QuoteGreat. We should have a new CEO in time for the return of Halley's commet.Originally Posted by Jolly Red Giant
The FAI's chief operating officer David Courell has been appointed interim CEO ahead of what the FAI said would be "a structured search for a full-time successor".
Great. We should have a new CEO in time for the return of Halley's commet.
And it will probably end up being David Courell.
Keane O'Shea Given Best Smallbone
He looks qualified for the role looking at his CV
Its really not that complicated!!!
My money is on Mark Canham to get the job in September. Then him to insist on appointing a new director of football (or whatever his title is) before appointing a manager. His replacement comes around in say March and then we have a new manager in place for our failed attempt at qualifying for Euro 2028. Hard to do I know...
Ealing Green would be wanting somebody with a VC !
If it's Canham then he's clearly one to keep an eye on, and not in a good way. It'd imply to me he's obviously a capable political manoueverer and on some sort of Delaney-like grab for control amidst the chaos.
Alternatively, in his favour, it could just be that he's good and the lack of a manager so far is not his fault but instead it's because it's been a hard sell at the financial package offered or the candidate is ready to commit but has to wait (Carsley(!), Sagnol, AN Other...).
In context of Hill working from UK, Neil O'Riordan had a funny line today:
"For a sport that needs to move mountains to realise its potential, relocating Hill would have been a good start".
Well I thought it was funny...
Trying to make a mountain out of a mole-hill ! !
Eh?
Don't understand
Tis a humorous aside ( to myself ) ~ ~ You'll get it in the end.Eh?
Don't understand
Those bloody Venture Capitalists have no place in an all island football team
A Very Competent post !Those bloody Venture Capitalists have no place in an all island football team
https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soc...d-start-again/
What to do with the FAI? ‘Raze it to the ground and start again’
The newly-branded, full-reformed FAI moves at a glacial pace and is set to be without both a men’s manager and a CEO
Gavin Cummiskey 20/4/24
A “structured search” for the next Football Association of Ireland chief executive has begun. It will take at least six months to replace Jonathan Hill. Probably nine months. Maybe longer. The newly-branded, fully-reformed FAI moves at a glacial pace. After Marc Canham’s “existing contractual obligations” comment stalled the reveal of an Ireland manager until “early April,” and that statement proved wholly false, it’s hard to take pronouncements from Abbotstown at face value anymore. Following the departure of Hill last Monday, there is a leadership vacuum across several departments. David Courell’s promotion to interim CEO means there is no chief operating officer. Nor is there a head of communications and marketing.
John O’Shea is contemplating a return as interim Ireland men’s manager for June friendlies against Hungary and Portugal, but what happens thereafter is anybody’s guess.
This begs the question: does Irish football need a debt-specialist-CEO to manage the €50.9 million arrears or someone steeped in politics and football, like Oscar Traynor reborn?
“Everybody is paddling their own canoe,” says Tommy Higgins, the Sligo Rovers chairperson. “The league is flying but the CEO needs to be sorted out as soon as possible, but it’s the debt that is killing them.”
There is plenty of chatter around the inner workings of the FAI. Former Bohemians president John O’Connor tweeted about the CEO “shortlist” this week: “Not sure people appreciate the scale of the challenge.” Plenty of gallows humour tumbled into his replies.
“Imagine letting Michael O’Leary loose in Abbotstown for three years??”
“Give it John Delaney ‘til end of quarter.”
“Sure, like RTÉ, the state will bail them out.”
They already have – €30 million in 2020.
Revisiting former candidates has become a popular pursuit as reports of Lee Carsley, Anthony Barry and Chris Hughton being asked to reconsider their rejection of the Ireland manager’s role in surfaced in recent weeks.
Sarah Keane and John Feehan were apparently Hill’s main rivals four years ago. Keane, the CEO of Swim Ireland, replaced Pat Hickey as the Olympic Federation of Ireland president and will leave that role later this year. Feehan is the current chief of Basketball Ireland, having previously served as the Six Nations and British Lions CEO.
According to Gareth Farrelly, a former Ireland international and litigation lawyer, the current crisis dates back to the Bank of Ireland governor Patrick Kennedy recommending Roy Barrett to become FAI chairperson in 2020. Barrett, in turn, backed Hill to be the CEO.
“Is the FAI in its current form beyond recovery?” Farrelly asks, before answering his own question: “I’d raze it to the ground and start again.
“Look, if we cannot deal with the past, Irish football will never make any forward strides. It goes back to the leadership. How did Roy Barrett get named FAI chair after a conversation with the Bank of Ireland governor when 82 people applied for that position?
