FAI IN QUINN TALKS
FRAN GAVIN insists he and the FAI are willing to work with Niall Quinn to enhance the League of Ireland.
Fed-up Quinn, above, has called for government intervention to rescue what he feels is an ailing domestic game.
His desire for the clubs to break away from the FAI looks on course, with League of Ireland director Gavin confirming a structural change is on course for 2020.
What, if any, role former Ireland international
Quinn has in the revamp remains to be seen but Gavin is open to external assistance.
Quinn said earlier this week he expects his consortium to finalise their proposal to government within six months.
He’s seeking a minimum €40m cash injection to subsidise the establishment and running of full-time academies at the 20 clubs.
By the time that blueprint is unfurled, Gavin, inset, expects clubs to have decided on their own desired formula.
“I actually met Niall a few weeks ago after hearing one of his interviews on the radio,” said Gavin yesterday.
“I’ve know Niall a long time, he’s a football guy, but from some of the stuff I heard I don’t think he was fully informed.
“It gave an impression we don’t do anything with the government around facilities.
“We’re always open to meet anyone who wants to improve Irish football. When he puts more meat on the bone, then we’ll meet again.”
He added: “We’ve taken on Deloitte to put the structure of the company together – both parties have met together with Deloitte – and in our last meeting we went through that.
“The clubs have to meet themselves now, to see how they want to structure the company internally, as regards things like weighted voting or equal voting, before they come back to us. That’s where we are.
“More control is something the clubs wanted for a while and that comes with responsibility. It is quite a sizable task to move from running a club to collectively coming together and running a league itself.
“Are they united? Only they can answer that one. However, we don’t want a vacuum, we need certainty.”