Gavin tells owner to step aside

LEAGUE OF IRELAND:RELATIONS BETWEEN the League of Ireland's hierarchy and the owner of one of its biggest clubs appeared to hit rock bottom last night as Fran Gavin called on Cork City's Tom Coughlan to step aside and allow others to take over the running of the troubled club.

It is believed that there is a consortium of potential investors willing to take over should Coughlan decide to walk away but he has insisted that this is not his intention even after an FAI disciplinary committee barred him from “football-related activity” for a year.

In reality the sanction is rather less biting than it might at first seem with Coughlan effectively banned from FAI-related activity, a decision he insists he will appeal. He currently represents his club at FAI meetings but will no longer be free to do so, but he remains free to run City as it competes in competition, at least until the club’s license application for next season is considered.

The League Director’s call on him to go came after a rather bizarre sequence of events yesterday that got under way when Coughlan arrived at Abbotstown for the disciplinary hearing.

The meeting had twice before been postponed at the Corkman’s request but this time he and his legal representative were apparently shown to a waiting room upon arrival and then left largely unattended for an hour due to the late arrival of the committee’s chairman, Larry Fenelon.

At that stage Coughlan and his advisor decided they had had enough and left. A phone conversation followed as they drove away and having declined to return they also refused to have the hearing conducted down the phone line.

Coughlan said last night that he had suggested rescheduling the meeting but this was refused by the FAI side and so the process was conducted in his absence. The committee subsequently found him guilty of bringing the game into disrepute, fined him €5,000 and imposed the ban.

Commenting afterwards, Coughlan said the whole episode had been “outrageous” and that he was “very disappointed but not very surprised. As soon as I get my legal advice”, he added, “we’ll be starting the process of appealing this decision”.

His determination to soldier on will disappoint many supporters of the club who, like the FAI, had been hoping the disciplinary move would prompt his departure.

Foras, the organisation made up of fans who provided practical help to the club prior to falling out with Coughlan, recently applied for a club license itself as a sort of insurance policy against City going out of business while it is believed that a number of individuals with more substantial resources are willing to take on the responsibility of owning the club but not reimburse the clearly considerable expenditure – he claimed a figure of €800,000 yesterday – incurred by Coughlan since he rescued the club from examinership.

None of the interested parties is likely to be encouraged either by the impending appointment as manager of Roddy Collins who has apparently agreed the outline of a deal to succeed Paul Doolin.

A statement purporting to come from Floriana yesterday disputed the Dubliner’s claim that he had left the Maltese club on good terms but, in another of the day’s strange turns, the phone numbers contained on the document turned out to be false.

The club said that it expects to make an appointment within the next 48 hours. However, all things considered, it’s unlikely business cards for Collins will be printed just yet.