A battle to save all the jobs at sports chain Elverys via a management buyout is underway after a previous attempt fell through.
One of Ireland's best known brands, sports retailer Elverys, is currently in examinership. The official retailer for the IRFU and the GAA, as well as the sponsor of the Mayo GAA team, Elverys is deeply associated with Irish sport.
In a bid to keep the brand on our streets the management, led by CEO Patrick Rowland, had tabled a management buyout of the chain but that bid fell through after Mike Ashley's Sports Direct expressed an interest.
The company, which is still trading, remains in examinership and the employees have launched a campaign to get their buyout attempt back on the table.
Called SOS Elverys 700, the campaign is supporting the Elverys management bid, they have committed to save all 700 jobs in the chain, hence the name. As it stands they have 10,000 fans on their
Facebook page, over
800 Twitter followers and over
1,000 online signatures and thousands more signatures in-store backing the campaign. Irish rugby player Fergus McFadden is just one of those to sign (see below).
Galway County Council have also urged the Government to intervene and push the management bid ahead of Sports Direct's who have promised to 25 per cent more than the management, something which NAMA, the company's largest creditor, may prefer.
The campaigners feel that NAMA should take into account other factors like job retention, and not just sell to the highest bidder.
In a statement released yesterday, Elverys said: "We are the employees of Elverys Sports, Ireland’s oldest Sports retailer, which is in existence since 1847. We are very proud to work for a fully Irish-owned company with such a great heritage. We appeal wholeheartedly to the Examiner, Mr. Coyle, who has our jobs and our livelihood in his hands, to make the correct decision and ensure that all 700 of our jobs are safe for the months and years ahead. We trust the current Management Team and believe them when they say they are committed to maintaining jobs and our desire is to continue working under the direction of these people. We encourage you to support our campaign to Save Our Jobs."
