With Drogheda United two points clear of Waterford at the top of the Premier Division, now is a good time to wonder whether the multi-club model can bring an end to the Dublin dominance of the League of Ireland.
An Irish club operating as a feeder to the English market is nothing new.
Shelbourne entered the space with a takeover by Hull City’s Turkish owner Acun Ilicali in June 2023. That project broke down inside six months, mainly because the new owners underestimated the Damien Duff factor at Tolka Park, stalling long enough over his contract for the Irish shareholders to replace Ilicali with investment from brothers Neil and Cathal Doyle.
The rest is history as Duff led Shels to the title in 2024.
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Drogheda and Waterford seem more stable examples as both clubs eye a direct route into the lucrative European landscape.
The Pilley family owns Fleetwood Town and Waterford since 2022. Currently 12th in League Two, the fourth tier of English football, Jamie Pilley took ownership of both clubs last year after his father Andy Pilley was sentenced to 13 years in prison for fraud.
Pilley sold off Fleetwood United in Dubai but kept Hout Bay in South Africa with a plan in place for their multi-club model to strike Uefa gold if Waterford’s five Fleetwood loanees, including the impressive English winger Kyle White, can maintain their start to the season.
Steve Curwood, the chief executive at both clubs, laid out the strategy last October: “We’ve a huge desire to qualify for European football and turn Waterford into a school of players for Fleetwood or elsewhere. Take Romeo Akachukwu. We sold Romeo [to Southampton] for around €400,000. Our academy is an untapped market and by using the Fleetwood model we can continue to produce and sell on quality [Irish teenagers].”
Waterford travel to unbeaten Galway United on Friday night with on-loan Shamrock Rovers attacker Conan Noonan the creative force behind the evergreen Padraig Amond.
Amond (36) topped the scoring charts in 2024 with 14 goals. This season he can expect some help on that front from former St Patrick’s Athletic man Tommy Lonergan, and in ex-Bohemians manager Keith Long they have a gritty operator who knows how to squeeze out results.
Drogheda are owned by the Trivela Group, an Alabama-registered firm formed in 2021 by Ben Boycott and Ken Polk that holds €11 billion in capital. They have expanded their multi-club model to include Danish club Silkeborg IF alongside Trivela FC in Togo and the mothership – League Two leaders Walsall.
The Drogs are on their way, having captured the FAI Cup last November with a part-time squad that prompted the club to go fully professional before their first foray into Europe since 2014.
Boycott is co-chairman of Walsall and Drogheda alongside the recently-elected Sinn Féin TD for Louth Joanna Byrne.
“The bottom line is we want to invest in communities by investing in really well-run football clubs and hopefully, long term, they can collaborate with one another and have some shared benefits,” said Boycott after Silkeborg fans protested against the €15.5 million American takeover.
Boycott’s “invest in the community” line is supported by the purchase of Weavers Park off the FAI, with a request gone into Government to fund a new 4,500-seater stadium. Earlier this month Rían Wogan, the former Shamrock Rovers commercial director, was unveiled as their new CEO.
Ex-postman Kevin Doherty deserves credit for guiding the semi-pros into Europe last year before gelling an influx of 10 signings that includes the currently injured Walsall duo Elicha Ahui and Douglas James-Taylor.
Following last Friday’s 1-0 defeat of Shelbourne, secured by a spectacular goal from Ireland under-19 international Warren Davis, Drogheda this week welcome Rovers to town.
Financially, it appears that Drogheda and Waterford can hold pace with the Dublin clubs this season but success needs to continually materialise in the form of European football if the multi-club model is to be sustainable. Shamrock Rovers banked €6.4 million in prize money from this season’s run to the Conference League play-offs. That’s what Boycott might mean by “shared benefits”.
If Drogheda or Waterford keep going at this rate, Cobh Ramblers, under new owners FC32, who also have Austria’s SKN St Pölten in their stable, may not be the only First Division outfit to experience an influx of cash.
Up Next
There is plenty of jeopardy around the League of Ireland on Friday, nowhere more so than St Pat’s versus Bohemians at Richmond Park, as a point separates the mid-table Dublin rivals. But the only show in the capital this weekend is Ireland legend Ruesha Littlejohn’s expected debut for Shamrock Rovers against Athlone Town in Tallaght Stadium on Saturday at 3pm.
