Brown wants Shelbourne and Rovers to merge

Former Shelbourne chairman Gary Brown has called for a merger between the National League champions and Shamrock Rovers, who went into examinership on Tuesday with debts of more than €2 million.

The Dublin businessman, who has repeatedly called for drastic action to address the financial problems within the domestic game, said such a move made sense for both clubs and would benefit the league as a whole by reducing the number of Premier Division clubs in Dublin from five to four.

"As a business plan and a survival plan it would make sense for both of them," Brown said yesterday. "There would be huge positives for both clubs and for the game in the city as a whole because there are too many clubs in the capital.

"Obviously, nobody wants to see a club in trouble, but even if their current debts are wiped out it's hard to see how, from a business perspective, Shamrock Rovers are going to come out of their current situation looking like a good investment, but what they do have is a promising future out in Tallaght if they can come up with the money they need to make it happen.

"If Shelbourne sell Tolka Park, which they've been considering for a long time, then they'll have the sort of money that Rovers need.

"I know the real diehard fans of the two clubs won't see it, but it's a perfect match and if the two of them got together they could take a huge step forward."

Shelbourne has already sold first refusal on Tolka Park to a development company, but its original plan to move to a new stadium in the Tolka Valley near Finglas collapsed due to opposition by local councillors.

More recently there has been talk of relocating the club to a green-field site near Donabate in north county Dublin, but nothing has been confirmed.

Like many other league clubs, Shelbourne has substantial debts and running costs are met through a wide range of commercial and other fund-raising activities with gate receipts forming a relatively small part of income.

It is not the first time that the idea of clubs from within the Dublin area merging has been floated and there were suggestions last year that St Patrick's Athletic might also sell Richmond Park in order to ground share with Shelbourne, but Brown believes both the time and the profiles of the particular clubs are right.

"They're originally from the same part of the city (Ringsend), they were formed around the same time and there is no great animosity between the two supporters.

"Of course, there would be a whole load of issues to be sorted out, everything from the name to the colours, but the fact is that given the advantages as compared to battling on separately, it's worth people sitting down, making some hard decisions and hammering out a deal."

Drogheda United, meanwhile, have terminated the contract of former St Patrick's Athletic striker Tony Bird.

The Welshman moved to Paul Doolin's side midway through last season having also reportedly attracted interest from Shelbourne, but he failed to score in 10 appearances for the club and had not played this season.

It is understood that Bird's reaction to being told last Thursday that he would be involved in the game against Bray the following evening sparked a dramatic deterioration in his relation with the manager.

Club officials subsequently initiated talks aimed at buying out the remainder of his contract, which had until the end of this season to run, but when they floundered, the club informed the 30-year-old that they were dispensing with his services.

Representatives of the PFAI have been involved in the dispute over the past couple of days, but neither Doolin nor Fran Gavin of the players' union was contactable yesterday.