The High Court ruling has wide-ranging implications for the future of the Phibsborough club, writes Emmet Malone

THE BOHEMIANS board will meet tomorrow to consider how to proceed after the High Court dealt a major blow to the club's plans to sell Dalymount Park to the Liam Carroll-owned property development firm, Danninger.

That deal, with a total estimated value of some €67 million, is now threatened by a requirement that a 250 square metre portion of the stadium site be held in trust for companies owned by rival developer Paschal Conroy pending a final decision on how a deal negotiated in relation to it, but never signed, might be concluded.

Conroy wants to use the land as part of his proposed redevelopment of the adjoining Phibsborough shopping centre.

Leading figures at the club, however, are hopeful that the situation can still be resolved and it is hoped that meetings can be arranged with both Carroll and Conroy in the very near future to resolve the situation.

The most immediate problem for the club is that it is unclear where precisely they stand in the wake of the court ruling. Under the terms of the deal with Danninger they were to be paid substantial sums of money in advance of their relocation to a new site adjacent to the airport at Harristown where a new stadium was to be constructed for them.

It is believed the deal may well survive yesterday's events but that the ruling may have implications for the overall value of the transaction. Nobody seems entirely clear, however, on what either of the developers' intentions are given the extent to which the economic climate has taken a turn for the worse since all of these deals were negotiated.

"It's not all doom and gloom," said club secretary Gerry Conway. "We lost and we had been expecting to win but what we need to do is take stock of the implications and look to move forward in the best way possible.

"There's no point in calling the members together to tell them that we lost the case, they probably know that already. What we need to do is establish what the consequences are before we talk to them and the board will meet to do that over the weekend."

The situation clearly casts some uncertainty over the club's long-term plans and there may well be implications for manager Pat Fenlon as he looks to finalise his squad for next year's title defence.

Bohemians ran away with the league this year despite having started out with something like the country's fourth largest budget for the payment of players.

The club had hoped to keep spending at roughly current levels or even reduce the budget slightly for next year while a number of their rivals are expected to slash their wage bills as a result of financial problems encountered over this season.

It remains to be seen whether the court judgment will have a significant impact on that strategy with Conway cautious on how the board is likely to proceed.

"When we talked about the situation a few weeks ago we felt that there was money there for next year," he said, "but clearly this may have implications for the long term and we need to look at all of the possibilities when we meet. What's clear, though, is that there are so many uncertainties still when what we wanted out of this case was certainty."

A decision might yet be taken to appeal yesterday's decision to the Supreme Court and discussions will take place with the club's legal advisers next week.

In the meantime, the ruling comes as another blow to a league already battered by two clubs having entered into examinership, a handful more having experienced serious financial problems and, most recently, suggestions of improper gambling on games.

Amid fears that Bohemians might now also be plunged into crisis by the court ruling, however, league director Fran Gavin insisted yesterday that he remains unconcerned by the situation at the club. "It (the economic downturn) has affected everyone, not just football," he said.

"A lot of clubs found that their grounds became very valuable. Now, they're less valuable but the bottom line is that they still have a major asset.

"I wouldn't have any fears about Bohemians on that basis. The people who run the club have done so extremely professionally and it's in their interests to ensure the continued financial wellbeing of the club."

The Bohemians team, meanwhile, are in Cobh this evening where the home side will be hoping for a win to maintain their hopes of avoiding relegation.