RSS
Twitter
Facebook
YouTube
On Saturday, a large, successful World Cup 2010 event was held at Claddagh Irish Pub in the Brewery District where an estimated 2500-3000 people showed up. The doors opened early, a large outdoor viewing area was erected and an extra beer truck was parked outside to accommodate the larger-than-expected crowd.
According to Patrick Guldan, author of “An American Game” soccer blog, this event has resulted in the exodus of well-liked Claddagh General Manager Craig McConville after public beratement by corporate management. To read Patrick’s full blog post about the event, click here: “Claddagh: Ruining a Good Thing (As We Know It)“.
Update (June 15th) – Part II: The Grisly Details.
Absolutely unbelievable. Surely this is some piss poor joke.
I was there with a group of people on saturday to watch the game. I thought the setup in the grass area was great. The downfall was that they could have had two beer trucks which would have help out a lot due to the lines being extremely long. They could have had two ticket booths and the sound for the outside speakers for the jumbo screen could have been louder.
Overall, i had a blast there. With the Krogers being right there, myself and a few other people came up with the smart ideal to walk to Krogers to use the restroom instead of waiting in the restroom line at the bar which…after drinking a few cold ones…was great to walk right into the restroom….lol.
thats crazy to hear about the staff problems. i hope all of that works out.
You can see pictures from the amazing event here:
http://massivereport.com/category/image-galleries/06122010-usa-vs-england
I was there for the first half and was very impressed by the size of the crowd, and the patience it had with an overwhelmed (but working hard) staff. It’s puzzling to think that the corporate overlords of Claddagh had problems with the event being too successful. It’s easy to point fingers at a manager who expected a lower than 2,500 turnout, but to do nothing but berate him publicly is a joke.
The crowd handled the event with all of the professionalism Claddagh’s upper level management could not.
I wish nothing but the best for Craig and his staff who exited after finding out he was out as manager. They made that bar a place where soccer fans, and non-soccer fans, could go and feel welcome.
drove by early that day onmy way to set up FLight CLub. Looked like one hell of a group of people to get to any bar in Columbus and freekin shame on any CM that has an issue with too many people showing up. As an event organizer the you really never know what will happena nd who will show up. Thus the worst situation is nobody shows up and someone is left to pay for said beer truck. Sucks it had to go down the way that it did, but kudos to the staff for walking out on what is obviously a ignorant CM
It makes no sense to me, but I think this is something that has been building for some time. I think Craig was swimming against the current at times and corporate probably though just calling yourself a soccer bar would bring in the fans.
They get to test their theory now.
I am just starting to get into soccer and had planned to spend some time at Claddagh in the near future. Looks like Fado will get my business now.
I have the utmost sympathy for Craig and the staff. As someone who is still new in management in the bar business, and someone who just dealt with the huge crowds of crawl, I know what it’s like if you have a super-sized crowd and things can seem unmanagable. What’s unfortunate though is that due to a big crowd, and big business, Craig and his staff had to fall victim to their own success. To me, it’s not right, and certainly not the way I’d hope to handle things.
If locals are looking for a place to watch the big afternoon games for the World Cup, they can always feel free to come into Taj Bar for our specials and what not. Still, as a colleague, the staff that walked out of Claddagh, and Craig in particular, have my sympathies. If Craig reads this, or if anyone on here knows him. I’ll buy him and his staff a round on me!
I really have to wonder what the corporate management’s side of the story is here. “Bad preparation” because the local manager thought he would get “only” 1000 people? Seriously?! What if he’d shelled out for two more beer trucks and gotten only 1000 people?
If more beer trucks had been available, Craig would have gotten them. One was all he could get, and that’s all there was to it.
The amount of planning, preparation, work, sweat, anxiety, and love Craig put into the event on Saturday was astounding. Just in terms of getting permission from Claddagh’s landlord and neighbors he went above and beyond. He deserved (and deserves) every possible accolade management and patrons could give him. The patrons held up their end of that bargain, but management did not. That 100% of the staff who’ve worked there longer than a couple of months walked out in solidarity shows how committed everyone at Claddagh Columbus has been with Craig’s vision of creating a place for us soccer lovers to call a second home. I know most of the regulars, myself included, will not be going back.
I’m hopeful the situation can be rectified because this was the perfect situation and I say that from my individual perspective and that of one of the leaders of Crew Supporter’s Union. I’ve been getting questions about what CSU is planning to do now and I can honestly tell you I don’t know right now. We’re considering all our options, but also playing a bit of wait and see. With no away Crew game’s till July 10 (four weeks away) we have some flexibility.
All that being said, Craig and the rest of the staff have our full support. They consistently went above and beyond and that shined through during the great viewing party thrown on Saturday.
John Clem
Crew Supporter’s Union President
Looks like the group of us and many from out of town will go spend our hard earned money at a bar that has some respect for their staff.
Bring back those who walked out and fire the higher up! His actions are going to cost this location much more then a slow beer line due to a ton of good business brought in.
Having worked in restaurants for so long, I have worked a few jobs which where the management or ownership was so bad we discussed mass walkouts. I have the utmost respect for this manager and his staff; it takes a huge amount of guts and I’m glad to see people standing up for themselves and not taking constant abuse for a change.
Craig. Now there’s a guy who touched some lives in this town.
This was one of my favorite pubs to hang out until Craig’s exodus. I’m saddened as much as I am stunned.
If you feel as outraged as I do, please contact upper management to note your displeasure:
CDG ACQUISITION – head office
29500 Aurora Road
Suite 10
Solon, Ohio 44139
Phone (440)349-6400
Fax (440)349-1876
I assume, Walker, that you meant to write “larger-than-normal” crowd instead of “larger-than-expected” crowd. The extra beer truck was there to accommodate the “expected” crowd of 1,000 people (rather than the larger-than-expected crowd of nearly 3,000).
I was there on Saturday and, yes, there were some issues, but none so grievous as to sack a manager who has consistently gone above and beyond the call of duty to provide great service and atmosphere for his patrons. Given that it was a first-time (huge) outside event for the pub, things went rather smoothly and I’m sure any obvious problems would have been dealt with by Craig and his staff before any future events took place.
I have the utmost respect for Craig and his staff and wish them the best of luck wherever they end up. And wherever they end up, is where I’ll end up spending my money during the EPL and MLS seasons and future national team events. I hope all those who say they will not go back to Claddagh will stick to their guns once the turmoil and their anger subsides. I also hope they support Craig and his staff in their future endeavors. Money speaks louder than words.
Never really heard much about them before now.
Way to make headlines.
More of the story:
http://anamericangame.wordpress.com/2010/06/14/the-grisly-details/
We were at Claddagh after GO WEST, the place was DEAD. I thought it was bc of the early game, but our friend who we met there, a former employee informed us of this the day after. Hence, the lack of a crowd.
from the last link posted from An American Game: “The corporate line is that every event will go on as scheduled and within 6 months everything will be back to normal. I find that impossible to believe”
There is no way. By saying they have no interest in bringing any of the managers back they’ve just condemned the place. All the scarves will be off the walls by the end of the world cup and Crew Union will be pushing a new viewing party location so hard for Crew games they’ll be lucky to get 10 people.