YOU’VE GOT TO BE QUINN IT TO WIN IT
Soccer legend in fight with FAI’s blazers
‘FAI has more committees than footballs’
NIALL Quinn was on ‘The Football Show’ yesterday with Keith Andrews, who looks set to juggle TV work with his role as Republic of Ireland assistant manager.
Quinn knows his way around the Sky Sports studios where he was a pundit for several years before leaving in the summer of 2017 to pursue ‘a new business opportunity.’
Safe to say, he didn’t have the post of interim FAI deputy chief executive in mind.
These are testing times for the former Irish international who has immersed himself in the FAI to the effect he is serving on more than a dozen various steering committees.
It’s been a tricky few days for Quinn, the interim FAI CEO Gary Owens and independent FAI chair of the board, Roy Barrett.
FAI Council member Nixon Morton not only called into question the nature of their appointments in January, he also wrote to FIFA and UEFA with his grievances.
Marc MacSharry, the Fianna Fail TD for Sligo-Leitrim, supported Morton’s claims, especially on the small print in the Memorandum of Understanding agreed on January 30 as part of the government rescue package.
If that wasn’t enough, Bohemians cocked a snook at the FAI’s health and safety guidelines until forced to apologise. And yesterday, a club leaked FAI plans for the remainder of the League of Ireland season, one option of which is to scrap relegation and promotion and have a ‘mini tournament’ among those who can afford to restart in August.
As he hooked up with Andrews, Quinn might have thought of those hassle-free days on the Sky couch compared to where he is now, trying to grapple with the multi-headed FAI hydra.
On one side of the FAI pitch, we have the Executive suits who are paid to run the business; on the other, we have the unpaid Volunteers, the blazers who seek greater control over the way ‘their’ sport is run. If ever there was a game of two halves, this is it. Let’s assess the state of play.
THE SUITS
The triumvirate of Owens, Quinn and Barrett put their name to the Football in Ireland Visionary Group when Quinn made a bold move for change amid the fallout to the regime of former CEO, John Delaney. While that plan didn’t take flight, all three rose to power at the FAI inside a fortnight in the new year. Coincidence or circumstance? Probably a bit of both. Barrett was appointed FAI chairman on January 8 after a long recruitment commissioned by Sport Ireland. Owens and Quinn followed in interim roles on January 23, with Owens stating he went through ‘a very difficult recruitment process’. He said he brought in Quinn, a fellow K Club member, to ‘regain public trust with stakeholders and sponsors.’ Quinn also knew Barrett from the time A&L Goodbodys, where Barrett is managing director, backed a reunion of Jack Charlton and former Irish players at The K Club in September, 2018. If there was a sense of the old boys network about the trio, having qualified people at the helm who trusted each other was a plus as the SS FAI headed for the rocks.
Their five months in harness have been feverish. First, there was the rescue package of January 30 which saved the FAI from liquidation. Some of the terms were unpalatable but the deal mattered more. 1-0 to The Suits.
Somehow, the new team kept everyone on the payroll, although cuts were implemented, chiefly affecting the higher earners, as the effects of the coronavirus bit. The pandemic was a blow on many levels, not least the League of Ireland, whose hand-to-mouth existence was ruthlessly exposed by the lockdown.
On the international front, after the Euro 2020 play-offs were deferred beyond summer, Owens took the initiative to bring forward Stephen Kenny’s coronation while allowing Mick McCarthy a dignified exit.
The FAI hierarchy backed
Kenny to the hilt, allowing him to appoint his own backroom team from top to toe even though Robbie Keane was a high-profile casualty. 2-0 to The Suits. As Covid-19 spread, the FAI’s top brass acted quickly in closing up shop and implementing a strident health and safety programme for return. When Bohs went walkies in the parks, they were brought to heel. The message was clear: it’s the FAI’s way back or the highway. 3-0 to The Suits. Other reforms have been less impressive. Why hasn’t Brian Kerr returned to the fold after extensive dialogue with Owens? Or Packie Bonner?
Solving the League of Ireland and PFAI puzzle, is proving as taxing as any challenge, while the MoU ticks like a timebomb.
THE BLAZERS
Exactly 99 years ago this week, the Football League of the Irish Free State was founded. Its committees were filled by wellintended folk wearing blazers whose first job was to look after their own club, or parish.
Has all that much changed? In essence, no. Today, the FAI appears to have more committees than it has footballs and getting everyone to agree on anything is almost impossible.
Then there is the FAI Council, the watchdog for the football side of the FAI house. During the 15-year Delaney reign, there was barely a peep from the Council. It was mostly about trips, tickets and rounds of applause for Teflon John at the AGM.
But now, they’re firing off letters to FIFA and UEFA because their existence is threatened by the terms of the rescue package which says all 10-year Council vets, including FAI president Gerry McAnaney, must stand down next month rather than 2022 as agreed last July.
One of those stalwarts facing the end of his term, John O’Regan, took aim at The Suits and Minister Shane Ross this week. ‘The GAA wouldn’t get away with being run by people without knowledge of the sport. That’s why they are so strong in the community and I’d fear for soccer if we went away from that.
‘I am elected annually to council, yet we have a minister (Ross) who was voted out by his constituency in the last election casting football people aside.’
Morton played an emotive card when he warned Irish football could lose its sovereignty should independent directors outside football have the final say on the board.
O’Regan, Morton and others are not alone in their angst towards the new FAI Executive. Suits 3 Blazers 1.
Another headache for the hierarchy is the National League Executive Committee. Its members represent Premier Division clubs, First Division Clubs, League Managers, club chairmen and the PFAI, all fighting for their corner.
In these difficult times, the FAI top brass has struggled to get a handle on the nuances of the League of Ireland.
The Suits want the clubs to resume, ideally in mid-August, but some clubs won’t play ball behind closed doors, unless they’re compensated for loss of earnings. Only the FAI don’t have the cash to pay for the costs of clean stadiums, streaming facilities, insurance, transport, officials, Covid-19 testing and more, to complete the season.
The stand-off has led to meeting after meeting, leak after leak. Around Europe, most other leagues have plans to resume but the League of Ireland is in limbo. Suits 3 Blazers 2.
Both sides could do with a result at Thursday’s crucial league summit.