that that was a bit tired and had relied on people having money to burn really. We felt if were going to succeed now, we would have to offer a bit of value and so we started talking to businesses about how they might get involved.”

Five months on, 40, mainly local firms, have weighed in behind the scheme, donating monthly prizes for a traditional style draw but also offering a range of member discounts on purchases.

“We started by going to people who had a long association with the club, say the Hurley brothers who had a delicatessen in the town and whose father Charlie has been involved most of his life,” says Hoey. “People were very receptive to the idea because they saw that their business could get more back than through a regular sponsorship. Others, like Panorama holidays and Four Star Pizza came on board too and that all gave us something to sell to potential members.”

The progress made since has been steady and, with wages at the club now roughly one eighth of what they were before the crisis, the money coming in has the potential to make a critical difference. The fact that, under Alan Mathews, the team stayed up this year despite all of the pre-season problems has helped to generate confidence too and McHugh suggests the achievement is regarded by many as a greater one now than the title success of 2007.

Everyone knows much more will be needed if the opportunities Quinn talks about are to be taken, but Vincent Hoey, as passionate as ever, expressed confidence last night it can be done.

“I’ve been involved a long time but never saw myself as more than a custodian of the club for the people of the town,” he said. “It was always theirs and the offer to hand it over is only recognition of that. I tried to take good care of it for the last 50 years and now it’s up to the supporters and all of the local people to take it on and do the same.”