Limerick FC owner Pat O’Sullivan has laid the blame for the club’s probable extinction at the door of the FAI.
Eight months after making a passionate defence of paid-off chief John Delaney, he claimed it was “scandalous” how he was treated by the association.
Limerick were docked 26 points last season and finished bottom of the SSE Airtricity First Division.
Having failed to secure investment from eight potential sources, the club is poised to become the eighth SSE Airtricity League club in the past decade to go under with a liquidator set to be appointed.
O’Sullivan’s comments came at Ennis Circuit Court yesterday when Judge John O’Connor discharged Conor Noone of Baker Tilly Chartered Accountants as examiner of the club, while removing court protection for Munster Football Club Ltd, the company behind Limerick FC.
Judge O’Connor admitted it is “a very sad day for the football club but unfortunately the law is clinical”.
When the crisis club entered examinership in early September it had debts amounting to €490,000.
Judge O’Connor took action after learning from counsel for the examiner the company “no longer has a reasonable prospect of survival”. Addressing the judge, O’Sullivan claimed he had pumped between €6million and €7million into the club.
He said: “The FAI have put every obstacle in the way of the club and ultimately what will happen is the club will have to just fold and Pat O’Sullivan is out of sight and out of mind. No other club has been put through the process of having to jump all these hurdles before we get an opportunity to apply for a licence.”
O’Sullivan insisted he was happy to walk away now because “it was always about how could we make Limerick better through sport”.
But he added: “I hope common sense can prevail and we can find a way.”
An FAI statement said it noted the events with “disappointment”. It added: “League of Ireland officials have been in regular contact with the examiner over the past few months and will assess the situation in the coming days.
“There has been no contact between the Limerick owner Pat O’Sullivan and the FAI over how he intends to proceed following the news.
“No application for a League of Ireland licence was made by Limerick FC as the club was in examinership.”
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