Looking at the broader

Keeping things in perspective is what Fran Gavin does. Charged with running the SSE Airtricity League, he has mastered the art of standing back and looking at the big picture.

Of course, it helps that he spent 22 years as a photographer. But it is a life in football – from the trenches right up to the top table – that has hardened the Dubliner and helped him realise that sacrifice is required in order to make headway.

“I remember sitting in the director’s box in Belgrade with Noel Byrne and Jonathan Roche from Shamrock Rovers when they beat Partizan Belgrade to qualify for the Europa League – something I didn’t think would happen in my lifetime,” recalls Gavin.