Waterford Plan For Their Future

MUNSTER soccer fans are in for a treat over the next couple of seasons if the people behind Waterford United and Cobh Ramblers have anything to do with it.

When the sides came together at St Colman's Park last month and produced a good, old-fashioned Munster derby they showed they both have the spirit and drive to make their mark on the bigger stage of the eircom League Premier Division.

First division leaders Waterford came out on top then, winning 3-2 to stave off a brave fightback from fourth-placed Ramblers and it is not inconceivable that both clubs will be joining their southern neighbours, Cork City in the top flight next summer in a three-way battle for provincial supremacy.

Waterford's Blues are in an excellent position, leading the division by eight points and heading for the sole automatic promotion place as title winners while Cobh are heading for one of the three play-off spots on offer for the first time this season under the guidance of new first-time player-manager Dave Hill.

With the season drawing to a close, neither Hill nor Waterford chairman and managing director Ger O'Brien is tempting fate about their side's prospects but O'Brien's business experience has taught him to plan ahead for any eventuality.

Already having staged a successful fund-raising draw in 2002, United ended the year by attracting hundreds of fans and members of the city's business community to a fund-raising dinner attended by former Irish international stars Tony Cascarino and Andy Townsend.

"Every day you're not in a fund-raising situation you're going into debt," O'Brien said. "It's as simple as that.

"The club is run as a business with a lot of money going out. Everybody wants the financial structures that have income on the other side of that and that's where the fiund-raising comes in.

"Aside from the gates, this is our only method of finding funds. It's not as if we're getting a big cheque from the eircom League or UEFA every year.

Basically, we're on our own so a night like this is hugely important."

O'Brien, by his own admission, got sucked into his present role. Having sold his business three years ago he had intended to take a sabbatical before beginning anew. Having been invited onto the United board at the end of 1999, those plans have been put on hold and O'Brien has been chairman for the last 18 months.

"We're now on a more stable footing," he said. "We could be in a better position we still owe a few quid, but not huge money. We've reduced our creditor slips quite substantially."

Good housekeeping off the pitch has been transformed into success on the pitch under the stewardship of former Blues star of the Sixties Jimmy McGeough. Add in a successful Under-21 side and a FAS scheme that has 16 full-time players and has provided current first-teamers such as striker Vinny Sullivan and Kevin O'Brien, the chairman's son, who after disappointment as a teenager at Spurs is finding his feet again on home ground, and you have solid foundations for a bright future.

O'Brien said: "I suppose financially stability has helped. It's a team effort down here. We have a full-time office staff and a good administrative structure while we brought in Jimmy and our first-team coach Giles Cheevers on the football side."

"It's good teamwork and if there's a problem it's on the table before it gets anywhere.

"That's the way to have it. It's a club now and I don't think it was when we came in here. People are working and playing for Waterford United now. It was a matter of getting back to basics and we've done that.

"We're trying to keep our feet on the ground at the moment. They're a great bunch of guys and I couldn't ask for any better. Last year we nearly made the play-off place and the year before we should have been promoted. So this is their third time. They don't want to slip up and they're not taking anything for granted until we have enough points on the board so that we can't be caught."

Munster rivals Ramblers may not be able to catch them but they have also experienced rapid improvement under rookie manager Hill. That might not be enough to satisfy the former Cork City and Bohemian defender, though, despite having moved on so far since last season's lowly Division One finish.

"We've done very well this season and we're looking to make it to the play-offs," Hill said. "It had the makings of a very tough campaign with a very young squad that we've had to mix up what with injuries and suspensions.

"We've got a good core and they've done very well, at the start of the season we would have said we've been successful. But I've been trying to instil a winning mentality, not just with their football, but with everything they do.

"The main thing is their will to win and I keep telling them that you have to want to achieve things in life. So we all want to pull together and try and go on and make the play-offs this season. We want to win every game and do things now because there might not be another chance.

"At the start I only promised one thing to the fans, that there would be 100 per cent commitment and, save for a couple of halves in a couple of matches we've kept that promise.

"We've been on an unlucky run but a play-off place is achievable. The spirit we showed in the second half against Waterford showed these players have the right spirit and they have nothing to fear from the other teams.

"Certainly, Waterford have been our benchmark and it will be a big achievement if we follow them up into the Premier Division.

"But it will be terrific for Munster football if Waterford and us can join Cork in the Premier Division."

Some managers might feel that promotion can often come too soon for a rapidly improving side but Hill is certainly not in that camp. Just as he plays the game, the Nottingham-born player-boss takes a no-nonsense approach to management.

"If promotion is there we will go for it. You have to take things when they are there," Hill added. "Whether we would be ready financially is a different matter. If the money is no there and we stuck with the same players that won us promotion that would be no bad thing. They were unlucky to get knocked out of the FAI Cup earlier this year by Shamrock Rovers when we had just half a side, so they have nothing to be afraid off if we go up."

Up the road in Waterford, chairman O'Brien sings from the same sheet, and dreaming of some more Munster derbies.

"It would be great for Munster soccer. We would have some great games to look forward to. Cork are an example to everyone. I don't know how they do it but I'm going to have to speak to somebody down there about it. The gates they're turning in there are fantastic and it's something for everyone to aspire to.

"There is no doubt about it, we can do the same in Waterford. It was a hotbed for soccer for so long and everybody wanted to see them. I'd love to get five or six thousand fans but I think if we got two or three thousand regularly every fortnight then I'd be happy. That would nearly run the club.

"People like winners and the eircom League first division is not a nice place to be, whether it be for fans, local business support or whoever. It's difficult in this division and the people who do support us now are the real supporters. But I'm hoping that if we do get promotion it will be easier for us to get funding and higher gates."

Positive thinking, it seems, is in ready supply in Munster soccer circles.