Waterford are 'astounded' at off-field ratings

Barely an hour after Dundalk and Waterford United had been told that they would be playing First Division football in the reorganised "Eircom League of Ireland" next year FAI chief executive John Delaney maintained it was time to move on.

Representatives of the two clubs, however, could be forgiven as they left the Dublin hotel for dwelling a while longer on the outcome of a process that neither felt had fairly reflected the strength of their case for a place in the new top flight.

While many in the Dundalk camp may have privately suspected that the club's second place finish in this year's First Division table was not going to be enough to earn them membership of the revamped Premier Division, Waterford United officials declared themselves as "astounded" at how poorly they had fared in the ratings of clubs' various off-field activities.

"From the figures we've seen the average score awarded for the off-the-field criteria was around 348 (out of 500) while we only got 295," said Waterford United director Paul Cooke. "I'm astounded that others clubs got on average 20 per cent more than we did." The club's board, he said, would meet over the coming days to consider its position and would reserve its position until then. It remains unclear, however, as to how the decision of the Independent Assessment Group might be challenged unless it could be established that the process was actually unfairly conducted.

Dundalk chairman Tony O'Kane ruled out the idea that his club would resort to legal action but expressed a similar level of dissatisfaction over yesterday's turn of events. "This is an awful kick in the teeth for everybody in Dundalk," he said. "As a town and a club we are bitterly disappointed because on the face of it the decision taken defies logic.

"We won't be going down the road of going to court or anything like that but we will certainly be looking for an explanation for why they have decided to exclude us. On the field we earned the right to play in the Premier Division next year and off it we feel we did absolutely everything that was asked of us.

"In Gerry Matthews (the club's owner) we have someone who has spent a lot of money and put in a huge amount of effort ensuring that we fulfilled the various critieria that were laid down but it doesn't seem to have made any difference.

"Everything seems to have gone against us," he continued. "We've been hugely successful over the years but no account has been taken of that and even the last season when we won the cup was excluded from the calculations when it was initially meant to count. Then, after beating Galway United three times fair and square on the field of play this year, we have a situation where we were obliged to take part in a play-off that appears to have counted for nothing either. It's all hugely disappointing."

United were, of course, the major winners in terms of the weighting given to off-the-field activities with the Terryland Park club, who have not been in the Premier Division since the end of the 2001/02 season, outscoring even the likes of Derry City, Drogheda United and Bohemians in this area. "I feel for everybody at Dundalk," said the chairman of United's Management Committee, Nial O'Reilly "but two years ago we put a five-year plan in place that involved us being back in the Premier Division in year three. Coming into this season we knew we were there or thereabouts and that a top two or three place would probably be enough. Naturally, we're all delighted that we will now be looking to implement the one that involves us strengthening the team considerably."