Kenny hits out at ‘grossly insufficient’ funding
INCOMING Ireland manager Stephen Kenny has lashed out at the Government for the ‘grossly insufficient’ funding of Irish football which he believes is ‘alarming’ when compared to other sports in the country.
Kenny, who is lined up to take over from Mick McCarthy when the senior Ireland manager moves on, hit out last week at the financial constraints he is operating under as Ireland Under 21 manager, pointing to the three-flight trek the squad must make to Armenia this week for a crucial Euro qualifier.
And the former Dundalk boss believes that funding is the biggest issue facing Irish football and that the State should be doing more to boost the game from the grassroots level up.
‘For me, always, it (the biggest issue in Irish football) has been the lack of Government funding. It’s been alarming over a number of years, the lack of investment in infrastructure,’ said Kenny.
‘We’ve seen other sports stadiums and facilities just appear everywhere and, considering football is the most played game in the world at grassroots level, I think the funding is grossly insufficient to start with, never mind the money (that is being) withheld.
‘I’d like to see a bigger stadium in Tallaght. We
shouldn’t limit ourselves in the way we’re thinking. The Dalymount development is 6,000. It’s not just about money, it’s about a bit of vision.
‘You’ve always had hardworking people running the clubs but there is a new dynamic to be welcomed now with Peak6 coming into Dundalk in the last year, Dermot Desmond at Shamrock Rovers, and you have Garrett Kelleher at St Pat’s,’ he added.
The FAI are known to be in trouble financially, as the reconvened AGM will soon confirm when details of the 2018 accounts (in addition to the recent pay-off package for former CEO, John Delaney) are revealed.
Among the fine print will be specifics on the association’s legal spend over the period involved, which is understood to run to seven figures.
Against this backdrop, the possibility of the FAI funding any major projects off their own bat for 2020 are zero.
Instead, they will continue to exist on UEFA hand-outs and pray that McCarthy plots a route to the Euro 2020 finals, which will mean more UEFA cash.
Kenny’s task is less glamorous but reaching the U21 finals for the first time would be an extraordinary feat, especially as two of his best players, Aaron Connolly and Troy Parrott, have been fasttracked to the senior ranks and miss the upcoming qualifiers against Armenia and Sweden.
He feels the proposals put forward by Niall Quinn for
‘setting up academies so players don’t have to go (across the Irish Sea)’ was ‘genuine’ and also said he was
‘in favour, overall’ of
Kieran Lucid’s all-island league proposals which have been rejected by the Irish Football Association in Northern Ireland.
The 33,111 attendance at the FAI Cup final pointed towards the growing appetite for club football in Ireland but sub-standard facilities are not conducive to attracting investors, players and fans. Quinn and Lucid want to improve that but will need support from the FAI, the clubs and, most crucially, the Government.