Dermot Usher on Cork City bid: 'There won’t be any fancy slideshows. I consider myself a football fan'
PITCH: Dermot Usher hopes to take control of Cork City FC.
The Greatest Show on Earth is usually an ideal ice-breaker, especially when the introduction is football related.
“Who’s taken your fancy so far at the World Cup?” inquires your reporter by way of opening our meeting.
“I don’t know because I’ve hardly watched it,” replies the latest prospective League of Ireland club owner. “I much prefer watching football live.”
Welcome to Dermot Usher’s world.
On Sunday week, he’ll stand before a special general meeting of Cork City's FORAS (Friends of the Rebel Army Society) members requesting approval to take full ownership of their club.
It’s well known by now that he’s flirted with plunging into ownership at various other clubs, including Dundalk and Waterford.
Takeovers are his stock and trade, seeing SONAS, the bathroom business he grew over 30 years into a €40m per annum operation, subject to a couple of buyouts in recent years.
He’s got the means and motivation to cut a clean slate, in tandem cutting any legal ties Cork City have with Grovemoor Limited. Here he outlines the background and plans under his stewardship.
DU: I got involved in LOI from my marriage splitting up 14 years ago. My two sons were six and eight.
When the boys stayed with me every Tuesday, Friday and Saturday, my ex-wife gave me a book entitled, . The last line of the book reminds the reader to do things with your children, not for them.
I made a point of doing that on a Friday and because the lads were football-mad we began attending League of Ireland matches.
We never followed a particular team, just went to whatever match we fancied. For me, chatting about the match on the way home was brilliant and we still do that to this day.
I just love going to live games and don’t like the whole commercialisation of football and how that’s all gone.
Once I became a sponsor of Bray Wanderers, whose manager at the time Mick Cooke I was friends with, I got emotionally involved, There was attachment but I also saw what I could bring to clubs on the strategic and marketing side. Okay, I could invest money but anyone can do that and waste it.
DU: I was made aware of the ownership opportunities two years ago when I was approached by someone seeking to assemble a consortium.
I went to Cork to meet them but after a few extra meetings decided to step away. I couldn’t do business with them. Nothing happened until I was recently approached again.
Groovemoor were asked to agree terms under which they would surrender their call-option and I became active again.
Any of the previous projects I explored was with a team of investors. I walked away because the numbers were out of my comfort zone.
This is the only club I contemplated going alone. People say it’s riskier but I don’t. I believe the numbers at Cork City will work, even based upon the cap.
DU: The club have dealt with the Grovemoor side of that deal. I’m buying the club on a debt-free basis and they’re in a net asset position.
The club has been very well run for the last few years, so there’ll be a sum of money left for them to settle their legal fees and continue operating as a supporters’ trust.
FORAS as an entity will continue, and we have plans on how I can work closely with them if I assume control of the football club.
As part of the Heads of Agreement, I’ll hold quarterly meetings with FORAS as well as an annual member meeting at the end of the year once the accounts are finalised.
When I come in, it’s not a case of this is mine and clearing everybody out. I’ll be leaning on the current people but believe the club will benefit from a fresh pair of eyes.
I don’t have all the answers so there’s a learning curve for me too.
DU: Yes, unless something jumps out during the due diligence. I haven’t encountered red flags; my understanding is any legacy issues are addressed.
I won’t be walking away. Spending a six-figure sum already on legal costs and due diligence to get this far proves my commitment. If the members reject the offer, it has already cost me into six-figures.
DU: I see myself as a custodian of the club. I’m not here to make a name for myself. I would hope there’s a legacy there but not from an ego point of view. This is a healthy challenge.
I will get a lot of fun, enjoyment and challenge from this but I’m not looking to be the next Roman Abramovich. My involvement will be on the business side. The football side will be run by football people.
I couldn’t be happier with the current personnel, be it Colin Healy, Danny Murphy and Liam Kearney. I’m happiest with Éanna Buckley. He is a Godsend.
The backbone of the club is absolutely in place but what I can add is on the finance function and making the social media part full-time. I will be driving a lot of the marketing side myself.
From the sports sponsorship I’ve been involved in, a lot was worthwhile but a lot was worthless. Some of it gained no value. Businesses should feel thanked for their support.
That feeds into the prime reason for our business success at SONAS.
Rather than looking at us to the customer, we looked at the customer back to you. Far different decisions are made.
Football follows the same principle. I’m looking at this from the fan’s perspective back to the club. Decisions will be made on that basis whereas a lot of clubs look the wrong way when spending money.
It’s always the basic things. Fans forums will have complaints about toilets, facilities and a bar. This is about the matchday experience. My manta is that business is easy, people can complicate it.
I don’t want business to sponsor and not come to matches. I need and want them to get emotionally involved. That will happen over the next few years. That’s how our new sponsorship came about.
I’ve done very well in business by bringing people on a journey with us.
DU: I can see the potential of the brand. It’s the one Premier Division club in the largest county. That makes it defined and measurable from my side, in terms of spend on adverts, for example.
I want to bring back the Rebel part of it. The idea that everybody is against us, the siege mentality, is something we can feed into. Cork people look after their own and that’s a positive. I’m here to do the right thing for them.
There are financial constraints but doing the right thing will make the business part come naturally.
DU: Before telling Colin Healy his budget, I asked him what he wanted and my figure was 10% higher.
He’s been in a difficult position on recruitment and retention while this process is ongoing so hopefully this can bring about certainty for him.
In my view, we’ll have a budget capable of us competing in the top half of the table. It won’t be on the level of Shamrock Rovers and Derry City, the two with by far and away the largest spend, but it will enable us to challenge with the rest.
My stance in business is to underpromise and overdeliver, setting realistic expectations, but we’re there to compete.
