First off, in speaking to clubs during the week, the Tribune drew a few wry chuckles with suggestions of profit potential right now. It's a tough ask getting by on the sort of turnover the clubs are generating.

So here's a little taster of how it works.

Clubs take in anything from 20 per cent upwards of their turnover from gate receipts and let's not be beating around any bushes about the crowds going to games right now. Average attendances are down and damn poor across the board . . . even the top clubs drawing big numbers for title-showdown type games struggle when the others teams come to town.

Cork City and Derry City both came in at around the 3,000 mark while they were pushing 5,000 for the top-three clashes; Shelbourne barely got above half that, even on a title run. Of the others, Longford fell into three-figure crowds for the first time in the top division and Waterford couldn't fill a stand that holds just over a thousand people.

If we're making comparisons with other leagues, well it's not a pretty sight. Official and verified attendance figures should be made public but taking the figures estimated by the clubs, the top 14 together were averaging around the 1500 mark.

In England, that's Conference level. In Scotland it's less than division one level.

Overall it's well down the European table and when gate receipts are such an integral part of a company's finances, low gates spell trouble. Most clubs came in under their budgeted takings figure and had trouble accordingly . . . one of Shelbourne's missed revenue payments came during a prolonged period without a home game. Longford's club secretary Frank Murtagh spoke of the problems when their season was perceived to be over and the subsequent fall off in numbers; most others mentioned the unreliability of the support and the false promise a little success can bring.

Take a side who're getting the average 1500 people in every couple of weeks (do the math . . . ticket prices are 15 tops) and you're talking just over 20,000 takings, minus matchday expenses. When there are talks of wage bills for players alone going over (well over in some cases) 40,000 weekly, it's easy to see where and how quickly matters can get out of hand. It's thought to be exactly what's happened at Shelbourne, with suggestions that money has been drawn down from the sale of Tolka Park to pay expenses. As a point of interest, Cork City chairman Brian Lennox puts the club's wage budget at around 1.2m and they'd be seen as one of the more prudent spenders on salaries.

As bugbears go, wages are right up there for the clubs themselves. Many clubs feel that wage rates are disproportionate to their value. One club director explained: "As a business, too much of our turnover is going into wages. It means that we've nothing left over to put into improving the club itself, be it the stadium or the facilities or whatever else that's needed." A couple expressed worries about paying salaries now that gate receipts won't be coming in for a few months. More than one club relied on directors dipping into their own pockets or the contribution of fans to keep things ticking over throughout the season. More than one club are still heavily reliant on fundraising, lotto draws and such like.

Thing is, other income streams aren't exactly overflowing either. TV money basically works out at 5,000 every time you host a game while in other leagues, broadcasting revenue represents a fair block of the cash coming in. Just as a comparison again, the new Setanta deal in Scotland nets PremierLeague clubs about £1.1m a year each while Brian Lennox reckons Cork City got about 80,000 last season. In Norway, a country of 4.5m people, a deal worth 127m over four seasons was announced last year for domestic football - this isn't meant as a criticism of the Irish TV deal by the way, just as a marker for what we're competing against.

Sponsorship and advertising haven't been grasped with both arms by clubs but they're at least extending hands to the idea of it. More and more packages are being offered to sponsor match balls, jerseys, individual players and corporate tickets. Almost every club talks about the kind of kick this extra investment would bring. They mention, to a club, the effort needed to make the domestic soccer experience more of an occasion that's enjoyable rather than a chore, about the need to attract businesses by improving facilities.

And just so it's not all doom and gloom, clubs are copping on, there's good work being done and baby steps being taken.

A few examples. Galway Utd have gone about their business with a five-year plan, a committee for just about every aspect of the club you could think of, financial expertise at every turn, all glued together by general manager Nick Leeson. And it's all working like clockwork.

A profit (close to six figures according to chairman Nial O'Reilly) for the year; a nice 150% increase in crowds, averaging at about 1,200 but pushing 3,000 for endof-season games with Cobh and Dundalk; and a general sense of where they're at and going. Next Wednesday all season ticket holders will be called to see if they are interested in renewing, they organise five or six massive events a year to generate serious income and they've got a Plan A (premiership . . . budget 1.1m) and a Plan B (first division . . . budget 800,000) depending on tomorrow's decision on the make-up of the new top flight.

Drogheda United are moving onto a new level with the financial backing of three directors, who've put well over 1m into the club, and the progressive thinking of real business. General manager Ophir Zardok isn't thinking of actual profit for another few years but with plans for a spanking new stadium that'll drag them towards the 4,000 mark on attendance over a couple of years (they're about 2,000 at the moment). A lot of work is done in the community and with their best year ever for selling sponsorship packages gone by, there's plenty to be excited about. Cork City have new investors in the pipeline and Brian Lennox speaks of improving the coaching structures and underage set-up, as well as the stadium. Derry City are in the planning stages of doing up the Brandywell.

And Shamrock Rovers know the score better than most about keeping your house in order, or the perils of not doing so. John Byrne, director, doesn't need hours to explain how they went about tightening the purse strings. "It's not rocket science what we've done. We take a look at how much money we've got, use fairly conservative estimates for attendances and work from there. No spending money we don't have or unrealistic targets."

It might not be sexy to talk of business plans and playing safe but there've been so many years of crisis and turmoil, it may be just time to settle down a tad. If there's anything to be learned from the Shelbourne story, it's that success can be bought, but at a price. At a natural crossroads, it's time to decide which direction is worth pursuing.