Cobh players 'laugh off' club's bizarre loan proposal
Thursday August 14 2008
COBH Ramblers captain Alan Carey has reacted to one of the most bizarre requests ever made by an Eircom League club by saying there is "not a hope in hell" the players will fork out €2,000 each to deal with increasingly urgent debts at St Colman's Park.
The Cobh squad indicated their willingness to help the club by offering €10 of their wages a week towards the cause but that offer was rejected by the board, who insisted they needed the money in one up-front payment.
That request, however, was "laughed off" by the players, according to Carey, who admitted the players were taken aback by the demand.
"We thought at the beginning that they were just asking for a tenner a week so we said, 'yeh take it out of our wages' but then we were told it's actually a €2,000 loan which they said works out as €10 a week for the next four years.
"So when we heard that we couldn't believe it really, we just laughed it off. We said it's impossible because obviously the players are only on one-year contracts so if you're not at the club next year you'll still be paying back a loan for Cobh Ramblers. It doesn't make sense."
Asked if any of the players will take on the loan option, the former Cork City man replied, "Not a hope in hell, we either all do it or no one does it."
Meanwhile, Sligo Rovers remain on the road to ruin, according to club chairman Michael Toolan, after the club revealed that they have gathered only €32,955 of emergency funds in just under a month.
The board had initially set a target of €130,000 on July 15, a figure they stated was needed by the end of August or the club would cease to exist.
And with that deadline looming, Toolan has reiterated that the Bit O' Red will not continue if something drastic is not done.
"If you're asking me whether we'll still be going if the revenue doesn't keeping coming in through the turnstiles, we won't."
Meanwhile, Dynamo Kiev, who came so close to being eliminated by Drogheda United last week, all but qualified for the Champions League proper after Ismael Bangoura and Artem Milevskiy both scored twice to clinch a 4-1 victory over Spartak Moscow in the first leg of their third qualifying round tie in Moscow last night.
- Neil Ahern
