Rovers at the crossroads

Standing alone, in his customary position at the edge of the athletics track in Morton Stadium, it was easy to understand why Shamrock Rovers chairman Joe Colwell didn't look like the happiest of men on Sunday.

Four months ago I chatted briefly with the Dubliner as we returned from Toulon where the Irish under-21s played in the city's annual international tournament. At that stage it was clear a final date for the move to Tallaght was some time away but where precisely the club were going to play their games in the meantime was very much hanging in the air.

"It won't be Santry, though," said Colwell, "that much is for sure." At the weekend there he was, looking downcast but, after the humiliation of juggling venues for the opening six weeks of the season, probably just relieved that there is somewhere to call home. Events on the pitch must, of course, have contributed to Colwell's demeanour. With just one league win before last weekend, Sunday's defeat by St Patrick's Athletic left Rovers looking like a side that is going nowhere fast.

At the end of each of their last three campaigns the team has looked like one that was only two or three decent players away from being fairly good. But each time they buy the players the impact is negligible.

Rovers manager Damien Richardson looked even more gloomy as he talked about getting a central midfielder in order to inject life into a listless team.

With no money to spend after the arrivals of Pascal Vaudequin, Gareth Cronin, Dave Smith and, most recently, Tony Grant, the hope is that the new recruit would be half of a swap deal. Presumably Richardson is hoping that there weren't any league managers in the stand at Morton Stadium on Sunday. The most costly of the four, Grant, did little to impress against St Patrick's but with two goals in his first three league games the early indications were promising enough. His arrival, though, combined with the return to fitness of Tony Cousins, the impending availability of Graham Lawlor and the presence of Brian Byrne and Sean Francis leaves the Rovers boss with striking capacity to spare.

Given the constraints of the their current base the team's inclination towards getting the ball out wide is a little bewildering as was, on Sunday, Richardson's remark that "the size of the pitch at Santry certainly doesn't suit the way we play".

The manager's devotion to overlapping full backs and wide midfielders with the pace to beat their man and the ability to get a decent cross is undoubtedly one of his most endearing characteristics but Santry, for all its limitations, is where Rovers are going to play most of their remaining home games this season and so there might be a bit of cloth cutting to be done.

Given that Richardson is also well disposed to the development of young talent within the club the virtually complete disappearance of Shane Robinson this season is another disappointment.

As for the ground, the hope is that the contracts for construction of phase one will be signed this week but the investment involved and the commitment required of Colwell looks more formidable than ever.

The cost of the first phase, which will give Rovers a pitch, some fairly modest facilities and ample car parking is now put at £4.2 million. The hope around the club is that the Government, which has so far promised around half a million pounds, will greatly increase their support for the project.

Another difficulty has been that the £400,000 offered by the FAI was not immediately available. The association, however, has now given the club a quarter of the total and a deal allowing it to borrow against three future annual payments is said to be just about in place. With the pitch being laid at the moment and work on the construction already scheduled the club insists that, whatever happens on other fronts, the work will go ahead.

We've heard that before but this time the hope, and not just within Rovers, will be that things finally do get going in earnest and that every aspect of a club that currently looks hopelessly jammed in neutral will get back into gear and start edging its way back towards the fast lane.