Saipan the catalyst to Menton’s departure

LIKE Mick McCarthy, the end of Brendan Menton’s tenure was not a case of if but when.

As with the former manager, the fate of the economist who rose through the footballing ranks to become chief executive of the Football Association of Ireland, was decided on a less than exotic island, a week prior to the World Cup.

It was the catalyst to close a chapter in an entire life which is steeped in football. His father, the late Dr Brendan was co-founder of Home Farm FC, the most successful underage club in the country. He worked his way to the top post, merging his career as an economist with his love of the game, which he played until injury prematurely ended his career in the 1970s.

After a number of years at various levels, including stints on schoolboy and junior boards, he served as full time acting secretary for the FAI in 1995. But it was six years later when he truly entered the public forum.

Menton, the then FAI treasurer was confirmed as the new chief executive in May 2001, replacing Bernard O'Byrne who stepped down in controversial circumstances following investigations into his use of a company credit card.

O'Byrne, who spearheaded the FAI's support for the shelved Eircom Park project, had ended his ties with the association the previous month. Menton was nominated for the post by the FAI's board of management following O'Byrne's departure and that nomination was ratified by the National Council.

The new chief executive agreed a two year contract with the governing body.

On the day of his appointment he confirmed his credentials for possibly the most difficult and thankless job in Irish soccer.

"I come to the job with the experience of having filled the job on an acting basis for six months in 1996 and I've been treasurer for four year. I know the association very well and I believe I can do a very good job. The last person the association appointed from the inside was Dr Tony O'Neill, and I think it's common knowledge that he did a tremendous job. If I can achieve part of what he achieved I'll be very happy," he said following his appointment.

"I know, having come through the FAI and having a strong background in schoolboy football and junior, I believe I have a very good understanding of the needs of the game. We now have the opportunity to develop the game and I don't see it as one section of football competing with another. There are now enough resources to develop the game across all its spectra and that's what I hope to achieve."

So, as the Eircom Park project was shelved in some darkened room at Merrion Square, Menton set about negotiating with the Government about the FAI's use of the yet-to-be- built Stadium Ireland facility in Abbotstown.

And it looked as if the FAI had turned a corner. "It is so important that the division in the game in recent times is healed," he remarked.

Stability it seemed had returned to headquarters. But that was rocked to it's very core with the happenings on the island of Saipan a week before the commencement of the World Cup. Roy Keane launched a tirade against Mick McCarthy and the FAI for the shambolic and amateurish facilities which greeted the squad.

Menton, who arrived with ideas he could patch up the row, quickly fell in behind the manager and his handling of affairs.

"I have spoken to Mick and the players and I am 100% happy that he did the right thing. I fully support his actions and there is no way back for Roy now," he said. "This team will go on without him. There is a limited life cycle to a player's career and it had to come at some stage. It happened to be sooner than expected, but so be it."

Two days after the defeat to Spain, Menton uttered the line, quoted worldwide, which has haunted him these past few months: "The Roy Keane issue has gone away."

Of course it hadn't as Menton learned in no uncertain terms this week. But in the interim things lurched from bad to worse for the Dublin native. Firstly, the Stadium Ireland project, the saving grace for the FAI in the wake of the Eircom Park debacle, crumbled on the drawing board, knocking a massive dent in the joint Scottish Irish hopes to host the 2008 European Championship. Then came the Sky deal, with the association selling their wares to Rupert Murdoch INC, much to the dismay of the Republic's football fans.

To add insult to mounting FAI injury, a row of spectator seats collapsed midway through the misery that was the Swiss defeat last month.

"The future for Irish football is very good," Menton said in the aftermath of the World Cup. One wonders if that assessment remains the same today.