2-12-00

Saturday 2nd December 2000 Finn Harps Manager, Gavin Dykes, has released striker Alex Nesovic. Naz had been with the club since the beginning of the season and was the club's top goalscorer.

1-12-00

Fears are mounting that eircom Premier Division club, Finn Harps, may be forced into liquidation with the club struggling under crippling debts. The Revenue Commissioners (RC) have issued court proceedings against the Ballbofey side, with news that the club have debts of £354,000, of which £155,000 is owed to the RC.

At a turbulent AGM late last night, outgoing chairman Martin Hannigan warned: “Unless the matter is addressed quickly, there is a real possibility that Harps could be forced into liquidation.” The club, managed by former Sligo Rovers and Derry City player Gavin Dykes, may be forced into selling their better players in an effort to save the club from the brink of extinction. Hannigan stressed: “Unless revenue picks up the top five players might have to be sold off.”

With home gates attracting less than 1,000, the club have found it impossible to meet the wages commanded by star players Alex Nesovic, Declan Boyle and, indeed, player/manager Dykes. Local striking sensation Kevin McHugh may be one of those players sacrificed to raise the badly needed cash, with a number of League of Ireland clubs rumoured to be trailing the talented forward. The news comes in a week when Harps were knocked out of the League Cup by St Pat's, and with their continuing disappointments in the league, the future is looking grim at Finn Park.

Finn Harps are the second League of Ireland side to hit critical financial trouble in the last few months, with north-west neighbours Derry City also falling on lean times. City were given a stay of execution when Celtic boss Martin O’Neill brought his international stars to The Brandywell in a move that gave the club a vital injection of funds. Harps may require a similar show of goodwill from our more affluent neighbours if they are to survive this latest threat to their league status.

(c) RTE 2000

Mick McCarthy and Packie Bonner are both confirmed to line out for Harps in their forthcoming fundraising friendly against Derry City on the 6th of December, There is the possibility that one or more ex-Celtic players may line out, but no confirmation has been recieved on Tony Cascarino as yet. Everyone is urged to come out and support Harps on that fundraising night and also in the two Home games prior to that, against UCD and Longford.

Harps directors to reign

ALL ELEVEN directors of Finn Harps Cooperative Society have decided to resign en bloc at the forthcoming annual general meeting of the Society. Confirming the surprise move this week Club Chairman Mr Martin Hannigan said that the decision had been taken at a recent meeting of the Board. 'The directors will all step down at the annual general meeting which takes place in Heaney's Lounge, Ballybofey on Thursday, November 30th. It will then by up to the shareholders who they want to elect onto the new Board to run the club in the future,' Mr Hannigan confirmed.

It is a bold move by Mr Hannigan and his colleagues but one which he believes is necessary for the long term survival of the club. It follows the recent confirmation that Harps are £356,000 in the red with the Revenue Commissioners seeking £140,000 to clear an outstanding tax bill. The balance is made up of bank loans and other creditors. With growing concerns about the club's ability to pay players wages, directors estimate that Harps require an immediate cash injection of £150,000 to allow the club to complete the current league season.

'Following the most recent meeting on Monday night there appears to be some light at the end of the tunnel regarding the ongoing financial crisis which surrounds the club. We're still in deep bother but there has been a positive response from the general public,' Mr Hannigan said. 'In response to a recent plea for financial support more than 30 people have come forward promising £1,000 each to the club while a better response to the 500 Club will ensure that we can maintain the day to day running of the club,' he added. 'It's early days yet but we're hopeful that we can resolve the problems which have beset the club this season,' Mr Hannigan said.

Emmett Malone's column. Irish Times 16 11 00

NATIONAL LEAGUE/Column: The bad weather may have taken its toll on a few games
over the past couple of weeks but it can't be held responsible for the most
pressing fixtures clash of the past month or so. Sligo Rovers have been the
main victims. Three times they have wanted to get word to the outside world
that their financial situation is again in need of urgent attention and three
times they've been beaten to the press conference table.

