On Soccer:With a place in the semi-finals of the FAI Cup already secured and a third successive league win on Friday having made qualification for Europe look a more realistic target, Cork City's manager and players could yet emerge with plenty of credit from what has generally been a difficult season.

The team's lack of consistency in the Premier Division would appear to make anything from a second- to a sixth-place finish seem possible.

Still, between the uncertainty that engulfed the club during the close season, the fact that a couple of key players have had to spend the bulk of the time looking on from the stands and the departure of Roy O'Donovan to England, it's hard to see how they could have hoped for much more at this juncture.

If the fans are expected to be patient, though, then it must be on the basis that the club will fulfil its potential over the years ahead. But, for the moment at least, that's not something anyone could predict with any confidence.

For one thing, there appears to be considerable uncertainty regarding the intentions of the club's new owner, the Arkaga Fund. It officially took over the reins when Jim Little suddenly departed the scene. The press release at the time made the transfer of power sound like the most natural thing ever but Arkaga's "key focus", as articulated on its website, "is in identifying value in blue chip, liquid stocks", and that would strike most people, even devoted supporters of the game here, as about as far-fetched a basis for becoming involved with a League of Ireland club as could be dreamt up without recourse to hallucinogenics.

Prior to Little's takeover there was much talk that the new regime would bring with it the funding required to compete with Drogheda and a couple of the newly rich Dublin outfits.

It's hard to imagine Arkaga doesn't have the sort of money required, but quite why a private equity fund would want to invest even modest, by its standards, amounts of cash into a club that doesn't own its own ground is something of a mystery.

Early reports from some of those close to the club cast further doubt on the attitude of the new owners. While the club has flagged a number of appointments to its administrative staff, new general manager, Aidan Tynan, formerly of Bord na gCon, is said to have caused some anxiety on the playing side with his attempts to cut costs.

Transport arrangements for away games have been queried; the practice of sending the squad to Dublin by train while a bus travels almost empty to bring them back is, apparently, to be curtailed.

While the appointments made by the club are a welcome development, concern is being expressed at cuts made in other areas; a decision to curtail an arrangement with a part-time groundsman at Bishopstown, for instance, is rumoured to have resulted in Damien Richardson - who was not contactable yesterday - having to cut the grass on the pitch himself recently.

The club's former home is set for development in the new year and plans for the city's council to provide a new training centre at the Straight Road have fallen through.

It is not yet clear whether a publicly funded alternative will be provided or, if not, what practice facilities will be used next season.

On the playing front, nine of the squad will be out of contract at the end of the current campaign, and the futures of players like Mark McNulty, Seán Kelly, Darragh Ryan and Leon McSweeney have yet to be sorted out.

Richardson has previously expressed confidence that he will have funds available ahead of the January transfer window but the club's overall record of recruitment has not been great over the last few seasons.

The signing of Gareth Farrelly and Colin Healy did send out a signal while Ryan, McSweeney and Kelly have done well. Alan Bennett has been missed at the back and the jury is still out on whether the club, having lost first Kevin Doyle and then O'Donovan, can generate enough goals without John O'Flynn.

The pity of it all is that no one doubts the club's potential. When going well it is the best-supported in the land, and the fact that the entire population of the city identifies with it would appear to put it in a stronger position than many of its rivals.

The next two weeks, during which time City will take on Shamrock Rovers, UCD and Bray in the league while also discovering the identity of their cup semi-final opponents, will provide a major indication of how they will emerge from this season. How the long-term future is going to pan out, looks set to take a little more time than that to decipher.