“I am getting calls telling me to go for FAI CEO. To be interviewed by these people? The same people who appointed Barrett and Hill?!
“Who put Tony Keohane in as the new chair?”
The General Assembly.
“Who picked him though? It’s the same people.”
“If they had of [sic] gone with someone who went for the role before Barrett was hand-picked, we could be having a very different conversation. If they sacked Stephen Kenny when it was clear he was not right for the job, we could be going to Germany this summer.
“You cannot fix a broken system without dealing with the root causes of how it was broken.”
Farrelly continues: “The media have a lot to answer for here. If someone says it is raining outside but Jonathan Hill tells you the sun is coming out, which is it? You go outside and find out. You do not publish his emailed quotes listing his own achievements as CEO. Especially when you know what really happened.
“The lack of diversity of thought in the FAI is clear for all to see now.”
Maybe the soccer version of former Leinster Rugby CEO Mick Dawson or former GAA Director General Paraic Duffy can be unearthed. On Duffy’s watch, the GAA’s turnover doubled to more than €60 million from 2006 to 2016.
Dawson’s mantra, while creating a European dynasty, was “decide, delegate, disappear.” His connections from Davy Stockbrokers helped fund Leinster’s impressive facility on the UCD campus. Professionalism was accelerated and then maintained by a ready-made academy system in the private schools.
“Look at the people behind these enormously successful Irish sporting bodies,” says Farrelly. “Jim Gavin and Stuart Lancaster were just the tip of iceberg, but they were identified and recruited by people who knew precisely what was needed to become leading entities in their sports.
“What does elite sport look like now?” he asks and answers: “Leinster and Dublin.
“The FAI do have good people in there. [League of Ireland director] Mark Scanlon is a brilliant guy, swimming against the tide all the time, trying to get work done. Stop over-promoting mediocrity, or people who do not care about Irish football.”
Larry Bass, the former Cabinteely FC chairperson, has seen up close how the FAI, and briefly RTÉ as a board member, go about their business. He repeats the Damien Duff line - fund the club academies or die wondering.
“As Cabinteely chair, I had a frightening vista of the FAI under John Delaney,” says Bass, the founder of production company ShinAwil. “That caused me to ask a lot of questions. It is really important that a sports administrator does not court the limelight.
“But the FAI needs a leader. The board is not in the building day to day, and the General Assembly is so vast that the next CEO needs to be a resident in the country.
“A healthy League of Ireland will eventually mean a healthy international team,” he adds. “The proof is in other European countries. If Iceland can provide full-time employment and create jobs in their football industry, you mean to tell me Ireland can’t do the same with its biggest participation sport?”
This requires government funding. The €517 million over 15 years that FAI have asked for will suffice.
“The Government needs to take football seriously simply because it can create jobs,” says Bass. “That requires Government investment, FAI investment, Uefa investment and if that happens private enterprise will come in as soon as they see an industry being built.”
Farrelly has seen history repeat itself too many times, repeating his long-held belief: “Raze it to the ground and start again.”
Last edited by Stuttgart88; 22/04/2024 at 11:26 AM.
While Farrelly is probably right, I was always a bit suspicious about his motives criticising the so-called Visionary Group way back immediately after Delaney fled. There was nothing much wrong with what they were saying: Government should fund football. Build a football industry. Get closer to Government and lobby it better. Football deserves money more than greyhound racing etc etc.
I wasn’t aware Barrett was appointed despite 82 other applicants, though I was aware he was recommended by a senior bloke at Bank of Ireland – who institutionally had some skin in the game.
But Barrett was a football man (of sorts) and had good business pedigree so I was actually optimistic he could stand out among the gombeen men. And on paper Hill had decent credentials.
Agreed! I think we’d all like the FAI to be ripped up and replaced by a new one. I think many here said that in the early pages of this thread.
Ifs, buts and maybes…
But Barrett was from Goodbody stockbrokers, a similar beast and without the repeated scandals! And while Leinster is brilliantly run, it’s not comparable with what can be achieved in Irish football. It’s substantially IRFU funded and has automatic entry into the best competitions in the planet - all cross-border competitions funded by overseas TV money. Sure, no harm looking at best practise but comparisons aren’t really appropriate imho. And same applies to Leinster’s recruitment: the talent pool is quite limited in rugby. International teams recycle the same elite coaches & managers. The search process is a lot easier I’d say.
Amen to that.
I think Barrett has gotten off light to be honest. As well as Hill he was supposedly the driving force behind Kenny being left in post to flounder for so long. He apparently continued to back him when anyone who knew anything about football could see he was a busted flush. Barrett did an enormous amount of damage to Irish football in my opinion.
