Derry City Football Club is a professional club based in Northern Ireland. Despite being based in the north of Ireland, City play their football in the Republic of Ireland’s top tier, the League of Ireland Premier Division. In fact, they are the only club from the north that plays in the top level of the beautiful game in the Republic of Ireland.
The history of Derry City
Derry City was founded in 1928, and they first appeared in the Irish League, the top tier of football in Northern Ireland. Derry won the Irish League title in season 1964/65.
Due to the country’s troubles in 1971, Derry had to move from their traditional home of the Brandywell Stadium to Coleraine, which is 30 miles away. However, they were told they could return to their home city the following year.
The Irish League’s insistence on maintaining the unsustainable arrangement led to the club ultimately withdrawing from the league.
The club then played for 13 years in the junior league, but in season 1985/86, Derry joined the newly found League of Ireland’s First Division. It didn’t take City long to be successful in the Ireland second tier, as in 1987, they won the First Division title and earned promotion to the Premier Division.
Even more success came Derry’s way in season 1888/89, as they finished as champions of the Premier Division for the first time. They won their second Irish top-flight title in season 1996/97. They have also finished as runners-up in Ireland’s top tier on three occasions.
Derry’s time in the Irish top flight has not always been plain sailing, though, as in November 2009, City was expelled from the top flight due to financial issues relating to unofficial players’ contracts.
The cup competitions brought Derry more success, though, as Derry have won the FAI Cup five times in 1995, 2002, 2006, 2012, and 2022. They have also been beaten finalists in the competition on four occasions in 1994, 1997, 2008, and 2014. City have also won the Irish League Cup ten times.
A potential financial boost for the club’s stadium
Although honours have been in relatively short supply of late, Derry could well be in for a big financial boost when it comes to their historic Brandywell Stadium, now known as the Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium.
Apart from the period mentioned earlier, due to the troubles, Derry has played at the ground for their whole history. The ground needs improvement, and the club’s Chief Executive, Sean Barrett, believes that the club could be set for a share of a £36.2 million NI Football Fund programme.
Reportedly, the club could be in line for one of three categories of grant projects. A total cost of up to £1.5m, up to £6m and, finally, more than £6m.
Barrett believes that the club should receive the maximum grant figure, which will be put towards finishing the second phase of the Mark Farren Stand and improving the floodlights at the Brandywell.
The grant will help with those projects, although completing the ongoing construction work at the stadium is likely to cost closer to £10m.
Barrett seemed to have mixed emotions about the grant. Talking to the Derry Journal about the financial boost, he said, “The disappointing thing is that the money hasn’t gone up,”
“It’s the same money as it was in 2011. The plus side is all the main points that need to be met for the funding, we have met all the criteria.
“There’s three tranches. There’s under £1 million, and we’re going for the biggest one, which is the over £6 million project because we want to complete the stand and upgrade the floodlights. All that needs to be done.”
Although the club plays its games at the Brandywell Stadium, the local council owns the ground. The council has told city that the club needs to come up with 40 per cent of the money required to complete the improvements on the ground.
Barrett is confident that the club will find the financial backing needed through a £6m grant, which will give the club the money they need to finish the new stand. A decision on the grant is expected to be announced in the middle of March.
Completion of the new stand would be a big step forward for the club as they look to return to the status of a club that would like to take the next step to once again become champions of the League of Ireland Premier Division.
The club have come so close to the in recent seasons, finishing as runners-up in the Irish top-flight in two consecutive seasons. The new stand could play a part in Derry ending more than a quarter of a century of waiting for the title.
