ST FRANCIS officials were last night insisting that their merger with St Patrick's Athletic does not spell the end of their famous club.

The two Eircom League clubs announced their decision to merge at a glitzy champagne reception in Citywest, hours after St Francis had formally resigned as members of the League.

The new club will be known as 'St Patrick's Athletic Football Club incorporating St Francis Football Club' and their nickname will be 'Dublin Saints'.

"Dublin needs a super club and we are now in a position to attract the sort of investment needed to be successful in Europe," said St Patrick's Athletic Managing Director, Pat Dolan.

A new crest incorporating the two clubs emblems has been designed and all teams belonging to the new club will now operate under the new name.

However, it is impossible to see those teams being known as anything other than St Patrick's Athletic, especially as the new club's first choice strip will continue to be red and white.

The new club will have access to each other's facilities which includes John Hyland Park, rated as one of the best stadiums in the Eircom League but St Francis chairman Sean Foley insisted that it would remain in the ownership of its trustees. "Nothing can happen to John Hyland Park without the consent of the trustees," said Foley. "Going back to the Leinster Senior League would have been a backward step. This merger will make us a bigger, stronger club with the best facilities in the country," added Foley.

Founded in 1958, St Francis were in the Leinster Senior League when they reached the FAI Cup Final in 1990 and joined the League of Ireland in 1996.

However, they finished bottom of the First Division last season and their application for re-election at the League's AGM in Derry last May was successful.

St Francis secretary Alan Duncan defended the merger saying: "St Francis is a well established name and our supporters will still be going to see St Francis.

"Like any merger there are probably people on both sides who feel they are going to lose something but that will not happen."

However, the decision to merge the two clubs has not gone down well with the rank and file members of St Francis and former manager Jimmy Harte accused their board of giving up the club's identity.

"They have sold the club down the river and it is an absolute disgrace what has happened. They have given up their identity," blasted Harte, who resigned as first team manager midway through last season.

The future of the 44 St Francis players who reported for pre-season training this week will be decided by St Pat's boss Dolan and his technical staff when they assess them later this month.

St Francis manager John Noonan had a brief discussion with Dolan yesterday morning but his future remains unclear at present.

Duncan will retain the seat he won on the FAI Board of Management last May when he took the seat previously held by St Patrick's Athletic secretary Phil Mooney.

The pair will have discussions in the coming days about who will fill the new club's seat on the Eircom League Management Committee.

Eircom League chairman Michael Hyland said that they had accepted St Francis' resignation but were disappointed with the timing of the decision as the First Division fixture lists had already been compiled.

He said the League were now willing to receive applications from any club interested in filling the vacancy.

The new club made their first signing yesterday when Galway United centre-half Kieran Foley finalised his move to Richmond Park.