'Come on the journey with us' - Treaty United Managing Director Ian McMahon

2025 was a positive year for Treaty United with both the men's and women's teams having seasons to remember and build on.

Tommy Barrett's side reached the First Division Play-Off Final but were beaten in agonising fashion by Bray Wanderers in Athone, a Justin Ferizaj 90th overhead kick breaking Treaty hearts in Athlone.

READ MORE: WATCH: 'There's absolutely no bitterness on my part' - Seamus Flanagan on Limerick exit

The senior women's side accumulated their highest ever points total in a single season as well as reaching an FAI Cup semi-final where they were beaten by Bohemians.

There has been change both on and off the pitch over the winter months, with both sides having incomings and outgoings aplenty, as well as Clare native Laurie Ryan being appointed manager of the women's side.

Matters off the pitch have seen changes, perhaps the most significant being the appointment of Ian McMahon as Managing Director, taking over from Ciara McCormack, who parted ways with the club late last year.

McMahon joins the club with more than thirty years of international senior leadership experience in football, rugby, equestrian sport and multi-sport organisations.

McMahon's career includes senior roles at Doncaster Rovers, Hull City, the American Youth Soccer Organisation, Hong Kong Rugby Football Union and the Professional Jockeys Association. Ian also played professional football for Oldham Athletic and Rochdale AFC.

The 61-year-old recounts how the opportunity with Treaty United came about.

"I can't remember how my name got put forward in the first place but I've been looking for the right opportunity to come along, I've been approached for various projects and didn't want to take some of them on because they were places where I just didn't want to go but with this project, my family are from Ireland so that appealed to me in that way.

"Doing my due diligence on Tri-Cor and then just digging deep into Limerick and its footballing history, which has had a checkered past and when you mix those things together, paired with the fact that I was looking for the right opportunity to come up, when I put it all together, with my skillset and my passion for football, I thought I could make a difference.

"Particularly where the club is at this moment in time. I've got a vision for where I think it can go and that tied in with the owners. I've seen it enough with clubs where owners come in for three years, leave the club in a mess and then dip out whereas that's not what Tri-Cor do, it's the right club, with the right owners in the right location, it was just too big a chance to pass up."

McMahon has on the field footballing experience, having played professionally at both Oldham Athletic and Rochdale before injury forced the Somerset native into retirement at 21, where he decided to take up a career behind the scenes. 

"I became a professional footballer at 15/16 years of age, I've got a unique background in terms of playing in an academy system, played professionally, being in boardrooms and part of the reason why I moved abroad was to test myself but also see how other sports do it in other cultures.

"Take a baseball team in America, you can learn a lot from them about what they do in the community, how they run a business but also having been a coach and having had my own academy, I think I have a skill-set that not many people have.

"I'm not here to get involved in any coaching capacity, mine is more the business side but I think the fact that I've got that and having been around that, gives a level of comfort that when I talk to Tommy, we can discuss certain topics that others aren't capable of.

"I did coaching like I said, I had my own academy at one stage but I've always been geared towards the business model and the marketing side of things, turnaround, those kind of things, they became my area of expertise and the coaching, it's not something that I'm passionate enough about to want to do it in the rain on a daily basis whereas this side is something I'm passionate about.

"Working with young people, I still get the benefit of that by working in community projects and things like that so I think I get the best of both worlds."

McMahon admits there is work to do both on and off the pitch, stating that 'you've got to roll your sleeves up' at a club like Treaty United.

"Every CEO will talk about the potential but when you think about the size of the city, the club hasn't had an Irish international for over 50 years on the men's side and you look at that and think there is a gap there and that there is work to be done.

"Just looking at Markets Field as well, there's a lot to do and I like the fact that it's not this slick operation that you're coming into, you've got to roll your sleeves up and anything you do here is going to get noticed in terms of locally, regionally and internationally and when you think of the size of Limerick, it should have a soccer club that has an environment that is one of the best, if not the best in Ireland. There's no reason it can't be and I see that as more of an opportunity than a hinderance."

