ATHLONE’S START TO the 2016-17 campaign has been turbulent to put it mildly.
Even before the Football Association of Ireland confirmed it was launching an investigation into the conduct of the club after irregular betting patterns were highlighted during a 3-1 loss to Longford among other games, there had been reports that all was not well at the club.
On 24 March, an email was sent by Athlone to various media outlets stating that the club was “most certainly not in crisis” and that there was no dressing room split as was previously rumoured to be the case.
It was reported that club captain Niall Scullion walked out of training after an argument with newly appointed then-manager Ricardo Monsanto, a claim that Athlone since vehemently denied.
“We hope that this dispels several misleading rumours including that Niall has left or is in some sort of protracted stand-off with the club,” the statement in question added. “Niall is a most respected player at out club who leads by example. He has trained with his team mates since he recovered from injury.
In relation to a recent article featuring the club and Niall, we would like to point out that neither Niall nor the club were contacted, directly or indirectly by that media outlet about any issue concerning his availability for selection.
“The club, as has been recently reported, has embarked on a new departure which has seen coaches and players come in from abroad. Despite commentary to the contrary we would also like to repeat that there has been no confusion over individual’s roles within the club nor among members of the first team.”
Yet the trouble didn’t end there. A little over a month later, news of the irregular betting patterns broke. It subsequently emerged that some of the club’s summer signings — Latvian goalkeeper Igors Labuts, defender Kirils Grigorovs (also from Latvia) and Romanian defender Dragos Sfrijan had, on multiple occasions, previously been involved in games that were subject to match-fixing allegations.
Athlone called on the Gardaí, Interpol and Uefa to open match-fixing investigations. A fan group, meanwhile, urged the board to resign as the probe intensified.
The problems, to a degree, lead back to last season. Athlone had been fined €1,000 by the FAI after they failed to fulfill a fixture against Waterford United — the incident was due to a dispute over unpaid wages with several players refusing to travel to the game as a result of the club not paying them.
That controversy gave an insight into the financial issues that were curtailing Athlone’s progress. Therefore, reports of a mystery Portuguese investor with links to China becoming involved with the team, which emerged around the start of 2017, at first likely would have seemed a relief for the cash-strapped club.
Following this development, a number of players from overseas, including Labuts, Grigorovs and Sfrijan were signed by Athlone.
And, contrary to what followed, the season actually got off to a hugely positive start. Athlone earned a shock 1-0 win over Waterford United, who had been pre-season favourites to lift the First Division title. This encouraging victory was followed by a 2-1 triumph against Wexford Youths, yet their next match was a 3-0 defeat to Longford, and results have been at best mixed ever since.
Currently, they find themselves seventh in an eight-team league. Tonight, they travel to Stradbrook to face Cabinteely.
Speaking to The42 on the eve of the game, Scullion is understandably reluctant to discuss the match-fixing allegations in any real detail.
The investigation is still going on, we’ve no more to say,” Scullion explains. “If something comes out of it, we might talk… You can’t be pointing the finger at anyone until the answers come out.
“But for everybody at the club, since the news broke, it’s been a very tough two weeks, there’s no point lying.
We’re just putting the heads down and ploughing on.”
Some of the revelations emerged just a day before Athlone’s match against then-league leaders Cobh Ramblers. But despite the pressure the club was under, the players managed to put the controversy to one side and claim a surprise 2-1 victory.
We had to play Cobh Ramblers 24 hours after (some of the allegations surfaced)… There were reporters asking me did we talk about it. Sure, we didn’t have time to think about it. We had to prepare for the game. And for any player, that match in those circumstances was very tough. But we got a win that night. It was an absolutely great feeling, to get a win.”
Another twist in the story saw the appointment of Roddy Collins as manager earlier this month, with tonight set to be his first official game in charge after the recent departure of Ricardo Monsanto.
Collins played for Athlone during the mid-1980s and also previously worked as manager of the club, guiding them to the First Division title in 2013 — a side that Scullion was part of. The former Bohs and Carlisle coach’s re-appointment, the experienced player believes, is a step in the right direction for the club.
Roddy’s come in on the training ground and gave the players a good lift,” he says. “He’s put us through our paces there all week, so we’re looking forward to the game.
“He’s a motivator. When he walks (onto the training ground), you get a buzz off him. He gets the best out of players and Roddy’s all about 100%, going off the pitch not able to walk.
His training has been very tough. As he said himself, there will be players coming in — he’s going to bring in his own players in July (when the transfer window re-opens), so we all have to up our game as well to impress him.
