THE UCC football club will mark the conclusion of their celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the club’s foundation with matches against teams representing the famous Harvard and Princeton universities in America next week.

A former high-flying figure in the international high-tech businessworld is to become the top man in Irish soccer.

THE FAI board of management’s crisis meeting on Mick McCarthy’s controversial bonus payment was last night adjourned for two weeks as the association moved closer to announcing his successor.

GIVEN their experiences of the last few days the team behind the failed Irish and Scottish campaign for EURO 2008 can be forgiven for not wishing to rush headlong into launching a bid to stage the event in 2012.

A COPY of Machiavelli’s political epic The Prince and an intimate knowledge of television game show The Weakest Link appear to be the prerequisites for any future bid by Ireland and Scotland to stage the European Championships.

THE joint Scottish/Irish bid was doomed from the start, undermined by two fatal flaws in the package they had on offer.

Irish Ferries say several of their services have been affected by the bad weather this evening.

Just when they thought things couldn’t get much worse the Irish team flew to Athens this morning with the critics laughing at preparations for their latest international.

The Football Association of Ireland will begin its search for a new general secretary today following the resignation of Brendan Menton yesterday evening.

The Football Association of Ireland begins its search for a new general secretary today following the resignation of Brendan Menton yesterday evening.

EURO 2008 bid marketing director Simon Lyons maintained that there would be no knock-on effect for the Scotland-Ireland bid for the European Championships after the resignation of FAI treasurer Brendan Menton.

FAI boss Brendan Menton quit his post as general secretary last night as the organisation prepared for the biggest shake-up in its history.

The Genesis report is revealed and Caroline O'Doherty assesses the FAI reaction

LIKE Mick McCarthy, the end of Brendan Menton’s tenure was not a case of if but when.

THE FAI’s general secretary, Brendan Menton, last night stressed that his decision to step down from the key administrative position was geared to hasten the implementation of the Genesis evaluation report.

FIVE months after a fiasco that saw Ireland’s World Cup dream turn into a nightmare, the reverberations were still being felt last night as FAI supremo Brendan Menton fell on his sword following damning criticism of the planning and preparation for the Republic’s involvement in soccer’s greatest event.

A whole new era lies ahead for the Republic of Ireland following the publication of the hard-hitting Genesis report which has already resulted in general secretary Brendan Menton resigning.

Brendan Menton, general secretary of the Football Association of Ireland, has tonight resigned following the publication of a hard-hitting report into the organisation’s role during last summer’s World Cup.

Brendan Menton, General Secretary of the FAI, has tendered his resignation following a damning report on the association's handling of the Republic of Ireland's World Cup trip this summer.

THE Football Association of Ireland’s report into the Saipan disaster will be made public this evening and the reaction of key players in the organisation should make for reading as interesting as the report itself.

FOOTBALL Association of Ireland (FAI) bosses face a grilling this evening when the findings of the review of their World Cup preparations are released.

FAI president Milo Corcoran yesterday dismissed suggestions that association officers had already drawn up a shortlist of candidates to fill the vacancy as international team manager left by the resignation of Mick McCarthy.

THE FAI will have to address the issues raised by Mick McCarthy in his post-match press conference at Lansdowne Road when he made statements suggesting the day of his departure may be fast approaching.

IT WASN’T just the Swiss who came to Lansdowne Road in a defensive frame of mind.

MICK McCARTHY yesterday suggested that only outright victory for Ireland in the European Championship of 2004 would keep him in the job as manager of the national team beyond his current contract.

THE FAI has welcomed a commitment by the Government that a final decision on the construction of a national sports stadium will be made by the end of next month.

The Euro 2008 UEFA inspection team insist they have no doubts Ireland will be able to provide two stadia as part of the joint bid with Scotland for the Championships.

FAI PRESIDENT Milo Corcoran, was yesterday elected to a prestigious post with UEFA in which he will have responsibility for under-age football.

CROKE PARK was identified yesterday as a future venue for a Champions’ League final if the GAA relax their rule banning football in advance of Euro 2008.

THE Taoiseach’s battered hopes for a National Stadium were boosted last night when one of the country’s leading property investors expressed interest in taking on the project.

Ireland and Scotland’s bid to co-host the 2008 European Championships is “alive and kicking”, a top official from European football’s governing body said tonight.

FURIOUS soccer chiefs told the Taoiseach to live up to his promise of delivering a National Stadium following the Government’s decision not to spend taxpayers’ money on the project.

The Football Association of Ireland is demanding an urgent meeting with the Taoiseach over the future of a National Stadium.

MICK McCARTHY’S prediction on Friday that the Roy Keane issue would pursue him throughout his career inevitably proved accurate as journalists reacted to the negative result of the match against Russia by immediately re-opening the issue.

THE FAI will pursue at diplomatic and UEFA level the issue of violence towards visiting supporters in Moscow where some Irish fans were seriously hurt prior to the European Championship tie against Russia.

Bill George

The FAI says it will continue consultations with the Government over the designation of sports events as free-to-air.

THE FAI has announced that the Scotland-based sport management consultancy Genesis will conduct the review into the association’s involvement in this summer’s World Cup finals.

Kenny Cunningham has hailed the contribution of Roy Keane to the Irish cause and admits he will be an avid reader of his autobiography.

THE FAI yesterday chose not to comment on the revelations and accusations in Roy Keane’s autobiography.

TECHNICAL inspection of the Scotland/Ireland bid for Euro 2008 begins in Dublin this September, with the organisers believing they are well on track for a successful bid.