Heimir Hallgrimsson during the midweek defeat to Armenia. Ryan Byrne/INPHO
Vote of Confidence
FAI CEO guarantees Hallgrimsson his job to November, defends spend on coaching staff
In a wide-ranging briefing, CEO David Courell refused to apologise for a press release announcing redundancies which said the Association lack ‘specific skillsets.’
CFAI CHIEF EXECUTIVE David Courell has guaranteed that Heimir Hallgrimsson will remain in charge of the Irish senior men’s team until at least the end of the 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign, and defended the FAI’s investment into Hallgrimsson’s staff amid the ongoing absence of a sports psychologist.
Hallgrimsson’s contract runs until the end of Ireland’s interest in qualifying, and a 2-1 loss away to Armenia on Tuesday means that interest will likely end with the final qualifier away to Hungary in November.
Having said the FAI are “extremely disappointed” with the result in Armenia, Courell said “we are behind [Hallgrimsson] and he will remain in charge for the remainder of the campaign.
“I think we all recognise that there has been progress over the last 12 months. It was hard to see that on Tuesday night. We accept and acknowledge that it was a really disappointing night. But it shouldn’t wash away the incremental steps that had been made before that. So, let’s see what the next four games hold.”
Courell, speaking to football correspondents at a scheduled media briefing, said not even a home defeat to Armenia next month would change the FAI’s view.
Hallgrimsson said this week the Irish players consider to suffer from confidence issues, having previously said his hopes of hiring a sports psychologist have been hugely delayed for budgetary reasons. Courell says it’s the subject of an ongoing conversation, and will be reviewed again shortly.
“After each window and each campaign, we’ll enter into conversations about how it went, whether or not adjustments are needed, new skills to be introduced”, said Courell. “So, it’s all subject to ongoing conversation.
“Our baseline investment into our men’s and women’s national teams is really strong. In European standards, we are right up there in the top 15, 20% of federations in the scale of what we invest into our international teams.” Courell declined to disclose those figures, citing commercial sensitivity.
Hallgrimsson now reports to the FAI’s new director of football, John Martin. Hallgrimsson has had brief discussions with the FAI regarding a contract renewal, but the manager said last month he sought to park them until after September’s games. Martin will review his position after the World Cup campaign ends.
Courell also confirmed that Martin’s title is director of football, and he has not inherited Marc Canham’s job title of chief football officer, which has been dispensed with.
David Courell (right) with FAI president Paul Cooke. Ryan Byrne / INPHO
Ryan Byrne / INPHO / INPHO
Courell meanwhile insists the board remain committed to implementing an aligned calendar at all levels of the game, a key pillar of the football pathways plan that is Martin’s job to implement. Despite the fact the board unanimously endorsed the pathways plan, they voted last month to allow any leagues objecting to the move to an aligned calendar a two-year exemption from doing so.
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“While the board fully supported and endorsed the move to align, they understandably listened to that membership to comprehend some of the unique challenges of implementation”, said Courell.
Asked how the much-trumpeted 11,000 hours of consultation that went into forming the pathways plan was not a sufficient listening exercise, he said, “it was, but what evolved were the practicalities and realities of implementing coming to the fore, with more arguments than originally projected.”
Asked if one of the practicalities of implementing the aligned calendar was a fear among some board members they would their seat by pressing ahead with an unpopular plan among certain constituencies, Courell replied, “I don’t think so, but we are a members organisation, and as board members its incumbent on them to understand and represent their membership.”
Then asked if the board members only listened to their members after unanimously endorsing the aligned calendar, he said, “I was in the room and it was unanimous decision but it was a moment in time. That becoming reality brought through practical challenges which gathered enough momentum for board members wanted to listen to it. That needs to be respected.
“I am genuinely telling you now that the board remain committed to realising an aligned calendar.”
He went on to say that other parts of the pathways plan are accelerating, including the introduction of a third tier to the League of Ireland.
Meanwhile, Courell refused to say how many redundancies are being sought under the FAI’s “transformation plan”, which the Association say is necessary for their financial sustainability and future progress. The FAI have opened a voluntary redundancy programme and will seek compulsory redundancies depending on the number of employees who choose to leave.