“You’d go out on the pitch and break a foot for him. Everyone wants to do their best for him.
I worked with him before at Athlone and we won the league, so I know him and he knows me, but the other lads have never had him before. But chatting to them, they say ‘jeez, he’s great’.
Collins’ appointment will also likely create a greater sense of relief and clarity around the club. At times this season, the exact identity of the manager has not been entirely clear. Colin Fortune had been in charge at the end of last season, but the arrival of Portuguese coaches Monsanto, Ricardo Cravo, and Jose Ferreira led to subsequent doubts in relation to who held the position of highest authority.
Scullion, though, is reluctant to be drawn on this past uncertainty.
I’ve said before in interviews, we’re there to play. We’ve no control over who’s the manager or who’s going to be the coaches. We’re there to do well on the pitch. We’ve no say (on background details) and we don’t really get involved, because it’s not our business.
“Any player will tell you when there are changes, it is hard. But Roddy coming in is (likely to provide) the stability that we need, so we’re delighted with the appointment.”
Despite everything that has happened, Scullion believes a bid for promotion is still possible in what has already been a highly unusual and unpredictable season.
As it stands, Athlone sit 15 points off leaders Waterford with a game in hand, having played 12 matches.
Waterford are the best team in the league — we’ve beaten them and should have gotten a draw (in the second game against them). So there’s nothing between the teams. You couldn’t predict anything.
“There are loads of games to play and you’d be surprised (what can happen) if you put a run together. Everyone’s beating everyone. Everyone’s dropping points. Nobody’s actually running away with it.”
Scullion puts Athlone’s largely disappointing campaign so far down to injuries to important players and too much “chopping and changing” by the side.
However, the 30-year-old defender plays down suggestions that Collins will provide the team with a new lease of life.
You could say that. But we were never down and out… There are people jumping the gun on stories a bit — they don’t know whether they’re true or false. There’s been a lot of bad press (about the club). And it is unfair, it’s very unfair. But we’ve no control over that. We can just go out on the pitch and give our hearts for Athlone, and hopefully get the results and see what happens.
“We’re a good close bunch. We train hard. We have a bit of craic on the training ground with each other when we can.
We’re used to all of it. We’re not worried about managers at this stage, or who’s doing this or that. We’re players at the end of the day.
“Anything else that goes on, it’s not really in our control to be worrying about stuff. Everyone’s there to do a job, to play football.
“No one’s really fazed by (what has happened). The spirit’s been really good all week, training’s been very good and we’ll hopefully top it off (against Cabinteely tonight) with a positive result.”
Scullion, who works in the army when he’s not playing football, is clearly hurt by the controversy surrounding the club. Born and bred in Athlone, he made his debut for the Town as a 17-year-old back in 2005 in the last game of their season against Dublin City. A recognisable face within the community, he lives just half a mile from Athlone Town Stadium and drives to training even though “I should walk”.
The team captain can see what remains of the club’s former home, St Mel’s Park, from his house. “It’s just a field. There’s no stand or anything,” he adds.
Scullion has featured regularly for the club in the intervening years since his debut, though injuries among other factors have restricted his appearances. For their league-winning campaign in 2013, he played just 10 times as duties abroad with the Irish army caused him to miss a considerable portion of the campaign.
In addition, Scullion failed to feature regularly under Mick Cooke during Athlone’s brief stay in the top flight in 2014, explaining that he had “lost that bit of sharpness” while away, and therefore suspected his days playing in the League of Ireland were over. He consequently went back to play two years with local Athlone side St Peters, who enjoyed a good run in the FAI Cup last season.
Then I got the call back from Athlone (in pre-season),” he says, emphasising his gratitude to then-manager Fortune for giving him another chance to play in the League of Ireland.
“I couldn’t turn it down. At my age, to get the call back, I was delighted just to be asked back down.
I was going down to see if my legs were still able for it. It turned out better than I thought. From starting there, I got the captain’s armband. I’m delighted the way things are going (from a personal viewpoint).”
The chance circumstances that led to the old favourite’s unlikely return may yet prove to be a stroke of good or bad fortune depending on what happens next. No one, not least Scullion, could have predicted the events that would unfold in this most dramatic of seasons for Athlone, but the defender hopes the controversy enveloping the club will not deter fans from showing their much-needed support in upcoming matches.
“(I’d love for) the fans to get behind us at the club,” he says. “There are good people there. Hopefully we can get a few wins together and see the crowd picking up, because Roddy’s a favourite in the town, everybody loves him, so we’re hoping to get a few more down to cheer us on through a tough time.”
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