Ireland agree trip to Parkhead for McNamara game

THE FAI have confirmed that the Republic of Ireland will play Glasgow Celtic at Parkhead on May 29 next year.

In what has the makings of a sell-out attraction, a Brian Kerr Republic of Ireland XI will take on the home side in a testimonial match for the club's long-serving defender, Jackie McNamara.

Says Kerr: "I am delighted to be involved in Jackie's testimonial celebrations as he has been a great servant to the game in an era when loyalty to one club is unusual.

"As well as strengthening the good relationship with Celtic, the game itself will be very useful as it will keep our players in good match-playing condition as the English season will have ended some three weeks earlier."

The game against Celtic will also provide the Irish manager with a warm-up game a week before the back-to-back World Cup Group 4 qualifiers in Dublin against Israel on June 4 and away to the Faroe Islands on June 8.

Before that, in the week following the World Cup qualifier against Israel in Tel Aviv on March 26, the FAI is hoping to pencil in another friendly for Kerr's team, who are already set to begin their 2005 campaign with a friendly against Portugal in Dublin on February 9.

The FAI have also announced details of the Club Licensing Scheme for the National League and European competitions in 2005.

Introduced by UEFA to regulate and improve the running of club football across Europe, the scheme drew controversy in this country on its inaugural outing.

Admitting that mistakes were made first time out, FAI interim chief executive John Delaney said he is happy that good progress has been made.

"The 22 clubs are better today than they were a year ago and they will be better again in 12 months' time," he said.

"There were a lot of issues around the 2004 scheme. It was year one; everyone was feeling their way through the process.

"Mistakes were made; everyone has learned from them and adapted, and we're hoping to move on from those.

"Our processes have been audited independently by UEFA and we're very confident that this will be a positive endorsement of our system in 2004."

The FAI's 2005 Club Licensing Manual was distributed to clubs last month and December 17 is the deadline for receipt of completed applications for the National League. In the week of January 17, the First Instance committee will make their decisions and there will be a two week period for appeals by clubs who haven't met the criteria. Licences will then be granted and the situation will be assessed at the League AGM on February 5. May 21 is the deadline for clubs who have qualified for European competition.

As UEFA seeks to raise the bar in terms of infrastructural standards, Delaney noted that clubs "need to put themselves in a situation where their sustainability over a multi-year period is more assured."

Meanwhile, as the roll-out of the FAI's Technical Development Plan continues, three positions in the plan are to be advertised before January 1 - the managers of the grassroots unit, the education programme and player development.