'Finance is the not the most important factor' - FAI CEO defends redundancy sweep

Chief executive David Courell is adamant others factors were at play in the ‘significant’ drop in numbers of coaches operating at the coalface.

Sat, 08 Nov, 2025 - 19:18

John Fallon

The FAI insist their cull of 60 employees isn’t being primarily driven by the financial pressures of servicing debt of almost €40m.

Because the call for voluntary leavers among the 255-workforce is 42, exceeding the target of 30, each will receive a €5,000 bonus on top of their four weeks’ pay per year of service.

One of those weeks will be allowed to breach the standard €600-per-week cap.

That still leaves the association requiring an additional 18 departees and rather than apply compulsory redundancies, which the Siptu union won’t accept, the attrition will come through 100 selected staff reapplying for fewer jobs.

The 86 delegates in attendance at Saturday’s FAI annual general meeting were informed of a debt refinancing deal that pushes out the repayment schedule by five years to 2036. The FAI first took on borrowings in 2010 arising from their botched attempt at funding their €74m portion of the Lansdowne Road redevelopment costs by selling grotesquely overpriced 10-year premium tickets.

That legacy remains even after the John Delaney-led regime collapsed in 2019, with the lack of major tournament qualification for the men’s team since 2016 pressurising cashflow.

The fact management bloated their staff numbers by 60 since then led to this redundancy programme.

The FAI defended their decision to schedule this topic in Saturday’s EGM, rather than AGM, the part closed to the media on the basis that it contained sensitive information regarding staff.

Despite the overwhelming sense that budgetary constraints are behind the reduction in headcount, chief executive David Courell is adamant others factors were at play in the ‘significant’ drop in numbers of coaches operating at the coalface.

He cited the benchmarking analysis, conducted at a cost by the specialist consultancy firm CAA Portas, for guiding their process but many of the comparators have functioning football industries, unlike a League of Ireland sector only now receiving external investment.

“Financial sustainability is one of three reasons but not the most important,” he contended.

“I would say this is a difficult process. It's not easy to go into a traditional football role and have a transformation programme like this and just think about people as boxes on an organisational chart.

“The reality is football is more than just a job, it's a passion. I've had the pleasure of working with many colleagues now that it's clear to me how much they've given to the association of Irish football over the last whatever duration they've been with the game.

“It is difficult to then deliver the message that the organisation is going to change and football will be delivered in a different way moving forward.

“But football needs to change in this country. We can be better and as a result I do believe this is the right change for the game.

“We also think that we can deliver more efficiently and effectively. We are a not-for-profit organisation, so it's incumbent on us to try and be as effective with our resources as we can.

“When we did this process, ultimately the outcome was we are working towards a reduction of 30% in the traditional football roles and 10% in the support function roles.

“The association commits 27% of its spend on payroll, so headcount spend, while the average in the UEFA is 17%.

During a two-hour AGM, Michael Conlon from the Leinster FA criticised the selection of front-facing employees, maintaining the growing “divide between elite and grassroots was being fuelled by FAI executive and board. His words were echoed by the other three provincial bodies and the largest affiliate, the Schoolboys/girls FAI (SFA).

While the FAI still owes the State €6m of the annual licencing costs for Lansdowne Road they covered after the initial bailout in 2020, the three main lenders – Bank of Ireland, Uefa and Fifa – have agreed an extension of repayments to offer breathing space to cashflow.

Until the injection of multi-millions from Euro 2028, the FAI are amidst pinch points, as branded by Courell. Their ploy will result in a spike in cumulative interest payments.

“By virtue of this renegotiation, we will see our annual repayments to Bank of Ireland reduce from €3.9m to €1.5m for the next three years,” he outlined.

“Our debt is currently €38m. We've also looked at our baseline spend around the organisation and so our expenditure in 2025 is €5m less than 2024.

“Thankfully we managed to come through 2025 still delivering for Irish football.

“We will catch up some of that lost repayment ground in 2028 when we have the additional hosting revenue.” President Paul Cooke, a chartered accountant by trade, admitted another revised debt-free target – infamously coined by Delaney at 2020 – would emerge in time.

“We're not fixated on that,” said the Waterford man, who was ratified on another two-year term, “We view debt as a necessary part of running an organisation. Obviously our debt is very high and we want to bring it down but debt is part of the business.

“The intention at this moment in time is to be debt free for 2036 but that could move.”