Tom Coughlan (football)

Tom Coughlan was chairman of Cork City who took over the club following examinership in 2008.^[1] In 2009, he was banned from the game for twelve months.^[2][3] Due to reckless trading, the holding company of Cork City, Cork City Investments Fc Limited, were denied a League of Ireland Premier Division licence and later wound up.^[4] The revenue commissioners had sought unpaid tax of €164,000 and, not for the first time in Coughlan's tenure, filed a winding up order petition on CCIFL.

Before City

Coughlan first came to local prominence In 1997 when he ran un-successfully for election to the Dáil as a candidate for the Progressive Democrats in Cork South–Central.^[5]

Cork City

Background

In August 2008, Cork City went into examinership with debts of up to €1.3 million due to overspending by owners Arkaga, and despite selling players like Dave Mooney and John O'Flynn, the club was still in financial trouble.^[6] The club only had two potential owners but only one with required investment for taking over the club, Coughlan. By the end of September, Coughlan was the preferred bidder.^[7][8]

Takeover

Cork City were taken out of examinership on 16 October with the club being taken over by Coughlan and within two weeks the club were in the Setanta Sports Cup Final, in which they won 2-1 over Glentoran, and the club won prize money of €150,000. Shortly afterwards the club sold their sell-on clause for Kevin Doyle. If the clause had been kept for just five more months, the club would have received €500,000 however they received less than €100,000.

Management changes

One of the first of many major decisions made by Coughlan at the club was to sack manager Alan Mathews on December 9, 2008. Mathews later claimed he had been sacked by phone with Coughlan telling him out of the blue that he was no longer a part of the club. Mathews threatened legal action^[9] which could have cost City up to €400,000, but it was not pursued in the courts - Mathews filed it with the League of Ireland's Independent Licensing Committee, which could prevent Coughlan's licence applications. The sacking of Mathews was greeted with surprise by most City supporters, who were loyal to him after guiding the club to Setanta Cup success and the kept the team performing on the pitch during examinership. Mathews became manager of Drogheda United in February 2009.

After City came out of examinership, Paul Doolin was named manager (in January 2009). After a series of trial games with several foreign players, the club signed two Latvian players, Roberts Mezeckis and Guntars Silagailis, Stephen O'Donnell from league winners Bohemians and signed Colin Healy and Dan Murray.

Winding-up order

In May 2009, the club were issued with a winding up order over unpaid taxes to the Revenue Commissioners. The club were allowed to put back court hearings until July. The club needed to raise €400,000 in two weeks to keep the club being wound up. They sold Colin Healy to Ipswich Town for €80,000 and Denis Behan to Hartlepool United for €40,000. However, this was not enough and the club was wound up on 27 July. The club however successfully appealed the decision with the announcement of a friendly with Scottish club Celtic to be played at Turners Cross.

"Saving" the club

The club was just about saved though they lost four key players and their title challenge fell apart. There was the consolation however of a place in the UEFA Europa League for the 2010 season. Another serious mishap was before a game against St Pats in which the bus company would not take them to the match because the company had not been paid to do so. This resulted in what a player described as a "humiliating" plea from the team, as they sat stranded near the bus, on Cork radio station 96fm for urgent donations from the general public to get them to the game on time.^[10]

Banned from football

In response to his management practices, the FAI banned Coughlan from all football related activities for a year. On Thursday 17 December 2009, the FAI held a meeting, in which they were to accuse Coughlan "bringing the game of into disrepute".^[11] This meeting was intended to take place on Monday 7 December 2009, but Coughlan was granted two separate adjournments. On the day of the rescheuled meeting, Coughlan and his solicitor left FAI headquarters, as they had been "left waiting an hour for proceedings to begin".^[12] Upon leaving, Coughlan was contacted by the FAI, who offered him to return or for the meeting to take place via video. Coughlan however refused, and as the maximum allowable adjournment had elapsed, the Independent Disciplinary Committee held the meeting in his absence. He was sanctioned with a one-year ban from football related activities, along with a €5,000 fine.

Coughlan later appealed this decision in the High Court, bypassing the FAI's appeal system.^[13] On Wednesday 26 January 2010, Coughlan lost this appeal, as the judge ruled that it was not a public matter. Justice John Hedigan referred to this as the "latest episode" in "the sad saga of Cork City's financial difficulties".^[14] Coughlan subsequently complied with the FAI ban, and stepped aside as chairman of the club.

Closure

Following his departure as chairman, the Cork City supporters group, backed by the investment firm Quintas, approached Coughlan for a takeover of the club. This takeover however ultimately failed - with responsibility for the failure (and ultimate winding up of the club) leveled at Coughlan.^[15]

Further reading

• Cork City F.C.
• League of Ireland in Cork city

References