Players accept Drogheda deal

Drogheda United edged a touch closer to safety today after playing staff owed money by the club accepted the financial settlement offered to them on Wednesday.

The agreement will allow the club and chairman Vincent Hoey to move on and address monies owed to other creditors in a bid to emerge from examinership in a healthy enough state to secure their league licence at the end of the month.

The club still owes €500,000 to the Revenue Commissioners and is due in the High on January 22nd. Players will not see their money until the club comes out of examinership.

"The fact is that we have in essence crossed Beechers Brook but we still have a number of tricky fences to negotiate," said Hoey this afternoon. "The support we have received from fans and the general public has been tremendous but I am appealing to all to continue the fund raising drive that will secure the future of Drogheda United."

The offer was the third put to the players, though the first and second were identical. The additional funds were underwritten by the FAI after talks with the association's chief executive John Delaney, Hoey, club official Dermot McKenna and the PFAI's Stephen McGuinness at Abbotstown on Wednesday.

While McGuinness insisted this afternoon the players were entitled to a lot more than the €91,000 plus unspecified additional payments they settled for, they "recognise that the survival of the club is the paramount consideration and will continue to do everything they can to assist the club."

Since a public meeting on December 3rd last year, fans and friends of the club have raised approximately €250,000 but the players' package and payment for the examinsership alone will total a similar amount.