Why are fan-owned Sligo Rovers changing their ownership model? | CHAIRPERSON TOMMY HIGGINS | Off The Ball Football
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What is the new ownership model Sligo Rovers is considering?
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Welcome back. So in the last week, Sligo Rovers announced their intention to consider a new ownership structure for the club. So this would involve going from a one hundred percent member owned co-op to a new model that would involve more private investment. And to speak about this, very happy to say that the Sligo Rovers chairman Tommy Higgins is with us on the line. Evening Tommy, thanks for taking the call.
Good evening.
Uh so let's establish the reasonings for this. Uh broadly speaking i it's pretty obvious why this change is being touted. But is this a matter of survival for the club at this point, Tommy? Has it gotten that serious?
Ah no, uh far from it. It's just that, you know, we recognised there at our AGM that uh we'd have to look at the structure of the club because it hadn't been looked at for donkeys years. You know, we're coming up to our centenary year and also next year we're starting the the uh the development of our new stadium. So it is an appropriate time and I brought it up at the AGM uh there in April, that we all we should look at the structure of the club because And from a not so long ago we were semi professional. Now that the club is or the team is a hundred percent professional and we just had to look at all the all the structures. It's not as dramatic as everybody has uh pointed out to be, but uh it was a good opportunity uh as it pointed out.
And we also th the fact that we're run by volunteers mostly we have yes, we have some full-time staff, that it was prudent to look at the whole Structure of the club anyway, coming into our uh centenary year and the fact that we're going into a different level when we have the new stadium up and running and we'd be starting on that in about uh maybe the next six or eight months. So that was the reason for it. So what we did we we just hired a firm of accountants to look at our structure and they came back up to us and said this was the the best thing to do. And uh what we have now we're going to put that to our members in in a in a special uh in a special meeting in uh September. And it's up to the members to pass it.
Like we're a cooperative society and we have rules. So we we're following exactly the rules of the of the society.
A hundred percent. N is there a sense that continuing to be one hundred percent member owned, it would become a matter of survival. There would be alarm bells blaring in a couple of seasons if you'd continue down this path.
Well it's tough, you know, th we we operate a lot on on on on fundraising and we're a absolutely wonderful selection of um people that d come out and fundraise for us. We're it's just f fantastic. And but it's just that costs keep going up and up.
Why did the club decide to review its member‑owned co‑op structure now?
There's massive wage inflation. So if you want to be competitive, you know, I uh we're looking a h a look ahead. I think it was Ernest Hemaway that said, Look at how did you go bankrupt? He said Easy at first and then very quickly. No, so any business, any business I was in before, you should always look at your structures anyway. And uh I think uh it it is an appropriate time for us to do that. So um what what came back to us from the from the uh advisors' accountants, etcetera, was uh a a situation now. We we we we will do this anyway. You know, and the word of of investment keeps coming up. We have we're There is nobody has approached us. We have talked to nobody. But we're going to do this in because it's the right thing to do, especially with it with the stadium coming down the line.
So we're just spitting out the club and the the the the society will own everything 100% as nothing has really changed.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the new ownership model Sligo Rovers is considering?
0:00–3:10
2
Why did the club decide to review its member‑owned co‑op structure now?
3:10–6:00
3
How will the upcoming new stadium affect the club’s finances and structure?
6:00–8:48
4
What role will private investment play in the club’s future?
8:48–13:19
5
How does the club plan to protect fan ownership while seeking external funding?
13:19–16:47
6
What is Sligo Rovers’ strategy for academy development and player sales?
16:47–21:23
7
Will the club ever be sold or lose its fan‑ownership roots?
21:23–24:45
8
What are the next steps and timeline for the ownership vote?
24:45–25:53
Speakers
1 identifiedMore from OTB Football
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