John Temple: The rumour mill says Dundalk haven’t got a Premier Division licence. That’s not true

Dundalk celebrate winning the league with club chairman John Temple. Pic: ©INPHO/Tom Maher.

John Temple says it is his intention to stay on as owner of Dundalk FC and insisted “the club is in good hands” despite the Lilywhite’s minority shareholders and supporters’ group the 1903 declaring no confidence in him in recent days.

Having rejected a demand from three of the club’s four American-based investors - Chris Clinton, John Keenan and Kevin Brayton - to immediately hand over his 65% stake in the club, the Co Louth-based barrister broke his silence to The Town End podcast on Wednesday evening, rejecting reports that the SSE Airtricity League First Division title winners were set to be refused a licence to compete in the Premier Division next year.

“My thing to the fans is wait and have patience please,” said Temple, who rescued the club from the brink of closure in September 2024.

“If I thought that I couldn’t do it, I’d walk away.

“The rumour mill is circulating that we haven’t got a licence. That’s not true. That the FAI have said that we’re not getting a licence. That’s not true. We, like every other club in the League of Ireland, will apply for our licence.

“The FAI have indicated that Dundalk FC will get a licence all going well but what we won’t get is to play at Oriel Park if there’s no pitch. We won’t get to play our games at 7.45pm if we’ve no lights so it’s up to us in the club to ensure that we have those standards met. We’ve got to make sure that we’ve got a new pitch and the proper lux lights.”

Temple confirmed he was pressing ahead with plans to draw down a €454,000 Sports Capital Grant to help towards the installation of a new artificial playing surface at Oriel Park and the upgrading of the club’s floodlight but admitted he was at “loggerheads” with the club’s other investors, who he said had not put in as much money as has been reported last week.

“We have four shareholders in America. Out of them, John Keenan has put in a small amount of money this year. Chris Clinton has probably contributed about the same as I have put into the club but there has been nothing from the other two shareholders.

“I was expressing that I would like for them to contribute something towards the club and that, I find, was not too much of a hard ask especially as we are going to be elevating up to the Premier Division now and it is an important time for the club.

“We’re back within a year,” he said pointing to the club’s recent promotion on the field.

“Look what we have achieved over the last 12 months. People said this time last year we hadn’t got a licence, and we weren’t going to get a licence. It’s just history repeating itself and the argument has only emanated from one side, so I think it is important that I communicate this to the fanbase and to the supporters but also to the sponsors.

“I think it’s important to reassure them that we’re still steam ahead in what we’ve got to achieve.”

Temple said he considered the request of the minority shareholders to hand over his 65% share as “not very reasonable” and encouraged them to buy him out if they had as much money as they were rumoured to.

“If they want to leave, they leave. That’s it. What have they contributed to me over the last year?

“Now Chris Clinton has played a very active role in my time. He didn’t play an active role in Brian Ainscough’s time, and this is something that confuses me that people are pedalling this that there are millions among the Americans and that they are paying millions in.

“If the Americans don’t want to play an active role, I get that, and they don’t have to play an active role. They didn’t play an active role with Brian Ainscough but now they’re coming in and saying they have to play an active role, and some people are confused in saying here we go again, we’re back to square one again but we’re not. It was a different kind of battle.

“Brian Ainscough ran out of money and when I came in there was all of these outstanding bills that had to be paid and caught up with, but this is a different battle. This a battle whereby somebody wants to… I was asked last week to basically surrender my 65% because they didn’t like my business plan and they wanted me to move away. So that’s what I was given: move on and surrender the 65%. It’s not a very reasonable offer.

“In fact, I was given a monetary offer on Saturday night by Chris Clinton and on behalf of the other shareholders. The FAI have stepped in and said that is not even a proper offer.

“That’s not viable. That’s not business. If they have all this money, you can’t come in with one arm as long as the other and say these boys in America have millions behind them – and that’s the rumours that there is €2 million waiting to be invested and stuff. If they have that money, then come now and buy me out.”

The Dundalk native said he was committed to the club and securing a licence for the side to return to the top flight following relegation from the Premier Division in 2024.

“John Temple wants to stay in the club, but the last week has been very hard, not just for me but for my family who are out there and have to see the abuse and read the abuse,” said the 45-year-old.

“It’s not easy. Something like this takes up an awful lot of your time. It interferes with everything – your social life, your family life, everything that you do, even your working life. To dedicate your time to this sort of club, it requires a small village to run this place, and we’ve done it and I’m grateful for those who’ve got me to where I am today.

"Look what happens when we all work together. We’ve got so far and done so well and now there’s consternation amongst some people in some quarters who are not happy about something.

“This could have been resolved through mediation. We could have had our chats this week.

“The reality is this, we’re at loggerheads now at this stage. If they don’t want to play, and I do have an email from Chris Clinton that says they are playing no further role and that they are withdrawing their support but that doesn’t mean that the business collapses. At 65% I still have the controlling share in this club and as long as that happens it is business as usual.

“We’re still applying for a licence. We’re still getting our pitch sorted out. We have a grant to draw down and we have a budget to agree and finalise to propose to (manager) Ciarán (Kilduff) and hopefully get that over the line. That’s what has to happen next.

“They’re saying that Dundalk haven’t got a licence for 2026, but Shamrock Rovers haven’t got it for 2026 either. Nobody has it. It’s like a test. You put it in and there’s a closing date for the applications. We’ll meet the deadline. From what I’m told the financials should be finalised and signed off and that’s the last thing that we’re waiting on.” Temple said he was also hopeful of holding onto manager Ciarán Kilduff despite him being linked with the vacant position at Waterford FC.

“He is under demand but go back to the uncertainty, when upstairs are fighting no one likes it downstairs. When mammy and daddy are fighting the kids don’t like it and this is the reality that this has created this instability,” he said.

“There are ways of doing things properly and I would have preferred if there was mediation. If they were not happy, if they wanted to be bought out, if they wanted to walk away, I don’t understand why… They say they are going to walk away but by the American shareholders walking away, there’s at least two of them haven’t contributed anything in the last year into this club and a third has only contributed a third of the week’s wages, so I don’t understand if they’re walking away how the club is going to collapse.

“Ciarán might not understand that and it’s me having to explain. Obviously, he is not happy. He’s not happy because we should be sitting down today announcing someone like Ciarán Kilduff is signing with Dundalk for another year at least. He should now be moving on and picking his players and our biggest battle should be how can Dundalk harvest the best players within our budget going forward,” said Temple.