FAI plot three routes to €160m - all with complications

This is a different FAI regime, upfront about the financial challenges hampering the game’s progress.

FAI Independent Chairperson Tony Keohane, FAI Interim CEO David Courell and FAI President Paul Cooke speak to the media after the AGM. Pic: ©INPHO/Laszlo Geczo

At least heads weren’t being called for. Compared to last year’s fractious annual general meeting, the FAI emerged from this one bruised but not battered.

Ten months after Jonathan Hill was informed his position as CEO was untenable and Roy Barrett’s Chairmanship ended to the sound of his footsteps, one accusation of lying was the height of the flak they shipped from members in the same Radisson Blu conference room.

They did fess up to being blindsided by Dundalk's financial meltdown and Paul Cooke was admonished for omitting Peamount’s European exploits from his opening speech but the President’s oversight was cushioned by interim CEO David Courell affording the recent win a worthy mention.

Debate, whichever form it takes, still has to be welcomed in the aftermath of an era when the contributions from the floor were often restricted to eulogies for John Delaney and requests for the yearly processions to be hosted in their locality.

This is a different regime, upfront about the financial challenges hampering the game’s progress.

That’s both the legacy debts, now standing at €40m and scheduled to be cleared by 2031, and the scale of funds required to develop an industry to restock the Ireland teams with talent of international calibre.

From the start to finish of the near three-hour meeting and the press conference afterwards, football’s justification for being centrally funded by the Government was pressed.

Cooke mirrored the plea printed in the programme notes for last week’s game against England in imploring the biggest participative sport to use its numerical strength to lobby during the general election hustings.

Politicians across the party spectrum have been receptive, various presenters asserted on Saturday, but the recent mixed messages from Sports Minister Thomas Byrne in the space of a week highlight the perils of relying on state support.

The FAI's request is two-fold but interrelated – infrastructure in the form of stadia and training grounds along with an academy system producing the players to attract fans and transfer fees.

This circular economy requires a catalyst and an organisation still swimming in liabilities doesn't possess the financial means.

What they’ve done is pinpoint three channels they believe can generate €160m.

Their problem is each of those routes carries complications, both in terms of access and timelines.

First up is the FAI’s long-stated claims for a share of the betting levy, pitching for €30m from a proposed increase by a single basis point to three percent.

Previous requests have been rejected by the Department of Finance.

Were it to be acceded to, the suggestion from politicos is the monies be instead directed towards gambling addiction services.

“From the conversations we've had, my judgement would be that it is maybe a little too soon,” admitted Tony Keohane, the FAI’s Chairman, someone well used to the corridors of Leinster House from sitting on state bodies.

“We're getting very little pushback, if any, in terms of what we might do with the money or a need for the money. The concern, or the work, is on how do you get us the money?

“Rather than, if you got it, what would you do with it? That’s pretty clear.

“Nobody disagrees with the need. Nobody disagrees with where the money, at a high level, would be spent and why. How do we get it is the focus. That’s our concern.” 

The second of those envelopes is the economic yield from hosting six of the Euro 2028 games at Lansdowne Road.

Casement Park’s demise as a venue for the tournament presents scope for a seventh to be added but the €271m estimate of exchequer benefit has been questioned by Paschal Donohoe.

He, as Minister for Finance then and now public expenditure, is essential to have onside and though he reaffirmed his support for the co-hosting after his concerns emerged through FOI documents, his contention about double-counting of accommodation spend by fans stands.

The Minister did earlier this year receive a delegation from FAI to discuss their Academy masterplan and it is through his department that the third and final scheme is managed.

Mechanisms floated last year, such as the Shared Ireland fund and Immigrant Investor Programme (IIP), were replaced in prominence by the Brexit Adjustment Reserve.

This is a European Commission initiative designed to compensate countries affected by the departure of the UK from the union in 2020.

That change prohibited Irish players from joining English clubs until their 18th, rather than 16th, birthday.

“Ireland, as the biggest impacted country, had in the region of €1.14bn assigned to support domestic industry,” said Courell.

“To date the lions' share of that has been committed, but we are of the understanding there is some underspend that could yet be allocated and hence why we are effectively lobbying, or at least seeking support from government, to explore what's possible.

“There was a last call set for any initiatives wishing to be considered by the end of September and DEPR (Department of Public Expenditure and Reform) are responsible for any outstanding balance.” 

Industry is the salient word here. Whereas the likes of agriculture can commercially cite a deficit arising, the football concept is fresh. Employment creation ought to meet most criteria but, like the rest of their operations, this FAI are finding that new doesn’t necessarily guarantee a sympathetic ear.

As acknowledged on Saturday, their brand reputation remains an issue. Circumstances that led to Hill’s exit courted adverse attention, as did the subsequent media revelations of historical abuse around women’s players in the Irish team and FÁS course.

Getting Hill’s replacement right will help. All Keohane would provide as a timeline was the “next month” before revising that to “months” at the suggestion of a nervous Cooke sitting nearby.

They’re learning the hard way from the bungled managerial search about confusing promises with the deliveries.