League of Ireland review to be released next week

The long-awaited independent review of the League of Ireland has been presented to the board of the FAI and, once it has been released to Airticity League clubs, will be made public early next week.

FAI boss John Delaney has described the report as the most comprehensive review of the league to date and says he expects its findings and recommendations will provoke much debate.

The report was conducted by consultant Declan Conroy, the man who was project director for the successful bid to bring Euro 2020 games to Dublin.

Conroy made a 90-minute presentation to the FAI board when delivering his findings on Tuesday and will do the same for the clubs who are being invited to send representatives to Abbotstown to receive their copies next Monday.

Then on Monday night or Tuesday morning, it’s planned that the full report will be made public through the FAI website.

Welcoming the review yesterday, Delaney said: “It’s very pragmatic about reflecting the views of everybody — so the media were met, Uefa, the clubs, the Government, some managers, fans’ input was taken on board, sponsors and obviously the association’s views.

“The thing is not to grab the report and say, ‘listen, we’re going off now to implement this immediately’, or anything like that. It’s his independent report, how he sees the League of Ireland, with his recommendations.

“What we’ve got to do now is take that to the clubs and out of that we’ll look to meet the clubs individually.

“I wouldn’t put any time frame on (implementation).

“We discussed it at board level and the best thing is to put it out there first, let people take stock of it and then look at how we go about taking it further.

“Whether all of it, some of it or most of it gets implemented will be through the debate that takes place once it’s put out to the public.

“I think it’s a real debate. I don’t think in all our time there’s been such a comprehensive review.

“I don’t think as many stakeholders have been met over such a period of time and, as one of the board members said yesterday, it really captures what people have been saying for maybe the last 10 years.

“I must say, it’s a very good report, a very honest report in my book, and when people see it they can give their views,” he said.