McMahon states he is 'here to listen'  and underlines the importance of the local community and how vital that relationship is between community and club.

"I'm here to listen, I don't want it to come across like I'm a guy who knows everything and everyone has to follow me. The identity of the club comes from here, it comes from Limerick and its people.

"It doesn't come from a guy sat behind a desk and if I just sit behind me desk, that's no way to run a football club. I'm passionate about developing young players and I'm passionate about being part of the community because if you're not, then you're taking but you're not giving anything back.

"I love Limerick, it's a sporty city and that's the thing you pick up straight away and the people are great and I'm really, genuinely enjoying it. The people of Limerick want soccer to be successful in the area.

"I'm a massive rugby fan, so I'll be going watching the rugby and the GAA and I think it's one of those things where if Treaty start doing well, people who just enjoy sport will become part of the journey and I like that, that there's the opportunity for that to happen."

"I think there are opportunities for businesses as well, businesses haven't really gotten behind the club and that could've been down to them not being approached in the right way or where we've not put ourselves in a position to do that so becoming part of the community is a big part of it.

"That's where we've got to go with this. The more we become part of the community, the more people will feel they are part of it and it's been a total joy so far.

McMahon stresses that the football club 'belongs to the people of Limerick' and would like to imagine a future where soccer can compete with rugby and GAA within the county.

"We want to be better than we are now and the best version of us and can we compete with rugby and the GAA in terms of numbers?

"It's highly unlikely but there are thousands of kids that play football and what we want to do is tap into that and when people talk about sport in Limerick, we want Treaty to be part of that as opposed to now where we are a little bit behind to some extent. 

"Ultimately, Treaty belongs to the people of Limerick and we've got to do is tap into that and to make sure that the club reflects the pride of Limerick and its people.

Treaty's Managing Director says that a strategy will be published in the near future which will give the Treaty faithful an idea as to where McMahon and co. want to take the club over the coming seasons. 

"I've been here for a couple of months and it feels longer just because of the work we're doing. The aim is to move that dial now and to come up with a strategy which will be published for people to follow.

"Now it's not going to say that we're going to win the league and things like that but it will give people an idea of the direction of travel because ultimately we've got to follow a plan and that on the field, off the field, the academy and things in the community.

"So there's a lot to do, there are things that aren't in place that we've got to put in place and we've got to put them in place quickly so that's what we're urgently doing

"We're also working on what we can do this year without trying to do too many thing too quickly.

"Ultimately that becomes a challenge and what we want to do is do things at the right pace and people may wonder why we're not doing things a little faster but I think infrastructure wise, we don't have the infrastructure that we need to do some of the next steps and that's what we're working on. Hiring new people, hiring the right people and so as they come on board, other things can take place.

McMahon says the fan experience on match days is something that the club are working hard on behind the scenes to improve as the new season approaches, stating that the fan experience is 'everything.'

"It's everything, it has to be and that's where my experience lies having come from different cultures and sports, when you want to go to a game, we're in competition with other sports, we're in competition with people going to the pub, people staying in and watching a movie, going to theatre, whatever it may be.

"If we don't make it an enjoyable experience for people, there are other alternatives that people can take up and the fan experience comes from the first time you interact with anybody at the club, if that's a website where you buy your ticket, how easy is that process and when you get to the stadium, what is that experience like, getting through the turnstiles, getting a drink.

"You don't want to be stood there in a line, spending 20 euros on a bad coffee and a bad burger. So it's all about what we can do to make that experience better and that's all not going to happen on matchday one but we want it to be is a really good, fun experience for everybody and if we win, even better. 

"We cant wrap everything around us winning every single game and that's where we've got to get a bit more clever and do it a bit differently to how other clubs do it. We want to make it such a good experience, that those people will talk about it to their friends and that it may entice people to come down and all those touch points are all part of that experience.

