FAI General Secretary quits

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

His resignation followed the publication of a damning report into the association's World Cup preparations and the disaster in Saipan which led to Roy Keane's walk-out.

The report by Scottish-based consultants Genesis found the FAI lacked the planning, preparation, experience and structures to manage the Irish team's participation in the World Cup.

It said the association had underestimated the scale and complexity of the event and that it was an organisation designed to govern domestic football, not to meet the needs of an international team competing at the highest level in the world.

The consultants also found there was complete failure to intervene effectively in the row between Roy Keane and manager Mick McCarthy and that the ensuing "debacle" had caused real stress for the remaining players.

They concluded: "Saipan exposed the flaws that were always there in the leadership, management and communications and exacerbated the ’them and us’ atmosphere between the team and the FAI".

They said the FAI must "modernise and professionalise" if it is serious about competing at world class level in 21st century football. The consultants recommended as a priority replacement of the general secretary and honorary officers structure with a chief executive and four paid directors.

Announcing his resignation, Brendan Menton said he did not consider himself a candidate for the position of chief executive but hoped to stay within the FAI in another unspecified role.

He said it was clear the problems within the FAI were not just about Saipan and that "radical and genuine reform" was needed.

"Our structures were totally inappropriate. Whether it was Saipan or some other incident, we were crisis prone. We are going to change and my decision will help that process of change,” he said.

The report, ordered by the FAI last June following the Saipan fiasco, was compiled on the basis of 88 interviews carried out with FAI staff, team management and coaches, players, a number of English premiership club managers, and Irish and British sports journalists.

It also carried out comparisons with other national football associations in Sweden, Denmark, Belgium and England and with a number of other international sporting organisations.

Both Roy Keane and Mick McCarthy met with the consultants and Keane's contribution was described as "forthright and fruitful".

FAI president Milo Corcoran said the findings were a shock but were accepted in full and would be implemented in their entirety. "We have one shot at it and we will have to get it right,” he said. The estimated cost of bringing in the new management structures is €400,000.