On Soccer: Damien Richardson just about hit it on the head last week when he suggested his former club, Shamrock Rovers, were more prisoners of their past than beneficiaries of it.
The 15 league titles and 24 FAI Cups will not do them much good this week as supporters consider how to move forward, potential investors decide whether to commit substantial funds and the First Instance committee weigh up what, if any, action to take over the submission to Merrion Square of the wrong accounts with last November's Uefa licence application.
Over the past few weeks the club's most loyal supporters have shown what a hugely positive force they can be but it is the huge burden of expectation exerted by those fans that has prevented a succession of boards from taking the sort of drastic action needed to put their house in order and secure a permanent home long before now.
The problem has been that throughout a period when survival and fundamental restructuring should have been the priority, the determination to field a competitive team, maintain the club's Premier Division status and even win trophies led to chronic overspending and, inevitably, huge debts.
Casual observers of the club's crisis must be staggered by the fact that a club with no home and hopelessly limited income is spending some €13,000 a week on wages. The figure, of course, would be higher if tax and PRSI were factored in.
To put this in perspective, the gate receipts for one "home" match at Dalymount Park this season were significantly less than €10,000, with Bohemians due €3,500 in rent. Things were a good deal better on Friday for the visit of Cork when more than twice that amount was taken in but with home matches coming around only every other week and the club's best paid player reported to be on nearly €1,500 per week (net) it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why the club is in trouble.
Had the decision been taken to slash spending when the plan to move to Tallaght was first hatched then close to €5 million could have been saved in wages alone in recent seasons and the club might have built a modest home on the site while its more grandiose plans were being realised. That approach might well have involved a spell in the first division but a team drawn at least in part from the local community would have had a home and Tallaght's business community would have something tangible to invest in.
Instead, with debts of €2.3 million, the club have been pretty much reduced to onlookers as SDCC attempts to sort out the stadium issue. In addition, the FAI would technically be within their rights to throw Rovers out.
Within Rovers there is a belief that while the club may face some form of punishment, anything that seriously jeopardises the club's future just as they have finally, by way of examinership, sought to deal with their problems and have had nearly a dozen enquiries from would-be investors, would be counterproductive.
Club chairman Tony Maguire, will attempt to convince the First Instance committee tomorrow there was never any attempt to deceive the licensing committee in relation to the accounts.
The belief is also widespread, however, that the FAI had been warned things were about to go off the rails at the club.
Expelling Rovers, or even deducting enough points to ensure they are relegated is likely to cause problems for the league in terms of the affect on other clubs and could result in yet another season being played out against a background of legal wrangling. It would a hefty price to pay, particularly if a climbdown is required somewhere down the line.
The committee's decision then may say as much about its confidence that the licensing process can be stood over in court as it does about the current plight of Shamrock Rovers.