The gap between third and seventh won’t be massive and, from being aware of budgets elsewhere, feel we can do okay.
I think we’ve a great chance this season but 2024 will be very exciting if Waterford and Galway United get promoted too. A few Munster derbies this coming season would have been brilliant because I’m a believer that competition raises your game.
We’ve already put a lot of emphasis on player recruitment. I have somebody UK-based, a former Ireland international, who is working on the ground for us.
We will be appointing a new Director of Football, a very experienced, well-known person who is currently employed elsewhere. Colin is aware of that person.
I’m not a big reader but there’s a line in by Jim Collins, saying ‘get the right people on the bus and you can drive the bus forward.’ That’s my approach to business.
DU: It will be run appropriately. Boom to bust cycles elsewhere were probably due to reckless spending in pursuit of the European dream. That’s not the case here.
Rovers and Derry are going at their pace whereas I like to swim against the tide.
It might take a year or two to build momentum by putting some elements in place.
I know from my own business that once we achieved a certain level of turnover, it was much easier to run.
Where I’m trying to go is getting a lot of people to do a little instead of a few doing a lot.
DU: I’m expecting this to cost me money but I’m okay with that. I have aspirations that a well-run club can achieve without being reckless. That’s not just performance on the pitch because everybody will be accountable.
This is not a profit-making exercise because it’s very difficult to make money in football. I’m not a dreamer but what I am happy to do is underwrite the investment to get things right and on a proper footing.
Looking at the recent history - the club’s ship has steadied after a rocky few years. We’re now at the investment stage to move to the next step.
I say that after stress-testing the budgets. For example, from the average 2022 home attendance of 3,500, despite promotion to the Premier Division, I’ve budgeted for 3,750, but I can underwrite that loss if it doesn't happen.
I would expect the first few matches to be sell-outs from the hunger out there to support the club, but we know we need to create awareness to bring people through the gates in their thousands. The investment I bring will amplify the potential of the Cork City Football Club, whereas under FORAS they can't really budget for higher attendances, because if they don't work out there's no one to underwrite the loss. Naturally that means you've a smaller playing budget, so it's difficult for the club to reach its potential.
Yes, I’ve consulted advisors, financial and football, as well as speaking to owners of football clubs. One person who previously owned a club recommended going in alone on this, which I was nicely surprised to hear.
DU: I would say five years is where I’m at in terms of the business plan, but I don’t have a crystal ball, and if things go well I could be here for a lot longer. The main thing is that I leave the club in a better position whenever that time comes.
DU: I would hope so but that mightn’t be the case. As long as the losses are of a certain amount, I’m perfectly okay to write a cheque to cover that, and I would plan to run the club on a debt-free basis.
DU: I’d be delighted if we were facing that. It would guarantee budgeting going forward. We had around 1,200 season-ticket holders but others do better because their fans fear missing the big fixtures.
We’d like to increase our numbers as fixed income enables better planning. I’d have a fair idea what sponsorship income we’ll generate and there’s huge potential to maximise our merchandise sales.
Turner's Cross is our home ground and we’ve just entered into a 20-year lease with the Munster FA. Already, areas like the dressing-rooms are being upgraded but in collaboration we can apply for grants to make more improvements.
LOI facilities are a major talking point but we’ve got to get the basics right. For example, while we’ll spend on toilets, I’ll ensure they’re attended to by staff during the matches. These are little things but vital things.
DU: That’s fine. This is not a property play.
DU: I’ve budgeted for those. There’s a big catchment area and we can only mess that up. Every talented kid will want to play for their local club at the highest possible level in Ireland. The conversations I’ve had with Colin tell me that Academy players will be brought up quickly. Players will see a pathway. A certain portion will see Cork City as a shop window to moving abroad – which we’ll help them with – and others will be strong enough for League of Ireland standard.
There has to be respect with a common goal reached. If we’re facilitating the player’s development, there has to be a sensible approach at the other end. There will be valuations on players, coming under the remit of the club’s Director of Football.
DU: I’d like to have the women’s, men’s and Academy run as three separate entities. None should be dependent on the other, with standalone profit and loss centres. Each category will be responsible for raising income, such as raising crowds for the women’s teams. Certain companies may want to get involved with the women’s team and not the men’s, which is fine.
DU: I knew the League Director, Mark Scanlon, before he was appointed to that position and have met Jonathan Hill a few times.
I don’t look for rows. We all must realise that, like Cork City, the FAI have come through a period of turmoil. Then there was the pandemic, which clubs did well out of in terms of government intervention.
We’ll need support from the Government and FAI but we’re very much in charge of our own destiny.
DU: There are new areas open to tap into. Look at the €14.8m Louth GAA have raised through the immigrant investor programme.
I know some of the most senior politicians in the country are from Cork and we want to have conversations for the benefit of Cork City.
DU: I’m aware of the LOI’s history with takeovers, particularly at Cork City.
When I stand before the members, there won’t be any fancy slideshows. I consider myself a football fan who has done well in business.
I understand they won’t know me but ask anyone in the building industry or customers who works with SONAS and my trustworthiness will be there.
I trust myself and my job is to gain the trust of the members.
The speech will be about my life and business, including the struggles and emotional baggage.
They include loneliness, an area which the League of Ireland can assist in. There aren’t many events where it is accepted that a person attends alone but football is one medium.
They can feel part of something, an outlet to feel commonality.
There’s an opportunity to attract fans outside of the current LOI fanbase. And, importantly, retain them.
Anyone at the special general meeting is welcome to come talk to me.
DU: So long as it's respectful, I’m okay. Just like the manager and players, I have feelings. I’ve no problem someone making a point or suggesting something and it would be even better if they came on board as a volunteer. I’m an open book and can guarantee straight talking.
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