Athlone fans told not to expect cash injection for first team
by Kevin O'Neill Updated: Wednesday, 7th December, 2011 9:30am
ATHLONE Town FC have this week insisted their future plans will be rubber-stamped within a week.
The club have also confirmed they have met with the person who recently paid off the Lissywollen stadium debt, to discuss the future direction of the club, and also to see if it's viable for the reportedly wealthy Athlone native to assist the playing-side of the club.
However, club treasurer, John Comber, has warned Athlone supporters not to expect "massive investment" in the first-team, and said it's not the wealthy supporter's wish "to pump huge money" into the club's first-team playing budget.
Comber said: "I can't go into specific details about what has been discussed, but we're trying to build a sustainable model at Athlone Town FC, and are looking further down the line than just next season. We are in negotiations with an individual, who wishes to continue to remain anonymous, and it's the same person that recently paid-off the stadium debt.
"We are talking about the overall picture, and want to look at the infrastructure of the club. I don't think it's going to be a case of him throwing money at the first-team, and we don't think that's the most sensible thing to do in any case."
Mr Comber insisted Athlone are determined to finalise its playing budget for the 2012 season within a week, and also to confirm its first-team manager for next season within the same time-frame.
So far, said Mr Comber, last season's manager Mike Kerley has been kept abreast of matters concerning the recent meetings, and that Kerley is the only person club officials have spoken to in relation to managing the team next season.
Kerley recently expressed some disappointment at not being already appointed manager for next season, but insisted he was still very much interested in managing Athlone in 2012.
Mr Comber refused to comment on suggestions locally that the potential investor is looking for several new initiatives to be introduced at the club in exchange for financial investment. Rumours have suggested the potential investor is urging the club to introduce an 'all-local' playing and management policy - and that he also wants them to investigate the possibility of replacing the current committee structure with a co-operative ownership of the football club by supporters.
It's been suggested locally that the football club is largely against the notion of a strictly 'all-local' first-team, but that they remain committed to retaining - much like last season - a substantial local core of players in the first-team. Last season, Mike Kerley introduced nine young, local players to first-team football in the League of Ireland, while another 12 local players featured regularly for the first-team throughout the 2011 campaign.
Speaking recently to the Westmeath Independent, Mike Kerley insisted he's happy to continue using as many local players as possible in Athlone's first-team, and suggested one of his main intentions during the current off-season was to attract some former Athlone players (from the Midlands region) back to the club.
Generally, League of Ireland clubs are only beginning to make announcements regarding manager appointments and signing players for next season, but at this stage Athlone would appear not to have lost too much ground in the transfer market.
However, supporters will be extremely wary of falling into the same trap the club has found itself in over recent seasons, when delaying announcing a manager until January.
Mr Comber said this is not the club's intention, and that much more solid information should be available to the public within a week.
"Put simply, the club has to get everything sorted, done and dusted, much sooner than we allowed last season. We have to have a clear plan about where we want to go, as a club, and give the first-team manager as much chance as possible to assemble a competitive team in the Airtricity League First Division," he said.
