The darkest hour is just before the dawn, or so Irish football is hoping given all the problems at the moment which can seem overwhelming. A fresh batch of FAI infighting at board level, growing labour troubles, record debt levels, no main sponsor and the receding chances of being involved in any shape or form in the forthcoming European Championships and World Cup might be enough to make the FAI chief executive Jonathan Hill think twice about completing his much-delayed move to Ireland, but he has a plan and is determined to execute it.
One thing the FAI won’t be busting a gut to do is persuade the government and public health authorities that Uefa should be accommodated over the issue of supporters at the four European Championship games scheduled for Dublin by the new deadline of Monday week, at which point it looks likely that those games will be moved to somewhere across the Irish Sea.
Ever since the Republic of Ireland failed to qualify for that competition back in October, there is a sense that holding the games in an empty Dublin stadium would be something of a pyrrhic victory and there are other battles to fight and prepare for. Those at the business end of the association are less sanguine about the power struggle unfolding at board level, which will come to a head at next month’s annual meeting and no doubt generate more of the infighting headlines which the “new FAI” have been trying to get away from.
On top of a challenge to the FAI president Gerry McAnaney from Dave Moran of the Leinster Football Association, it was announced late on Friday night that the vice president Paul Cooke faces a challenge from Ursula Scully from the Schoolboys FAI.
“It’s democracy at work, that’s what you wanted, isn’t it?” one of the candidates said, but Hill and the FAI independent chairman, Roy Barrett, want to get on with reforming the association and bringing some cash in without such distractions. Barrett in particular has done a good job in getting the government, Sport Ireland and Uefa back on side after the mess left by John Delaney, but wants Hill to have a clear run at bringing in some revenue from new sponsors without more lurid tales of bickering and back-stabbing.
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Self-interest amongst the different power blocs in Irish football — greater now than ever with places being squeezed on the board because of the arrival of six independent directors — is nonetheless the very thing which Barrett is trying to steer the association away from, a task which could take 10 years to achieve after decades in which such recidivist practices were encouraged.
Having played a big part in reforming the governance structures of the FAI over the past year to 18 months, Barrett has now charged Hill with drawing up a long-term strategy for the football side, which will involve the construction of a new set of pillars built around grassroots, commercial revenues, the League of Ireland, player development and the performances of the international teams, to name but five.
Hill, due to finally move from London to Dublin in the next month nearly half a year after taking the job and the restrictions that have come with it, is putting the meat on the bones of the strategy, which should be in place before a new high performance director is appointed to replace Ruud Dokter next year.
There is widespread dismay at Dokter’s inability to bring competing interests with him as he has attempted to put in place a system to develop the best young players. This has been most vividly illustrated by the battle between schoolboy clubs and those in the League of Ireland for control of the best young talent and — let’s face it — the money which comes from selling it on to clubs in England, later rather than sooner should the reformers get their way.
So completes the vicious circle as these groups jockey for positions on the board and outsiders look on wondering what the fuss is all about. At least at next month’s annual meeting, the FAI will be able to announce an accounting profit based largely on government financing and without some of the overheads caused by central contracts which are currently dragging down the IRFU, even if the FAI’s debt level is still eye-watering.
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Ireland might just be ready to mount a challenge for qualification for the 2030 World Cup, which could be held in Dublin.
