Despite disappointing ticket sales for the inaugural Irish International Club Tournament, held at Lansdowne Road this week, the managing director of Match Master, the tournament organisers, is already talking of extending the company's contract with the FAI for the event beyond the existing three-year deal.
"We've launched it, we're up and running and now I want to see this tournament grow - we'll get next year into shape and I think we can then look to extending the contract," said Roger Broomhall, head of the London-based company that has run similar pre-season tournaments in England and Scotland over the past 10 years.
"Yes, we've got to sit down and take stock of a number of things but these last two days have been something of a learning curve - one thing I will definitely ensure is that we buy a hell of a lot of umbrellas for next year," he added, in reference to the miserable weather conditions over the two evenings.
While Broomhall confirmed that Newcastle will be invited back for next year's tournament the prospects of Celtic joining them in the four-team line-up seem remote. An overestimation of the number of Celtic fans who would travel to Dublin from Glasgow for the tournament was, the promoters believe, largely responsible for the lower than expected attendance figures. "Yes we were disappointed with the ticket sales. We're still going through figures but it was somewhere between 30 and 32,000 over the two nights - it was a good start, it's better than 22,000 isn't it," said Broomhall, who had initially hoped for a total attendance double that figure.
Newcastle United received nothing but praise from Broomhall for their contribution to the tournament. "We were delighted with them - they have been utterly and absolutely fantastic. John Hall and the directors came over to Dublin, their fans are legendary and they have a manager in Kenny Dalglish who is a natural born winner."
"They will be invited back next year and Kenny has told me that he will seriously consider it."
Broomhall says his "excellent relations" with Manchester United and Liverpool could see one or both of those clubs playing next year.
Whether or not an Irish team is involved in the tournament in the future remains to be seen. Broomhall says his company is not committed to inviting the League of Ireland champions to participate in the event and, despite Derry City's heroics against Celtic in the opening match last Tuesday night, financial considerations will determine whether any more local teams will be involved again. "It's a joint venture with the FAI but at the end of the day if it is to work and become successful there might come a time when we need to sit down and review that situation." Broomhall was able to confirm that a large section of Newcastle's squad had no complaints about their trip to Dublin. "Eight or nine of their players, who I was with last night in the hotel bar, told me it was one of the best tournaments they ever played in."
