Shamrock Rovers have been thrown a lifeline, writes Emmet Malone, Soccer Correspondent.
After decades of decline, yesterday's appointment of an examiner by the High Court has provided those involved with Shamrock Rovers with just 91 days to map out a new future for the club.
Officials, supporters and the examiner himself, Neil Hughes, were all publicly upbeat about the prospects of saving a former giant of Irish football after the announcement. All, however, have their work cut out if its future is to be even a fraction as glorious as its past.
Founded in 1901, Rovers were a leading force in the game here for the best part of seven decades. The club won its first League of Ireland Championship in 1923 and went on to lift another 14 titles as well as 24 FAI Cups over the years.
It is a record of achievement that no other club here comes even close to equalling but one which it has found impossible to sustain since leaving Glenmalure Park, its long-time home, in 1987.
During the 18 years since, the club's fortunes have been on an almost relentless slide. At one stage ambitious plans for the development of the Milltown stadium were unveiled, but with attendances already in decline an ill-fated attempt to establish a full-time playing squadset the owners back financially.
The Kilcoyne brothers opted instead to sell the site for housing, a move that caused considerable bitterness and left the team without a home.
Rovers did win the league under Ray Treacy while playing at the RDS in the 1993-94 season and, after the first game at the Ballsbridge venue attracted 23,000 spectators - a number that had seemed unthinkable after the move from Milltown - there was a brief spell when it seemed that the club's future might lie there.
It wasn't to be, though, and the club has at different times played at grounds owned by all of its major Dublin rivals as well as Morton Stadium in Santry.
In recent years the club has, with considerable support of South Dublin County Council, been working towards the establishment of a long-term future at a new stadium in Tallaght, but that project, too, has been dogged by problems, largely over funding.
The council is now believed to be on the verge of taking back two leases on the site in question and could press ahead with finishing the part-built stadium itself within a matter of months.
But confirmation provided in independently audited accounts distributed to supporters on Monday night, that some €900,000 (most of it prior to 2002) was transferred from Sloan Park, a company established to develop the ground on behalf of Rovers, to the club itself in order to meet its running costs, is likely to cause serious difficulties with the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism.
The department, through its capital grants programme, had provided more than half of the €4 million raised by the company for the development, and the use of such capital funding for day-to-day expenses is a fundamental breach of the scheme's rules.
Through all the difficulties the club has somehow managed to retain some of its former allure, as well as a small but fiercely loyal fan base. Those supporters have repeatedly been required to raise the money needed to see the club through a succession of financial crises, and a leading group - the 400 Club - has now undertaken to meet the shortfall between revenue and expenses during the period of the examinership, having already provided some €250,000.
"Ultimately it would be wonderful if a broader, more representative grouping of the fans could raise the money required to take over the club in the longer term," said David Carpenter, a leading member of the 297-strong "400 club".
"But if the club can emerge from examinership more or less debt-free, then we believe that it would be an attractive proposition for would-be investors. In those circumstances we would certainly be glad to see new people take control."
Most if not all of the present board would be almost certain to depart in such circumstances, although after struggling, often unsuccessfully, to meet the weekly wage bill of €13,000 (net of tax, that is) over the past couple of years, one suspects that most will be relieved to get out.
Club chairman Tony Maguire said yesterday he viewed the examinership as "a hugely positive process for the club, a chance for it finally to start moving forward again."
Before then the FAI could revoke its licence, thereby stripping it of its league status, and a meeting of the appropriate committee will be convened during the next few days in order to consider these latest developments.
If Rovers really can be saved financially, the association will not take lightly the prospect of killing off one of the Irish game's few real institutions, no matter how tarnished its reputation.