Treaty United and Drogheda United latest LOI clubs to confirm takeovers
Treaty United and Drogheda United have become the latest League of Ireland clubs to announce takeovers, with companies from across the Atlantic pitching in with significant investment.
Limerick-based Treaty will have women’s team player Ciara McCormack as their new chief executive, the first female in Ireland to hold that position. She has joined forces with a Canadian-based investment group led by Tricor Pacific Capital Inc to acquire the club, whose men’s team have operated a part-time operation in the First Division since entrance to the LOI in 2020.
Drogheda secured their Premier Division status with five games remaining despite being the sole top-flight team not to work off a full-time playing staff.
Former Chairman Conor Hoey emphasised last year the unrealistic prospect of maintaining that status without external backing and they’ve secured that, subject ratification by members at a special meeting on November 6, through the 100% acquisition by Trivela Group.
They are a US sports investment firm headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, which follows their purchase last year of English League Two outfit Walsall.
These takeovers followed quickly after Hull City’s Turkish owner Acun Illicali added Shelbourne to his stable of clubs, with a vow to upgrade Damien Duff’s side into Ireland’s top club. Reds boss Damien Duff has denied a claim by his Shamrock Rovers counterpart that their Dublin rivals will carry the highest wage budget in the league next year.
Rovers, too, have been subject to new shareholders in recent years, with billionaire Dermot Desmond equalling the 25% stake that lifelong fan and Sydney-based businessman Ray Wilson previously bought. The other half of the club, on the brink of sealing an historic
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