Coleraine owners discuss prospect of All-Ireland Cup with NIFL chiefs as Bannsiders CEO asks for fans to 'come along with the journey' into full-time football

A cross-border competition was last played in 2019 when Dundalk beat Linfield in the Champions Cup, with the tournament then postponed the following year due to COVID and it hasn't been played since.

However, Coleraine owners Ranald McGregor-Smith and Patrick Mitchell – who bought the club in February – said conversations about the resurrection of a tournament across the island of Ireland was a talking point with NIFL this week, as well as playing matches on a Sunday and the Coleraine Showgrounds obtaining money from the Northern Ireland Football Fund.

"We are really pleased and on a wider level we had a good chat with Gerard Lawlor at NIFL and we talked about a number of things such as an All-Ireland Cup, the possibility of some summer games and the possibility down the track of summer football," said Mitchell, as the pair provided an update 100 days into their ownership of the Bannsiders.

Coleraine's owners and CEO have provided an update on progress made since the club's takeover in February

"I think it's a really exciting time for football in Northern Ireland given that if the clubs get together, there could be positive changes leading to bigger crowds, greater enthusiasm and capturing a lot of the tourist market.

"You have probably all seen the recent announcements about the possibility of funding in the local government financial year for football stadia in the province.

"We are one of the clubs which will be making an application for funding and the best foot will be put forward."

A total of 17 players have departed the Bannsiders in the summer - including long-serving Stephen O'Donnell, Josh Carson and Marty Gallagher - as they start full-time training this afternoon.

Coleraine CEO Simon Magee says that a combination of data and players' jobs outside of football were a factor in those decisions.

He remarked: "Every decision has its own personality in the sense that every player had a position and we had our own position on every player.

"It's not as if every player over 30-years-old was going on the transfer list and we're done. There were conversations about what a player does for a job, there's a financial conversation around that, our value of that and the process of going forward.

"There's probably some data behind it and we will put Dean Shiels and Oran Kearney up for more of those conversations because it's them who are making the ultimate decisions in terms of players coming in and out.

"The players had to go away and think about what their future looked like. For some of the guys it was really easy and for others it has been difficult."

Coleraine's four signings so far are players aged in their early 20's and Magee says patience may be needed before the Bannsiders challenge for the Gibson Cup title.

"I think the message overall is that we've made a lot of changes but come with us on the journey, it's a new chapter. In some ways, everything has changed, we're all fans, we wanted change last season and now we're having change – but change takes time,” Magee continued.

“We're signing players that are gonna be new to the league, we've signing young development players and we're gonna sign a mix of some experience.

“Give it a bit of time as we are taking a step that we believe will have us in a better position in two or three years' time.

“We have signed experience in the likes of Matthew Shevlin, Jamie Glackin, Dean Jarvis, Lyndon Kane.

"We have signed two young defenders that Graham Kelly will probably play in beside.

“We are not just signing players aged 21 and below in the same way as we're not releasing all players over the age of 30...I think you'll see the evolution of the squad.

"The whole process builds towards something bigger in the sense that we don't expect to go and win a league title in the first season.”

Mitchell added on expectations: “The fans' survey, I can't remember all the details but a large number of fans responded to it in quite detail and the results were, I'd say, encouraging and gratifying.

“There was lots of optimism and lots of positives but tempered with sensible realism so it wasn't 'lets win the treble next season.'

"Nobody was saying that but people realise the foundations are being built and we'll take it forward with ambition and enthusiasm.

The owners also confirmed that another investor has recently come on board and has pledged funds to help Coleraine’s efforts both on and off the pitch.

“One of our other investors is a big Spurs fan so he's used to heartbreak and so he understands,” Mitchell confirmed.

“He's a former work colleague of ours but he's got no connection to this part of the world.

“I think it's really nice that a chap who was a successful stockbroker in London with one of the big banks was prepared to part with his own money and invest in a club that he had never visited before.

“He has been over – before we made the investment and he’s taking a punt because he likes the narrative and the fact that Coleraine is a community club.”

McGregor Smith continued with the importance of the project making money: “We always said it has to be sustainable, there isn't like an unlimited pit of money.

“What we said is every aspect of where we can make money we've got to look at that.

“So we've got to look at the sponsors, right across the board. Everything, from back of the shorts to front of the shirts to the arena – there's money that we're missing out on.”