Kerr wants the focus shifted to FAI and Delaney
FORMER Irish manager Brian Kerr has added his voice to calls for Football Association of Ireland chief John Delaney and the FAI itself to face greater scrutiny after Martin O’Neill and Roy Keane’s departure.
Now that the Keane and O’Neill are out of the picture, the focus has turned to the board, with emphasis not only on the team’s poor performance, but Mr Delaney’s high salary and the lack of domestic player development. Speaking on Virgin Media News, Mr Kerr called for Mr Delaney to explain why the national team’s management were given new contracts in January after a dismal defeat by Denmark.
‘Really the spotlight should be on the board of management of the FAI, and the leader of the FAI, into why they renewed Roy and Martin’s contract in January,’ he said. ‘They [the board] haven’t been doing the job very well at all. I think the spotlight should be shone on the chief executive... into decision-making [in the camp] over the past few years.’
Furious fans have set up a Change. org petition demanding that Mr Delaney be sacked – and, as of last night, it had almost 15,000 signatures. Fans have expressed outrage at his €360,000 annual salary, and the petition notes that the winning club in the League of Ireland by comparison earns €110,000. ‘This is completely ludicrous and we demand that Irish football become a priority for development of domestic players instead of relying on English clubs to do all of the development for us,’ it says.
An opinion poll on the You Boys In Green Twitter account showed that 94% of fans want to see Mr Delaney replaced. As of last night, the FAI and Mr Delaney had not responded to requests for comment.