NIALL QUINN SAYS there is no place for the old “Banana Republic FAI” if the game in this country is to recover from the crisis currently engulfing it.
The association confirmed it has total current liabilities of €55 million last week and revealed that former chief executive John Delaney was paid €462,000 in his severance package.
Primary shirt sponsor Three Ireland also announced their decision to step away next year while the FAI said they were “unable to accept” an invitation to appear before an Oireachtas Committee today.
Speaking on Virgin Media Sport tonight, Quinn, who withdrew interest in restructuring the League of Ireland earlier this season, expressed his dismay at the revelations of the last week.
“Right now, the integrity of the game is in tatters, our game here is devoid of ethic. The public are angry, the public sector are running away fast. Volunteers, participants, the grassroots game, they’re shattered, but let’s not waste this crisis. I think we can actually start again and be stronger.
"The integrity of the game is in tatters.
— Virgin Media Sport (@VMSportIE) December 11, 2019
"The public are angry.
"The commercial sector are running.
"The volunteers are shattered.
"But, let's not waste this crisis. We can start again and be stronger."
Niall Quinn on the FAI and the future of Irish football.#VMSport pic.twitter.com/95ATA1tna6
“I don’t think we’re alone, I look at the banking sector, I look at the church in this country, I look at parties like Fianna Fail and Labour, and I look at the charity sector. They all went through horrific times and they’ve rebuilt themselves.
“They’re not all easy to reform but that ones that do have changed the rules. When the rules of engagement change at the FAI we will have a future. What I mean by that is, the effort that the governance view group did to bring it on a little bit was nowhere near good enough.
“It was a very, very poor effort. In fact, all it did was give a little bit of life back to the Delaney era and the Banana Republic FAI, the old FAI, whatever you want to call them.”
Quinn continued: “Where that can go, I believe, if we remove the shackles of the historic dinosaur way that council members would decide who would go on boards then we have a chance to go forward.
“I believe that the move to bring in four independent directors, albeit they are volunteers and part-time, but doing it from an outside agency is a good move. Why not do it for all 12?
“Why not bring great people in through a system as opposed to the pat on the back. A different caliber of person is needed and a different system is needed.”
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