Galway United on verge of Saudi takeover

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https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2018/0608/969099-exclusive-galway-united-on-verge-of-saudi-takeover/

These folks are my local team. This story came totally out of the blue for me anyway. Wouldn't keep that close of an eye on them but I do like to see them do well.

We have a lot of young Saudis here who come to the city to study English (or at least did when I was working in schools). Perhaps it's one of them, or the family of one?

 

[JakeC]

Interesting development. They're in Irelands second division after being relegated last season, and they haven't exactly been ahead of the others since then.

 

[Zebs]

I hear they're in for Neymar.

 

[unchanged_lineup]

Interesting development. They're in Irelands second division after being relegated last season, and they haven't exactly been ahead of the others since then.

There was quite a lot of talk about them ceasing to exist entirely last summer. This is a fairly strange development.

 

[CallyRed]

Champions League Final, 2025

Man City v Galway United

 

[unchanged_lineup]

I hear they're in for Neymar.

This lad maybe?

 

[Hugh Jass]

Wow.

 

[stu_1992]

Delaney won't be the last Premier League player to cross the Irish Sea so. Exciting times I'm sure.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

As soon as I hear of Saudi involvement, I assume bottomless pockets. Is it possible this bunch are no more wealthy than your average LoI owners but just happen to come from Saudi Arabia?

 

[Trizy]

Galway would be the closest League of Ireland team to me. I wouldn't mind going to see them when they sign Ronaldo .

In all honesty though, who the feck would watch LOI even if they had the World XI?

 

[TheCorkman]

Galway would be the closest League of Ireland team to me. I wouldn't mind going to see them when they sign Ronaldo .

In all honesty though, who the feck would watch LOI even if they had the World XI?

I watch LOI, as do plenty of others I know. I still try to get to Cork games when they've matches up in Dublin. The league has produced plenty of exciting players in the past few 5 years, and we've seen some good players on loan here from England also.

Worth noting that Dundalk is owned by a US hedge-fund also, so foreign ownership is already seen here. There's an argument to be made that the LoI has plenty of potential. Considering we play off-season compared to the rest of Europe, and our proximity to England, we can still get serious attention. Obviously no premiership team will buy a LoI player, but plenty of Championship clubs can easily spend a couple hundred thousand on a LoI player. With clubs being able to give proper contracts again, there's a much better negotiation position for Irish teams - see Graham Burke being linked with Preston, Brentford and Forest for over 200k as he has a 1.5 year contract.

As a general point, you don't need much money to make a sugardaddy team in Ireland. See Waterford already!

 

[reddaz71]

Unfortunately I read that in reverse,thought for a second we were being bought out by Saudi,wishful thinking!

 

[unchanged_lineup]

As soon as I hear of Saudi involvement, I assume bottomless pockets. Is it possible this bunch are no more wealthy than your average LoI owners but just happen to come from Saudi Arabia?

Oh yeah, totally. The ones I met in Galway ran a gamut of backgrounds from princes to secondary school teachers. Well worth waiting a bit longer to see more details behind this story.

 

[unchanged_lineup]

Unfortunately I read that in reverse,thought for a second we were being bought out by Saudi,wishful thinking!

Takeover Saudi of Verge?

 

[Wayne's World]

Looking forward to meeting Cristiano Ronaldo smashed outside Supermacs at 3am in Eyre Square....

 

[Ian Reus]

Ireland sounds like oil-land sometimes anyway.

 

[Nick7]

Galway would be the closest League of Ireland team to me. I wouldn't mind going to see them when they sign Ronaldo .

In all honesty though, who the feck would watch LOI even if they had the World XI?

Lots of people. This attitude is part of why the league is struggling

 

[NYAS]

As soon as I hear of Saudi involvement, I assume bottomless pockets. Is it possible this bunch are no more wealthy than your average LoI owners but just happen to come from Saudi Arabia?

Absolutely. They are probably wealthier than your average LoI owner but it’s very possible that they wouldn’t be anywhere near as wealthy as your City’s or PSGs. There have been plenty of failed Gulf takeovers in Europe - Nottingham Forest, Portsmouth and Malaga to name a few.

