Premier preparations ongoing for City FC Premier preparations ongoing for City FC

With time ticking down to Cork City FC’s return to Premier Division soccer in a fortnight’s time, the side is plotting a steady course. There’s an air of good-humoured calm, combined with a cat-like awareness of the pitfalls of excessive enthusiasm, that’s almost graceful to behold.

Whatever Cork City FC’s ‘x-factor’ is, it’s impressive, especially given the pressures the club is perceived to be under in filling the gap left by golden boy striker, Graham Cummins, after his recent departure to Preston North End.

There are no signs of panic. On Wednesday outside the Clarion Hotel, even a featherlight sprinkle of drizzle during the unveiling of City’s new strip (emblazoned with the crest of its sponsor, Clonakilty Blackpudding) could not dampen the feelgood factor.

This was a day for acknowledgement of the sponsor. During a brief chat with City manager Tommy Dunne, the air in the hotel’s conference room was scented with the hearty tang from the sponsor’s world famous foodstuffs, cooked for a breakfast for those who attended the photocall.

Not that the West Cork company required any subliminal marketing with Tommy Dunne doing the talking: “I think this sponsorship deal is brilliant. We are delighted Clonakilty Blackpudding has come on board. It’s a local and successful business, and the association is very good for Cork City.”

Tommy said the association, which will see the Cork company have its distinctive logo displayed on the club’s new home and away strips, underlines the scale of the journey that the club has made since the dark days of 2008-2010. Just two short years ago, the club was mired in legal and financial difficulties and liquidation, before its rescue by supporters’ trust, Friends Of the Rebel Army Society (FORAS), and its triumphant return to the Premier Division by becoming First Division League champions last autumn.

At the launch of the new Cork City FC strips this week, Clonakilty Blackpudding MD Colette Twomey said that her company had been attracted to Cork City FC as it was “a people’s club”.

“That’s absolutely right,” Tommy. “When you think of where we’ve come from; everybody knows the club is in a position where it can never be put into harm’s way by any one individual. We want to be a community club, and that’s the way it is. We’re there for the people.”