Crisis talks on hold as FAI close to naming manager

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.

McCarthy’s replacement, thought to be Brian Kerr, is expected to be ratified at a private meeting on Monday after a contract is negotiated with the former technical director this weekend.

Kerr, whose U-20 team were successful in a four-nation invitational tournament in the United Arab Emirates this week, returned to Dublin yesterday.

FAI officers were saying little about the selection process but a few broke their silence to confirm a replacement had been chosen.

“It was a successful week in Warrington (where a number of the interviews were conducted earlier this week),” one source said. “They met with three candidates on each day and there is now a candidate in mind, who will be met over the weekend.”

If terms and conditions are agreed, the FAI will convene on Monday to ratify the candidate. It is hoped the new manager will be named by Tuesday.

However, the latest wrangling means the successful candidate may not be unveiled until mid-week, still within the February 1 deadline.

He will then take charge of Ireland’s meeting with Scotland later that month.

Yesterday’s emergency meeting on the bonus controversy took place on and off for almost five hours before it broke up with one board member saying there remained a “list of questions” to be answered.

The row centres on a Stg£100,000 (€168,000) bonus allegedly agreed with McCarthy prior to the signing of his new contract during the World Cup finals last summer.

The FAI has received claims the former manager was urged to seek the payment by a senior member of the association’s management without approval from the board.

The FAI’s legal advisor, Eoin McNeill, spoke with officials during breaks in the meeting and honorary treasurer John Delaney also brought his solicitor but the officers left in silence, with president Milo Corcoran saying it would be inappropriate to comment before the meeting resumes on Thursday, February 6.

One board member who did speak out after the mammoth meeting at the Red Cow hotel was St Patrick’s Athletic chairman Andy O’Callaghan, who said the mood among the members was one of “complete frustration”.

“People want the facts. We are presented with details that we read in the papers and we are fed up with that,” he said.

O’Callaghan said there were “a number of people” who need to present more details and they had been asked through their legal representatives to do so.

“There is a list of questions that have been raised,” he said, adding the prospects of resolving the dispute “depends on what answers come back”.

O’Callaghan questioned the timing of this latest crisis to hit the FAI, which is still dealing with the fall-out from the World Cup rows, the Sky television deal, the resignations of manager Mick McCarthy and general secretary Brendan Menton, and the highly critical Genesis report on management failures within the association.

“It would appear the timing is not coincidental,” he said. “I would be very interested to hear why it comes out now.”

He said the row had pushed important issues such as the appointments of the team manager and chief executive, the ongoing need for a proper stadium and the financial crisis facing some eircom league clubs, down the agenda once again.

“The tone (among board members) is of complete frustration that as an association we cannot move forward. We never get to talk about these things because invariably a scandal comes up.”

Meanwhile, Drogheda United’s future in the League of Ireland is still not assured after it emerged at yesterday’s meeting that they could be expelled if they fail to comply with a request from the league’s Board of Control.

The board had met prior to the Board of Management meeting in Dublin following which a written request was sent to Drogheda officials asking for further information in relation to their membership of the league.

A three-man delegation will meet later this afternoon at Tolka Park to consider Drogheda’s reply, and if the delegation is not satisfied, the club will be expelled.

Yesterday, Drogheda lodged a €100,000 bond with the League.