Shelbourne move to make killing

SOCCER/Champions League: Shelbourne skipper Owen Heary expressed disappointment last night over the decision to move next week's Champions League clash with Spanish giants Deportivo La Coruna across Dublin to Lansdowne Road - but the player conceded that the club's constant need to maximise revenue had made the decision inevitable.

"The change of venue means that it's now an away game for us too," he said. "We know every inch of Tolka, it's small and the crowd are right in on top of you there, so you would have fancied our chances of causing an upset but this sort of hands the initiative to them, which is disappointing."

Heary, one the team's outstanding performers in Wednesday night's defeat of Hajduk Split, had little argument with the logic of the decision, however, admitting that the additional money that might be generated as a result of the switch was badly needed by the club.

"I talked to Pat (Fenlon) yesterday about it and we're all disappointed because we would have liked to play it at Tolka but at the same time we know we have to accept it.

"Games like this don't come around very often and the club has to make the most of the opportunity while it's there."

The aim is that by switching the game to Lansdowne Road the club could make in excess of €100,000 over and above what would have been generated from ticket sales for a sell-out match at Tolka.

Shelbourne officials meeting yesterday to consider their options for the home leg of the tie were also faced with the prospect that should they stage it at their Drumcondra home, the capacity would be reduced from 11,500 to around 9,000 because of various UEFA restriction.

In the end they felt the only way they could have staged the game at Tolka Park would have been by substantially increasing ticket prices - which the move to Lansdowne Road has avoided.

"Pat would have wanted the game at Tolka," said Shelbourne chairman Finbarr Flood, "as a former player I would have wanted it there, and, of course, it's only natural that the lads in the team would have wanted it there, but ultimately it's a business decision taken in the overall context of the club's best interests.

"There's no doubt that we'll be less competitive, there," he admitted. "There's no question that from a football point of view you're setting yourself back a bit. We accept that. But if we played at Tolka Park we'd be talking about ticket prices of at least €25 or €30, people who wanted to come along being kept way and money that might have been taken in being lost to the club."

Flood, who is hoping that the tidal wave of goodwill towards the club that followed Wednesday's win will translate into an attendance of 20,000 or more next week expressed gratitude to the FAI, who represented the club in their dealings with the IRFU yesterday morning. The association's chief executive, Fran Rooney, in turn paid tribute to the rugby union which, he said, had been "tremendous" in the way it had reacted to the situation.

"They've given us a very favourable rate," he said. "I think it's fair to say that the deal is such that Shelbourne can go into the game without major worries on the cost front."

Flood, meanwhile, said the club's potential earnings from the game, which are estimated at between €300,000 and €500,000, have to be taken in the context of the cost attached to recent improvements in the way Shelbourne is being run.

"With the full-time set up we're looking at a budget here of around €2 million while our annual gate receipts are about €400,000 so it's important that we do well out of this.

"With the fact that we have the fall-back of the UEFA cup, though, our chances of making money are fantastic really. Even if we are eliminated and go into the UEFA Cup first round we feel that depending on the draw we would have a fighting chance of making the group stages there. If we did that you could probably fill Tolka Park for all the home games. It would be a great step forward for the club."

Chief executive Ollie Byrne, meanwhile, suggested yesterday on RTÉ radio that manager Fenlon would be offered a contract extension on the basis of the team's performance.

Not everybody was enamoured with the club's display against Hajduk, however, with Deportivo's representative at the game, López Beci, being quoted back in Spain as describing the home side's performance as having involved "much intensity" and "much pressure", with the Dublin side having to "overcome their lack of technical skills with a lot of sacrifice."