WHY QUINN AND OWENS HAVE TO SAVE THE LEAGUE TO SAVE THEMSELVES
After coming this far down the road, new duo will be undermined if they can’t broker 2020 solution
TIMING is everything. Earlier this week, it emerged that 441 players from around the world have applied for financial assistance from FIFA as part of a new scheme to help individuals left out of pocket by the disappearance of football clubs from the scene.
The Irish Independent has learned that four of them are ex-players of Limerick FC, the club who dropped out of the League of Ireland scene before the start of the season in contentious circumstances.
It is a reminder that the volatility of football in this country is a problem that was inherited by Gary Owens and Niall Quinn.
And the Covid-19 crisis is a problem that the interim CEO and deputy couldn’t have envisaged when they swept in from outside to take a central role in the direction of the game here.
But make no mistake about it. Their future is now wrapped up in the attempts to get the 2020 season going again. They will be undermined if they don’t succeed in doing so.
Response
Quinn was contacted yesterday for a response to strong criticism from St Patrick’s Athletic owner Garrett Kelleher but declined to do because he was working on the league resumption ahead of the next meeting with clubs today.
Kelleher’s view is that Owens and Quinn had “failed and failed badly” because the compensation package presented to clubs is effectively made up of pooled prize money and European solidarity funds that was coming their way eventually.
For all the talk of outside interest and external support that had been mentioned in various meetings and interviews, we were left with a redistribution of cash that was already there.
Clubs who had qualified for Europe were being asked to give a little back.
Unsurprisingly, that was rejected.
Indeed, the latest information is that Dundalk’s chairman Bill Hulsizer – whose son Matt is the billionaire behind the club’s owners Peak6 – has made offers of financial assistance to help the FAI through their difficulty.
That would create an unusual dynamic, and it seems the FAI top brass did not view it as the way to go.
But it ties in with a line in Kelleher’s letter that suggested offers of help had been rejected by the hierarchy.
Either way, the league is at a crossroads ahead of another day of vital discussions. The implications are serious.
Clubs at the top of the Premier Division need games to resume because otherwise their operations will be unsustainable. Those at the bottom feel they will be recklessly trading if they come back without a bigger financial guarantee.
The stakes are high. That has been clear to anyone following this story from the outset.
It must be acknowledged that there are people within Irish football who feel that the St Pat’s owner Kelleher was harsh on Quinn and Owens both in last Friday’s summit and in his written criticisms.
And there’s an element of he-said she-said about what they have or haven’t done across the past three months. Different officials have interpreted their actions in different ways.
Sligo Rovers would share similar concerns to St Patrick’s Athletic with regard to the viability of a comeback on the basis of the information that is on the table.
However, their treasurer David Rowe last night told ‘Off The Ball’ that the talks last week were “constructive” and that he respected the efforts of Owens and Quinn.
In saying that, his bottom line was that his club simply couldn’t greenlight a comeback on the basis of what is there at the moment.
Finn Harps manager Ollie Horgan has said that positive comments in the media about the possibility of thirdparty support had raised hopes.
Even clubs that would vote yes on the restart are aggrieved about the pot that the FAI managed to muster up after three months of messaging which implied help was coming.
It’s difficult to quibble with that viewpoint.
Harps have now launched a crowd-funding campaign in order to bring their ground up to scratch for the post-Covid reality.
Elsewhere, Waterford boss Alan Reynolds has left his post because the option to work as an assistant elsewhere was a better bet during this period of uncertainty. He’ll be working part time with the Irish U-21 side and has spoken with Dundalk.
In the missive announcing the news, Waterford said they “completely” understand Reynolds decision because of the current climate. That is a grim admission for a top-level club to make.
For all that commentary around Irish football tends to be mired in an analysis of factions and speculation about what a given person’s angle might be, the League of Ireland return affects a lot of people with zero interest in FAI politics.
Council restructuring and committee wrangling and all that goes with it doesn’t matter to the struggling professional with bills to pay, the supporter who misses the structure of going to football, and the volunteers who play a massive part in those clubs that do have a valuable role within communities.
They read about pretty much every other league in Europe formulating a plan, and wonder why it’s always complicated in Ireland.
Why always us?
In the aftermath of the John Delaney years, they were assured things were going to be better.
Parish
This is the parish that the replacements were supposed to win over and they made all the right noises initially. There does seem to be a willingness to acknowledge the long-term neglect and make the highest level of senior football on this island a central aspect of the FAI’s strategy.
But whether it’s fair or not, the pandemic has placed the scrutiny on the ability of the powerbrokers to live up to their words.
To silence the critics and doubters, they have to come up with a Plan B that is far superior to Plan A. It’s possible that putting the foot on the ball until they secure FIFA and state commitments is all they’ve got.
The issue they’ll face is that patience is in short supply. But if 2020 ends up sending more Irish footballers to FIFA for emergency support, there’s every chance Owens and Quinn will be out of the game too.