Temple and Dundalk are confronting a financial crisis which, he has confirmed, includes a debt of €200,000 owed to the Revenue Commissioners and has left the spending more each week than champions-elect Shelbourne.
And he also said that stadium bans have been issued arising from a confrontation that happened in the stand at Oriel Park after the final whistle of Friday’s loss at home to Derry City.
Dundalk will not be in the top flight next season as last Friday’s defeat to Derry City meant they were relegated with two games to go, but the club face a serious battle to stay in business, and get a club licence for next season, such is the extent of their debts, with monies owed to the Revenue, an Garda Síochána and former players and staff.
Temple, who took over from Brian Ainscough last month, said the reaction from supporters after relegation was confirmed “gave me great hope for the future” but in a briefing to local media in Dundalk, he has warned that hard times are ahead.
“I am certain we can turn this around. The main thing is we have to become sustainable. Before, the club relied mainly on sponsorship to survive but we have to do it differently. We’ve seen the previous model doesn’t work,” Temple told the Dundalk Leader, stating that the indoor facilities beside their Oriel Park home would be hired out to clubs from other codes to bring in revenue.
Dundalk owner John Temple
“There’s been all sorts of rumours about players and staff not being paid and I want to put that to bed. When I came in I told the players we would be a week behind with regards to wages and they accepted that immediately. I have a great relationship with them and they are a great bunch,” he said.
“There will be cutbacks in the club obviously. We will not have any big away fan base coming to Oriel and attendances will drop so that shortfall will have to be made up elsewhere.
“We have people on the payroll here who are doing similar jobs at other clubs for free. We have to look at ways to get the wage bill down to make the whole thing sustainable.
“We are spending 30-40% more than, say, Shels and look at the difference between the clubs on the league table. We owe Revenue 200k, the Gardaí are owed almost 50k. I’ve had to pay 16k for insurance in recent weeks, 7k for electricity, 6k for Dan Pike’s injury. The wage bill is 30k a week.
“We need money coming in as well. I’m not a millionaire and contrary to rumours I am not a front for anybody. I own 80% of the club and there are four investors who came in with Brian Ainscough who own the remaining 20%.
“We will be setting up our season tickets offer which will be launched this week and we hope that supporters can get on board with it. With the season tickets there will be advantages such as match programme, finger food at games, money off club merchandise, gym membership etc.
“We have nine players under contract and we obviously need a new manager so there is a lot of work to be done. But I know how big this club is and I think we can turn it around. The supporters were magnificent the other night. We got relegated but the way the fans stayed and cheered the players . There’s a hell of a lot of work to do but I’m willing to help and try and bring the good times back to this great club,” added Temple.
Manager Jon Daly confirmed last week that he would cut his ties with Dundalk and return to his family in Scotland when the season was over.
One of those players under contract, former Ireland man Daryl Horgan, said he plans to see out his contract which runs until 2026.
