Result of FAI World Cup inquiry known soon

THE FAI hope to publish the result of the independent inquiry into their planning and management of the international team’s preparations for the World Cup within six weeks.

The decision to institute an inquiry was taken within days of Ireland’s last match in the World Cup when they lost to Spain in a penalty shoot-out on June 16. And many FAI officials are angry that the inquiry has not yet begun. The publication of Roy Keane’s autobiography over the weekend has added to that sense of anger. They argue that whatever the findings of the inquiry, there will inevitably be a belief amongst the public that they were framed by Keane’s accusations and criticisms.

In a sense that was always going to be the case. Had Keane not gone public with his criticisms of the arrangements for training at the team’s initial base camp in Saipan and announced he was going home two weeks before the World Cup, there never would have been talk of an inquiry. Events moved on from there rapidly, of course, and the decision of manager Mick McCarthy to send Keane home a week before the start of the World Cup precipitated a train of events that will rumble on for some time yet. Certainly, Keane is not prepared to let the matter rest even if he had said the World Cup would likely mark the end of his international career long before there were signs of dispute within the camp.