Pressed by staff at a town hall meeting announcing the redundancies as to how many jobs are being cut, Courell merely told them it is a “significant” number. Siptu workers at the FAI say the lack of clarity on numbers sought is highly unusual in their experience, but this claim was rejected by Courell.
“That is completely inaccurate”, he said. “Many organisations go into voluntary redundancy programmes without explicit targets. Siptu themselves have been calling for redundancies for 12 months. We are delivering on one of the aspects they are looking for.
“Transparency is to come but there are practicalities to how this needs to be approached. We entered into the voluntary redundancy process as the responsible thing to do, to try to minimise the impact on our colleagues, because change is coming.”
Courell confirmed he has a total number of jobs the FAI are seeking to cut, though will not reveal it until after the voluntary programme has ended.
“We have a ball park [figure.] There is a reason why we haven’t shared it. These things are adaptable. Voluntary redundancy means people we hadn’t envisaged will come forward.”
Another complaint among workers at the FAI is the lack of clarity on how the organisation will look after the redundancy programme, meaning they do not know whether they wish to apply for a voluntary exit or not.
“There is a broader context for what the association will look like, and that will be revealed once we come through the [voluntary] process”, said Courell.
Courell said the FAI spend 27% of their annual turnover on payroll costs, where the Uefa average is 17%. The organisation’s head count has increased by approximately 20% since 2019, with costs increasing to approximately €15 million in 2023. The FAI have still yet to publish their 2024 accounts, though Courell admitted that payroll costs have increased again.
He disagreed, however, with a question asking whether this increase was symptomatic of bad management.
“All of those decisions were taken because they were progressive and correct additions for the Association to allow us to move forward”, he said, citing the hiring of a head of women’s and girl’s football along with the development of the FAI Connect app.
Meanwhile, Siptu staff are also seeking an apology from the FAI regarding a sentence included in the press release confirming the imminent redundancies. Within that press release, the FAI said they “do not have the required framework and specific skillsets to implement vital strategies.”
“We stand by it”, said Courell. “It was misinterpreted that we were referring to their skills being inadequate. That is not what was inferred. There need to be a recognition that what we were asked to delivery is evolving all the time. It is probably 10, 15 years since the FAI had a proper look how it is set up. We have to evolve and introduce new skills because the landscape is changing.
“We have FAI Connect, a good product, it can be even better. We need to continue to fight in the digital space, social media. We need to continue to invest in the High Performance aspect of what we’re doing. Introducing Talent ID and more efforts in that space. The growth of the women’s game may require even more specialised support. It’s not intended in any way to be a reflection of what we have in-house right now. It’s intended to be an acknowledgement that as we move towards a high performing and modern NGB, we will need to introduce these skills and there should be no shame in that. If they misinterpreted, that was not our intention.”
Elsewhere, Courell confirmed the FAI are preparing a “robust defence” against allegations made by former women’s team manager Eileen Gleeson in a discrimination case. Gleeson’s claims were published by the Sunday Independent last weekend, but Courell did not address any of the specific claims within that article when asked about them today. Asked how far the FAI would go in this “robust defence” and whether Courell himself would give testimony in court, he replied, “We are preparing a very robust defence and it will be submitted in the coming weeks.”
This defence will not be submitted prior to the FAI’s appearance before an Oireachtas Committee on 24 September, at which they have been asked to discuss their safeguarding procedures. Courell confirmed that he, HR director Aoife Rafferty, chairman Tony Keohane and president Paul Cooke will attend the meeting.
Eileen Gleeson (file photo.) Ryan Byrne / INPHO
Ryan Byrne / INPHO / INPHO
Gleeson, meanwhile, has returned to a staff position at the FAI following the non-renewal of her contract as WNT head coach, as was made possible by a clause included in her original head coach contract. Gleeson is now working in a newly-created role, titled head of football strategic insights and planning.
“Her role really relates to research and insights, and, again, just talking about different areas that are requisite for a modern national governing body, that is one that we’ve been considering for quite some time to introduce to the organisation”, said Courell. “You need to take best practice from across the landscape, and translate it into the Irish scenario and bring about research that will underpin that and help us to try and reform.
“Sometimes it might be on commercial aspects, it might be about research into barriers of entry for female administrators into the game. It might be research into medical, neurocognitive disease: they don’t need to be specialists in this area but they do need an ability to work with different bodies, be it universities, or State bodies or partners to try and optimise what we can do.”