Keane O'Shea Given Best Smallbone
Probably true, but my point was that on the face of it he had the CV to be the quietly competent non-tribal Chair the FAI needed. What he said about football and the government was 100% right.
Surely something can be learned from the IRFU which is a much smaller organisation and much smaller participation numbers.
They are despite challenging conditions solvent, able to pay down the loan on Lansdowne Road without cap in hand looking for write downs and administer the game fairly efficiently. The sports may not be identical just like the GAA but they are administered very well and that should be the template the FAI put in place and ensure it is carried out. The loss of goodwill and support for the FAI has been huge but it has it within its grasp if it has the resolve to turn it around and act like the organisation that controls the sport with the highest number of participants. Indeed the people to do this are in this country now. Get them in position, give them the power, take whatever flack comes with it and transform the FAI for all the participants.
The FAI seems to have modeled itself on the FA, which itself was under pressure to reform after the Burns Report. The FA had around 100 voting stakeholders on its Council, dating back to Victorian times.
FAI's Council is 60 members.
IRFU seems to be much leaner:
The Irish Rugby Football Union is the governing body for the sport of Rugby Union on the island of Ireland. Each affiliated rugby club or school nominates a member to their provincial branch committee and each branch elects members to the IRFU Committee.
FAI Council (from earlier in this thread, 2019 - might be out of date now?):
RULE 14. COMPOSITION OF THE FAI NATIONAL COUNCIL 1. The Council of the Association shall consist of the following representatives: - a) The President of the Association. b) The Vice President of the Association. c) The Chairperson of the FAI National League Executive Committee. d) The Chairperson of the Women’s Football Committee. Part B) Football Association of Ireland Rules effective from 27th July 2019 9 e) Twenty (20) representatives to be appointed by the participant clubs in the Premier and First Division of the FAI National League with each club being entitled to one (1) representative. f) Eight (8) representatives to be appointed by the participant clubs in the Women’s National League with each club having one (1) representative. g) Ten (10) representatives to be appointed by the Leinster Football Association. h) Five (5) representatives to be appointed by the Munster Football Association. i) Two (2) representatives to be appointed by the Connaught Football Association and j) Two (2) representatives to be appointed by the Ulster Football Association. k) Two (2) representatives to be appointed by the FAI Junior Council. l) One (1) representative to be appointed by the Defence Forces. m) One (1) representative to be appointed by the Colleges Football Association. n) Eight (8) representatives to be appointed by the Schoolboys FAI. o) Two (2) representatives to be appointed by the WFC to represent schoolgirls football. p) One (1) representative to be appointed by Irish Universities Football Union. q) Two (2) representatives to be appointed by the Football Association of Irish Schools. r) One (1) representative to be appointed by the Women’s Football Committee to represent adult amateur football. s) One (1) representative to be appointed by the Referees Committee. t) One (1) representative to be appointed by the Irish Soccer Referees Society. u) Two (2) representatives to be appointed by the “Football For All” Body. v) Two (2) player representatives to be appointed by the Players Football Association of Ireland or such other body deemed representative of players. In 2019 the body deemed representative of Players shall be determined and approved by the Board and thereafter it shall be determined and approved by the AGM. w) Two (2) supporter representatives to be appointed by a recognised supporters forum through a representative structure. In 2019 the representative structure shall be determined and approved by the Board and thereafter it shall be determined and approved by the AGM Members. x) Any member of the Board who is not a member of Council shall nevertheless be entitled to attend Council meetings on a non-voting basis.
But again, the IRFU has much easier access to money than the FAI. 6 Nations, WRC, own the stadium... Is it a better run organisation? Yes, by a country mile. Are comaprable RFUs all solvent? No, RFU, WRU and Australia (among others) are almost bust.
Overall though I think rugby v football commercial comparisons aren't really helpful. But, like Farrelly says, raze it and build a new FAI is about right!
FIFA dictates that governments can't interfere in national FA affairs.
Define "interfere" though. FAs have to follow certain rules or guidelines to secure funding and they have to follow national regulations of all kinds. So all FAs face indirect interference and oversight. I think the FIFA rule is to prevent direct control of FAs by the state.
I'd love to see a full football governance review by an Oirecahtas Committee, not just a series of headlining hearings for TDs to showcase themselves. A comprehensive review of structures and methods ideally arriving at a much leaner, more mission-focused structure. Offer the carrot of significant funding...
Posting Permissions
Bookmarks