"A good club is when you don't actually notice anything and you just enjoy the game and then you leave and that's what we want to do. That comes down to finding ways of working with partners and the city and the mayor and everybody else to make Markets Field better than it is today because it needs work.

There is also a big emphasis being put on the culture at the club according to McMahon as well as an emphasis on shrewd recruitment under his guidance.

"We want to create a culture, a culture through the club in itself, culture in the academy, culture in the type of players we get, the type of players we want and the type of players we want to be part of the club. We can't throw the money around that some of the clubs are throwing around.

"I've seen it and it never ends well so we've got to be a little bit more creative. We're happy for a player to come in young and hungry and then go onto a bigger club in another country where we sell them on and we'd like to be known as that club.

"For us, age is a number and if you're good enough, you'll play and we definitely want the young, hungry player who wants to prove themselves

"The dream would be to have a starting 11 full of Limerick-based players but just from the experience and looking at the history, it's not there yet. 

"Half the squad is from the area which is great but the league is getting harder and harder and the quality is rising, so yes, the dream is to have 11 Limerick players in the starting line-up but we've also got to be realistic.

"We don't want any player in Limerick going elsewhere if they are the right fit for us and that's where we're going to work hard on the academy and the development of players that will play as big a part as anything in the club. 

McMahon says he is excited by the potential that both senior teams posses, where both sides will be hoping to build on what was a positive 2025.

"I'm really excited by our women's team this year. I think they have a real shot and as well as you think you've recruited, other teams have recruited really well too but if you look at the team, the likes of Katie Lawlee and Madison McGuane, we've got numerous Irish underage internationals.

"All of these players are in the first team squad do that team will only get stronger and stronger and like I said, I think they have a real shot of making a name for themselves this year. 

"On the men's side, it's hard. You need luck with injury, the form of players. I think Tommy has always pushed above his weight and I think it's going to be the same this year.

"Cork City have just been relegated and they're full time, Kerry are spending, Athlone are spending, Bray are spending, there are clubs that are spending some serious money out there and it isn't that we're not but you've got to make sure that your budget matches what you want and what you're trying to do.

"The aim is obviously to win the league but realistically, we've got to say that we want to be competitive in every game and let's see where that takes us.

"Of course we're only here to win the league but only one team can win it and there are clubs spending three or four times the budget that we have and people may ask us why aren't we spending more but that's not a sustainable football club. Having watched both teams play, I'm very excited about what they can do this season, again I think our women's team will shock a few.

"A lot of it is down to luck, luck with injuries, form, a wrong decision, a post, there are so many things that make a season and when you look back after losing a game, you can think that you didn't do much wrong really and it can just be a bounce of a ball but over the course of the season, the best team wins the league.

"With young kids and young players coming through, that's great but your depth of squad, that's where the bigger budgets have a deeper squad. You can see that in the Premier League with Man City over the years. Their deep squad is what kept winning them the league.

"So with us, we're aware of that and we'll adjust as we go but you do need a little bit of luck but at the same time you try to take the element of luck away. As long as we're competitive in every game and we're in it, that's a start.

McMahon admits that the challenge and opportunity of Treaty United is one that he is 'up for' and where ultimately he and those involved at Treaty want a club that 'people can be proud of.' 

"I think it's a challenge but I think it's a good challenge and one I am up for, but for us, the more we integrate with the people of Limerick, the more it makes that ride enjoyable because you want to do it together. We've already hired people to go into the community, we want to embrace it and the excitement comes from seeing people's faces.

"What we want ultimately is a club that people can be proud of. A club that people have heard about and a club that they can be proud of and when they come down for a match they can see that the players are giving one-hundred percent.

"We won't get it right every time but it's going to be a journey, there's going to be peaks and troughs but come on the journey with us and give us a go and help us.

"It's a two-way street, we have to make it a place that people want to be part of but we can't do it without them. We want to be a mid-west club that people can be proud of," McMahon said.