Bohemians' 'Matt Doherty money' helps upgrade DCU training facilities

Bohemian FC have today announced the signing of an 18-year lease at the Dublin City University training facilities in Glasnevin. Left, Keith Long, Bohemian FC manager and Ken Robinson, CEO DCU Sport, at DCU Sport Centre in Glasnevin. Picture: Seb Daly/Sportsfile

Matt Doherty’s €15m transfer to Tottenham Hotspur helped fast-track the major infrastructural alliance Bohemians announced yesterday in conjunction with Dublin City University.

The Gypsies proved wise negotiators for inserting a sell-on clause in the €80,000 sale of the rookie back to Wolves in 2010, banking them €1.5m when the Ireland full-back was snapped up by Jose Mourinho last summer.

Although the League of Ireland club were obliged to distribute €300,000 of the largesse to Doherty’s schoolboy club Belvedere, they spoke of investing the remainder in facilities.

As part of an 18-year agreement signed with Dublin City University, the club will fork out a seven-figure sum to improve the institution’s training complex in Glasnevin.

Dublin’s successful GAA squad have been long-time tenants of the facility, which Ken Robinson, CEO of DCU Sport, equates to the standard of an English Championship club.

To enhance the project, another all-weather pitch is planned to be funded by a sports capital grant and outaly directly from Bohemians.

This venture is separate to the ongoing rebuild of nearby Dalymount Park, where Bohemians will ground-share with fellow League of Ireland outfit Shelbourne.

“The Matt Doherty money enabled us to speed up this process,” admitted Bohs chief executive Daniel Lambert.

“If that hadn’t have happened, this is something that would hopefully have occurred but it may have been two to three years away.

“We have a strategic plan as a club and this has turned out better than we imagined. This has something that has been on our list, a crucial part, a cornerstone foundation for moving forward and I suppose the It allowed us to move forward with confidence, especially with the impact of Covid-19 on crowds.”

Despite expecting to play the majority of the upcoming season again behind closed doors, Bohs have been able to improve their playing squad too.

Last season’s runner-up finish behind Shamrock Rovers guaranteed Keith Long’s side European football for a second successive season and the money has gone to good use.

Former Dundalk striker Georgie Kelly was recruited, along with ex-Waterford playmaker Bastien Hery, but Long is content to be considered outsiders in the title mix-up.

“Being underdogs suits us,” he said.

“We can go under the radar a little bit and that is fine and it's how we like to operate to be perfectly honest.

“It's natural enough that Shamrock Rovers and Dundalk are rightly tipped as favourites for the league.

“The evidence would suggest they have the strongest budgets and they are probably further down the road than we are in terms of development.

“What we have tried to do is build year on year and progress the club. We are not perfect but we are looking for progression, not perfection.

“It's going to be difficult like it is every year. Every team in the league is coming back with optimism and we're no different. We want to attack the season and try and build on the pitch.” Long, who signed a four-year contract extension last year, is also under no pressure to move into a full-time model. His squad continue to train in the evening time, something only teams in the lower reaches of the top tier still do.

He asserted: “That won’t happen in the short-term.

“We do want to compete at the higher level and maybe that is something that we may need to do and involve too. I’m sure the potential and scope is there at DCU to do that but, at this moment, it is not something I’m considering.”