Club chairman Jonathan Roche insisted yesterday that every effort would be made to win the required support of the FAI and Uefa for playing there.
It had been widely assumed that in the event a Dublin club made it to the group stages of an European competition that their games might be staged at the Aviva Stadium but Rovers are wary of over-extending themselves and anxious to use what will be big occasions to further bed themselves down in what is still a relatively new home for them.
Rovers entered the draw as the lowest ranked of the 48 clubs and when they were placed in the same group as Tottenham Hotspur, who were ranked highest, a move to Lansdowne Road seemed entirely logical.
Neither of the other two clubs in the group – Rubin Kazan and PAOK of Salonika – would have anything like the public appeal in Ireland of the Londoners, however, and when it emerged that the home game against Harry Redknapp’s side had been scheduled for the last round of matches, staying in Tallaght started to make a good deal more sense.
“I wouldn’t say we’re concerned (about order of the games) because we want to play the games in Tallaght,” insisted Roche when asked yesterday if the timing of the Tottenham games had been a blow.
“Not really when you see the crowds for Ireland internationals or crowds for tournaments with some of the best teams in the world.
“Now I know the pricing would be different and all that but with all due respect to Rubin Kazan and PAOK . . . we’d prefer to stay in Tallaght.” He was, he said, happy overall with the draw.
“We wanted a big boy and we got Tottenham. Obviously Rubin Kazan have a bit of a name as well and PAOK are probably one of these lethal teams that you don’t hear much about.
“But we’ve surprised ourselves in all of the games that we’ve played in. We’ve coped quite well. And now this is a new learning curve.
“Our players won’t mind going to White Hart Lane, they won’t mind going to Greece, they didn’t mind going to Belgrade so they mightn’t mind going to Rubin Kazan either. It’s something different.
“We’ll see on Monday night (when they play UCD in the FAI Cup) whether it’s all getting to them.”
The Russians will be first to come to Dublin with the game scheduled for September 15th with a 6pm kick-off. Getting the go-ahead to stage the game in Tallaght will involve installing at least 2,500 temporary seats and making a range of other improvements and adjustments to the venue so as to conform with Uefa regulations, primarily in relation to areas like media and marketing.
“Eight and a half thousand is the minimum but we’d probably look to put in 4,000 to make it 10,000,” said Roche.
The club is keen to do the work required although there is no guarantee that they will be allowed to and even if they are, he emphasises, the cost of the improvements may eat into the estimated €1 million they are guaranteed in prize money for participating at this stage of the competition.
“Basically it’s a million in prize money but then there’s the other side of the balance sheet which nobody seems to look at except ourselves,” he said.
General manager Noel Byrne said the hope is that the club might manage to generate enough revenue from ticket sales and commercial activities to cover all of the costs, thereby preserving the lump sum for investment in the club.
“It won’t impact on the (playing) budget too much,” maintained Roche. “We have things that we want to do at the club. We want to develop our own training ground out at Kiltipper; there are a lot of things, so we won’t be going doubling our budget, that’s for sure.”
There will be additional costs on the playing side, however, with members of the current squad due to get the last of their wages for the year when the domestic season finishes at the start of November. Extensions will have to be organised bringing them up until at least December 15th when the group schedule is completed by the visit to Dublin of Tottenham.
There is also likely to be a move to clarify matters in relation to bonuses for getting this far and, with the club now earning an additional €140,000 for each win and half that for a draw, for any further achievements over the coming months.
Byrne shared Roche’s confidence that the matter can be resolved quickly and amicably and joked that after another night of celebrations at the final whistle, the club will start the talks in a position of some strength. “The players all owe me money for jerseys,” he said.
“They keep giving the things away.”
Source http://www.irishtimes.com/
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