CHARLIE: From the Stands - Being set up for success in the LOI

There is much made of the structures of clubs in the top tier of Irish football, and if you recall one of my previous columns, I spoke about how improving the infrastructure within a club could help it substantially grow into a more sustainable and ultimately profitable, organisation.

This week, I wanted to explore how certain League of Ireland clubs are thriving and what their clubs look like off the pitch, analysing the structure of each of the top domestic sides – evaluating what works and what doesn’t. Granted, each club faces its own challenges, but to me, the primary challenge is creating and maintaining a club that can challenge for honours year on year.

You’ll read the word sustainable a few times in this week’s musings, and it’s important to note that this relates to how clubs can perform year-in, year-out without facing the financial doom and despair which many have before.

So, what do you need to mitigate the risk of financial trouble and challenge for honours on the pitch? After discussions with each club, it was refreshing to see how open, transparent and honest people were about their own successes and failures off the pitch.

Outside looking in, the likes of Derry City, Shamrock Rovers, Bohemians and St Pat’s are well-supported, well-organized, well-financed clubs. But who, and what, is making this all possible? For any football club to be successful, it is not just determined by what happens on the pitch; it is the team in the background of the club that is arguably as important to the survival and progress.

In my opinion, the most important element within a football club will always be the fans. Without fans, there is no football, no league, no club. But after that, it is subjective to who is the next most important person within a football club. In terms of the on-pitch element, it’s probably the Manager.

Off-the-pitch, it's probably the Chairman/CEO/Director of Football. It is their vision and strategy that will ensure the success of the football club off the pitch, similar to the manager on it. With that in mind, let’s delve into some examples of people filling these key roles at clubs:

Chairman: Without a doubt, Derry City as a football club and the north-west in general, is very lucky to have Philip O’Doherty. His contributions to Derry City and generosity to the people of the north-west is phenomenal - much of which goes unnoticed. Without his vision and his contributions, Derry City would look a lot different, so much so that it actually doesn’t even bare thinking about.

CEO: There is no question that Bohemians are thriving under the leadership of Daniel Lambert as CEO. His vision of what a football club looks like is vastly different from any other CEO in the league. It appears that his diverse background within commercial marketing has served him well as Bohs’ CEO to-date. His astute nature has seen him strip Bohemians back to its core and be rebuilt through its community, all the while staying competitive and sustainable. Are they winning leagues? Not yet. Are they far away? Absolutely not.

From speaking to people within Bohemians, it is very clear that everyone has responsibilities and deliverables, right down to the ten board members who are handpicked volunteers with specific skills that complement the needs of the club. Through this delegation, Bohemians have grown their revenue year after year and have reaped the rewards of some nice commercial contracts. Astute, indeed.

Director of the Academy: Although Shamrock Rovers may make the headlines on this side of things, a la Bazunu, Ferizaj, Zefi etc, you can also look at St Pat’s as a perfect example of a club with a thriving youth setup, which is not only profitable but very strategic in every sense. Having generated €2m since 2018 from their academy, there are numerous case studies of former Pat’s players scattered through the UK, along with a production line of players featuring for their first team. Then you look at the revenue that Gavin Bazunu has generated for Shamrock Rovers alone, it sits at around €2.4m - so far. That’s not even taking into account the vast number of other academy graduates that Rovers have sold to clubs in Italy, Germany and the UK.

Finally, imagine the windfall which Bohemians will get when Evan Ferguson gets his big-money move. The academies are a key component of the overall strategy of a club, and when run properly, a lucrative revenue stream for every LOI team. For this, you need a competent, forward-thinking Director.

Director of Football: This position is one that has been introduced over the last decade in Ireland and you can see with the clubs that moved early by creating this position, how they are thriving. Listening to several managers speak of the importance of having a helping hand when it comes to tasks like recruitment, contracts, succession planning, analysis, budgets, talent identification, loan management, and you can tell that this role is almost God-sent.

Gone are the days where a manager was doing everything from being manager, coach, admin, secretary etc. Stephen McPhail is probably the most recognisable Director of Football in the league, and looking at Rovers’ success in recent seasons, he’s there every step of the way alongside Stephen Bradley. These roles and structures are imperative for clubs to be able to grow. Attendances are increasing year-on-year, clubs are engaging their communities more now and with that, there is a significant knock-on effect to interest in the league in general. Regional teams like Derry, Sligo, Galway, Cork and Dundalk will always have their parochial fanbases – that is a given.

And when you partner that with a solid structure behind the scenes, you can give yourself as strong an opportunity to be a stable, sustainable, revenue-generating business off the pitch, and in turn, a competitive team on the pitch. When you look at the graph below, it’s clear that Bohemians are strides ahead when it comes to structure - a structure which has been in place for a few years now and generating revenue across matchday, academy, commercial, player sales, merchandising (incredible numbers – Bob Marley jerseys being a particular highlight), community partnerships and funding.

Already striking, what makes it even more impressive is that each of these revenue streams are sustainable. And with a playing budget of approximately €1.5m, it gives you an idea of the revenue. It’s clear that when you plug a top-class manger (Stephen Kenny, Pat Fenlon in his prime or a Jim McLaughlin) into the infrastructure that Bohemians have created, they will take some catching.

A ‘rob’bed opportunity

First of all, there is one thing I need to say about Sligo’s win over Derry City – and this is removing any bias I have – but the refereeing performance of Rob Harvey was disgraceful.

In the space of a couple of weeks, Harvey has written himself into Public Enemy territory in the north-west, having shafted Finn Harps in the FAI Cup a couple of weeks ago, to go and do the same to Derry last Friday night at the Showgrounds. Forget the penalty that wasn’t given, or the red card, or the two yellows Sligo got in the first half for perfectly good tackles. Truthfully, Derry didn’t do enough to win the game – but a point would have made a huge difference, so when a goal goes in with a clear handball, it just beggars’ belief how an experienced referee can get so much, so wrong.

The result however means that essentially Derry need to now claw back six points (considering the goal difference) to win the league, which honestly is not insurmountable for this Derry team – but will be difficult with games running out. Their title rivals Shamrock Rovers, had expertly navigated their previous three fixtures before Friday night. Claiming seven points from ties against Dundalk, Bohemians and Derry is champions-elect form, and quashed all the doubt that I had in them going into that spell. However, I still have my reservations around what’s going on in the Tallaght club.

From players not wanting to play for the club again (not mentioning any names, but it may rhyme with Back Turn), to the performances on the pitch – even their result against relegated UCD, it all just reaffirms my thinking that all is not well on the western front for Shamrock Rovers. Like Derry, St Pat’s had a major slip-up – which to me isn’t a huge surprise. Jon Daly’s side are playing on empty at the minute and don’t have the squad to compete on all fronts throughout a season. But if you’re going to slip up, you do it to a moment of genius from someone – and that’s what Dayle Rooney provided for Drogheda United on Monday night. Check it out on Twitter.

Bohemians and Shelbourne played out a draw which gives you an idea how hard a team Shels are becoming to play against, with Damien Duff undoubtedly having his sights set on third. If he is to pull that off, it will be an incredible achievement. I can see Shels causing both Shamrock Rovers and Derry problems in the coming weeks, and after Duff slamming squad players that are ‘just happy to be there’, it may ignite a real competition for places at Tolka Park as crunch-time approaches. A great example of a manager trying to create a competitive culture coming into business end of the season.

I still feel that the league is far from over. St Pat’s will have a say in the league either way, having to play Shamrock Rovers at home in the penultimate game of the season, before travelling to the Brandywell on final day. I would love for it to come down to a three-horse race come the last game; can you imagine the Brandywell?