Damien Duff: 'I would raze Abbotstown to the ground'

Shelbourne manager Damien Duff on FAI: 'I would probably change 90% of the workforce.' Picture: Seb Daly/Sportsfile

Damien Duff insists the FAI requires a full reset, starting by “razing Abbotstown to the ground”.

The headquarters of the association, a grey single-story building on the Sports Ireland campus in Dublin 15, was a premises Duff frequented during his brief spell as Stephen Kenny’s coach in 2020.

He’s been a vocal critic of the association and was appalled at what he and his wife Elaine watched in the RTÉ Investigates documentary last Sunday.

An Garda Síochána have received complaints from former female footballers about unwanted sexual advances in the 1990s from male coaches.

"I would like to think that the association is in a wonderful, wonderful place now with regard to everything,” Duff began. “That’s football, finances and safeguarding, but here, there is always doubt when it comes to the FAI."

Agreeing with the reset option, he hesitated before unleashing his latest barb. 

“I’ll start and I’ll leave you with this - I would raze Abbotstown to the ground because it’s the most uninviting, unenthusiastic workplace - not in world football but in the world.

“I used to dread going there once a month. And I would probably change 90% of the workforce.” 

Duff praised the Shelbourne women’s team, stating: “They put the club back on the map – not the men. There’s some wonderful people in that dressing room – the likes of Noelle ‘The Great’ Murray, who's the best finisher in the club across both sides, and Pearl Slattery. 

"They’re powerful women.”