FAI says new league format here to stay

The FAI insist there will be no reversal of the decision to change the format of the League of Ireland to two tiers of 10 teams for the 2018 season.

Sources in Abbotstown also indicated they have no plans to reinstate the promotion-relegation playoffs at the end of the coming season, meaning three teams will go down and only one will go up, a scenario which has caused dismay among First Division clubs.

There is also opposition to the revamped format among Premier Division clubs, as well as anger at the way in which it was announced by the FAI just before Christmas, with the governing body saying at the time that they had ratified the new structure “following a proposal from the Premier Clubs Alliance (PCA)”.