The members of Cobh Ramblers have voted overwhelmingly to support a proposal that would allow the FAI to purchase their ground, St Colman's Park, for €500,000, writes RTÉ Soccer Correspondent Tony O’Donoghue.
The club hope to pay off their debts and lease back the ground over a period of ten years, a plan they say will save the club from folding.
This was the third EGM of the Cobh Ramblers membership as the current chairman, Barry Walsh, tried to steer through a proposal by Cobh to the FAI that they would buy the ground for a ten-year period with the stipulation that the club remain in the League of Ireland during that time.
Cobh, who own their own ground including bars, first proposed the sale and leaseback at an EGM in early December.
The vote was carried by 51 to 4 but as seven days' notice of the meeting had not been given a group calling themselves Friends of Cobh Ramblers objected to the motion and a second EGM was convened for 21 December.
At that meeting the proposal was defeated by 65 votes to 55, on the basis of an alternative survival plan being put in place by the supporters.
According to Barry Walsh, no plan was forthcoming and so the proposal went to a third EGM last night, a meeting boycotted by the Friends' group.
Cobh have a membership of 150 and out of a total attendance of 94 last night 81 voted in favour. The club now intend to bring their rescue plan to the FAI at Abbotstown.
There is no guarantee that the FAI will agree to the proposal and bail the relegated Cobh Ramblers out of their current difficulties.
At the moment the First Division side have no manager and no players are under contract.
A spokesman for the Friends of Cobh Ramblers said last night that a number of financial questions remain to be answered by the club and that a legal action is pending. Three of the four trustees of the club have resigned and the club is currently without a treasurer.
The Friends group believe the debts of the club are closer to €250,000.
Cobh Ramblers have until the end of the month to obtain a licence to compete in the League of Ireland next season.
