Murray: City chairman should step aside after latest pay delay
Murray and his fellow players only lifting a threat of strike action – which would have scuppered last night’s league victory against Shamrock Rovers – when they finally received their wages at lunchtime.
Even then, Danny Murphy stayed behind in Cork to seek confirmation from his bank that the money owed to him had come through, while the rest of his colleagues set off on the team bus for the journey to Tallaght.
As if to prove the 11th hour nature of the drama, it emerged afterwards that Murphy’s money had been transferred into the wrong account.
The defender subsequently travelled to Dublin with PFAI General Secretary Stephen McGuinness who, not for the first time this season, was in Cork to represent the players in what was only the latest crisis to hit the cash-strapped club.
It is understood, however, that other employees at the club still have wages outstanding.
City captain Murray told TV3: “It seems like it’s time for (Coughlan) to step aside and get someone else in with fresh ideas or for him to bring more people on board if he can. That’s the way it’s going. It looks like he’s struggling to keep the club going the way it is at the moment. Maybe it is time for some fresh ideas, yeah.”
Murray subsequently rowed back on his outburst saying after the win over Rovers that he had spoken in the “heat of the moment” but stood over his belief that Coughlan “needed help with running the club”. Murray also paid tribute to his team mates for winning despite the earlier drama.
While Coughlan remains the focus for criticism of how Cork City is being run, the businessman is, according to a club statement, determined to press ahead with his vision of a “sustainable future” for the club despite the crippling problems it continues to face.
“Like a number of other clubs in the League of Ireland,” the statement read, “Cork City Football Club is not sustaining itself financially and has required the investment of significant private funds. The current economic climate has led to a significant drop in advertising and ancillary revenues, while credit has not been as readily available from the business or financial communities as would be hoped.
“The fact that Cork City FC has such a large and passionate support has led to intense coverage of the club’s difficulties. We fully understand and appreciate the concerns being expressed by our loyal supporters about the future of the club, but we wish to reiterate that we are committed to putting in place the foundations and structures for a sustainable future.
“While it is regrettable that there have been occasions where players have not been paid on time, paying the players the terms agreed in their contracts remains the priority of Cork City Football Club, and all players are now paid up to date.”
Shamrock Rovers boss Michael O’Neill said after his side’s defeat that he “sympathised with Paul Doolin and his players” adding that the “players and supporters deserve more from the people running the club”.
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