Dundalk faces new challenge

Just as control of some of England's biggest clubs is again becoming centralised, so one of Ireland's few experiments with democratic football ownership looks set to come to an end over the coming weeks.

Though the outgoing board was sceptical when they were presented with the idea nearly five years ago, those who championed the takeover of Dundalk football club by a co-operative made up of the club's supporters brought huge new reserves of optimism with them into Oriel Park.

Now, among the club's most prominent figures at least, there seems to be a consensus that the search for old-style money men must be renewed, and shareholders are likely to be asked by the end of May to effectively hand over ownership to anyone willing to provide substantial investment.

This latest upheaval at what was long the country's most successful club follows the dramatic events of last week when, in the wake of the home defeat by Galway United and the vitriolic reaction to it by some members of the crowd, the club's chairman, Des Denning, and two of his fellow directors decided that the

time had come to depart. Team manager Trevor Anderson resigned the following day.

The pity of the situation is that the huge contribution made to the club by Denning, who lists the personal abuse he has been subjected to recently as a major factor in the decision to go, seems to have been overshadowed by his

loyalty to Anderson, the man he hired to

succeed Martin Murray as manager in November of 2002.

Many locals felt at the time that Ollie Ralph should have been given a crack at the job, and their case seemed to build steadily from the day Anderson was brought in. The team won just once more in 15 outings that season, and during the 17 months that followed he won just 10 of 55 league games with the club.

Budgets were small by previous standards, but the northerner still spent, by the two clubs' respective estimates, more on finishing 10th last year than John Gill did winning automatic promotion with Dublin City. Perhaps that was the time for Anderson to leave the club.

The upshot of the entire affair, however, is that interim chairman Tony O'Kane is set to lead the club through some turbulent weeks, during which a series of meetings will do much to shape the club's long-term future. With its debt said to be firmly under control and the club meeting its day-to-day expenses, but lacking the resources to do much more than that, O'Kane says that he has received a number of expressions of interest from potentially significant investors.

Their money is certainly needed, for while there is €1 million in grants available, a lot of work must be done in the area of licensing as well as the modernisation of Oriel and the revitalisation of a youth development structure.

Before almost anything else is addressed, though, a new manager needs to be appointed. Anderson's assistant, Paul Curran, takes charge for tonight's League Cup game against Bohemians and the weekend's visit to Athlone.

And O'Kane is making little secret of having been impressed with the credentials of the club's former striker, Tony Cousins, who pitched for the job over the weekend when he made it clear that Tommy Connolly, the man credited with much of the club's best youth development work previously, would be returning as part of the package if he were to be appointed.

O'Kane, though, readily admits that his will be far from the final say on the matter and that shareholders' opinions on this and many other issues will have to be sought over the next few weeks.

They may prefer to retain control and opt for a more proven coach in a year that three teams are promoted, with Jimmy McGeough, Noel King and Dermot Keely among the very many names being mentioned in connection with the vacancy.

If O'Kane gets his way and is then proven right, however, then his will have been a critical contribution to the club's revival, and there really is no reason why Dundalk can't re-establish itself as a solid, middle ranking Premier Division club during the next few years.

To aim for anything more right now would seem like a reckless mixture of fantasy and over-ambition. The problem is that around Oriel Park anything less is always going to feel like failure.