Leeson lashes stay at home ‘sports’ fans

Date Published: 07-Aug-2009

GALWAY United CEO Nick Leeson has issued a scathing attack on the city’s sporting public for their failure to come out and support the club after admitting that this week’s transfer of captain Jay O’Shea to English Premier League side Birmingham City was for a fee which fell short of their valuation of the player.

Leeson said that the harsh economic climate United are operating in had forced the Board of Directors to accept a fee from Birmingham which was substantially below the €400,000 reportedly agreed with Derby County last winter. That deal fell through when then manager Paul Jewell was sacked by the Rams in January.

A host of cross-channel clubs have been tracking the club captain over the past few weeks and United felt they had no option but to accept Birmingham’s offer for O’Shea on Tuesday, even though the fee agreed fell well short of what they expected to receive for the Republic of Ireland U-21 international.

For Leeson, the fact that a crowd of just over 1,000 attended last Friday’s Connacht ‘derby’ win over Sligo Rovers has called into question the viability of running a club in the top-flight of Irish soccer in the city.

The small hardcore who did turn up generated a red hot atmosphere as they saw John Russell earn United a priceless 1-0 win but, for Leeson, the figures simply do not add up.

“One of our players is on his way to an English Premier League club, but the reality is that there is very little support for this club. We still have a lot of good young players here, but every second Friday I’m reminded that there is not enough support for Galway United,” he told Tribune Sport.

He was…