Limerick FC- The Pat O’Sullivan Years and the future

Last Saturday evening, the curtain came down on the 2019 Airtricity League First Division season. Shelbourne were crowned league champions and their 7-0 trouncing of Limerick FC at Tolka Park added to the misery felt by many ardent Limerick FC supporters, players and staff at present.

In truth, the last 18 months have been nothing short of abysmal for everyone associated with the club. It isn’t the first time Limerick FC have had crippling financial problems. No matter what guise Limerick senior soccer has been erected under, whether it be United, City, 37 or FC, there have always been financial worries.

I remember attending Hogan Park in my early years in the late 90’s and early noughties where 100 people were in attendance. Yet, there appears to be a difference in attitude this time. Maybe, many years of hardship is too much to take anymore for many.

On the other hand, it could be that under the current regime, a big opportunity has been missed and we are back to exactly the same position, if not worse than 2009 when a general meeting had to be called in an attempt to save the club once more.

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On that fateful evening in 2009, Pat O’Sullivan endeavoured to save the club from the brink. Let’s not forget, in the first four years of O’Sullivan’s reign, there was a sea change felt at the club. For many years, we had been struggling at the wrong end of the First Division table with a team full of willing locals, full of endeavour but lacking in quality.

With O’Sullivan’s backing, the club attracted the likes of Pat Scully as manager and recruited Joe Gamble, Denis Behan and Steven Bradley to the playing staff. There was still a relatively strong local presence with the likes of Shane Tracy, Jeffrey Judge and Pat Purcell present as the club finally achieved promotion in 2012 after 19 years in the second tier.

Nobody was aware of it at the time, but the mistakes and poor judgement calls made in the next three years would undo all O’Sullivan’s good early groundwork. Pat Scully left before the club’s first season back in the Premier Division and Limerick were linked with a whole host of managers including Stephen Kenny and Pat Fenlon who held talks.

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Instead of appointing a manager with Airtricity League experience and knowledge of the players in the league, the board opted to appoint an unknown talent in Stuart Taylor. Taylor brought in a whole host of players from the UK including Craig Curran, Danny Galbraith, Patrick Nzuzi, Axel Bossekota and current player Robbie Williams.

A sixth-place finish on our return to the Premier Division satisfied everybody but little did anyone realise at the time, with the money being spent on the playing and coaching staff, finishing in sixth place was not a good return.

It was clear to see that as far back as 2015, O’Sullivan became aware that the financial predicament wasn’t sustainable. The team were playing at Thomond Park, the home of Munster Rugby.

With no atmosphere and a massive cost to boot, O’Sullivan had been working hard to bring the club back to the ‘spiritual home of Limerick soccer’; The Markets Field. O’Sullivan had cut the budget for new manager Martin Russell at the beginning of 2015.

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As a result, the club were rock bottom of the league with no victories in 22 league games, although it really is hard to put the blame solely at the board’s door for such a dismal showing. However, the return to the Markets Field brought about a sense of optimism, which was rarely seen in Limerick.

Coupled with this, the owner attempted to build on the goodwill from the public following the return to the Markets Field by investing in the squad in a bid to avoid relegation. Despite a gallant run which brought Limerick to the play-off, defeat to Finn Harps in that play off relegated the club.

A run of 7 wins in 12 resulted in very healthy attendances and a sense of pride in the senior team. It appears the return to the Markets Field had had the desired effect. In truth, relegation was a killer blow and O’Sullivan’s generosity or more accurately naivety, in his next move would cause a deficit that the club would never recover from.

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Out of loyalty and seeing how a new wave of young supporters had become attached to the likes of Shane Duggan and Freddy Hall, O’Sullivan and the board decided to remain as a full-time outfit in the First Division and offered extremely good salaries to the relegated squad in order to stave off interest from Premier Division rivals.

The fact that players were turning down offers from established Premier Division teams was testament to the salaries on offer. Even current Shamrock Rovers player Aaron Greene was recruited from St. Pats.

The result of this was that the Super Blues were thrashing teams by four goals or more on a regular basis on their way to the First Division title. A group of professional players were taking to the field against kids in a poor first division and winning handsomely and it wasnt exactly going to whet the appetite. Current first team manager Tommy Barrett also cited that situation as a huge mistake when speaking to Sporting Limerick last week.

The following season, in a desperate bid to chase a European dream, Limerick recruited the likes of Bastien Hery. Unfortunately, even with the mid-season arrival of Neil McDonald, former assistant to Sam Allardyce, the Shannonsiders flirted with relegation for most of the season before gaining survival.

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At the beginning of last season, McDonald departed and under-19s manager Tommy Barrett was thrown in at the deep end. Despite his popularity and dedication to the club for many years, supporters realised that an in-house appointment early in Barrett’s career signalled one thing if O’Sullivan’s previous appointments had been anything to go by; financial trouble.

The pessimists were proved right when halfway through the season, Limerick lost 10 professional players to alleviate budgetary issues. Once again, Finn Harps were the perpetrators as Limerick were relegated in a two-legged play-off in front of over 3,000 supporters.

The bottom line is that the club’s supporters and the city have missed out on a great opportunity to have a thriving senior soccer side. Despite what people may say about O’Sullivan’s decisions and conduct in the past 12 months, he invested heavily into the club, but poor decisions off the field have cost him and the whole club dearly.

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This season has been miserable on many levels. Once again, players have left in their droves. It is unbelievable to think that the likes of Killian Brouder, a man who was developed by Barrett and the club for years, now plies his trade at Galway, who finished below Limerick in the table.

Attendances have dwindled to 220 in the last few home games with a handful attending away games. Recent match-fixing allegations are the last straw for a small hardcore support who feel they have been left down far too many times.

Even taking all the negative publicity into account, does Limerick City actually want a senior soccer side? Soccer is such a popular sport in the city but so little people involved in the junior ranks and beyond appear to attend games. When Limerick FC are struggling, you will sadly meet many who appear to take satisfaction in that.

With English soccer readily available without having to leave your home or the pub after a week’s work, many argue that the Airtricity League is of a poor standard. However, in order for the standard to improve, outside of a rich investor who is willing to spend money, which Pat O’Sullivan was for a time, the clubs need support from local people to afford the better players to compete while also developing the structures needed to sustain a club over a long period.

Limerick FC are now in examinership due to the court ruling two weeks ago. The end of November is the deadline for licence applications and it will be a big challenge to find new investment to lead a Limerick side into the new Airtricity League season. As mentioned previously, there have been really barren spells in the club’s history and it has always bounced back. But with a sense of doom and gloom surrounding the club at present, one would have to wonder have all nine lives been used.