Premiership standards led to players’ demands

THE expectations of players used to the English Premiership led them to demand far higher standards of service and support than a time-warped FAI was able to deliver, the Genesis report found.

It said football had changed enormously over the past decade with far greater media interest and commercial potential but the FAI had not changed to meet these new challenges and demands.

Consultant Alistair Gray said at the time of the turning point in Irish soccer, Italia’90, the Premiership didn’t exist but now almost all teenage Irish soccer players with potential went straight into that structure.