Derry's future secure

The scare stories we have heard before - just about every club in the country has been the subject of one at some time or other down the years. What emerged at the Brandywell a few weeks ago, though, was initially far more alarming for the league here than your average side's "brush with the taxman" yarn. One of the biggest clubs in the country came very close to going out of business.

By last night, however, when supporters heard the latest news of the campaign to save City, the story provided as positive an indication as we've had for a long time that there is still a huge reservoir of support in some communities for the National League and its clubs. The pity is that, once again, it has taken a terrible financial crisis for that goodwill to manifest itself.

Not that the turnaround has occurred without creating its problems. The recent game against Celtic, which is believed to have raised around u70,000 £70,000 after expenses, was an enormous success, but with a capacity of just 8,000 at the ground the fact is the City could have comfortably sold twice as many tickets.

The game against Manchester United, scheduled for early next month, has run into more serious difficulties, however, with all of the tickets available for sale to the general public having gone within a couple of hours on Sunday.

Ahead of the Celtic game, the club hit on the idea of selling the tickets inside the ground during a league game and so the gates for the Bohemians and St Patrick's games were substantially boosted. On Sunday more than 4,000 paid to see City play Galway United, but most were there because they wanted to see Alex Ferguson's boys in action rather than Don O'Riordan's.

Even the fact that it's an international week and many of the club's major stars will not be in the side seems to have had little effect on demand, but the speed with which tickets sold out - one stile took nearly u6,000 £6,000 in 10 minutes - has upset the club's regulars some of whom missed out. Season ticket holders will still be able to buy tickets but, while those buying on Sunday were able to purchase up to five each, the club's most loyal supporters will receive just one.

The situation is particularly sad given just how remarkable the overall reaction to City's public plea for help has been. From the woman who baked a large cake and then traipsed around pubs selling the right to guess its weight at a pound a go to those who simply carried out envelope collections door to door, the response has been phenomenal - as has the amount of cash raised.

Indeed, the feeling amongst some of those close to the club is that between the money raised and the willingness of some creditors to show even more flexibility than is traditional when dealing with a National League outfit, City are already out of the woods. The challenge now, they say, will be to use the expected u70,000 £70,000 profit on United's visit to ensure that this sort of thing never happens again.

Amongst the other measures discussed are further cuts to the wage bill, something that will not please members of the panel, very few of whom earn what would be considered big money.

With a number of prominent figures within the local community showing a readiness to get involved again there is a renewed optimism. The hope now is that a clean financial slate, combined with the implementation of long-term plans like the ambitious Football In The Community scheme, will allow City to move forward on a much sounder footing.

It looks as though they just might, although the fact that the turnaround has been achieved with the help of clubs whose success at attracting supporters in this country contributes hugely to the National League's problems in the first place is, to say the least, a little ironic.