Talks intensify in bid to secure FAI rescue deal

There might have been nothing as clear-cut as the calling of a general election to emerge out of Uefa’s meeting with Minister for Sport Shane Ross at Leinster House yesterday — no white smoke, no done deal, and certainly no cheque to the tune of €18m — but, as well as familiar talk of the need for further reform at the FAI, there was no mistaking the sense of accelerated momentum in the increasingly urgent quest to find a solution to the Association’s most immediate financial problems.

To that end, the Uefa delegation went on to meet with Bank Of Ireland officials yesterday evening and, today, Ross and Minister of State with responsibility for Tourism and Sport, Brendan Griffin, will follow suit, with the FAI’s new chairman Roy Barrett also set to attend that meeting, having discussed the latest developments with his own board in Abbotstown last night.