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Last Saturday was a seismic day for Cork City as the club was relegated to the First Division of the SSE Airtricity League.
Tomorrow night has the potential to be as transformative, if not more, as members of Foras, the fan trust that runs the club, vote on whether Grovemoor Ltd should be able to make use of the option to buy the club.
Grovemoor, owned by Trevor Hemmings, who has several business interests in Cork, brought salvation to the City earlier this year by offering cash in exchange for the sale clauses the club entered into on the Preston North End duo Alan Browne and Seán Maguire. Without that injection, the City would not have received a First Division license.
As part of those discussions, the possibility of an acquisition came up, and progress was halted somewhat by the first closing in the spring of this year. Now a special general meeting will finally see a decision made.
The Foras board of directors has endorsed ‘yes’ and President Declan Carey has re-outlined why he believes Grovemoor will safeguard the club’s future.
“The board has worked collaboratively with Grovemoor Ltd over the past few months to finalize the various terms of its potential acquisition of Cork City FC, which after thorough consideration we consider to be the best for the future of Cork City FC and by extension , the one from Foras, ”he said.
“The entire board unanimously supports the motion and we are encouraging Foras shareholders to support the authorized completion of the put option agreement.
“Once again, we would not have a football club today without the support of Mr. Hemmings and Grovemoor Ltd. In the event that we closed in February, there would have been no Foras as an alternative to restart in the first division, as we had done in 2010.
“We remain honest and forthright in communications with Foras shareholders and have maintained our dedication to transparency through this extremely difficult time. As a board, we remain as ambitious as we have always been, but being on the inside we cannot discount how difficult the last two years have been for the football club, mainly due to our financial position.
“It is because of our ambitions, the environment in which we are operating, and our commitment and dealings with Grovemoor and Mr. Hemmings, that at this time we feel that it is in our best interest for our football club to support the motion authorizing the completion of the agreement to put option “.
If the vote passes, Grovemoor will have the option to buy, although there is still no guarantee that will actually happen. However, assuming that happens, there is no reason why Foras should not continue, able to work in the background and fulfill his original role of being an important safety net should the worst happen.
If the majority votes no, things will continue as they are, with Foras still in charge. The club will plan to budget for eight teams in 2021, both male and female (five academy, two senior and one amputee), although contributions to this budget are highly volatile at this time due to the current economic climate.
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