We don’t often have any stories about football in Northern Ireland. Glentoran is one of the best known teams there, even more so when Matty Burrows was recently up for the FIFA Goal of the Year award. He didn’t get it, but his amazing back flick was widely viewed on the internet. Moreover, it wasn’t a fluke, as he showed in a demonstration session.
We don’t often have any stories about football in Northern Ireland. Glentoran is one of the best known teams there, even more so when Matty Burrows was recently up for the FIFA Goal of the Year award. He didn’t get it, but his amazing back flick was widely viewed on the internet. Moreover, it wasn’t a fluke, as he showed in a demonstration session.
Glentoran recently faced a crisis all too familar in modern football. They owed £300,000 to the Inland Revenue. Through the help of the First Minister Peter Robinson, a Glentoran fan, an anonymous benefactor paid most of the debt off with a big donation. Fans also raised thousands of pounds.
Average gates are around 1,400 which is about the level of the Conference in England. It doesn’t provide a lot of income to sustain a team. But having pulled back from the brink of extinction, they are now reviving plans for a new stadium.