National League: Limerick Football Club chairman Danny Drew insisted yesterday the club would be in senior football next season despite the decision announced yesterday by the FAI to seek applications from other interested parties in the city to enter the league next year.
Having had their appeal against a decision to refuse them a license turned down earlier in the week the club's future has been widely called into question.
Drew himself conceded the application failed on the basis of a combination of factors, amongst them unpaid fines, shortcomings in the club's youth team structure and the lack of a club physio but, he insisted, the process had been improperly handled and he remained adamant the club would not quietly make way for another entity in the city to take their place.
"I can guarantee that this won't finish us," he said yesterday. "We'll be around next year. Merrion Square may have Goodbodys for their solicitors but there is a flaw in their rules. Shamrock Rovers had their license taken away but they still played in the league."
Rovers did indeed lose their licence part of the way into the 2005 season as a result of problems with the financial information they had supplied to the league as part of their licensing application. Despite the sanctions imposed, which also included an eight point deduction, they were allowed to play on at a time when the club were actually in administration.
Shelbourne chief executive Ollie Byrne sought to challenge the decision, arguing that if their licence was to be taken away then the club should be excluded from the league if a precedent was not to be set. Sure enough, it is this precedent that Drew is now seeking to latch on to as he seeks to save his own club.
Within Merrion Square, however, there is a belief that the Rovers case was different because it arose after a season had gotten under way and, critically, because a new league is now about to be formed.
To gain membership of the new league a club must sign a participation agreement and to do that it must have obtained a licence. There is an acceptance, however, that Limerick are geographically important to the league and the FAI plan to advertise in local newspapers next week for a replacement club for the area.
The FAI position appears to be that the holding company through which Drew currently runs the club is effectively precluded from making a fresh application although it is hard to see how the association could prevent him from seeking membership for a restructured entity.
Leading local clubs like Pike Rovers, Fairview Rangers and Janesboro could all also seek to avail of the opportunity to move into senior football although it seems more likely that in the event that Drew fails to have the decision overturned, the recruitment of a newly formed club would be the most likely way that the FAI would fill the gap.
The speed with which the association has closed the door to Drew suggests the organisation may already be aware of interest from another party in replacing the current club.
Jim Crawford, meanwhile, is expected to be confirmed as Shelbourne manager next week. Former Waterford United manager Alan Reynolds looks set to be his assistant at Tolka Park.
