In his first interview since taking ownership on Tuesday – a chat with the club’s YouTube page – Temple accepted that the Lilywhites remain in a ‘bleak’ position despite avoiding the threat of liquidation that existed before he took the reins from Brian Ainscough following a dramatic 72 hours. Earlier today, the Irish Independent reported that the players were not paid this week, agreeing to a deferral after being addressed by Temple ahead of training on Thursday morning – he told them that he didn’t have the financial arrangements in place but offered assurances they would be paid in full by the end of November. While that topic was swerved in the interview, and no detail was added on who is supporting the barrister from a financial perspective, Temple was blunt about the bigger picture facing a club with debts well in excess of €1m. “We are far from out of the woods,” said Temple. “The club is in serious financial difficulty. The creditors are banging down the door every hour, and there’s emails coming in every second hour, if not solicitors, people who want to appoint receivers and run to the courts and everything else, threatening all sorts. “It’s bleak, I won’t lie. I didn’t put in this situation, the fans didn’t put us in this situation, the players didn’t put us into this situation. It needs patience and it’s going to need support from everybody immediately. “The viability of the club rests on getting behind it now and seeing if it’s worthwhile. If the club is not viable by the end of the season, and we have a look at it with the other investors…if it’s not viable, it’s just not viable. The day of truth will set upon us and say ‘this is just it’ – I’ve staved off the execution but the daggers are growing and hanging over every hour. Every time €1 comes into the bank account, somebody seems to be looking for €2 to come back out. “Hopefully creditors will sit down and negotiate and talk to me. I’ve put my hand up, signed on the dotted line, taken over with a consortium of other investors. They see promise in Dundalk.” Temple said it was a ‘do or die’ situation when it came to reaching a deal with Ainscough, asserting that the American-based Dubliner had made it clear he wasn’t willing to extend his deadline for a decision beyond Tuesday evening. While there was an expectation at the beginning of the week that Dundalk would go into SCARP, a form of examinership, Temple confirmed that his plan is to try and talk to creditors individually and see if liabilities can be tackled from that perspective. He also feels this gives the best chance of avoiding relegation on the field; the SCARP process would likely have resulted in relegation although there was no defined sanction in place. Dundalk are bottom of the table with six games remaining, but just a point behind Drogheda ahead of Saturday’s trip to face Sligo Rovers. “The point of not wanting to go into SCARP, the big fear was and remains, if I can keep it out of SCARP, and creditors can negotiate and sit down and have a discussion with me and the other investors, the issues off the field don’t affect what’s going on on the field,” he said. “I’ve spoken to the lads. We’ve given them a fighting chance. This is not the supporters fault, (not) the team’s fault. This is just something that has happened. I don’t think anybody who has been involved in Dundalk ever wanted this. We are where we are and the reality is we have very, very tough decisions to make, tough times ahead. It’s not going to be everyone’s liking, some of the decisions, but that’s just the reality of what we have coming in,” continued Temple hinting at necessary cutbacks down the line. In the short term, the gym and the indoor pitches in Dundalk’s training base, the Youth Development Centre, will be opened to the public in an attempt to generate revenue. Temple has also called on a big turnout for their remaining three home games, starting off with the visit of Bohemians next Friday. “Make no mistake, we’re on life support,” he said. “We need everyone to dig deep now and get in behind the club.” The full interview can be watched here.
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