Their supporters' lack of confidence influenced the Roscommon board to disband the county team, reports Seán Moran

Public and local media discontent contributed to the decision by the Roscommon county board to disband the county football panel pending further consideration of rumoured misbehaviour by players.

"Public pressure was best illustrated by the way the team lost the support of the people," said county secretary Tom Mullaney. "Last year 14,000 Roscommon supporters came to Castlebar for the All-Ireland quarter-final with Galway. This year for the Mayo match there was very poor support. Mayo and ourselves playing pitch-penny would normally be rivetting enough for a crowd to come.

"But we knew from what was being said on the terraces that this was reflecting on the officers and that something had to be done. You need that confidence behind you to do things and to fund-raise. It's like any business. A loss of confidence in the market place is very damaging. There's a severe financial strain on us if we are to do things properly with the county panel."

Players were summoned to a meeting and informed that the panel was being disbanded. They were asked to contact the board individually and respond to allegations of misbehaviour. According to Mullaney last night, 20 of the panel had done so with others away or on holiday.

The move is being seen by some as a clearing of the decks before the question of the team management is resolved. Outgoing manager John Tobin has been appointed Connacht Director of Coaching and is unlikely to be in a position to continue with Roscommon. Despite this, Mullaney said that he was "still holding out hope" that the provincial council would raise no objections to Tobin combining the two roles.

Currently on holiday abroad, Tobin is unavailable for comment but a source close to the team has suggested that the manager was not enthusiastic about the county board's action and would have preferred the matter to be allowed settle. This is denied by Mullaney. "John was contacted about this and supported the action. I don't think he had any objection."

Meanwhile changing economic conditions have helped persuade the GAA to vary the terms of sale for the remaining corporate facilities in Croke Park. The final phase of the sale of those facilities is due to begin in the coming weeks and packages available will be pitched at shorter-term lettings.

Sixteen corporate boxes in the Canal End stand will go on the market as soon as the current occupants have exercised their options to relocate to the newly-rebuilt Hogan Stand.

There are also still 300 unsold premium seats out of a total of roughly 8,500.

According to Dermot Power, the GAA's marketing manager, a decision has been taken to make the remaining boxes easier to purchase.

"This is something we've been looking at for some time now," he said. "It's a way of extending the market to include companies for whom the 10-year option is impractical. Originally we had been thinking of companies like multinationals for whom 10 years is a long time in the global market.

"But, realistically, in the current environment there are also companies who might find it difficult to put €380,000 up front but who might be attracted by one-, two- or three-year deals."

Power says that the bulk of the sales go to existing customers with box holders also acquiring anything up to 20 additional seats on the premium level.

"A number of the customers say it is their best promotional tool. Some have given us great support and expanded their holding. When it came to selling the Hogan we sold it from the existing customer base.

"When you saw Croke Park last Sunday you realised that it was the greatest sales pitch for the facilities. Customers bring guests and guests are potential customers."

The next rollover of leases is three years when the original 10-year sales for the Cusack Stand expire. Power says that the intention is to stagger the sales to a greater extent in the future and that the shorter-term lettings will help achieve that. "As well as improving the cash flow, it lessens the exposure every five years."

It has also been confirmed that the stands in Croke Park will retain their original names. Given that the redeveloped stadium is divided into horizontal rather than vertical levels, technically the stands don't exist. But there had been resistance amongst members to the name changes, which would have seen Cusack, Hogan and Nally become the names of the three levels in the new development.

With the pedestrian traffic access and egress plan directing spectators to the various sides of the ground, the old designation of the stands - Cusack side, Hogan side etc - had come back into currency anyway and it has been decided to stick with it.