The financial report: robbing Peter to pay Paul!

REPORTS of financial difficulties were a fairly regular occurrence during Omagh Town’s years in senior football.

Former secretary Pat McGlinchey admits there were times when he had “to rob Peter to pay Paul”, that players’ wages weren’t paid on time but insisted officials always found a way to keep the show on the road.

That meant that the club had to put in place arrangements to service certain debts which often included monies owed to the VAT man and Mr Joe Law, who owned the social club premises at Sedan Avenue.

Those outgoings meant that managers often had to operate within a shoestring budget to try and build squads to compete with some of the best in the business.

Financially playing in the top flight was always a struggle for the Town and they quickly earned a reputation of a club that was struggling to pay it’s way.

“Money was never really an issue until we moved into senior football. That brought increased costs across the board. The players were now semi-professional and we were largely relying on revenue from the social club, advertising hoardings and sponsorship,” said the former secretary.

“Our first major sponsor was Nestle, then Omaglass, Electronics Direct and the Silverbirch Hotel. Jimmy, and Allan Duncan were our greatest friends. They came on board in the late ninties and stuck with us until the bitter end.”

FULL STORY IN THURSDAY’S ULSTER HERALD