THE CONSTRUCTION OF a 4,500-seater stadium and a new training facility are just some of the aspirations detailed in Bray Wanderers’ five-year strategic plan, which was launched last night.
As part of the plan demanded by the Football Association of Ireland, the Wicklow club outlined a vision to improve facilities in order to help achieve their aims of challenging for honours and qualifying for European competitions.
“We cannot operate a professional club without proper training facilities,” Bray chairman Denis O’Connor said in a statement released on the club’s official website.
“The Carlisle Grounds has been a great home for the Seagulls but it lacks practice pitches, all-weather pitches, proper changing facilities, even proper shelter for fans — and ultimately space for our teams to advance.
“This is about providing a facility for all Wicklow players — from Bray down to the borders of Wexford. And it will allow us to bring in international games and players — we want to put Wicklow on the map.”
According to the statement, “a site of some 20 acres is envisioned” with a UEFA Category Three stadium forming part of a complex that will also include two floodlit full-size 4G pitches, an indoor sports hall, a gym and conference space.
As well as improving facilities, Bray indicated that a five-year partnership is being negotiated with Rugby League Ireland, while a formal three-year partnership has been agreed with St Joseph’s Boys AFC to create a junior academy in South Dublin.
Meanwhile, Wexford Youths have confirmed that Damian Locke has been appointed as the club’s first-team manager.
The 29-year-old, who worked as an analyst for the Republic of Ireland senior team during Euro 2016, takes over from Shane Keegan, who departed the club for Galway United at the end of the season.
A native of Tralee, Locke has also worked as head analyst for the Ireland men’s U18 and women’s U19 teams. The new manager assumes the reins at Ferrycarrig Park following a season in which Wexford were relegated from the Premier Division.
Stench of corruption off this!! I heard the ppl who’ve taken control of wanderers in recent yrs are all property developers and their real motivation is to move wanderers off the land in order to build hundreds of fancy apartments on this prime location. Why dont they want to keep wanderers in their traditional home in the middle of the town, yet still build the training complex outside the town? They’re only in it for the moolah. And the excuse that there isnt enough space to develop the carlisle grounds is garbage. You could easily install fully seated covered stands on all sides of the carlisle.
The grounds are publicly owned and are zoned for sport, Wanderers have a lease. Local councillors would have to vote to change the zoning and/ or sell. If this happens people of Bray only have themselves to blame
@John Buckley: let’s hope the local councillors won’t be bought…
Would the Carlisle ground worth that much to developers?
Yes it would. Town centre, dart station across the road. Its possibly the most sought after piece of land south of blackrock
@Conor HF: 30 seconds from the dart ,1 minute from the beach… its whats known as Hard on time in the developers club …This smells like Louis Kilcoyne part 3,,madess
@Trevor Beacom:
The Carlisle grounds, Bray are owned by Wicklow County Council and Bray Wanderers have a 35 year sporting lease from 2001 at a fixed peppercorn rent, which requires that the grounds are used Only for soccer games.
On July 11th 2015 a shareholder of Bray Wanderers John Deering was involved in a High Court case alleging that the club’s new owners are involved in a property play.
Denis O’Connor who knows one of the club’s shareholders Philip Hannigan got involved late last year. Mr O’Connor featured in the Moriarty Tribunal with regards the purchase etc of the Doncaster Rovers Football Club. In February 2015 Gerry Mulvey got involved. In April 2015 Milway Dawn Ltd bought 92% of the shares of Bray Wanderers and Mr O’Connor owns 20% of this company with the balance of 80% owned by Gerry Mulvey. Mr Mulvey is a former majority shareholder in St. Patrick’s Athletic, which has it’s grounds in Inchicore, Dublin. His involvement with that club ended when he sold his shareholding in 2007 to Garrett Kelleher, the developer behind the Chicago Spire project. Mr Mulvey is said to have made a significant profit on an earlier involvement in a sports grounds near the Navan Road.
http://www.irishtimes.com/business/commercial-property/owners-of-bray-wanderers-pursue-club-s-recovery-against-run-of-play-1.2295046
@Daniel Brogan:
http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soccer/rover-s-return-moriarty-tribunal-found-accountant-denis-o-connor-orchestrated-choreographed-falsehood-with-lowry-1.2295040
Last season, Bray’s highest attendance was 2,136 against Shamrock Rovers, on average the get around 600-800…. and I think every game I’ve been to out there, there has been very few home fans it’s always been away fans I see, this doesn’t make sense to me?! There’s something shtinkin ‘ around those parts
Are the Vultures after the Seagulls?
@John Corcoran: YES … and this talk of the Carlisle being public land zoned for recreation isn’t worth the paper its written on..The old Motorola factory in Swords was zoned as commercial ,all it took was 2 years of funding Sporting Fingal by a certain well known developer to get that land rezoned for high density residential
If these guys make enough promises and paper bags ,that land will be rezoned soon enough
Are the Vultures after the Seagulls Nest?
Below are two extracts from Bray Wanderers Limited, Abridged financial statements for the two years ended 30th November 2014 and 30th November 2015. They were both recieved at CRO Carlow on 14th November 2016.
On page 9 of the 2014 accounts under the heading “Going Concern” it states;
“Finally, the club has recently found itself at the centre of a fraud allegation which is alleged to have occured between 2006 and 2008 and relates to the misappropriation of a significent amount of grant funding while the club was under different administration”.
On page 9 of the 2015 accounts under the heading “Going Concern” it states
” the club was selected to form part of the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport’s (DTTAS) 2014 Capital Inspection Programme on foot of an alleged shortfall in the cost of ground improvements relative to grant income awarded to the club between 1998 and 2009. The fieldwork stage of the inspection took place on 9 October 2014″.