Galway Utd fans go it alone
Date Published: {J}
Keith Kelly
The supporters’ group which ran Galway United for the 2011 season has pulled the plug on its support for the club, and has instead applied for a league licence to enter its own side into the Airtricity League First Division next season.
The move was announced at the AGM of the Galway United Supporters’ Trust last night, and leaves the future of United very much up in the air, though a spokesperson for the United group says the move is an effort to secure the future of the club.
The new club would be called Galway United Supporters’ Trust FC for the 2012 season, with the hope to revert to the name Galway United FC from the following year if that name becomes available – in effect, if the company currently operating as Galway United FC is wound up.
The GUST – which was handed responsibility for the day-to-day running of the club back at the start of the year – had already submitted an application for a league licence on behalf of Galway United, but has now opted to set up its own limited company and lodge an application for a team to play in the domestic league next season.
That application has been sent by registered post to the FAI, and the directors of the company which owns Galway United FC – Nick Leeson, Donal Downes, John McCormack and Colm Feeney – have been informed by the United supporters of the decision to withdraw their backing for the club and seek to enter their own team into the domestic league.
The United fans are understood to have felt that continuing to run the club with debts of close to €1 million hanging over it made it unsustainable, and that the club would not have received a licence for next season. As it was, the club was only awarded a licence for the 2011 season on appeal, after its original application was rejected.
Rather than face being turned down for a licence again, the supporters’ group are understood to believe the only way forward for Galway United is to form a new company, which would mean it would start next season without a cent of debt.
It is not known what that means for Galway United FC, but it is thought that the high debt and the lack of support from GUST will mean it will not get a licence, and will cease to exist.
Talks are understood to have taken place between GUST and the Galway FA over the use of Terryland Park for the new team, which suggests that some agreement will be reached with the governing body of local soccer, and the owners of Terryland Park, to address the legacy of debt for the rent of the ground by United over the past number of years.
For more, read this week's Connacht Sentinel.