 

[SillyUsername]

Unfortunately I read that in reverse,thought for a second we were being bought out by Saudi,wishful thinking!

What

You want our club to become, at best, a play thing for some douche bag and at worst, a propaganda tool for a repressive regime? No thank you. I would genuinely stop following football if that were to ever happen.

 

[MDFC Manager]

What

You want our club to become, at best, a play thing for some douche bag and at worst, a propaganda tool for a repressive regime? No thank you. I would genuinely stop following football if that were to ever happen.

What if the club was run (fairly) professionally, like Chelsea and Monaco? Just something to ponder over

 

[padr81]

Used to watch them every week while in college as I was living on the Headford Road before they folded and were reborn mixed with Salthill and then became Galway United again. Never has there been a club run so badly in the history of football (bar just about every other irish club). Hope this works out for them and Terryland starts getting more than 20 or 30 spectators. I remember when GAA player Michael Donnellan signed there, crowd went up just because he was on the team. Wasn't bad either.

 

[Ali Dia]

My city! : )

Imagine they were LOADED hahaha

 

[Zebs]

Ireland sounds like oil-land sometimes anyway.

No it doesn't.

 

[Robbie Boy]

No it doesn't.

 

[Kapardin]

No it doesn't.

It does when some of those guys pronounce it "Oya-land", pretty much.

 

[Champagne Football]

Would be awesome if it happens. LOI easily has room for a couple of Celtic/Rangers level clubs that could make an impact in the champions league with the right investment. It would be huge for a soccer mad nation as the investment just has never been there before to tap into the potential there.

 

[Eyepopper]

Fully expect that all the closet City fans who've surfaced in the last ten years will soon reveal themselves to also have been lifelong Galway fans too then.

 

[unchanged_lineup]

My city! : )

Imagine they were LOADED hahaha

All the Galway folks coming out of the woodwork

 

[Ramshock]

Pep will be having an Estrella in The Roisin Dubh in the next year or two then?

 

[Ramshock]

All the Galway folks coming out of the woodwork

Im not from Galway but its my favourite place in Ireland!

 

[el magico]

Would be awesome if it happens. LOI easily has room for a couple of Celtic/Rangers level clubs that could make an impact in the champions league with the right investment. It would be huge for a soccer mad nation as the investment just has never been there before to tap into the potential there.

Its a shame that Uefa's Financial Fair Play rules would make that scenario an impossibility. It would be great to have more clubs competing but I'm afraid its going to largely remain the same old clubs for the time being.

 

[Ali Dia]

Fully expect that all the closet City fans who've surfaced in the last ten years will soon reveal themselves to also have been lifelong Galway fans too then.

Hahaaaa

 

[Ali Dia]

This thread is great!

Galway and proud! : )

 

[IrishMcD]

Hon The tribes!!! Gaillimhe abú!!

 

[Champagne Football]

Its a shame that Uefa's Financial Fair Play rules would make that scenario an impossibility. It would be great to have more clubs competing but I'm afraid its going to largely remain the same old clubs for the time being.

Not if the Saudi's got a Saudi airline to pay way over the going rate for shirt sponsorship like the owners of Man City do to bend the rules

 

[lsd]

Looking forward to meeting Cristiano Ronaldo smashed outside Supermacs at 3am in Eyre Square....

Feck now I wanna supermac

This does sound interesting but how beneficial would it be to the rest of the league of Ireland if you suddenly had one super rich club in the country?

Galway is the best city in Ireland though in my opinion love the place

 

[Sky Blue Red]

Never mind the LOi, it has already started in the Irish League where Kenny Bruce, owner of Purple Bricks, bought Larne FC. He also bought the ground, Inver Park, off the local council and is redeveloping it. The money he is pumping into the club at present for players wages is way beyond what 99% of the other clubs can afford. Probably only Crusaders and Linfield could match them.

 

[automaticflare]

Looking forward to meeting Cristiano Ronaldo smashed outside Supermacs at 3am in Eyre Square....

Or trying to convince the bouncers to let some bird into the imperial hotel for a smash

 

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"My career would not have been complete without playing at Eamon Deacy Park"

 

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