The postman always rings twice (if he knows where he is going)

Honestly, I thought I would never use this crest again

We often have a little laugh at the circumstances of teams who have run up major debt and have to face the consequences. You may have noticed, for instance, one or two stories about Portsmouth around here lately. And Liverpool. And Manchester United (don’t forget Crystal Palace). Usually it’s a combination of avarice and bad leadership that drive these teams into their K-holes of debt.

And the debts in the English game are so huge that sometimes it’s easy to forget that there are other long and storied clubs dealing with bad ownership and crushing debt; even if that debt is only €300,000, for some it’s too much to overcome.

That may be where Cork City find themselves today.

At least the Cork City players aren’t taking it lying down. Last week, some players called a press conference to highlight their woes under owner Tom Coughlan. Not the least of their worries was the fact that no one on the team had been paid for over two months. The players, including team captain Dan Murray, called for Coughlan to stand down and hand over the team to someone — anyone, really — willing to clear the team’s debts (including to the tax man).

How did Coughlan respond to this seemingly helpful advice? Not the way the players intended, that’s for sure.

Nope, instead two week bans were handed down for everyone who involved themselves in the airing of grievances. So far, Murray and (possibly the only two) goalkeepers Dan Connor and Mark McNulty have been given notice of their bans. Word is there are more bans to come, but the bans are being served by registered mail — and I promise I am not making this up — and the club does not know the address of multiple players who were at the press conference.

I guess when you don’t pay them, it’s less necessary to have their addresses.

The lucky thing for the players is that Ireland switched to a summer-centric schedule a few years ago, so this is their off-season. The clubs are in preseason now, and initial friendlies are just around the corner. It appears, however, that Cork City will be stripped of their League status before the next season begins. Even if the club somehow survives a ban, Coughlan will not. Coughlan recently lost a court case appealing a 12-month ban for bringing the game into disrepute. In the wake of the ruling, The League of Ireland felt strongly enough to restate its call for Coughlan to leave Cork City entirely.

Whether Coughlan takes the advice of seemingly everybody else involved in Irish football or takes the club down with him remains to be seen.