Hill’s main mission is restoring faith in FAI
LAST Friday night, Jonathan Hill, the FAI CEO, was at Richmond Park where St Pat’s met Derry City. It was Hill’s first League of Ireland game since his eagerlyawaited permanent touchdown on Irish turf and he was soon taking in a second, dashing across the city to catch Shelbourne against Wexford.
Before leaving ‘Richer’, I wished Hill all the best in his new role as the most senior administrator in Irish football — a post that is both an honour and an immense challenge.
Hill is intelligent, articulate and has vast experience of the business side of football.
His appointment as ‘an outsider’ I regard as a plus for Irish football that is still reeling after the wretched legacy of the Delaney era.
There is no baggage attached to Hill, no favours owed or owned.
Hill doesn’t need a veteran hack to point out what needs tending in the weed-strewn garden of the FAI. Already, he can see and hear for himself.
No doubt, Garrett Kelleher, the loyal patron of St Pats, marked his card on one or two League of Ireland matters as they watched the Saints on Friday.
As always, the fortunes of the SS Republic of Ireland senior team set the tone. If that ship is sailing with a fair wind at her backs, all is well.
Alas, she is becalmed, without a win in 11 games under Stephen Kenny and already down and out of the 2022 World Cup — Ireland are one of nine teams in Europe without a point in the qualifiers. How we all wish it was otherwise.
Hill’s report on the state of the senior team is due before the board of directors on May 6.
With an EGM due on May 23 and electioneering already under way for senior posts on the board, I don’t expect Hill to recommend any management shake-up.
Rather, he will support Kenny, for the time being.
Assuming Andorra don’t kick sand in Irish faces on June 3, Kenny will continue at the helm in September where the World
Cup reefs of Portugal, Azerbaijan — yes, Azerbaijan — and Serbia lurk. If Ireland are holed below the water-line over those six crucial days, Kenny will be on the rocks. Quoting his record at Dundalk, as he did after drawing with Qatar, won’t save him. Perhaps Kenny may see the summer light and revert to a more pragmatic approach, one that involves old sea salts rather than callow cadets. We’ll see. Ticking away is the commercial subplot to the Kenny conundrum as Hill struggles to find a sponsor while the Irish senior team limps along.
That no leading brand is prepared to to write a cheque to back Irish international football is a damning reflection of the FAI’s reputation.
Hill needs a strong sponsor but can’t risk selling off the crown jewels for a song.
Either way, something has to be in place in time for the June internationals.
With FAI debt climbing north of €80million, the more deals that can be tied down the better.
Hill’s international ‘to-do’ list must include meaningful chats with Robbie Keane, Packie Bonner and Brian Kerr.
All three have been left isolated for too long — the former is an employee who is willing and available for work.
While it’s no-one’s fault that the Euro 2020 ship is unlikely to dock in Dublin for four scheduled games in June, there is a long political game to be played here invloving the 2030 World Cup.
Ireland are key players in the bid from these islands and should it come to pass, there could be an automatic passport to the finals plus a raft of games in Dublin at both Aviva Stadium and Croke Park.
BEFORE all that, it’s welcome to see Hill pushing for fans to return to League of Ireland games, at least in small numbers by the middle of next month.
Bit by bit, the league may build towards grounds operating at 50 per cent fans’ capacity by the autumn.
As Kelleher could have assured Hill on Friday, ‘Richer’ rocks when it pulses to a decent crowd. Hill knows a happy work-force is a productive one and creases need to be ironed out internally with the rank and file at Abbotstown, who’ve kept the flag flying in tough times for scant reward.
In our brief chat, Hill referenced AFC Wimbledon as the club closest to his London office.
I looked it up, and it’s less than two miles from Balham to Plough Lane, home again to a little club who soared in 1988, fell back to earth, refused to die and rose again.
The reputation of Irish football also went sky-high in 1988, and stayed mostly in orbit before the painful crash landing at the end of the Delaney era.
Just as AFC Wimbledon emerged from the wreckage, so must the FAI, and all that it oversees and represents.
Ahead of the FAI’s 100th anniversary on June 1, in Hill we hope.