First it was Derry City, then Finn Harps and most recently Waterford United
who nipped in ahead of them. Soon they'll be having to set aside free weekends
in the league so that football reporters and their papers are free to give
adequate coverage to the increasingly regular cries for help from around the
country.

All of these announcements have been alarming for the league and its followers
but none more so than the one made in Ballybofey a month or so ago by the
directors of Harps. For a start the amount of debt involved was, at £356,000,
remarkable for a club that had so recently been viewed as a major success
story.

Two seasons ago the Donegal side came agonisingly close to winning the FAI
Cup. It would have been the club's first major trophy in a quarter of a
century and the suspicion persists that had Charlie McGeever's players
finished off Bray Wanderers when their supporters had every right to expect
that they would then the everything would be different up at Finn Park right
now.

Instead, McGeever has gone and his successor, Gavin Dykes, has started to
sound a little jumpy each time he answers the phone - in case it's the
chairman on to tell him it's time to cut the wage bill again.

It's come down by around a third in stages during the past 18 months and the
latest bout of shaving meant that the recently-arrived Kemo Adviu became the
even more recently departed Kemo Adviu. The striker, like Declan Boyle before
him, was released a couple of weeks ago and the sad fact is that both Dykes
and his chairman, Martin Hannigan, say that there may well be more to follow.

Both realise, however, that with the club already trailing Galway United by
four points in the National League table the cost-cutting measures already
taken have seriously undermined the team's ability to avoid relegation. If
Harps were to go down, needless to say, things would get a good deal more
grim.

Neighbours Derry City were, of course, in a very similar position only a few
weeks ago but the special position of Kevin Mahon's club within its community
as well as it links to Martin O'Neill helped to bring about a remarkable
turnaround.

Taking into account the money from last night's game against Manchester
United, City should actually be operating in the black this morning - the
challenge for them now is to take full advantage of the unexpectedly clean
slate.

How Hannigan and the other directors at Harps would love a challenge like
that. Instead, with a debt around twice as big as City's, no high-profile
knights in shining armour on the horizon and with everybody feeling that they
are suffering on account of coming clean about their problems so soon after
Derry had done so, they were at a meeting last night to hear the latest
progress on an initiative aimed at raising £100,000 from supporters and
well-wishers.

The difficulty is that a variety of other schemes are already being run by the
club, so many of the same people end up being asked to dig more deeply into
their pockets.

At present the most urgent target is the £30,000 needed to pay an outstanding
tax bill. If Harps manage that they will be able to gain a tax clearance
certificate which would give them access to a £150,000 grant already awarded
for ground improvements.

A game against Derry, for which it is hoped to attract a number of
high-profile guest players from England and Scotland, might go a good way
towards solving that problem but here Harps have run into a scheduling
problem.

Harps' league game against Longford, called off recently because of the
weather, has been re-fixed for the 22nd of this month - the night after the
Derry fund-raiser - and the club, while keen to get the game played as soon as
possible so that they can get their hands of the gate receipts - need to have
it switched again.

In the meantime, Hannigan admits that the club is "about one week behind" with
the wages. Dykes insists that he and his players are more concerned with
having been "robbed" by a poor refereeing decision in Cork on Sunday but his
chairman probably just wished the club still had something - anything - worth
stealing.

Season Review go here

500 CLUB

The latest draw in the Finn Harps 500 Club took place last Saturday afternoon, live on the Highland Radio Sports Programme. The winners were £250 - Packie Tourish, Manorcunningham - £150 - Joyce & Willie Duncan, Townview Heights, Ballybofey. - £100 - Thomas J. Campbell, Belldoo, Strabane.

SUPER 4 LOTTO

There was no winner of the £1,900 Jackpot in the Finn Harps Super 4 Lotto on Tuesday last, 8th August, 2000. 7 people matched three numbers and receive £15 each. Jackpot for Tuesday 15th August is £1,950.

Cork City 1 v 0 Finn Harps

Tom Mohan still out and could be for a few weeks, McHugh overcame the back strain and lined out for Harps against the hoops

The reserves no longer play in the USL and now form the U21 team details here