Courell said Gleeson is currently working on “a multi-disciplinary sports venue project with other sporting bodies in this country.” He did not say if or when this research would be published.
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FAI CEO guarantees Hallgrimsson his job to November, defends spend on coaching staff
CFAI CHIEF EXECUTIVE David Courell has guaranteed that Heimir Hallgrimsson will remain in charge of the Irish senior men’s team until at least the end of the 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign, and defended the FAI’s investment into Hallgrimsson’s staff amid the ongoing absence of a sports psychologist.
Hallgrimsson’s contract runs until the end of Ireland’s interest in qualifying, and a 2-1 loss away to Armenia on Tuesday means that interest will likely end with the final qualifier away to Hungary in November.
Having said the FAI are “extremely disappointed” with the result in Armenia, Courell said “we are behind [Hallgrimsson] and he will remain in charge for the remainder of the campaign.
“I think we all recognise that there has been progress over the last 12 months. It was hard to see that on Tuesday night. We accept and acknowledge that it was a really disappointing night. But it shouldn’t wash away the incremental steps that had been made before that. So, let’s see what the next four games hold.”
Courell, speaking to football correspondents at a scheduled media briefing, said not even a home defeat to Armenia next month would change the FAI’s view.
Hallgrimsson said this week the Irish players consider to suffer from confidence issues, having previously said his hopes of hiring a sports psychologist have been hugely delayed for budgetary reasons. Courell says it’s the subject of an ongoing conversation, and will be reviewed again shortly.
“After each window and each campaign, we’ll enter into conversations about how it went, whether or not adjustments are needed, new skills to be introduced”, said Courell. “So, it’s all subject to ongoing conversation.
“Our baseline investment into our men’s and women’s national teams is really strong. In European standards, we are right up there in the top 15, 20% of federations in the scale of what we invest into our international teams.” Courell declined to disclose those figures, citing commercial sensitivity.
Hallgrimsson now reports to the FAI’s new director of football, John Martin. Hallgrimsson has had brief discussions with the FAI regarding a contract renewal, but the manager said last month he sought to park them until after September’s games. Martin will review his position after the World Cup campaign ends.
Courell also confirmed that Martin’s title is director of football, and he has not inherited Marc Canham’s job title of chief football officer, which has been dispensed with.
Courell meanwhile insists the board remain committed to implementing an aligned calendar at all levels of the game, a key pillar of the football pathways plan that is Martin’s job to implement. Despite the fact the board unanimously endorsed the pathways plan, they voted last month to allow any leagues objecting to the move to an aligned calendar a two-year exemption from doing so.
“While the board fully supported and endorsed the move to align, they understandably listened to that membership to comprehend some of the unique challenges of implementation”, said Courell.
Asked how the much-trumpeted 11,000 hours of consultation that went into forming the pathways plan was not a sufficient listening exercise, he said, “it was, but what evolved were the practicalities and realities of implementing coming to the fore, with more arguments than originally projected.”
Asked if one of the practicalities of implementing the aligned calendar was a fear among some board members they would their seat by pressing ahead with an unpopular plan among certain constituencies, Courell replied, “I don’t think so, but we are a members organisation, and as board members its incumbent on them to understand and represent their membership.”
Then asked if the board members only listened to their members after unanimously endorsing the aligned calendar, he said, “I was in the room and it was unanimous decision but it was a moment in time. That becoming reality brought through practical challenges which gathered enough momentum for board members wanted to listen to it. That needs to be respected.
“I am genuinely telling you now that the board remain committed to realising an aligned calendar.”
He went on to say that other parts of the pathways plan are accelerating, including the introduction of a third tier to the League of Ireland.
Meanwhile, Courell refused to say how many redundancies are being sought under the FAI’s “transformation plan”, which the Association say is necessary for their financial sustainability and future progress. The FAI have opened a voluntary redundancy programme and will seek compulsory redundancies depending on the number of employees who choose to leave.
Pressed by staff at a town hall meeting announcing the redundancies as to how many jobs are being cut, Courell merely told them it is a “significant” number. Siptu workers at the FAI say the lack of clarity on numbers sought is highly unusual in their experience, but this claim was rejected by Courell.
