FAI soap opera is locked into script of plot twists
JUST in case there was not enough uncertainty churning up Irish soccer, Stephen Ireland wants to come back.
The declaration by Ireland in a recent interview that he wants to restart his career and regain a level of performance that eventually sees him return to the international team ‘and undo all that scenario’, capped yet another week of turbulence in a story already stuffed with melodrama.
Reports on the queue of controversies of the past 15 months often refer to Abbotstown, the west Dublin base of the FAI, as a short-hand for the seat of power in the Irish game.
But Albert Square or Weatherfield would work as locations, too, as the story of Irish soccer has taken on the incredible contours of a tea-time soap.
Stephen Ireland’s ambition to play for his country again was the equivalent of a wayward son walking in the door of the Rovers as a row rages inside, someone eventually noticing the slim figure that has just arrived and declaring, ‘Bloody ‘ell Stevie, what are you doin’ ere?’ He might wonder himself. Ireland, the man, is an interesting character but in the story of Irish soccer that has emerged in traumatic convulsions since March of last year, he is peripheral.
A man whose international career disappeared amid the uproar over the story of the two grannies, would struggle for air-time in the prevailing drama.
There are much more serious issues preventing the Football Association of Ireland breaking clear of the controversies that threatened its existence at the start of the year.
A financial crisis that required a bailout led by the Government saved the association, but like every other sporting body in the world, fresh new difficulties have emerged as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Tensions with the League of Ireland are a consequence of the John Delaney era, and there does seem to be a desire among the interim leadership to repair them.
Those efforts are complicated by the tortuous talks aimed at restarting the domestic game, though.
There are questions, too, for the current executives within the FAI to address, including a report that emerged yesterday around the association’s wage deferral scheme, and the extent to which interim
CEO Gary Owens is affected by it.
Owens’ decision to oversee a radical refitting of the management structure within the FAI — despite being an interim appointment — has also prompted questions.
As part of the changes, Stephen Kenny is now not only manager of the international men’s senior team, but also international football director. This is before he has taken charge of a game with the senior team, and part of a change that sees the executive of the FAI reduced from 14 to nine.
These are significant changes but that they were made by an interim leadership has caused surprise.
Consequences of the pandemic will continue to pose difficulties, too.
Kenny’s first home game, and his second in charge, will be on September 6 against Finland in the Nations League.
The Aviva Stadium will not be full, but how many fans are admitted will not become clear for some weeks.
The eagerness to reopen the country from tomorrow has not yet extended to serious discussion of the return of crowds to sports events.
Given the apprehension over a second surge, one that could potentially come in concert with the annual flu season, and with alarming evidence of resurgences of the virus elsewhere in the world, it seems reasonable to assume that attendances will remain greatly reduced for months yet.
That will cause fresh problems for the FAI, given the importance of gate receipts generated by the national team.
All of these current considerations were cast into shadow earlier in the week by news that the latest report into the activities of the association under the previous regime had been referred to the gardaí, and also to the office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement.
This was the fourth report into the affairs of the FAI since the collapse of the Delaney regime. The cost of these, as well as legal fees and the spend on PR, has been estimated at €3.5 million.
Those clean-up costs must make players in the domestic game, who are worried about their futures, despair.
Think, too, of the coaching initiatives that could be implemented for a modest percentage of €3.5 million.
Fixing the FAI must be about more than not being John Delaney, though.
The Mick McCarthy-Kenny transition was well handled, but more of that decisive leadership is required – ideally from permanent appointees.
Then plans on breaking free of a wretched past can follow.