Galway Utd fans angry over stalling on new club

A group of Galway United supporters has voted to continue in talks with regards to the formation of a new single Galway club for the 2014 League of Ireland season – on condition that the new entity is set up as a fan-owned body, rather than a limited private company.

The Galway United Supporters’ Trust (GUST) held a meeting in the Galway Rovers clubhouse in Claddagh on Monday night, where members of the GUST management committee updated fans on the progress in relation to talks on the FAI-backed plan to see Salthill Devon and Mervue United withdraw from the League of Ireland to be replaced by a side representative of the city and county.

The meeting was called out of frustration at what GUST said was a lack of progress on the talks, arguing that despite a recommendation for a single side from the FAI in October of last year, the rate of progress made it unlikely that the new side would be established in time to compete in next season’s league, leaving United fans with a third season without a club playing in the league.

A motion was put to the floor on Monday night that the GUST would withdraw from the talks unless there was a firm commitment from the interim board that the new organisation would be set up as a fan-owned co-op; and that the name of the new club must be ‘Galway United FC’.

An amendment to that motion was proposed, which stated that while the demand for a co-op remain, the wording in relation to the name would be changed to read that “the preferred name” of the side would be Galway United FC.

That amended motion was carried by a decent majority, but not before some passionate – and at times heated – debate on the motion itself, the proposed amendment, and the talks’ progress as a whole.

The meeting was told that the company which previously ran Galway United, GU Football Club Ltd, had ceased to exist after being struck off by the Company Registrations Office in January of this year. That meant the name ‘Galway United FC’ became available, and in May was registered by a business name by the GUST – according to the CRO website, the company has been “dissolved”.