“That is completely inaccurate”, he said. “Many organisations go into voluntary redundancy programmes without explicit targets. Siptu themselves have been calling for redundancies for 12 months. We are delivering on one of the aspects they are looking for.
“Transparency is to come but there are practicalities to how this needs to be approached. We entered into the voluntary redundancy process as the responsible thing to do, to try to minimise the impact on our colleagues, because change is coming.”
Courell confirmed he has a total number of jobs the FAI are seeking to cut, though will not reveal it until after the voluntary programme has ended.
“We have a ball park [figure.] There is a reason why we haven’t shared it. These things are adaptable. Voluntary redundancy means people we hadn’t envisaged will come forward.”
Another complaint among workers at the FAI is the lack of clarity on how the organisation will look after the redundancy programme, meaning they do not know whether they wish to apply for a voluntary exit or not.
“There is a broader context for what the association will look like, and that will be revealed once we come through the [voluntary] process”, said Courell.
Courell said the FAI spend 27% of their annual turnover on payroll costs, where the Uefa average is 17%. The organisation’s head count has increased by approximately 20% since 2019, with costs increasing to approximately €15 million in 2023. The FAI have still yet to publish their 2024 accounts, though Courell admitted that payroll costs have increased again.
He disagreed, however, with a question asking whether this increase was symptomatic of bad management.
“All of those decisions were taken because they were progressive and correct additions for the Association to allow us to move forward”, he said, citing the hiring of a head of women’s and girl’s football along with the development of the FAI Connect app.
Meanwhile, Siptu staff are also seeking an apology from the FAI regarding a sentence included in the press release confirming the imminent redundancies. Within that press release, the FAI said they “do not have the required framework and specific skillsets to implement vital strategies.”
“We stand by it”, said Courell. “It was misinterpreted that we were referring to their skills being inadequate. That is not what was inferred. There need to be a recognition that what we were asked to delivery is evolving all the time. It is probably 10, 15 years since the FAI had a proper look how it is set up. We have to evolve and introduce new skills because the landscape is changing.
“We have FAI Connect, a good product, it can be even better. We need to continue to fight in the digital space, social media. We need to continue to invest in the High Performance aspect of what we’re doing. Introducing Talent ID and more efforts in that space. The growth of the women’s game may require even more specialised support. It’s not intended in any way to be a reflection of what we have in-house right now. It’s intended to be an acknowledgement that as we move towards a high performing and modern NGB, we will need to introduce these skills and there should be no shame in that. If they misinterpreted, that was not our intention.”
Elsewhere, Courell confirmed the FAI are preparing a “robust defence” against allegations made by former women’s team manager Eileen Gleeson in a discrimination case. Gleeson’s claims were published by the Sunday Independent last weekend, but Courell did not address any of the specific claims within that article when asked about them today. Asked how far the FAI would go in this “robust defence” and whether Courell himself would give testimony in court, he replied, “We are preparing a very robust defence and it will be submitted in the coming weeks.”
This defence will not be submitted prior to the FAI’s appearance before an Oireachtas Committee on 24 September, at which they have been asked to discuss their safeguarding procedures. Courell confirmed that he, HR director Aoife Rafferty, chairman Tony Keohane and president Paul Cooke will attend the meeting.
Gleeson, meanwhile, has returned to a staff position at the FAI following the non-renewal of her contract as WNT head coach, as was made possible by a clause included in her original head coach contract. Gleeson is now working in a newly-created role, titled head of football strategic insights and planning.
“Her role really relates to research and insights, and, again, just talking about different areas that are requisite for a modern national governing body, that is one that we’ve been considering for quite some time to introduce to the organisation”, said Courell. “You need to take best practice from across the landscape, and translate it into the Irish scenario and bring about research that will underpin that and help us to try and reform.
“Sometimes it might be on commercial aspects, it might be about research into barriers of entry for female administrators into the game. It might be research into medical, neurocognitive disease: they don’t need to be specialists in this area but they do need an ability to work with different bodies, be it universities, or State bodies or partners to try and optimise what we can do.”
Courell said Gleeson is currently working on “a multi-disciplinary sports venue project with other sporting bodies in this country.” He did not say if or when this research would be published.
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David Courell FAI heimir halgrimsson Republic Of Ireland Vote of Confidence