For years the Airtricity Premier Division has being dogged by financial difficulties.
This issue has affected some of our smallest clubs right up to the big names in the league.
Clubs set themselves budgets at the start of every season and somehow there are always those that get it wrong. It has always baffled me.
You often hear the phrase "I've seen it all", but somehow in League of Ireland football, there is always something new emerging.
We are not even at the mid-season break yet and it looks like the financial issue has raised its ugly head again.
A statement was released by Dundalk this week and it was the most bizarre thing I have read in terms of financial problems.
The Lilywhites were reacting to stories that they were struggling to pay the players’ wages.
One of the revenue streams that they were depending on was a settlement claim in relation to their 3G artificial surface that was damaged in a fire.
How can you be so dependent on something which you are not even certain of what the outcome will be?
They may have a favourable response from the insurance company or they may not.
Yet, they still went ahead and committed to signing players and offering contracts projecting that they could fully meet the requirements of the budget they set at the start of the year.
This happens season after season and clubs still do it.
Secondly you would have to question how this club qualified for their licence if this was key.
In the statement they have admitted that they were already finding things tough and this will compound it, "given that all other revenue streams are reduced the money from this settlement claim is the most important income coming into the club at present and will allow us to pay players and creditors going forward".
I feel really sorry for the players who have entered into an agreement. I feel it's not good enough. It has happened far too often in this league and continues to happen.
Only last season, Galway United were in the same boat and ended up going out of league.
It is not nice to see, these are clubs with huge history and huge tradition. Especially Dundalk, who were one of the forces of Irish football in the 1970s and 80s.
I thought that when the club licencing system was introduced we would see an end to all this but it doesn't seem to be the case.
Are clubs to blame for projecting their budgets too high or is the FAI to blame for letting it occur when they can see what's being projected before a ball is even kicked?
Whoever it is needs to wake up because we have the makings of a really successful league but far too often it's stories like this that makes the headlines rather that stories like the fantastic night of football we had Monday when not one of the top three teams won against the so-called lesser lights.
Until next week,
Alan
