QUINN’S FAI FUTURE NOW IN DOUBT
NIALL QUINN’S future as interim deputy CEO of FAI is under growing scrutiny. After interim CEO Gary Owen signalled his intention yesterday to shortly return ‘to the business world’, Quinn finds himself without his Visionary Group colleague, and fellow K Club member, for support inside Abbotstown. The former Irish international, who is out of contract at the FAI, was unusually strident in defence of the FAI chairman Roy Barrett on Virgin Media Sport on Thursday night. Quinn was asked about the appointment of Barrett as independent FAI chairman, in light of the revelation that Patrick Kennedy, governor of the Bank of Ireland, had recommended Barrett for the post. Quinn said any scrutiny of Barrett’s nomination was ‘the last cry from the naysayers’ and ridiculed claims Barrett had any conflict of interest as he negotiated a bailout deal on behalf of the FAI with Kennedy’s bank colleagues. ‘When people make noise like that and try, we can get carried away sometimes with headlines. It’s nonsense in my opinion,’ said Quinn. ‘In terms of Roy’s selection, the negotiations between the Department of Sport, Sport Ireland, the banks, UEFA, it made zero difference. To even suggest that he was conflicted was wrong,’ said Quinn. ‘He went and got as great a deal as we could possibly get,’ he added. For some observers, Quinn was being critical, not just of the media watchdogs, but also the elected FAI delegates to whom Barrett explained his position, and the Kennedy link, at Monday’s EGM where the terms of the FAI bailout were passed. Perhaps Quinn went on the front foot knowing his time was almost up. The FAI won’t be appointing an insider as its next permanent chief executive after Owens’ decision to walk away from the recruitment process. Owens, who has held the post of interim CEO since January, informed Barrett on Wednesday he would be leaving once the position was filled. At 61, he said he is ‘looking forward to reverting to my original plans in the business world’. With business and sporting interests outside the FAI, Owens has walked voluntarily. In a statement yesterday, Owens referenced the delivery last Monday of ‘a financial package to ensure the solvency of the association’. ‘We have put a new senior leadership and a new international management team in place,’ he added. Owens was a leading candidate for the €207,000-a-year job. Because of his FAI status, he was given a bye in the first round of interviews. The process continues for another fortnight. Former Dublin footballer Mick O’Keeffe of Teneo is understood to be out of the running.