Build it – and they will buy?

IT’s not too often, I’d wager, that Angie Best is eclipsed in the fashion stakes but at the launch of the FAI’s premium ticket scheme for the new Lansdowne Road in Dublin on Thursday, the former other half of the late, great George had her thunder stolen by an elderly grey-haired man.

Of course, he’d have to be Italian. Giovanni Trapattoni, for it was he who turned up at the event resplendent in what can only be described as a bespoke denim suit. Now, your present correspondent is in no position to point the finger at anyone clad in denim, but my relationship with the fabric consists entirely of frayed jeans and, being of a certain age myself, the last time I wore anything made of denim above the waist, the Honda 50 was just about the coolest thing on two wheels.

Clearly, they do things differently in Milan, however, which was why, in a room full of suits, the besuited Trap still managed to stand out. By the way, in case you’re wondering, Angie Best was there because our host for the afternoon, RTÉ’s Gerry Ryan, had interviewed her that morning for an upcoming television show. And I’m reliably informed that when she was introduced to the manager of the Irish football team, his wordless response was to bow deeply and reverentially whereas, let’s face it, you or I might have spluttered: “Ah, the bould Angie, how’s she cuttin’?” or words to that effect. As I say, they do things differently in old Milano.

Also looking cool on the day was Paul McGrath who, along with Ray Houghton and Packie Bonner, gave flesh and blood substance to the memory of Lansdowne Road’s past as the FAI rolled out its shining vision of the Lansdowne of the future.

From the vantage point of where the swish event was taking place, you could look across the rooftops to where the new stands are already reaching for the sky and, as a tour of the site had confirmed earlier in the day, the impressive 50,000-seater stadium is indeed well on the way to hitting its completion date.

So they’re building it, alright, but the question for the FAI is: will they come? Or, rather more pressingly, will they buy? Unlike the GAA and the IRFU, the FAI have opted to sell what they’re calling their ‘Vantage Club’ premium seats, all 10,000 of them, at different prices depending on their location in the ground. And at the upper end of the price range, that means a company or individual will have to shell out €32,000 for the privilege of securing a seat on the half-way line to watch the boys in green in action from 2010 to 2020.

Even when the Celtic Tiger was roaring that kind of figure might have given pause for thought but, at a time when the beast appears to have been coursed out of existence by the four horsemen of the apocalypse, some of us were left to wonder if FAI boss John Delaney hadn’t been newly recast as the leader of the dance band on the Titanic.

But the message from the FAI for the sceptics is simple: oh ye of little faith. That much was amplified in no uncertain terms at Tuesday’s launch by Andrew Hampel, the Chief Executive of ISG, the FAI’s partners in the scheme and the company described as world leaders in the business of selling premium facilities at sports stadiums.

He certainly made our heads spin with his stated conviction that they would achieve a 100% sell out of the premium seats (though John Delaney was happier to stick to a conservative 70% to 80%). He boasted of how his company had sold premium packages to the tune of €734 million for the new Wembley. He revealed that there are 33,000 millionaires in Ireland. He said that there were already commitments to 15 million worth of sales for the new Lansdowne. And, just in case we still hadn’t got the message, he reminded us that there will always be people who, as he put it, “want to fly in the front of the plane.”

You might even say that the man was cocky but, certainly, by the time he was finished with his sale-spiel of the century, I was willing to suspend all disbelief and organise an immediate whip-round among colleagues to see if we could come up with the price of a box. (Cue Monty Python: “Cardboard box?” “Aye.” “Luxury.”).

Here’s the thing: either the FAI have got this brilliantly right or they have got it catastrophically wrong. And, as they say, only time will tell. But if they are successful, the GAA and the IRFU will be left with rather a lot of egg on chin.

And, needless to say, it’s vital that they do get it right. Riding on this, in effect, is the future well-being of the game at all levels. When Delaney talks about the ticket scheme as, in the long-term, the basis for the FAI’s pension plan, he’s actually talking about the capacity to continue to grow football in Ireland from the grassroots upwards.

The current woes of the League of Ireland – grimly portrayed in a ‘Prime Time’ special which went out just a few hours after Thursday’s stellar launch – are a reminder that something is rotten in the state of Irish football. But then, the single, biggest problem for the domestic league is that it struggles to engage even the 33,000 footsoldiers who will form the bedrock of attendances at the new Lansdowne – never mind the fabled 33,000 millionaires among whom will be some of those to be tapped up for the ‘Vantage Club’.

In all this, it would help – to put it mildly — if Giovanni Trapattoni’s team could lead the country to the promised land of South Africa in the summer of the year when the new stadium finally opens its doors.

Anything less, you fear, and the hairshirt, not the denim suit, will become de rigueur on the Irish football catwalk.