Just before his shocking and unexpected passing on June 25, Tommie Gorman delivered a detailed proposal to the Government for a multi-sport stadium in Sligo. Tommy Higgins, a lifelong friend and current chairman of Sligo Rovers who also worked on the plan for the stadium, led a guard of honour at the funeral cortège in Sligo town.

Higgins and Gorman shared a childhood in Sligo, a town they loved and never left, although each had high-profile international careers that segued neatly with visionary ambitions for their hometown. Higgins enjoyed enormous success as a director of Ticketmaster, the world’s leading ticket sales company in entertainment and sport, based in Los Angeles – although his family home has always been in Sligo.

When he became an extraordinarily successful journalist based in Europe or Dublin and travelling the world, Tommie Gorman went home to his family in Sligo every weekend it was feasible.

Tommy and Tommie worked with their development team, creating a proposal to persuade the Government to build a multi-sport stadium that would have a spectacular opening in 2028 to commemorate the centenary of Sligo Rovers. It is a vertiginously ambitious proposition.

If it gets the go-ahead, the Sligo showgrounds will have a capacity of 6,200 covered seats in a stadium with a new grass-hybrid pitch to accommodate other sports and activities. There will also be a gymnasium, a club merchandising shop, meeting rooms and a museum dedicated to Sligo Rovers. It will also be a hub for media, a salute to Tommie Gorman’s history as a communicator.

The grand vision to build the finest sports stadium outside of Dublin will come with an equally impressive invoice: €26.1 million. The club has already applied for €18.3 million from the Large Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund. As the country’s leading regional sports centre, Sligo would welcome League of Ireland clubs who choose to play European games outside of Dublin. There will be a sports academy, facilities for youth and women’s teams and other disciplines such as rugby will be invited to the showgrounds.

Tommie Gorman inspired the recent visit to Sligo of the Taoiseach Simon Harris and then showed him the Showgrounds’ masterplan. He also delivered Tánaiste Micheál Martin, finance minister Jack Chambers and ministers Catherine Martin and Heather Humphreys to examine the plans for the sports stadium when they visited Sligo.

In this podcast, Higgins spoke about his friend and sporting soulmate Tommie Gorman.