Everton windfall for Irish clubs

FOUR Irish clubs have had their coffers swelled by Everton.

The Premier League club have paid a total of €340,000 through the English Football Association as compensation for the training of three players.

The biggest slice of the windfall went to Dublin club, Tolka Rovers, who received €130,000 for training Aidan Downes while Kerry side, Kingdom Boys, received €80,000 for Darren Dennehy. Maymount Celtic and St Brendan’s Park also received sums from the Goodison Park club.

The payments bring to €1.8million the amount of money paid to Irish clubs in training compensation under FIFA regulations since 2003 and another €1m is in the pipeline for players who have recently signed their first professional contracts with foreign clubs.

The FAI’s Football Support Services Manager, Eoin Hand, who assisted in the process, said: “We are pleased that the UK clubs are co-operating with us in regard to the training compensation payments. I would urge all Irish schoolboy clubs to contact me regarding payments under the FIFA regulations as they can only benefit from the knowledge and expertise which we have accumulated over the past few years.”