Dundalk takeover deal complete as troubled club is rescued

Dundalk have confirmed this evening’s Irish Independent story that a group headed by John Temple, a native of the town, have agreed a takeover that gives them majority control of the club.

The statement says that Temple’s consortium have agreed to underwrite wages for the rest of the season and will then ‘examine the viability of the club and its facilities going forward.’

This leaves the door open to a second consortium, headed up by a former Dundalk player based in Slovakia, being part of the arrangement. Talks on that are scheduled for this evening and tomorrow.

“Dundalk is a football town and the club is hugely important to all the staff, players and supporters,” said Temple.

“We appreciate the concerns raised by all of our supporters in recent weeks and it has underscored what the club means to every one of them.”

Temple is a director of Silverlane Ireland, a company who publicly expressed interest in taking over Dundalk before Ainscough did a deal with former owners Andy Connolly and Statsports duo Alan Clarke and Sean O’Connor last winter.

In that statement released to local media, Silverlane listed some of their aims, including ‘opening the indoor pitches at Oriel Park to the public on a full-time basis to include the installation of a new gym, the installation of solar panels to lower energy costs and creating a community sensory room and a coffee shop open seven days a week.’

That deal did not proceed, but Temple’s name returned to the discussion this week as the club reached crisis point due to a deadline for new investment imposed by Ainscough after he admitted that the funds weren’t there to get through the remainder of the campaign – and with the Lilywhites already carrying debts in excess of €1m with costs mounting up.

Various parties expressed interest before dropping out but two remained interested. Slovakia based former Dundalk player Donal Greene was leading one group, with a longer term plan that included investment from North America and a plan that was believed to involve a minor shareholding for supporters.

However, in the short term, it was thought likely that the club would go into SCARP (Small Company Administrative Rescue Process) – a form of examinership which effectively would have involved a partial write-off of some debts but would also likely have resulted in relegation to the First Division, a scenario that remains viable on the pitch anyway with Dundalk bottom of the table.

But it emerged yesterday that Ainscough had another live option, which was Temple’s group. Discussions accelerated today to get it over the line, although it remains possible that the Plan B option led by Greene – who is flying into Ireland today (Tuesday) – will be a part of the bigger picture.

In the immediate term, the priority for Dundalk and Ainscough was survival and the FAI were desperate to avoid a scenario where they were forced to cease trading, thus causing chaos to the Premier Division table.

Temple made reference to the job on the pitch in his statement, but said his priority would be off-the-field matters, with the government decision to bring forward the announcement of a successful grant application for urgent works to the pitch and floodlights at the dilapidated Oriel Park cited as a major help.

Temple said: “We are fully supportive of Jon Daly and the team to get the results required on the pitch. I am more concerned right now about getting the off-field matters sorted.

“We are very grateful to Minister Thomas Byrne who has pledged the Government’s support for our Sports Capital Grant application, which is most welcome, and this is the silver lining for today’s takeover announcement.

“A new Board of Directors will be appointed in the coming weeks and a meeting will take place with staff and players in the next week when everything is finalised.

“Today is a proud day for all associated with Dundalk Football Club.”