Delaney in the frame

FAI RANK and file are on a collision course with the Government over the appointment of a new chief executive for the association.

Soundings taken yesterday from clubs around the country produced a strong consensus that control of the Merrion Square hot-seat should not be ceded to any outside body paving the way for treasurer, John Delaney to be installed in an interim capacity next week.

Delaney's supporters insisted yesterday that the 37-year-old Waterford business man is determined not to be a "a problem" in any resolution of the FAI crisis, but is favoured by football's grassroots to step into the breach for a year following the resignation of Fran Rooney.

Government sources say they expect the two senior positions chief executive and director of finance to be publicly advertised by January 1.

However, the preferred route by key players within the game is an interim appointment for 12 to 18 months to help smooth the transition to an outside appointment.

The FAI is standing over an apparently flawed appointment process, insisting that Mr Rooney was hired in conjunction with management consultants Price Waterhouse and came with all the right credentials for the job.

However, Merrion Square believes that another outside short-term appointment would be counter-productive, as it would only mire the new chief executive in internal staff and legal wrangles and keep him from getting the association back on track with business partners, and restoring the battered image of football's governing body.

That is cutting little ice with Government officials from Sports Minister John O'Donoghue's department who want the association to make the necessary preparations to ensure that the January 1 deadline is met. They say terms of reference for the two jobs will be agreed by the liaison committee of the Irish Sports Council and the FAI as well as the Assistant Secretary of the Department of Sport, Con Haugh.

Mr O'Donoghue said: "I have no wish to interfere with the inner workings of the FAI, but I do have a responsibility to the taxpayers of this country to ensure that the funding that the FAI gets is used for the benefit of the game.

"Things cannot go on as they are. It is time for the FAI to obtain the confidence of the Irish public. Until that happens, it is difficult."

The interim acting chief will be "very much" a short-term appointment, said one Government source. When a new CEO is appointed to succeed Fran Rooney, he will have the power to appoint the three other directors.

Most of Delaney's internal FAI opponents have either left or been displaced, and he enjoys a positive "Mr Fix It" reputation amongst rank and file members of the broad-based FAI Council. He was central to the efforts to woo Roy Keane back into Ireland's 2006 World Cup campaign after the Saipan nightmare and was prominent in highlighting the flawed financial package for eircom Park.

A board of management meeting and a meeting of the council is likely to be called within the next ten days to set the process of nominating an interim chief execution. Under FAI rules, honorary secretary Michael Cody (Cobh Ramblers) has stepped into the breach as acting chief, but Mr Delaney is favoured to be appointed next week.

Said one leading club official yesterday: "He may not be everybody's cup of tea, but he's smart, progressive and he gets the job done. As a stop-gap chief executive, who can resolve some of the messy things going on in Merrion Square, he would be ideal for a year or so. Then we can look at starting afresh."