Thinking outside the box and some more!

IRISH Premiership club Ballymena United issued a statement on Friday hitting back at speculation that the club was facing some kind of financial crisis.

Apparently it had been reported in some quarters that the club was in dire straits, had held emergency meetings to discuss their plight and that the club had been forced to off load players in the January transfer window,

During the window David Parkhouse, Paul McElroy, Conor Keeley and Caolan Loughran all left Warden Street with Robbie McVarnock being the only addition to the squad. This appears to have been the catalyst for the rumours and at the end of the week the club released a statement suggesting that ‘unverified sources’ were off the mark.

The statement read, “Regarding one newspaper report that mentions boardroom changes with ‘no official confirmation from the club’ – it was clearly communicated back in November (https://www.ballymenaunitedfc.com/news/news.php?newsid=2042 and on social media) that a new board and management committee had been installed by shareholders to continue running the club until the AGM in June to maintain stability, at which time the shareholders will have the ability to nominate a longer term board in full knowledge of the facts. This was after an earlier publicly advertised meeting of shareholders for the sole purpose of nominating a new board and chairman.

“Regarding ’emergency meetings’, since November there has been ongoing communication between the board, manager and the shareholders to agree the best pathway forward for the club. This has again been an open discussion forum with full facts to allow the shareholders, as the owners of the club, to have full insight into the tasks and actions put in place by the board and management committee. This has been done to be open and upfront so as to avoid the rumour mill, however, we can’t stop people trying to make up their own conclusions from misguided interpretation of facts. Since then there have been a number of follow up meetings with shareholders who are offering their knowledge and expertise in some of the areas discussed – no emergencies.

“Finally, with regard to our finances, as previously publicly stated by David Jeffrey in multiple interviews in January, with any business there are times where savings have to be identified alongside maximising new income streams. No player was pushed out the door in January, but as a business we were open to listen to the offers made for the players who moved on. Again, no emergencies, but we have to be realistic moving forward that we are trying to maintain a part time football club in a league of increasingly full time clubs, and as we seek to increase long term investment we all have to be realistic as to what our short term outlay is.

“Speculation is not only widely inaccurate but also very unhelpful not only for the football club, but also the NI Football League as we drive to make local football a bigger and better product together.”

So there you have, Ballymena United are not facing a financial Armageddon but they are living through challenging financial times. In a nutshell, the Co Antrim club is saying that rumours are blowing things completely out of proportion while admitting that they are having to balance the books. I’d imagine that quite a few Premiership and Championship clubs would fall into that category.

Mind you, I would think that regional clubs like Ballymena, Coleraine and Glenavon are finding the modern era of Irish League football particularly challenging.

With Glentoran, Linfield, Larne and Crusaders all embracing full-time football that has brought added pressure to bear on the aforementioned clubs and Cliftonville to follow a similar path.

The boards of those clubs have no doubt had many a discussion around the pros and cons of going full-time and weighing up if they could put in place the structures to support such a model. And ultimately whether or not it could be sustainable.

The Portadowns, Dungannons, Carrick Rangers and Newrys of this world have no doubt had similar debates but I suspect for some of them there is nothing to discuss; it simply isn’t feasible in any shape or form.

Over recent months I have heard rumours that Coleraine, even Dungannon, are not ruling out some kind of move towards full-time football in the future.

The fear for the clubs outside that top bracket – Cliftonville obviously being the exception – is that if they don’t adopt a professional model will they get left behind?

Of course, the flip side is that if the likes of Ballymena or Glenavon did embrace such a dramatic change could they sustain it. Right now the answer to that is simply no.

New structures would have to be put in place, new revenue streams would need to be generated and if either of those clubs could find themselves a Kenny Bruce or Ali Pour then anything is possible.

Without doubt the Northern Ireland Football League has taken massive strides in recent years and the product has never been as good. The professional input has played a part in that but it’s hard to see where next for some clubs.

The big guns, with a certain level of finanicial clout, have made their decision and I suppose it’s been a case of so far so good.

It’ll be interesting to see if any other clubs follow suit. Is it really possible for the Premiership to become a full-time league or is that simlpy pie in the sky?

It all boils down to generating enough income and for the remaining clubs that would take a lot of thinking outside the box, and some more.