SHELBOURNE’S IRISH DIRECTORS are set to regain control of the club from Turkish millionaire Acun Ilicali before the end of this week.
And The 42 can reveal that it’s a deal that will not cost them a single cent as Ilicali has agreed to walk away without recouping any of his firm’s initial investment.
It is believed that his takeover, almost five months ago to the day, came with a view to injecting €3 million into the League of Ireland side. A substantial amount was presented up front for a 60% stake but it is understood that the deal which is close to being confirmed will not require any money to be paid back, with some of the cash still in the bank to remain.
The uncertain future of manager Damien Duff was the catalyst for this agreement to be thrashed out.
The 42 has learned that it is a situation that has been brewing for some time and while Ilicali made no explicit reference to letting him go, when the former Ireland international spoke out after the final Premier Division game of the season about the lack of movement on a new contract offer, it put the wheels in motion for Shels’ Irish directors – led by Premier Sports founder Mickey O’Rourke – to act.
Ilicali also owns English Championship outfit Hull City, and it’s understood that the two clubs will retain a strategic partnership going forward, but with no minority ownership or directorships on the new board offered to the outgoing Turks.
Effectively, Ilicali is happy to walk away from Shels and cut his losses in a deal that has been described as amicable.
An announcement of the takeover is imminent and so too is confirmation that Duff will stay on as manager.
After leading Shels to a fourth-place finish last season, they are hoping for St Patrick’s Athletic to beat Bohemians in this weekend’s FAI Cup final to ensure qualification for the Europa Conference League qualifiers.
Josh is a credit to himself and the team. To come out and face the music in such a manner is no easy task. Thought he spoke brilliantly and with honesty. Not our nation’s night, but I actually don’t feel too upset. It reminds me of heading over to Germany for Dortmund’s draw at the end of last season to let the league slip away (sorry rugby purists!). Just being there in the atmosphere and seeing the comeradery after such a heartbreaking occasion… it almost galvinises you. You think ‘I love this s**t’. Our fans were incredible, the players left it out there, their families backed them, and nobody left us wondering what if. Just nothing but immense pride in our side and our 5.5 million strong country to be slugging it out on the world stage. A hair’s breadth from what we wanted.
The hardest part for this team will be knowing that they didn’t play that well tonight in certain areas and still nearly won.
I’d be asking serious questions of Gary Keegan after that, our supposed mind skills guru. We were very poor and not at the pitch of the game. 13-0 down before we woke up. Terrible.
@Aidan Farrell: Nothing to do with Gary Keegan.he done his bit getting them right mentally. The only question mark is now over Paul O’Connell and his line out coaching..two big games and it was more than dicey
Great player. Probs peaked a few seasons ago, no one close to him in Ireland yet tho.
Van der Flier didn’t have much of an impact this world cup and was blown off the field last night despite he best efforts – he is a class act no doubts however. Andy Farrell was too slow to make changes for Sexton, Porter, Bernie & JvdF which might have cost us in a game of absolute inches. I cant remember a tougher loss that this one..